Train Of Thoughts

Train Of Good/Bad Thoughts

Totally strangers to each other, Mr. A and Mr. B were allotted the same seat (side-lower) in a train compartment. It was an honest mistake from the Reservation department. The on-duty ticket checker was helpless in this situation as all the seats of the train were already occupied, and the whole town was in the mode of celebration. It was the time of harvesting crops, and every community was celebrating the festival in their own style and according to their culture.

Coming back to our 'palace on wheels,' it was a twelve-hour journey from seven in the evening to seven in the morning. Mr. TC told Mr. A and Mr. B to adjust for a night. With this surrender by the TC, they both had no option left but to share the seat for the night.

After some small talks about the weather and government policies, the food was served in the compartment. A luxurious pantry-cum-kitchen was available on the train, and the staff members were there to serve dinner.

A boy came into the compartment to serve dinner to all the passengers. Both A and B shared the dinner. It was around 10 PM, and up until now, both had found a companion for this journey in each other. After having dessert from one another's tiffin box, both said 'Goodnight' to each other and somehow fit into the seats facing 'face to leg' with each other.

Both started feeling sleepy, so they went to sleep in the next fifteen minutes. Other passengers in the compartment also slept until 11 PM.

After an hour or two, in the lack of space and comfort, Mr. A started a never-ending cycle of 'keep changing direction.' These pendulum moves hit Mr. B's face with seven tight slaps from Mr. A's toe.

Lines of fear, anger, and embarrassment simultaneously crossed the mind and heart of Mr. B. The first two slaps created a disturbance in his extremely fantasized and sexually charged dream. It was one of those dreams that are so vivid that it's hard to distinguish between a dream and reality. In the dream, he was lying on a large flat rock having sex. It was a light gray rock near the top of a mountain. The whole thing was about the size of two extra-large mattresses, and the surface was smooth and damp. It was cloudy, and it looked as though he was about to have a storm inside him, but there wasn't any wind in the whole atmosphere. The horizon was loudly screaming that it is near twilight, and the birds were about to hurry off to their nests. His body was burning because of that hard...

That hard and tight slap from Mr. A's foot. The next three slaps did upside down that indescribable pleasure.

Mr. A tried all sorts of positions and did it over and over, climaxing again and again. It was really strange that these two calm and composed people, had never given in to their passions like this or experienced such soaring pleasure, and that too in a public domain.

Both were pushing their limits either in the dream or expanding/stretching themselves in their sleep. It was the first time in both their individual lives that they had thrown away all their restraints and were going at it like animals.

The last two slaps brought Mr. B back to reality, and he opened his eyes. It was still dark outside, and he felt very odd because normally after sleeping in the night for once, his consciousness comes back when the sun is out there in its full throttle. His body felt heavy and compressed at the same time. His heart was pounding, and thus he found it very difficult to breathe. His throat was dry, just like after intercourse. It felt as if he had really made love to someone and not just dreamed about it.

Now he was back in his full consciousness and could feel and smell the toes of Mr. A very clearly. He immediately pushed A's feet from his face.

Let's get back to reality from the dreams on seven clouds.

Mr. B was burning with anger and had to do something to calm down. He was shivering in anger, and out of this fury, he slapped Mr. A, who was sleeping very tightly. Still, there was no movement from his side.

Mr. B thought that this was a pre-strategized plan of Mr. A to create uneasiness around him so that he had to leave his seat. But to Mr. B's surprise, after his tight slap on A's fluffy cheeks, he again changed his direction, but this time B chased him. He turned again, but Mr. B adjusted. Over and over, they played this out like some sort of 'last round of musical chairs' was going on.

It was now 3 AM. After some rounds of this sleeping battle, both were up and abusing each other in their loudest voices. Nobody could say that these were the same gentlemen who were sharing intellectual conversations and sharing their food and dessert.

All the passengers were 'up and riled' after hearing their fight, and after some more minutes, the whole compartment was divided into two sides, and this two-person fight turned into major chaos in the compartment. Everybody was just screaming their throat out.

After a while, though, everybody's center of attraction was a little boy who was walking towards that compartment in the light of one zero-watt bulb. It was the boy named AtoZ - the same boy who had served dinner in the night to the passengers. He was holding the clean towels, kettles full of boiled water, and today's newspapers for the passengers.

Mr. B was so much in anger that before he realized what he was doing, B slapped the boy. He grabbed him by the shoulders and slapped him hard on the cheeks. The boy might be yelling something, which nobody heard. Mr. B was out of control. The boy's embarrassment must have been so great that he was in a state of shock.

Mr. B had never ever struck any of the children before, but it was not B who was actually doing it, it looked like he was possessed by something or someone in this situation.

In the compartment, a SAADHU was also there who was watching all this silently, but after this boy's incident, he stood up like a lion and roared.

"Is it necessary to do this ominous idiotic dance and exhibit your scared-childish anger on this poor boy, and that too just before dawn, which is supposed to be the time of peace, time of God? You know this anger, this chaos is not something that blew in from far away. It is not something that has nothing to do with you, but it is something inside you."

The sadhu opened the windows of the compartment and said, "Look at this sandstorm, people! which is dancing outside this train. All you can do is give in to it and step right inside this storm. Close your eyes and plug up your ears so that the sand doesn't get in and walk through it, step by step. There is no sun out there, no moon, no direction, and even no sense of time. Just a bundle of fine sand that is swirling up into the sky like some old man's bones. That's the kind of train of thought you all should have to step in.

Not a single one of you deserves to be a part of this sacred festival of harvesting.

Now the Saadhu turned to the boy named AtoZ and rested a hand softly on the boy's shoulder. At that particular moment, the storm just vanished.

"From now on, no matter what, my dear, you have to be the world's toughest 12-year-old. That's the only way you are going to survive. And in order to do that, you need to figure out what it means to be tough. You following me, right?"

The boy, who was listening to the Sadhu with his eyes closed, gradually opened his eyes and said, "I am going to be the world's toughest 12-year-old."

Out of care and love, the Sadhu kissed him on his forehead and said, "Today you have witnessed this world's violent and bad side. No matter how strong it looks, never make the mistake of looking at everyone and everything through the eye of hatred. Most people are good and lovable, and it's just the situations and circumstances that make them appear bad. I know that right now, you are feeling deeply hurt and cut inside, like flesh cut into pieces with a thousand sharp blades. People are addicted to blood, and like today, you will bleed in the future as well."

"Hot, red-boiled blood, you will feel this blood, your blood, and the blood of others. And then..."

"When this storm of blood is over, you won't be able to recall how you made it through. You will remember in a very faded state how you managed to survive. Remember this one thing: everything will be uncertain. But one thing is certain and won't change with time, which is that you will not be the same person who walked into the storm many years ago."

It was dawn, and as usual, the rays of the sun absorbed all the darkness of the night. There was a new ray of hope inside all the passengers.

This whole thing sounds like a dream, but trust me, it's not a dreamy stuff. No matter what label you put on it, this is reality in its most cruel form.