Their Story(Episode 7)

A train, a journey and the train journey

“I smell smoke!” Karuna was sniffing all around.
“I smell awesome…!!”
“I mean I think someone is smoking.” She retaliated but her nose was still sniffing.
“Ooh!! And I thought we were playing that game where we are supposed to tell how we smell.”
“Have you always got to be this sarcastic?”
“Have you always got to be so naïve?”
There was some silence for the time being. He enjoyed toying with her. It granted him a sense of carefree dominance. He enjoyed being on top.(Ahh!! You sick witted morons!!)
“By the way, do you know that there is a Rs. 200 fine or 6 months of imprisonment or both if you are caught.”
“Yes. I created the punishment the day I created cigarettes.”
“Really!! This bad? You can be serious sometimes. I won’t elope. When I said you were funny , it doesn’t mean that you attempt a joke at a funeral.”
Silence.
The window showed various scenes as the Ahmednagar-Mumbra Express zoomed through mountains, rattled over bridges stopping occasionally at a station or two every forty five minutes. Prashant sat huddled up inside a blanket reading ‘Atlas Shrugged’ sipping tea from an IRCTC cup and cursing the tea maker with every sip. Karuna sat leafing through the pages of a Biopharmaceutical magazine.
This journey was different. Very different from the one they had undertaken four years ago. She knew he retorted to jokes to say something for he was out of words most of the time. They both sensed it, however no one spoke a word about the uneasiness that had distanced them. Something was very wrong.
“I want to tell a story.” She began by closing his book and keeping it on her side. He gave a nod of dissent.
“You really think Ayn Rand is more interesting than I am?” she was complaining.
“Well!! Intelligent…yeah sure…!! So, what story? It better be about the hot chick who lives across the apartment.”
She smiled. There was no hot chick across the apartment. There was no apartment either.
“Well… no it’s about a train journey.”
“Oooh!! Déjà vu already!! Isn’t it a little inappropriate?”
“No.”
And she began a story about a train and the journey that they both had forgotten.
“Once upon a time….” She had merely started when he cut her short.
“Why do all your stories begin with the same fricking line, Grandma?”
“Fuck off!! Get back to your aunt Ayn Rand.” She started sulking. He laughed, helped his hand across her back and said “Well….actually she is not as hot as you are!! So the story yeah…”
She sulked some more.
“Should I get some specialist in here?” he said with a yawn and a wriggle.
“No! a ‘sorry’ will do the job…” she made a face.
“Ehh!! You are getting no sorry out of me. So the story….”
“So! There was this guy who is traveling with his love interest in a train with his cousins Vyom, Rashi and Reshma.”
He had to cut her short for he could not stop grinning.
“You know they are actual people. I mean you know Vyom, Rashi and reshma are actually my cousins. You could not come up with better names?”
“Well, Rashi is fine but Vyom seems kind of out of this world and Reshma.., don’t even get me started on that!!”
“Yeah! It sure is. Like you never watched Captain Vyom. It’s uber cool…..!!”
She was eyeing him with a constant scrutiny. He stopped talking. “Very well continue…Should I get some napkins? Just in case the ending is not so convenient. Well at least stop staring. Alright I won’t speak no more.”
“You know what? Fuck you!!” She looked infuriated. Her ears were red and it seemed that she would happily kill Prashant.
“You know what? When taken literally, it is a very pleasant curse….!!!” The grin refused to leave his face. He had won this one fair and square. Even she was smiling now. She sipped from the can of Frooti until it made an irritating gurgling sound. She continued looking out of the glass window.
“Well all I can see outside is people shitting in the fields. Its an unpleasant sight for me. I am wondering which of the semi nudes caught your attention!!”
She punched him in his stomach, drew the curtains and began.
“Look I will tell you the story only under the condition that you do not interrupt me. Deal?”
Prashant nodded in silent approval. She began quietly. He knew he had to be very careful now. He could sense the after effects of the punch in his stomach. The punch had been impregnated with a sense of purpose. No more jokes. He promised himself. Suddenly the air conditioned compartment grew colder. She huddled closer in the blanket. He could smell the perfume she was wearing. He liked it. It was a gift to her from a guy who had a crush on her. It smelt a little of lavender. It had a small delightful aroma of lilies and dry twigs and a lot of antiseptic. He was laughing in his head for he smelled ‘antiseptic’. Ahh!! The healing touch of love…!!
His concentration kept oscillating between the vociferous discussion on the political situation in Bharatpur and Karuna’s mellow narration of the story he felt he remembered from somewhere. It was the story of a train journey much like today. It was about a couple so madly in love who could not keep their hands off each other. It was all mellow and beautiful that it seemed out of the world, albeit so familiar.
The evening was drawing to a close as she came to an end of the narration. She concluded saying:

“……………and he looked at her as the wind blew her hair revealing a small pimple on her forhead. She looked around and saw him staring at the small bulge as it was a stain of imperfection upon a satin cloth. She grew conscious in the presence of Vyom, Rashi and Reshma.
She was still smiling at a joke that he had cracked a minute ago. She heard a whisper: “I wish I could always keep you this happy!!!” and she understood everything. She had known who had whispered and she knew no one else had heard it.”

Karuna finished placing the coffee cup on the stand beside. “So what do you think?” she asked Prashant.
“Really? They were traveling in second class sleeper? You said that the wind was blowing her hair. Right?” He looked at her inquisitively as if he had made a million dollar observation.
“Ohh!! Crapp..!!”
**************************************
He had taken the evening off. They had not spoken since they had reached Ahmednagar.He was taking a stroll along the tracks. Walking, thinking, pondering over what went wrong and when? He could hear the distant roar of train engines leaving the platforms nearby. The phone rang.
It was Karuna. He laughed soundlessly. He answered the call.
“You know what? The story and the characters were not fictional. They were….”. There was a distant roar and none could hear either. She was confused as to where the hell was he?
He remained silent. She could only hear him breath heavily. He had known it all along. It was their story. He knew where she was getting at. His silence was unbearable. She had to know for sure. She asked him the question she had on her mind since long.
“Tell me!! They were us. Long ago. What changed?”
He coughed. A loud siren seemed approaching fast. There was light in his eyes.
“Well…..we…..”
It struck her suddenly. He was near the train station. In times like these the heart thinks the worst. And before he could finish the sentence, he was hit by a train……………..
**************************(to be continued)***************