Rampant Dasara Train

“GOD BLESS YOU DEAR,” Deeksha’s mom said when she fell at her feet. Deeksha stood up, beaming. Her golden ear rings slightly shook. She looked beautiful as attired in pink and blue silk saree. Her long arms were pinkish white and her fingers were long and delicate. The folds of the saree were dexterously made, as draped over her chest.

“It’s getting late Shruthi. Let them get into the taxi. Time is already 6.30 pm. It will be difficult to go through traffic and catch a train then,” Deeksha’s father said to his wife.

She was crying now as she held her daughter tightly. Tears rushed out of her eyes.

“Don’t make her suffer while going. Stop crying Shruthi,” her husband said.

Deeksha was standing close to her newly wedded husband Jitender, who is an army officer. He looked tall and handsome with clean shaven face. He had a perfect sculpted body, not a hint of extra fat in him. He wore light yellow T-shirt and grey cotton trousers.

Jitender wanted to say something, but he didn’t. He closed his mouth.

“Mom, I will be fine and you stop worrying about me. Jitender is there to take care of me,” Deeksha said as she looked at him. It was six years of love which ended in arranged marriage finally. It all started when she had sent a Facebook friend request by mistake to him, instead of her friend Jatendra. Their love slowly built up like an igloo, started with sorry and then they knew each other’s whereabouts and it became an intensive love. But when Deeksha told this to her father who had given a slap across her face and grudged saying you can’t marry a military person. He was afraid that he might die earlier in battle and his daughter would have to live a widow life forever.

He wasn’t interested at all. But Deeksha was adamant when she said she would never marry anyone if she was denied of marrying Jitender. Blood gushed forth as her father looked at her and didn’t speak to her for nearly two years since then. Later something had happened to him. He suddenly fell ill, and his one lung was infected and it became difficult for him to even swallow a morsel of breath. He had started seeing the true form of living life and understood what a great sin he had done to his daughter. But he felt shy to speak about it with his daughter, so she had to wait for three more years. He was fine now.

“Be a respectful woman in your new home Deeksha. Don’t be like a small kid as you were in our home. You should take care of your mother-in-law and father-in-law,” her mother said.

“Okay mom. I will do. I promise,” Deeksha said. She was feeling worried too, but the happiness she had that she was going to be with Jitender had drowned it. She knew how difficult it was without surrounded by her mother, who had spent her whole life to see only happiness in her. She knew how much struggles her mother had faced to grew up her. She wished to shed tears, but she didn’t want to make this happy moment become a gloomy situation.

“The cab has come. Get in….. get in,” her father almost screamed now. He was pulling trolley bags in both hands and dropped it in the dickey.

Deeksha finally kissed her mother on her forehead and wiped her tears with her fingers and said, “Take care mom, I will call you once I reached my new home,” she said, not smiling now. Her eyes were glistened. Now, she had understood the weight of last lingering feelings she had with her grown up home. It had weighed heavily, she had fumbled even to take a step from there. But finally she and her husband were inside the cab, waving their hands at them.

It took half an hour to reach the railway station. It was crowded, because Dasara holidays had started. You could see the people all were flashing smiles. Particularly the children were happiest souls in the earth, as they were hiking, yanking, sneering, and laughing. It was great sight to behold in our eyes.

“The train to Amritsar will start at 7.30 pm. The passengers are kindly requested to get on board,” the female computerised voice said.

“What is the coach no?” Deeksha asked her husband.

He took a ticket from his pants pocket and looked at it, “S2, seat numbers 44, 45,” he said.

“There it is,” Deeksha pointed to the S2 coach, which was couple of coaches front to them.

They got finally settled inside. Jitender helped to put the luggage bags under the lower berth seat. He chained it safely with a small gold coated lock. Deeksha sat in the window seat, looked at him with tons of love as she rounded her long hand around his strong arm.

“I am so happy for you. I had made you to wait more than six years. I am sorry,” she said, as she leaned on his right shoulder. Her cheeks lightly flushed to pink.

“You are worth to wait for life long. You are my love and am glad to finally held your hand,” he said, his fingers were tightly laced with hers. The people who had crossed them were jealous about their closeness and affection. Jitender felt like kissing her, but he didn’t. They had never kissed before, but a virtual kiss over the phone. Because he was serving in army, he wouldn’t get holidays to frequently visit his home and meet her. Even he felt bad for not able to use the mobile phones while he was in service. He had to use the landline only at the given time, and it was difficult for a person who was in love. But he had come across all those stifling things with joyful heart, he didn’t have any regrets. What he needed than having a soulful love from a girl? He thanked God for giving him a precious gift. Yes, Deeksha.

