Room 211

A creepy sound of laughter sprung out besides my compartment to wake me up from my semi asleep state. I was inside the Allahabad-Lucknow Inter city express on a business trip to Lucknow, it was 12:00 AM when I reached the Lucknow central railway station. I don’t clearly remember what all happened in the train except showing my ticket and PAN card to the TT. As I got down, I rushed towards the overhead bridge to move towards the exit, it was midway where in between the crowd a guy with black and white check shirt under an old half sleeves sweater and a poorly ironed white trousers approached me “sir, Auto?” he asked I took out the piece of paper from my left pocket which comprised of the address of the hotel located at Hazratganj. I did not know where Hazratganj is nor did I get any reply from Swati since afternoon when I had messaged her. I had even tried calling her but she didn’t pick up. “Bhaiya, Hotel, guest house wherever you want to go I will get you a suitable deal” the auto driver said. “Actually there is a hotel in this place called Hazratganj. Here is the address. Do you know about this place?” I asked him while showing him the piece of paper. “I will take you there at Hazratganj and then we will ask someone for the location” he said and took my luggage “follow me sir”. “Hey listen, can you also stop at a tea stall? I also need to smoke..” I asked while following him, ge nodded without looking at me. The Hazratganj area of Lucknow kind of reminded me of Delhi's Cannaught Place. There weren’t much people on the road at that time. Upon reaching the hotel, the auto driver asked for Rs 500. I knew he was fooling but since I was in no mood to argue, I gave it to him. I looked at my phone again but still there was no sign of Swati. I sent her another message , this time saying ‘Are you there? Anyway I hav reachd the hotl n pls cal me upon seeing dis msg’. A uniformed gentleman led me to the room, his eyes looked half sleepy and red, as if he was stoned. I loved the way the room was decorated; single bed, a television, chairs with cushions and a wooden almirah. The reason why I love travelling and staying in hotel apart from the fact that they have big and clean washrooms is that the hanging lampshades, which you can turn on during the night mix very well with old melodies. Unfortunately today the loudspeaker of my phone is not working so I had the lamps turned off when I heard sound of violin being played. It was the first time in life when I loved the tune of violin, it was so melodious to hear that I could take notice of when I fell asleep. The next day I was supposed to reach at 10.00 AM at Motimahal playground. When I woke up I checked the time, it was 9.30 AM, I knew I would be late now, I went to take bath, two mugs of water and a single drop of face wash was all it took for a quick freshness. I was about to leave from the room when the uniformed guy greeted me with a tray with tea and a plate of pasta, it was at that moment I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything the previous day also. Anyways, I reached the venue at 10.30 AM when I finally received a reply from Swati ‘ok, sorry for the late reply' that was all she texted. I was thankfully that she atleast has my presence in the records. This was actually a boring 3 day event which meant I have to go through the same boredom for 2 more days.. When I returned back to hotel, I could again hear the sound of violin, this time I could sense that it came from room 211. I looked through the peephole and could see a women in white sitting on the sofa and playing the instrument. She had long hairs and u fortunately that was all I could observe through all that haziness. The tune of her violin relieved me of all the stress I had garnered because of work. I reached my room and the violin tune again led me to sleep. When I woke up it was 10.20 PM. I immediately ordered for dinner, while waiting for it to arrive I could not let go the thought of that long haired women. She has the potential to make it big, or has she some to Lucknow for that purpose only? The next day same routine began, until I was back from work, I could hear the violin tune and today I stopped by room 211, I stared through the peephole and knocked on the door, she was still playing violin, I again knocked, she stopped playing and turned around a little bit, “Hi” I said There was no response, she was quiet. I continued “hey listen, I live upstairs and work for an event management company, I love your music and feel that you are gifted and I can help you to utilize this talent for your betterment”. She turned back without responding and continued with her violin routine. This was not the first time when a girl had neglected me but this incident did put an impact. The violin tune which was a stress-buster instantly became a thorn for me. The whole night I was thinking of why I had to make a fool out of myself again, why cant I control myself when I see a girl, am I a pervert? Or do I look like one. The next day morning I was still depressed and while I was walking down the stairs I decided to at least make her clear about my intention. I knocked on the door and obviously there was no answer. “If you are listening then let me tell you, I dont have any personal interest in you. All I wanted was to enhance your talent, that’s it. Yes men like us exist who are selfless, helpful and most likely to get hurt from women like you. In the evening when I came back from work, there was no sound of violin, I looked through the peephole and all I could see was red and maroon colour blurred all over, maybe she had put some cloth around the peephole so that I finally stop stalking her, thank God I was about to checkout the next day. The next day when I woke up I packed all my stuff and headed downstairs. Just like the previous day I stood in front of room 211 for the last time. “I am about to check out shortly, if you ever want a big platform for showcasing your skill, I am leaving my visiting card outside your door, goodbye.” I said and looked through the peephole once, again the red and maroon background. I went towards the reception downstairs. “Hope you enjoyed your stay sir.” the receptionist said. “yeah, although I was mostly outside.” I said to which she smiled. Since she appeared to be friendly I thought about enquiring about the violin girl once. “By the way there is a person in room 211, does she have any social issue?” I asked. “211 ?” she asked “yes” I replied “you tried to talk to her?” she asked “actually I work for an event management company and when we get these kind if artists, it's a treat for us because we are always ready to promote new talent, I looked through the peephole and tried to talk to her about this, but she ignored. I know it sounds like stalking but that was not my purpose. She looked at the computer screen and then looked at me, “since you went to such extent, I will tell you the answer but you need to have some water first." The uniformed man came with a tray consisting of bisleri, while I was drinking it, the receptionist continued the story “her name was Alisha Fernandez, she had died 6 months ago while sleeping. Two of her qualities discriminated her from others. The first one was of course as you know, her breath-taking violin skills, and the other one being her red eyes.” The reply of her sent a chill through my spine, she possessed red eyes, I had looked right through a dead being's eyes. After returning, I was sick for 2 days. Although life is normal now, but my first experience in Lucknow still gives me goosebumps.