She could hear a periodic voice ringing in the background, growing louder with every beat. She was in the middle of a story and then it suddenly disappeared. Someone touched her and pulled her back. The train had already reached platform 1 and she was woken up from her dream by the boogie keeper. She hastily jumped out of her seat and hit her head hard against the upper berth. Groaning, she up tied her wavy, shoulder length hair and dumped all of her belongings into her brown rusty bag. Her compartment was completely empty by now and she dragged her black suitcase towards the door. How reckless of her to sleep through the alarms and risk being carried away to the cant station. Even while self-lecturing, she mindlessly tried to remember what she was dreaming about.
The station was crowded of passengers sleeping on the platform or waiting for their trains. It was 6 am and the cold breeze of December numbed her hands. Next to the waiting room, a young boy was cautiously running with few glasses placed in the tiny circular hoops of the tray. He approached the edge of the platform, looked at the engine arriving at a snails' pace and then jumped. She stopped for a moment as he flawlessly crossed the tracks and climbed the foot hold of the Mumbai Express halting at platform 3, without spilling the tea. As he reached inside the boogies, she saw him singing and smiling on medley of noises and then disappear behind the windows. For a few seconds, she stood mystified at the gaiety in his voice. The next round of announcements brought her back to present and she started walking towards the exit. A bunch of taxi drivers were launching themselves on the outgoing passengers as she made her way out of the station.
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The station was crowded of passengers sleeping on the platform or waiting for their trains. It was 6 am and the cold breeze of December numbed her hands. Next to the waiting room, a young boy was cautiously running with few glasses placed in the tiny circular hoops of the tray. He approached the edge of the platform, looked at the engine arriving at a snails' pace and then jumped. She stopped for a moment as he flawlessly crossed the tracks and climbed the foot hold of the Mumbai Express halting at platform 3, without spilling the tea. As he reached inside the boogies, she saw him singing and smiling on medley of noises and then disappear behind the windows. For a few seconds, she stood mystified at the gaiety in his voice. The next round of announcements brought her back to present and she started walking towards the exit. A bunch of taxi drivers were launching themselves on the outgoing passengers as she made her way out of the station.
***************************************
She was typing minutes of the meeting she just finished with the sales team. It wasn't the best day and a silent and anonymous feeling kept pulling her down. She decided to get off early from the office. Her gaze kept switching between her ThinkPad and the pendulum wall clock racing towards the never-ending end.
As she stepped out of the building, air felt fresh like the early morning breeze. She got down few block before her lane. Evening had started to shadow the sunlight and the main road was buzzing with screaming horns, road side vendors and galloping pedestrian. She took a few turns to get away from the hustle bustle. It lead her to the park side chat corner, a coffee house and an eye catching flower shop before merging with the gates of a housing apartment. She had no mood to finish chores for the day and decided to stay out for a while.
She noticed a lot of change since she visited this place last time. It had many more options and much larger crowd. "Why dint she come all these months?” She wondered. But the answer was not too far-fetched. She was submerged in her job on weekdays and parties on weekends. Adding to that, an outbound trip in the month would suffice her need for entertainment. Where was the time to spend time with this unappealing street? Suddenly, someone addressed her
Stranger: Didi, Mushroom Bhel try kijiye. Ekdum novelty hai!
She stared at a small, dark, street boy who startled her. He had a tone that captivated her attention to stop for a glance. He couldn’t be more than 16 year old and still had a professional style of making bhel. She smiled back and replied that she doesn’t like mushroom.
Stranger: Phir Paneer Shev Puri try kijiye. Apko pasand aayaga
What was Paneer Shev Puri! Even before she could give this option a thought, words flew out to refuse the proposal and an invisible force dragged her body to the familiar juice stall. Why dint she stop! Why dint she try!
A small voice kept revolting in her mind but couldn't get her attention. It finally subdued into an invisible pain that would haunt her later. Oblivious to this, she quietly watched people walking in the park and got lost in the evening in a way she always did.
Girl: Let's go.
Boy: Where??
Girl: In the rain. Leave the umbrella. Quick! Quick!
Boy: Dude, No ways! It's dirty and I don’t want to catch cold
Girl: Common!! Look at the weather...
Boy: I know it beautiful, but I am not getting wet!
Girl: Chuck it! You don’t know how to enjoy…
They kept arguing for a while but she could hardly hear them anymore.
She was coming back from a play running at a faraway theater. It was so engaging that she was still spellbound by it. Though it was afternoon, sky was blanketed by dark clouds and wind blew like an invisible serpentine. After days of skin scorching summer, this was a pleasant change. She reached the nearest bus stop and was waiting for her bus when lightning waged a war. As few drops tingled on her forehead, she started rushing to the nearest shelter. She found place beneath an old shop enveloped by the branches of a roadside tree. However, it was too late and she was already half drenched. She started cursing her timing and got desperate to reach home. It was then that the couple ran across the road and stopped beside her. She overheard their conversation and then got lost in her own thoughts.
She always loved rain. She would splash water in the ponds and get wet. Why was it an inconvenience today? She remembered a dialogue from the play where the lead actor replies to his daughter
“You search for a comfort today. You want more of it. Wait till this comfort gives you a pain”
Though out of context, she knew that she was sick and the disease was comfort. Her life defined to achieve perfection had become perfectly mundane. She stopped reinventing herself. When was the last time she ate something she disliked, unplanned her entire day, read an illogical book or did something crazy!
In this battle in her mind, she remembered the station boy. He added uniqueness to his journey that day which gave him the smile. From the jigsaw of her memories, she made her own image. It was devoid of newness. Then she shuffled it and walked into the rain with open arms.