The Journey

I have walked on these paths before, but never so late and in complete darkness. Someone has broken all the lights on this already dimly lit path. This could only be the work of miscreants. The fear had started building up in my mind even before I had taken the first step on this narrow path, a shortcut to my place.

My father had offered to come to the station to pick me up, but I had refused his offer telling him that it was time to put in practice what he has been teaching me since I was a small child. He had made his daughter independent. I did not buy his argument that he had nothing better to do as he was leading a retired life. I am not a feminist or anything of the sort but I like to be independent and live life on my own terms.

So here I was alone on this path, scared yet trying to feel safe that distance to my house was only about a kilometre.

 

I had walked only a few steps when someone joined me. It was a tall man, maybe of my age. In the darkness, I could not see his features properly. All the stories of lonely women being attacked by men started assuming a menacing shape in my mind. I tried to increase my pace, but the man easily matched it.

I am not much of a believer, but there was nothing else to do but pray and continue walking as if I had not noticed the man. I tried to tell myself to be bold and face the situation but the fear continued to remain overpowering emotion at that time.

I looked surreptitiously towards him, although I could not see clearly in the darkness, still his eyes did not give an impression of a maniac. He looked at me kindly as if telling me, “You need not be scared of me. I am here to help you. I could sense the fear in you when you took this badly lit path, I will walk with you till the path becomes well-lit and then go on my own way.” Still looks could be deceiving, so I walked cautiously, ready to scream for help any time.

I looked at him but continued walking without acknowledging him. If he was hurt by my attitude, he did not show it and I could not see expressions on his face due to darkness. I increased my pace to leave him behind but continued to hear a steady fall of his steps.

Finally, the dark path gave way to well-lit road. My building was only a few meters away. As I entered into the society gate, I dared to look back. He continued walking further. But when I looked back after walking a few steps, I saw him walking back towards the station. Probably he had been sent by fate to be my protector on such a dark night.

Safely back in my house, I felt some guilt for being so ungrateful to the person who had taken the trouble of helping me. Although I won’t have needed the help anyway as I did not face any trouble on the way, still it was nice of him to walk with me in the darkness.

…..

After that day, I did not see him again, although I came late a number of times after that day. Perhaps I had some hope of seeing him again. I assume that walking with him on that day had given me the courage to walk on dark and lonely paths. Yet I would love to have his company even on well-lit paths. He seemed to have disappeared from the scene after that day.

 

A few days later I started thinking of him many times during the day. Whether God had sent him as a protector for me on that dark night? I had only vague memories of him, still, I knew that I would recognise him immediately if I ever saw him again. I had started missing a person whom I had not even seen clearly.

 

Finally curiosity got better of me and I started searching him on the FaceBook, but without any name, it was an arduous process. After a few days of fruitless research I gave up, yet my heart yearned to see him, hear him speaking and touch him to feel if he were real.

 

When I finally managed to locate him, it was only by chance. A friend of mine was showing me the pictures of her birthday celebrations. I saw him in one of the photographs. I found it very difficult to control myself. Yet after putting my emotions in check, I told her that I had seen the person in the photograph somewhere. She told me that he was her cousin who lived in another town. So he must have alighted from the station that day to attend her birthday party.

 

I managed to get his Facebook address from my friend, probably without arousing any suspicions. Then I steeled myself and sent him a friend request. He responded immediately replying that he remembered walking with me.

 

I gave some vague reply. I hope to receive a message from him. We may have a future together.