Lifetimes are spent inside cubes. Speeches end with words.
Relationships end with loneliness. So strange it is the biggest and most
important things end with something so small and meaningless. That day
inside a waiting room of a railway station, at 1:15 AM in the midnight,
there were 5 people. Everyone of them being a stranger to everyone else.
They all had to catch trains. Within next 5-6 hours. Nights are cruel.
They are silent, dark and mysterious. On a fairly cleaned railway
platform closed stalls of tea and snacks populated, not that they were
important. The roof of the platform was a steel made roof, there were
pillars, to support it. Exactly third pillar from the beginning of the
platform was near to the exit and from the exit the third door, made of
aluminum and glass was the waiting room. With white colored muddled
walls and black color painted rusted chairs, along with a table in
between. Fan was not working, but that was not really a problem. It was
an air conditioned waiting room moreover it had been raining, it was
slightly cold. That too at 1:15 AM that was 1:20 now, it feels like one
is walking within a dream, partially clueless but active enough to not
to miss a train.
5 people were there inside the waiting room. They had opened the door because the feel of the fresh air was comforting. Clouds lightened outside, with a roar and it started raining. One man, sitting nearby the doorway was looking outside. The cool breeze he could feel on his face triggered a set of memories and song, he heard in a film. One guy stood up from his chair, stood against the door, resting his shoulder, inclined on the hinge of the door. He was simply enjoying the rainfall, droplets tripping from the metallic roof, seeping in from the pores, moistening the walls and accumulating on the floor. The platform was silent, only sound that could be heard was of the rainfall. With occasional lightening, indigo sky turned into violet and then back again within flashes. The rest of the three people inside, were sleepy, but the comforting environment compelled them to stay awake and enjoy. The fat guy sitting opposite to the table, placed his feet on the table, stretched out his hands, them on his elbow and placed his palms on the backside of his head, this, while he yawned, blinked and observed water seeping in on the roof and droplets slowly making their way inside a dimly lit tube light circuitry. Of course that droplet shorted two electrical signal carrying wires and the tube light sparked. Something wrong happened there and it started flickering. The fat guy smiled, only he could tell what he was thinking. One guy sitting in the corner of the room, probably the last chair in that room, was awake, wide awake. He had a train to catch an hour earlier, which was two hours late. This is common in India. The tube light above him, got turned off, probably for the same reason as before, he didn’t care, it wasn’t hot inside. But the 5thguy did, he cursed, he was reading a book and was sitting on a row perpendicular to the 4thguy’s and on his left on the 5thseat from him. He was simply trying to kill time, that poor construction, because of which this happened, was hindering his entertainment. The only other tube light in the room was flickering. He kept his book inside a handbag, the only one he was carrying. Forcibly all were listening to the sound of the rain drops. It sounded like musical version of static on TV, irregularly patterned, intervened and consistent. The guy standing at the door, returned to his chair, “It seems, Virag mail would be delayed, further”, he just said in his husky voice, tightening his shoelace, pointing at no one, expecting an answer, the guy sitting in the corner did, “Hmmm, the way it is raining, guess it will”, in his lowest and heaviest possible tone and continued “if it does so will be Kangra Express, they have same route till Agra”. The second guy nodded, slowly placing his shoe back on the floor, which he slightly lifted to tighten and relaxed back on his chair. “Where are you going?” asked the 5thguy, who was reading, “Chandigarh” replied the second guy, and the 5thguy carried on
“Holidays?”
“No… business…. you?”
“I am going to New Delhi, same train, for an interview”
“Hm”
The clouds crackled again, it started raining, heavily, even more. The guy sitting in the corner was looking at the fat guy, who thoughts were now interfered by the conversation and was listening carefully to the rest of them, as everyone else resumed to their lost selves, he too turned his neck back to the tube light, but he had lost his interest in it, so he started looking at others, and noticed the 4thguy looking at him. He smiled in return and so did he.
“Where are you going, sirjee”, asked the fat guy, in his Seth styled tone.
“Jammu” replied the corner guy, as mysteriously as he could and continued “you?”
“Agra, Agra to Jaipur, your train is my train, too, till then”
Corner guy nodded positively, his expressions were barely noticeable.
“we have a very popular sweet shop there, if you sometime visit Jaipur, do come”, fat guy was fat probably this was the reason, thought the corner guy, he nodded in response and carried on “where are you coming from?”
“Nagpur, went to fetch my wife, she ran away, to her parents’ place, silly women these days”
“So where is she?”