There were more people in the train now. All seats were almost occupied. There was a large family sitting in front of them. Two small boys and two girls were playing antakshari with each other. They were singing songs from new Bollywood songs. The bubbly boy had sung a song from Shahrukh khan movie ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’. The other boy giggled and trolled him for singing poorly. The bubbly boy had sulked his face and turned his head aside.

“You lost….you lost,” the two small girls peeped into his ears. He was annoyed. On seeing him, his mother had pulled him and made him to lie on her lap.

“Hey girls, stop teasing our prince,” she said.

The girls giggled strongly now.

Deeksha and Jitender had seen this and shook their heads, smiling. The old memories about her childhood had sneaked through her mind. It made her nostalgic. On the other side, few couples in the back of berths were praying to the Goddess Durga and asking Her to bless them on this auspicious day. She could distinctly hear their mumbling prayers as it rushed to her ears. Some people were playing drums as a ritual practice because they had to go temple and sing Goddess songs after getting down from the train in Amritsar. They actually wanted to entertain the people in the train before they could perform at the real venue. Particularly, the fellow who had soft beard on his chin had let the beats of drum heard like chanting. The coach was completely reveled and it was one of the thrilling experiences for everyone who was in the train. The ambience was perfect for anyone to keep themselves happy. You know how people would look like in the festival days, right?

“What’s your name?” Deeksha asked the small boy, who was sullen now.

He didn’t respond, but his mother replied, “Goyal.”

“That’s nice name,” she said and tried to pull his cheeks, but he jerked her hand away and clasped his mother tightly.

“He is in bad mood,” his mother said, smiled.

“Mom, you also smiling, eh?” he said and looked at his mother sadly.

She tousled his bushy hair, “My boy, it’s true only, no?”

“Daaaaad,” he screamed, as he released her mother’s clutch and ran to tuck his father’s waist. He was coming down from the platform after buying some kurkure and hide and seek biscuit packets in his hands.

“What happened my boy?” he asked.

“Dad, they all are irritating me,” he said pointing his finger at his brother and his cousins.

Deeksha held her flat stomach tightly. She didn’t want to chuckle now.

“What??” his father brayed at them.

“Nothing, he is upset. Give him snacks,” his mother said. She was sitting in the corner of the lower berth.

He gave him kurkure namkeen packet but he tried to grab the hide and seek biscuit packet too. But his father didn’t give him as he pulled it back himself. Now he was about to launch on to a woman who was holding a small baby girl in the swaddled pink blanket. Her husband was in the back, but very close to her and just behind the washbasin in the coach.

“Excuse me,” the woman said, and she moved the baby to her complete right. It was just about timing, otherwise Goyal’s father would have plunged on the small baby.

He precariously held one leg up and placed his hand on the side wall of the coach for support. His eyes became boiled eggs.

“I am sorry,” he said, standing normal again.

“It’s okay,” the woman said, she was just a couple of years elder than Deeksha. But she looked as beautiful as she was. Her long hair was silky and shined. The small baby was too good to see. It’s like the baby had popped out of heaven. Her tiny eyes glimmered like morning dew, and her longs and arms were soft pink. She was crying now, because the sudden jerk of her mother. But she would be all right again. Her husband was somewhat pissed off, but his wife’s calm approach had reined him.

Goyal had already finished the both namkeen and biscuits before his father had taken a seat next to his mother. His cousins were sitting on the middle birth now, and they were talking about the rhymes which their miss had taught them. The train was started moving as the bell tolled in the distance in the railway station. The small baby and her family settled down left to Deeksha in the single seat which can be linked together. Husband and wife sat opposite to each other.

“Dear, I will come back, one sec,” Deeksha said and had gone to bathroom. Because of her father’s hurry and her mother’s affection, she couldn’t even pee before she boarded in the train.

After a minute, she had come back as closed the lid of the bathroom in the coach. She felt it wasn’t good at all, she felt like vomiting. But once she came back she felt good, as the cold air brushed her cheeks and rustled her hair. The train was moving faster now. You could hear the wobbling noise it was making as running down on the tracks. She put her head down as washed in the sink, splashing water on her face few times. The mirror wasn’t there to look at her face. She wished one now. She almost knocked off when suddenly she heard the braying noise of the express train came in the opposite direction. It whizzed past like lighting.

She wiped her face with a small floral kerchief as she walked through the aisle to her place. She was happy to see the small baby’s face, she felt like holding her in her hands. The woman had smiled at her as she saw her looking at the baby.

“Your baby looks so cute,” Deeksha said. She couldn’t restrain herself from saying this.

“Thank you,” the woman said, looking up at her. Her husband was reading India today magazine, but he didn’t greet her. He was dwelling in his own world. He didn’t even see what his baby girl was doing.

