Good Samaritan

29th November, 1992

Pushing a grey Safari suitcase and two airbags under the seat of the train, Akash sat down with a sigh with Sneha seated opposite to him. Thanks to the rants and the reminders of his over cautious father, they had reached the station well in advance. There were hardly any one in their first class compartment. Moving aside a little, Akash made some place for Sneha to sit by his side.

"The entire coach is empty and you want me to squeeze in here," she said coyly and adjusted herself in between him and the window.

Akash was little irritated when his father had forced him to start earlier than required. Now he was feeling happy because he got to be with Sneha alone, even though only for some time.

Since marriage they hardly had any privacy. A series of hectic ceremonies followed their marriage and the house was overflowing with guests. When the moments of privacy came, it was such a blessing. They were on their way to Goa on a honeymoon trip.

The compartment filled up soon and the train started moving. Oblivious of the surroundings they became busy talking. Theirs was purely an arranged marriage, they knew very little about each other. Now was the time to open up.

At times stealing each other's glances, at other times cracking jokes and giggling they almost forgot that they were in a train. Train was moving fast and so was the time.

Next day by morning, the train reached Renigunta and more than half of the passengers got down. Akash noticed that other than them, only one elderly lady was sitting in their compartment. How nice it would have been if this lady also had not been there! The very thought brought a naughty smile on his lips. He looked at his beautiful wife. She was busy enjoying the picturesque scenery outside the window. Train was moving at a high speed.

All of a sudden the whole coach got plunged into darkness. Sneha got frightened with the sudden change. She moved closer to Akash. He held her hands comfortingly. As the train moved out of the tunnel, light enveloped again.

"Train will pass through more tunnels, don't panic," he said assuringly.

He recollected what his colleague Prabhu had told . Prabhu had got married the previous year and had gone to Goa for his honeymoon. As hill stations are not a good choice during November, Akash zeroed on Goa. Prabhu had given him the resort address and phone number where he had stayed. Akash had already made arrangements there for their comfortable stay.

Train zoomed through one more tunnel. Akash had decided to kiss his wife on her cheek when the train passes through the next tunnel. It was quite an adventure by his own standards. With the very thought his heart started to beat faster. He moved a little closer to Sneha. As he was looking at her, inadvertently Sneha too looked at him. Their gaze met and they lost into each other for few moments. She was blushing as though she understood his mind.

" Excuse me!" a gentle voice brought them back to their senses.

The lady who was sitting opposite, was bending down and was trying to pull out the carton that was placed under the seat. "You see, I have too much of luggage, and I need to be prepared in advance. In Madgaon, I need to get down."

Akash assured her that he would help her with the luggage. It was for the first time in the entire journey that they exchanged a word. Akash looked at the lady as he spoke. She must be around sixty. She was dressed up soberly. Yet there was certain regal elegance in her appearance.

Akash picked up and placed near the door all her luggage consisting of suitcases, bags and cartons of different sizes. He stayed near the door along with the lady with an intention help her with the luggage while she got down. By then train had passed through one more tunnel. Fifteen minutes passed and next station seemed to be nowhere near. May be I too will become overly cautious as I get old, Akash thought.

"Is it your first trip to Goa?" the lady asked.

As Akash was replying that it was indeed their honeymoon, his face lit up.

"Hope you have already made arrangements for your stay here!" As soon she completed saying this Akash pulled out a paper from his pocket and showed it to her.

"Ok! You are checking into this resort. If so, I suggest you people to get down at Madgaon along with me. If you get down at Vasco Da Gama you need to travel half way back. Moreover by the time you will get down there, it will get dark. During night times taxi fellows will extract more money from tourists." Akash could sense a genuine sense of concern in her tone. He had decided to get down.

There was a person already standing and waiting for the lady at the station. He helped to unload the entire luggage from the train. As Akash was wondering which way to go for a taxi, she said, "Join me in my car. There is enough space for us and the luggage. I can drop you both at the resort as it is not too much of a diversion for me."

