The Missed Train

It passed away right from his sight and he couldn’t do anything at all – just kept standing on the bridge like a mere observer and watched his carrier heading towards its destination. It was a no different matter that it left him destinationless. Yes, this poor guy lost his train and with this missed the chance of going to hometown in the only holidays he got being a busy student in Kota. Bearing the mountain of embarrassment on his shoulders on that sunny morning, he retreated to the only place where he belonged to. What pondered he most all the way back was the thought that his friends would mock him like anything – “Definitely, because of tea he would have lost the train. These trains and all are secondary. Tea holds the priority for everything in his life.” But, nevertheless, friends are friends. He consoled himself.

Never mind, on the way back he taught to have some ‘pet puja’ and stopped the auto midway. As he entered, he saw only one customer (some girl, facing away and busy in mobile) was sitting in the restaurant. During times of Diwali, very few people stay for whom very few restaurants remain open. So, this was one. As he took a seat, a voice from behind caught all his attention. “Raghav, you here and this luggage? You didn’t go home yet?”. To my surprise, that the only customer was she – Riya who had showered a bunch of questions on me within seconds and I was obliged to answer them but to tell the truth was totally his choice. Well, this was the first time we talked, or I would say Raghav was in conversation with his crush from school. So, decided to play simple and follow the principle “truth alone triumphs”.

“You fool! I have never seen a fool like you”, she said and laughed – laughed her heart out. “Now, let it be, you just stop now and concentrate on the food. Rest is all right but what are you doing here? You also missed the train”, Raghav asked in retaliation.

“I had no plans of going home and not everyone gets the chance to miss the train”, she said and poured a burst of laughter again.

“Well, it happened for the right cause, At least I got a partner in these holidays when Kota goes in complete hibernation”, said Riya.

That partnership that originated from nowhere is still intact between the two with the bond getting stronger over the years.

After a few years on a call:

“I told you na that not all are lucky enough to miss the train. Because of that only, we share that partnership to date.”

“No Riya, you are wrong. Actually, it was the tea that made this happen – neither I had the urge to have the morning tea that day nor would have missed getting the autos lined up for me. So, tea was more important as it has always been.”

There was laughter on both sides of the call.