The train now stopped in the next station, as more people came inside. Due to Dasara, the poor people can’t get into second class coaches, as the crowd was huge today. It was difficult for them to catch next train, as they had to wait for five more hours for that to happen. So they had decided to get inside the sleeper coaches instead. Now, more families had come in, mothers yanking their children along with them. But most of them tried to stay near the doorway of the coach, but it was impossible as there were more people trying to get on board. They rambled, yelled, scorned, abused, poked, sifted and finally got in as the train moved slowly.

“I have never seen such crowd before,” the woman said to Deeksha, who turned to look at the hustles from the people.

“My God, it’s huge,” Deeksha replied, as ran both her hands over her gaped mouth. “People sneak into the reserved sleeper coaches too?”

“It happens if it is festival time. Today is auspicious day and you know how people would like to celebrate Darasa, right?” the woman said. The baby girl was sucking her index finger.

“Yeah, but……….” Deeksha said, her eyes grew substantially, “This is something I haven’t imagined before…..”There was someone knocking on the back of her. He was a man about forty years old, had long beard and clad in white kurta and pyjama. Someone had pushed him because he was blocking the path, and he had suddenly dashed onto Deeksha.

“I am sorry, someone has pushed me,” he said in a small voice.

Deeksha puckered her nose, but she knew their ordeal. She didn’t want to hurt a fellow who was looking ascetic and humble.

“It’s okay,” she said and dismissed him.

The woman looked at him and said, “These things are normal in trains. We better just keep quiet. You did the right thing,” the woman said.

“But……….” Deeksha swallowed her words. “Fine, where are you going? Is Jalandhar your native?” she asked.

“Yes, I am going to Amritsar to celebrate the Durga pooja. This is the first time we are going after five years of marriage. We are so excited to see this grand event. I heard at least five thousand people would join in this event. I can’t wait to see it. I am already nervous. But I am so happy that I have brought my small baby along with me. This must be a memorable moment for us,” she said to Deeksha and averted her eyes at her husband, who lowered his magazine and threw a warm smile. His eyes were dark brown but he looked somewhat older than this woman. You could see few grey hairs on the sides of his head.

“Really? That’s awesome. I will also ask my husband to bring me there next year,” Deeksha said, her lips were pouted as she was little upset that she couldn’t participate in this event this year. But she wasn’t going to worry because what else she needs than to warm herself with her husband. She was delighted to go and meet his parents and relatives. She had dreamed so much about them. There were tons of cozy feelings were locked in her heart, she can’t wait until tomorrow morning to see them.

“Why don’t you join along with us?” the woman asked.

“No, it’s not possible. I have got married today only,” Deeksha said, you could see shy in her eyes. Her rosy cheeks were flushing. Her head slightly lowered. She though how her parents wanted her to be married according Hindu custom, despite Jitender was a Sikh. Jitender parents agreed to this but didn’t want to participate. That was something hard fact to digest but she wasn’t going to worry.

“Wow, congratulations!” the woman extended her right hand to her, and her other hand was carefully holding her baby. “Where is your husband?”

“Thank you,” Deeksha said and turned her head to see her husband, who had put on headphones to watch movies. He had Samsung tablet in his hand. A Rajkumar Hirani’s movie was running on it. He had all the collections from this famous director.

“Jitender,” she called him out loudly, but still he couldn’t hear her voice. You know, the people were banging drugs and singing and praying in the train. The small kids were clapping and hooting. It was difficult for him to hear as the train was running at the top speed, maybe in 130 kmph.

A balloon was flying above her, a small boy was chasing after it. He squeezed through others as clambered to catch it. It had sailed above and kissed the grilled surface of the round fan, which tried to suck it and the balloon was busted like an atom bomb. There was a pin drop silence now, even the drum players scrambled as if terrorists had done the job to blast the train. The people in other coaches had also felt something uneasy churned in this coach. But after a few long seconds, the boy had started crying, “My ballooooooooooonn……..My balllllloooooooooonn,” his fingers were swabbing his eyes as he wiped his tears. Now, people had inhaled a hearty breath. They knew it wasn’t bomb. The people started laughing, “It is balllllloooooooon,” as they looked at each other weirdly.

The drum beats, songs, prayers, murmurs started again.

“What Deeksha? Did you call me?” her husband said, slowly removed the head phones now.

She didn’t reply him, but turned to look at the woman and said proudly, “He is my husband. He is working as an army officer. You know one thing we have married after six years of long struggle with my parents.”

“That’s wonderful. I am glad to see you guys. He looks awesome. You both are made for each other,” the woman said. The baby was kicking her legs at her mother, maybe she was feeling hungry now. “Oh oh….it’s feeding time. Excuse me.”