“She didn’t come”
Corner guy did not want to carry on with this conversation. He stopped then and there, the guy sitting near the doorway sniffed, almost laughed. Sethji turned around,
“What’s so funny here?”
“Nothing, that dog there, looking for food near that tea stall, he knows it is closed still looking for something to eat, in the dustbin, around that stall, and he doesn’t want to wet himself, so strange silly actions he is doing”
“So you think I am a dog?” Sethji was serious
“What? I am talking about that, over there” pointing in a direction outside.
“And you say this when I am talking” loudly attracting others attention
“You asked for it” said, the first guy coldly.
Shoelace guy interrupted “Sethji, it’s alright”. Sethji calmed down, returned to his senses turned his back again towards the first guy. Shoelace guy asked the reader, “what kind of job??”
“Journalism, I just completed my degree and looking for jobs”
“Degree in Mass-comm?”
“No, I did BSc, in Zoology”
“What?”
“Seriously”
“Then why this job?”
“Because I didn’t know till now what I had to do”
“And they are accepting it?”
“They needed someone who understood biology and stuff”
“Strange”
“Yeah, people say that”
“I sell instruments, surgical instruments”
“Mm-Hmm”
Reader was no longer interested in Instrument salesman now, the corner guy spoke in between. “When you don’t know what you want to do then how can you be sure that what you are going to do will be the right thing?”
“I can’t study plant life and animal life for the rest of the my life.”
“But then you will report them, anyways you have to do what you are talking”
“I want to be a columnist”
“Then why did you do Zoology?”
“Because I didn’t get admission in medical college”
“Right now you said you want to write for newspapers”
“Then I didn’t know, what I had to do and what I should do”
The guy sitting near the door way laughed “Hah”
Reader got startled “What?”
“You were never sure, you are still not.” said the door guy
“It’s none of your business”, said the reader, “and you think you are, sadist?”
The corner guy interrupted “Easy”,
“What? Even it isn’t your business too!” said the reader.
“Alright” said the corner guy calmly.
“You want me to beat him?”, suddenly Sethji spoke, rather loudly, to the zoologist, instrument salesman interrupted, “Sethji, leave it”, slowly, trembling.
“Hah, salesman is a coward, didn’t you weep poor boy, wanna call Mum…. HaHa”, the door guy shouted
“This guy will have the better of me”, said the zoologist
“Don’t let your frustration play with you, wrong decisions will lead to more wrong decisions in that case” the corner guy said, calmly to avoid a ruckus
“What? Who are you?” said the zoologist, agitated with frustration tripping from his face
“I am a Yoga teacher, relax, let it pass, you will just be fine”, said the yoga teacher, calming down both of them, and consoled both of them made them to relax and sit down. For some time there was silence, the guy sitting on the doorway was looking outside. The clock showed 2:00AM, he was looking outside grinning. It was raining heavily.
“Guruji?” turned the doorway guy and asked the yoga teacher.
“Yes my boy?” he replied.
“How does one become a yoga teacher?”
“Well, you have to connect to your inner self, if you do then you can tell others how to do so, and if you can tell others then you are a yoga teacher?”
“No, I mean, did you join college, and took this as a subject”
“Yes I joined the Living Style, learnt the Style and became an instructor there”
“Oh… so you are a certified swindler”
“Sorry?”
“No, nothing” the doorway guy paused for a moment, “So when did you join this organization living style?”
yoga teacher spoke with a tone filled with maturity and sense, “Well, I joined their foundation course immediately my college ended, clueless I was, looking for hope that gave me, and I decided this knowledge should be passed on to others, for the benefit of us and our mankind and there, my boy, started a journey……”, the doorway guy interrupted, “Yes yes, okay I understand guruji, but did I just hear clueless??”
“Well my boy, I could find myself a job, but you know, I was not sure about that and then I found this and then people were following it blindly so I joined in and came to know…. ”
“That there is no shortage of losers in this world and you joined the people who made a fool out of them Ha Ha, Hey zoologist, this guy was giving you the lessons in life! Who few years ago didn’t even know what he wanted to do and became a white collared conman satisfying his hunt for attention and money in cheapest possible way…..”
