Chapter-2
The train was moving to and fro, giving me jerks now and then. I pressed my head against the window, and scrunched shut my eyes for a second. The heat had finally gotten best of me. The trees and the fields flew in front of my eyes as the tortoise train finally increased its speed. The air was no doubt still hot, but now it had a bit of coolness submerged in it.
The couple was still chatting with each other, and to be honest, I didn’t get gist of their conversation, even though they were speaking in Hindi. Hot waves entering through the window swirled around me, and I felt a lot of pressure around my neck. After sometime I saw Kritika savaging for some thing in her purse with a frowning face.
“What happened?” I asked her. She looked at me.
“Nothing, Ananya. I was just trying to find ladoos which my mom prepared for us.” She smiled, revealing her perfect white teeth. I still remember the pain I had to endure when I was getting my braces. How lucky are those people who are gifted with perfect teeth! Finally she took out a steel container.
“Wow! Ladoos? That’s so great. My mom also makes them, though it has been some time.” I couldn’t hide my happiness from the newly-wed couple as I imagined the orange colored round sweet.
“You can have these.” She brought forward the steel container having the world’s most precious item. Ladoos!
“That’s so nice of you, Kriti. I can call you Kriti?” I took a ladoo from the container and shoved it into my mouth. The taste of it lingered in my mouth as I broke it into pieces with my teeth, which once had the honour of wearing braces. Kritika nodded in response to my question but I had forgotten all about it. I was busy taking in the sweetness of my favourite sweet. “They are yummy, Kriti. Delicious!” I exclaimed once the ladoo was inside my stomach for digestion.
“Thanks. I won’t forget to tell my mother.” She smiled. Her husband all this while was silent, just glaring at both of us. I categorized him into the non-speaking types.
“Where do your parents live?” I asked. Kritika’s wide smile narrowed and her eyes started sparkling. It was later that I realized she was crying. New brides in India are always in this state. I could never bring myself to understand why do always girls have to move from their parents’ house? Why not boys?
“They live in a village in Haryana.” She replied silently, as she shunned away eye contact and bent down her face.
“Wow! Living in a village must’ve been adventurous. I always had a blast when I went to my grandma’s.” I said, trying to soothe up the situation a bit. It worked. She finally looked up and then passed a smile, though a weak one. The boy all this while looked at his wife with concern, and once passed me a glance full of boiling hot anger. I just asked a question! I didn’t kill anyone. Don’t look at me as if you’ll eat me up.
“Do you want more?” She asked, now more relaxed.
“You’re tempting me,” I smiled and then picked up another. After that, she took back the container and then offered her husband.
“So what it is that you do, Lakshya?” I asked getting too pricky. This couple was just intriguing me.
The boy swallowed the ladoo and then a faint smile spread across his visage. “I am still completing my MBA degree.” So he was older than I thought.
“That’s nice. And what about you, Kritika?” I used her full name, rather than the nickname I had given her minutes ago.
“I am doing my graduation in science. I would then do M.Sc. That’s the plan till now,” she replied.
“If you got married today as you say, then why are you in the train? Shouldn’t you be with your families?” I asked them. Kritika thought something for a while and then took a deep breath.
“Our flight leaves tomorrow afternoon so we couldn’t wait longer,” she replied.
After I had bothered them with my silly questions, I returned back to my reading.
The dusk was approaching and the sun started shimmering in orange rather than yellow. The sky was deep in orange hue within the next fifteen minutes, and the birds were making beeline towards their nests. I was feeling so sorry for myself; the birds could go back to their house and sleep comfortably.
Kritika was fast asleep on her husband’s shoulder while he read one of his MBA books. He flipped through the pages recklessly, unsure of what to exactly read. I got up and switched on the light after all I could see was coal-like blackness of the sky. He looked up as soon as the light blinked into his eyes and then smiled to say ‘thank you’.
People can survive through a long journey, but when there are only minutes left for it to get over, they become restless. And so was I. Six a.m. in the morning and only fifteen minutes for me to reach my destination. The couple was lost in dreamland while I packed up my bags. I wanted to bid them adieu but I didn’t feel right to wake them up. We had had quite a chat the previous night and they had become my friends. They were approximately of my age, so our views matched. I stood up to stretch a bit; my muscles were aching from the long journey.
“You up?” Kritika asked me. I turned back myself to find her tying her hair into a ponytail. She didn’t look as beautiful as she had been in the beginning, but still was still pretty enough to catch everyone’s attention. Her lipstick had smudged and she looked like a plain doll now.
“Yeah! My stop comes in fifteen minutes. Now fourteen,” I said looking at my watch.
“Very funny!” she exclaimed.
“May I have your number? Or email id? Or are you on Facebook?” I wanted to stay in contact with her.
“We haven’t shifted yet so I don’t have a phone number or mobile number. But I am on Facebook. And also, you can give me you number. I’ll call you when I get mine fixed,” she said with a smile. I took out a notepad and a Parker pen from my purse and then scribbled my mobile number for her. I tore the page and handed it to her.
“Thank you. You won’t forget us, will you?” She asked me and I shook my head. After this, she slided the page into her purse. Then her husband growled a bit as he realized that sun was almost on its top. He rubbed his eyes and then looked at both of us, still a bit confused and muzzy.
“Why are you both standing?’” He asked as he adjusted himself in the seat.
“Ananya’s stop is coming, so she’ll be leaving. I just took her phone number.” She flashed her smile and then Lakshya raced his fingers through his jet black hair.
We both sat on the seats again as I still had ten minutes in my hands. The train paced down its speed and I saw people at distance from the train. Whenever you start seeing people, consider that the station is nearby. Then I remembered that there was a station before mine. A village, of course. In this area, there were only villages. Kritika was sitting next to me and her husband was on the opposite seat. We all were deep in silence. My head felt like someone was hammering it. I was a late sleeper; I always got up at seven or eight in the morning. But never six! As the moments passed by, the train got slower.
The train stopped at the station i you could call it so. There was hardly any thing to provide shelter and I couldn't see any office o any kind to indicate that it was a station. There was a rusty signboard reading the name of the village,'Kalindi'. The paint on the board was peeling.I turned my head to my right to see the world beyond the window, the world which I had been missing for almost a day now. I was expecting to see tanned women, with their veils drawn down, wearing colourful costumes, and carrying vessels full of water while doing a catwalk. If not this sight then maybe of children wearing the light blue shirts and navy blue lowers like children o\of government school wear, and carrying their school bags as they head towards their school, which was not going to be a building, but just a playground. Or that of men walking to their respective fields. But nothing of this sort greeted me.
The sight was horrifying and my blood started bubbling inside my veins. Few ugly, lusty and dirty men, wearing a disgusted look, carrying swords, walked towards our train. I could see turpitude in their eyes. They had a ferocious was of walking. It didn’t seem like they were men walking but clouds that were storming into the train. I looked at Kriti and then at Lakshya. They both started trembling and my heart began to palpitate.
“They have come,” I heard Kritika croon and burst into sobs.
~Shubhi
Gender:
Points: 58538
Reviews: 553