“Thanks for your compliments. We will talk later,” Deeksha said and came to sit down in her seat next to her husband.

It was around 9.30 pm, the adamant and rampant Goyal (a bubbly boy) was sleeping as his legs were spread apart on her mother’s thighs. He was snoring strongly, and it had created tremor in the coach. His puffy chest was heaving up and down like a giant animal. You could see the creamy smudge of kurkure and cookies around his mouth, even a small fly was sitting on his upper lip and pecking it. His cousins were tired after the antakshari game and slept soundly. Even the drum beaters were slackened and their vigour dropped low now.

Deeksha had no idea which station was coming next, it was completely dark and until she had seen the lights outside she couldn’t guess anything. But she wanted the night to pass very swiftly. She was eagerly waiting to see the dawn unfold in front of her eyes. She had so many plans for tomorrow. She embraced her husband’s neck tightly, she wanted to kiss him. But she didn’t have courage to do this now. But she ran her long fingers below his neck and could feel the heat of his skin. It was almost searing her fingers. She could hear the throbbing heart beat inside his chest. If they were alone she would have kissed him passionately wherever her pouted lips can run down. Still she had kissed him on his lips just for a quick second, like a sudden flash of light when the switch turned on and off. She was immensely happy for that.

“I love you, my sweet heart,” he said in a whisper.

Her eyes were moistened suddenly, a warm tear leaked out of her left eye as she looked into his face, “I still can’t believe that we are together. I am really lucky to have a person who has waited for these many years for a skimpy girl like me,” she said, her lips were trembling. No one could hear their voice, only the lovers can understood the language. An each word was ringing with so much emotion and the intensity of their feelings was sky high.

He wiped her tears with his thumb finger and said, “I am glad that God had shown a courageous girl like you to be along with my side. I don’t know what good I had done in the previous life to get a splendid girl like you as my wife.” His words were like rose water had been splashed on her heart. It made her cool and warm and affectionate. She felt she can die now.

He wasn’t feeling shy to hold her head with his both hands to kiss her forehead. In the next second, they two were smashed into pieces like the tomatoes were jammed. Yes, the express train had rammed into the huge crowd gathered near the manned crossing and in the outskirts of Amritsar, as they had celebrated the event of Durga pooja in an open ground. Massive crowd had witnessed this sacred ceremony from the neighbourhood villages. After the pooja was done, the giant effigy of demon Ravana was put on wild fire. Some people feared to look at it from closely, so they wanted to go back naturally. But only their feet were dragged back, not looking what was in their back. The clamour and thunderous noise from the gigantic crackers as it were busted deep in the sky while spraying thousands of flecks of sparks to create a beautiful fireworks with splendid patterns like peony and crossette. Their eyes and ears had refused to look at anywhere, and they had fully indulged in what was going in this event.

As people slowly moved back from the front as effigy burnt fiercely, the people who were standing behind the tracks also had to shuffle back without knowing the dreadful event waiting in ambush to attack them ferociously. If they only had known that they were crossing a deadly line, they didn’t have stepped on the tracks with cognition. Their feet had become numb and didn’t even know they were standing on the tracks. They were only smiling as they admired the giant fire crackers busted in front of their eyes, their chins were held up and not looking down at all. It’s like they were flying to heaven. They thought nothing evil would befall them when they were around Durga while celebrating the Dasara. They had even forgotten their children was near them and tucking their legs while enjoying this gracious moment. Some parents held their kids on their shoulders and pointed their fingers at the exploding crackers. It was a blessing for them, from the God of Parvati.

The train had trodden over people like they were flocks of goats. The roaring, shrieking, fumbling, screaming, shattering voices heard everywhere. It happened in a second. Just look at the people whose jangled arms and legs fallen on the tracks. Somewhere you could see the sliced head like a helmet plopped on the ground, the blood leaking out of it like a gooey mess. At least sixty people would have diad there. Their dresses were smeared with blood.

It was difficult even to identify the persons, let alone save them. One man whose half off the body was cut down by the wheel of the train, was looking at the remaining half, his eyes were blinking harshly like a fused bulb. He didn’t cry. Maybe he had forgotten how to cry. He didn’t feel the pain, his senses were dumb now and it was deactivated from the knot of his brain. But he was alive for a brief second, his heart thudded at his chest furiously as his body pumped up and down few times and he was dead. The hollering noises were heard everywhere. This auspicious place had turned out to be a new battle ground. You could hear groaning and piercing cries from the children who had lost their parents in the gruesome accident. Who were going to take care of them now? They didn’t even know how to ask others for help.