Unintentionally, I asked if Amar travels by bus since it is very risky. Before he could answer me, the train screeched to a halt at Jhanakpuri, a small village station. The conversation pursued no further. Some people went down with their luggage. The train stops only for five minutes at Jhanakpuri. When the train was about to leave a sweet aroma filled the entire compartment. A faint tap sound of the shoe became sharper until it stopped in front of me. The smell indicated that the person was a young lady. The first reason is the type of the scent that she uses and secondly sharp pointed heel shoes are used by the younger generation. As it happened with me, Amar also helped the young lady keep her baggage in the top bunk. After the usual exchange of the pleasantries, silence descended in the compartment and the train proceeded to our common destination, Agra. I tried to understand my front seat companion but it was of no avail as because she kept mum all the while. I could feel the sweeping of cold wind across my face. I understood that the window beside the young lady was open. I said facing the direction of the lady, “Will it trouble you if I close the window? Actually my age does not permit such cold winds.” The lady eagerly agreed to my request. The glass shutter was bought down. I asked the lady, “Where are you going, madam?” She replied, “I am going to Agra. I work there as a teacher.” Teachers have always carved out a high position in my mind. My junior school principal and my wife Shanti were responsible for this opinion. “So you live in Jhanakpuri? “No, I do not live in Jhanakpuri. I live at Agra now at my uncles’ house. On asking her name and background she said, “I am Sheela Garg from Maharashtra. I got my education there. Now, I work at Agra in a Blind School as a music teacher. Now it is my turn to deliver my utmost for the handicapped.” I feared for a moment that my pretence of being normal maybe caught.
This sense of duty in the assumable young lady pleased me. I thought to myself that the young generation is not as hopeless as my strict wife points out. A loud shouting in hoarse voice of a chips vendor made our low-voiced conversation come to a stand off gradually. A lady started to bargain for chips for her child. The child till that time was constantly crying and asking for chocolates. On seeing the vendor she took some groundnuts. She was probably not pleased on hearing the price of the chips. Before the vendor could make further movements Amar asked for chips. He enquired if I would like to help myself to it. I denied with thanks citing my health problems. The train was passing through a tunnel and was making a roaring echoing sound. Even at broad daylight it remains pitch dark within the tunnel for about twenty seconds or so. I remember the day when after my marriage at Agra I was bringing Shanti back home and the tunnel came on the way. She was not conversant with this rail route. When the train entered the tunnel, she tightly caught hold of me and was very much terrified like a child. I was smiling to myself recollecting those sweet memories when the train came out of the tunnel and the loud echo subsided.
This sense of duty in the assumable young lady pleased me. I thought to myself that the young generation is not as hopeless as my strict wife points out. A loud shouting in hoarse voice of a chips vendor made our low-voiced conversation come to a stand off gradually. A lady started to bargain for chips for her child. The child till that time was constantly crying and asking for chocolates. On seeing the vendor she took some groundnuts. She was probably not pleased on hearing the price of the chips. Before the vendor could make further movements Amar asked for chips. He enquired if I would like to help myself to it. I denied with thanks citing my health problems. The train was passing through a tunnel and was making a roaring echoing sound. Even at broad daylight it remains pitch dark within the tunnel for about twenty seconds or so. I remember the day when after my marriage at Agra I was bringing Shanti back home and the tunnel came on the way. She was not conversant with this rail route. When the train entered the tunnel, she tightly caught hold of me and was very much terrified like a child. I was smiling to myself recollecting those sweet memories when the train came out of the tunnel and the loud echo subsided.
Contd...P/4
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