With slight hesitation, Akash accepted. Her driver tied all the cartons on the car top and placed suitcases inside the dicky. Except for a couple of bags that Sneha adjusted next to her every thing else could get into the dicky of the Ambassador car. Akash was sitting next to the driver, the lady and Sneha at the back. Most of the journey was silent except for on and off short conversations the lady had with the driver or with Sneha. Sneha could understand that the lady belonged to Goa and had gone to Hyderabad to meet some of her relatives.

Sneha felt the lady to be very loving and caring, as she was talking to her driver affectionately. Car stopped near the resort. Thanking the lady, Akash and Sneha alighted the car.

6th December, 1992

After enjoyable continuous day-tours of sight-seeing, shopping, and night cruise trips, it was a complete relaxing day for Akash and Sneha. Before leaving to Mangalore next day, they wanted to chill out together doing sweet nothings at the resort. Early morning they went to the private beach connected to the resort. Unlike other crowded beaches this one was almost empty. Akash and Sneha had fun to their hearts content playing in sand and water. Akash had found a perfect spot behind the bushes on a rock to kiss his wife under the open sky. The very thought of the morning kiss was good enough for Sneha to blush the entire day. Every thing seemed to have happened so perfectly, until the next morning!

7th December, 1992

Just like every morning, room attendant came, placed morning coffee pot and newspaper on the table. While Sneha was pouring the coffee into cups, Akash opened the newspaper to read the headlines.

"Black day in Indian History! Babri Masjid demolished. Ayodhya is burning. Section 144 imposed. Riots in many parts of the country!" Screamed the head lines.

"Oh my Gosh! Communal Riots. Can't we demand and take the place that rightfully belongs to us? All these idiots should have been thrown out of India after partition. Why the hell did we let them stay with us? India would have been a peaceful place without them.... " Akash was shaking. There was anger on his face as he was uttering these words.

"You can't generalise people that way Akash. There might be some rotten apples in a basket, but you can't say that all apples are rotten. You can't isolate one religion. There are good and bad people in all religions. Politicians politicise religion but ordinary people have always been nice to each other."

Akash was in no mood to listen to her. Her perspective was making him more aggressive. He was getting agitated beyond control. Sneha felt uncomfortable for the first time in his presence.

When they went out for breakfast the situation had become even more worrisome. All inter state buses had been cancelled. Now they could not think of going to Mangalore. All they could do was to book the earliest available train tickets to Hyderabad. Probably they might need to extend their stay in Goa for two or more days.

More shock was in store for them when the resort manager informed that they could not extend their stay at the resort as it had been booked by someone else who had already arrived. Resort manager suggested them to sit in the lobby with their luggage until they made alternate arrangements. Hours passed. Finally they expressed their inability to arrange an alternate accommodation. It was already late evening and Akash had to make arrangement by night for their stay.

But where would he go taking his new wife? He did not have any friends or relatives in Goa. Akash went out, roamed around looking for some accommodation. There were no decent rooms available anywhere. All his attempts proved futile. Akash was tensed and Sneha was restless.

All of a sudden Sneha's face lit up with a positive thought. She opened her hand bag and digged out a visiting card. Holding it up towards Akash she said, "What if I call the lady who drove us to the resort from station? She gave me her visiting card that has her phone number. Maybe, she will help us in this hour of crisis."

Akash took the card and read out:

Ashrafa Khanum President,

Shameem Women's Resource and Welfare Association.

Sneha didn't even wait for his response. She took the card and went near reception to make a call.

Ashrafa Khanum picked up the call without much delay. She was more than willing to help them. She said that she could arrange their stay in her guest house until they booked tickets to Hyderabad.

10th December, 1992

Before leaving for Hyderabad, Sneha and Akash went to meet Mrs. Ashrafa Khanum to thank her in person. Sneha handed over a pack of fresh apples to her as a token of love. As Akash was thanking her for her kind gesture his throat choked. There were tears of gratitude in his eyes.

On the way back he said to Sneha, "God can come in any form in times of crisis. He is beyond any religion."