“Mind your language you loser” shouted the yoga teacher
“Oh, guruji, what happened to your knowledge of the inner self” said the door guy with an utterly sarcastic tone. Suddenly the electronic announcement machine distracted everybody’s attention, “Passengers your attention please, train no. 12534 Pushpak express, to Lucknow from Mumbai CST is arriving in 15 minutes on platform no. 2”
The Doorway guy packed his bag and stood up to leave for the platform, not without making a comment “Good evening everyone, it was a pleasure meeting you all, please don’t mind….” Zoologist interrupted, “Who the hell are you man, why don’t you simply get lost!”
“I am the biggest loser tonight, Mr. Not-So-Sure-Who-Are-You-Actually. I am a comedian. Good Night”, said the comedian and disappeared in the rainfall.
5 people were there inside the waiting room. They had opened the door because the feel of the fresh air was comforting. Clouds lightened outside, with a roar and it started raining. One man, sitting nearby the doorway was looking outside. The cool breeze he could feel on his face triggered a set of memories and song, he heard in a film. One guy stood up from his chair, stood against the door, resting his shoulder, inclined on the hinge of the door. He was simply enjoying the rainfall, droplets tripping from the metallic roof, seeping in from the pores, moistening the walls and accumulating on the floor. The platform was silent, only sound that could be heard was of the rainfall. With occasional lightening, indigo sky turned into violet and then back again within flashes. The rest of the three people inside, were sleepy, but the comforting environment compelled them to stay awake and enjoy. The fat guy sitting opposite to the table, placed his feet on the table, stretched out his hands, them on his elbow and placed his palms on the backside of his head, this, while he yawned, blinked and observed water seeping in on the roof and droplets slowly making their way inside a dimly lit tube light circuitry. Of course that droplet shorted two electrical signal carrying wires and the tube light sparked. Something wrong happened there and it started flickering. The fat guy smiled, only he could tell what he was thinking. One guy sitting in the corner of the room, probably the last chair in that room, was awake, wide awake. He had a train to catch an hour earlier, which was two hours late. This is common in India. The tube light above him, got turned off, probably for the same reason as before, he didn’t care, it wasn’t hot inside. But the 5thguy did, he cursed, he was reading a book and was sitting on a row perpendicular to the 4thguy’s and on his left on the 5thseat from him. He was simply trying to kill time, that poor construction, because of which this happened, was hindering his entertainment. The only other tube light in the room was flickering. He kept his book inside a handbag, the only one he was carrying. Forcibly all were listening to the sound of the rain drops. It sounded like musical version of static on TV, irregularly patterned, intervened and consistent. The guy standing at the door, returned to his chair, “It seems, Virag mail would be delayed, further”, he just said in his husky voice, tightening his shoelace, pointing at no one, expecting an answer, the guy sitting in the corner did, “Hmmm, the way it is raining, guess it will”, in his lowest and heaviest possible tone and continued “if it does so will be Kangra Express, they have same route till Agra”. The second guy nodded, slowly placing his shoe back on the floor, which he slightly lifted to tighten and relaxed back on his chair. “Where are you going?” asked the 5thguy, who was reading, “Chandigarh” replied the second guy, and the 5thguy carried on
“Holidays?”
“No… business…. you?”
“I am going to New Delhi, same train, for an interview”
“Hm”
The clouds crackled again, it started raining, heavily, even more. The guy sitting in the corner was looking at the fat guy, who thoughts were now interfered by the conversation and was listening carefully to the rest of them, as everyone else resumed to their lost selves, he too turned his neck back to the tube light, but he had lost his interest in it, so he started looking at others, and noticed the 4thguy looking at him. He smiled in return and so did he.
“Where are you going, sirjee”, asked the fat guy, in his Seth styled tone.
“Jammu” replied the corner guy, as mysteriously as he could and continued “you?”
“Agra, Agra to Jaipur, your train is my train, too, till then”
Corner guy nodded positively, his expressions were barely noticeable.
“we have a very popular sweet shop there, if you sometime visit Jaipur, do come”, fat guy was fat probably this was the reason, thought the corner guy, he nodded in response and carried on “where are you coming from?”
“Nagpur, went to fetch my wife, she ran away, to her parents’ place, silly women these days”
“So where is she?”
“She didn’t come”
Corner guy did not want to carry on with this conversation. He stopped then and there, the guy sitting near the doorway sniffed, almost laughed. Sethji turned around,
“What’s so funny here?”
“Nothing, that dog there, looking for food near that tea stall, he knows it is closed still looking for something to eat, in the dustbin, around that stall, and he doesn’t want to wet himself, so strange silly actions he is doing”
“So you think I am a dog?” Sethji was serious
“What? I am talking about that, over there” pointing in a direction outside.
“And you say this when I am talking” loudly attracting others attention
“You asked for it” said, the first guy coldly.
Shoelace guy interrupted “Sethji, it’s alright”. Sethji calmed down, returned to his senses turned his back again towards the first guy. Shoelace guy asked the reader, “what kind of job??”
“Journalism, I just completed my degree and looking for jobs”
“Degree in Mass-comm?”
“No, I did BSc, in Zoology”
“What?”
“Seriously”
“Then why this job?”
“Because I didn’t know till now what I had to do”
“And they are accepting it?”
“They needed someone who understood biology and stuff”
“Strange”
“Yeah, people say that”
“I sell instruments, surgical instruments”
“Mm-Hmm”
Reader was no longer interested in Instrument salesman now, the corner guy spoke in between. “When you don’t know what you want to do then how can you be sure that what you are going to do will be the right thing?”
“I can’t study plant life and animal life for the rest of the my life.”
“But then you will report them, anyways you have to do what you are talking”
“I want to be a columnist”
“Then why did you do Zoology?”
“Because I didn’t get admission in medical college”
“Right now you said you want to write for newspapers”
“Then I didn’t know, what I had to do and what I should do”
The guy sitting near the door way laughed “Hah”
Reader got startled “What?”
“You were never sure, you are still not.” said the door guy
“It’s none of your business”, said the reader, “and you think you are, sadist?”
The corner guy interrupted “Easy”,
“What? Even it isn’t your business too!” said the reader.
“Alright” said the corner guy calmly.
“You want me to beat him?”, suddenly Sethji spoke, rather loudly, to the zoologist, instrument salesman interrupted, “Sethji, leave it”, slowly, trembling.
“Hah, salesman is a coward, didn’t you weep poor boy, wanna call Mum…. HaHa”, the door guy shouted
“This guy will have the better of me”, said the zoologist
“Don’t let your frustration play with you, wrong decisions will lead to more wrong decisions in that case” the corner guy said, calmly to avoid a ruckus
“What? Who are you?” said the zoologist, agitated with frustration tripping from his face
“I am a Yoga teacher, relax, let it pass, you will just be fine”, said the yoga teacher, calming down both of them, and consoled both of them made them to relax and sit down. For some time there was silence, the guy sitting on the doorway was looking outside. The clock showed 2:00AM, he was looking outside grinning. It was raining heavily.
“Guruji?” turned the doorway guy and asked the yoga teacher.
“Yes my boy?” he replied.
“How does one become a yoga teacher?”
“Well, you have to connect to your inner self, if you do then you can tell others how to do so, and if you can tell others then you are a yoga teacher?”
“No, I mean, did you join college, and took this as a subject”
“Yes I joined the Living Style, learnt the Style and became an instructor there”
“Oh… so you are a certified swindler”
“Sorry?”
“No, nothing” the doorway guy paused for a moment, “So when did you join this organization living style?”
yoga teacher spoke with a tone filled with maturity and sense, “Well, I joined their foundation course immediately my college ended, clueless I was, looking for hope that gave me, and I decided this knowledge should be passed on to others, for the benefit of us and our mankind and there, my boy, started a journey……”, the doorway guy interrupted, “Yes yes, okay I understand guruji, but did I just hear clueless??”
“Well my boy, I could find myself a job, but you know, I was not sure about that and then I found this and then people were following it blindly so I joined in and came to know…. ”
“That there is no shortage of losers in this world and you joined the people who made a fool out of them Ha Ha, Hey zoologist, this guy was giving you the lessons in life! Who few years ago didn’t even know what he wanted to do and became a white collared conman satisfying his hunt for attention and money in cheapest possible way…..”
“Mind your language you loser” shouted the yoga teacher
“Oh, guruji, what happened to your knowledge of the inner self” said the door guy with an utterly sarcastic tone. Suddenly the electronic announcement machine distracted everybody’s attention, “Passengers your attention please, train no. 12534 Pushpak express, to Lucknow from Mumbai CST is arriving in 15 minutes on platform no. 2”
The Doorway guy packed his bag and stood up to leave for the platform, not without making a comment “Good evening everyone, it was a pleasure meeting you all, please don’t mind….” Zoologist interrupted, “Who the hell are you man, why don’t you simply get lost!”
“I am the biggest loser tonight, Mr. Not-So-Sure-Who-Are-You-Actually. I am a comedian. Good Night”, said the comedian and disappeared in the rainfall.
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