The Last wasted Evening

Disclaimer: All incidents and characters mentioned in the story are purely fictional. Any resemblance to real life characters is a mere coincidence

“Come fast. The Train will start soon. How many times should I have to tell you, be proactive and plan your things well in advance? You will never listen to me. Look at Sridhar’s son. He is…” were the words from my father which were not even making an attempt to reach my ears. Rather, my eyes were following few fellow passengers who were dragging their trolleys, suitcases and rushing their kids. I felt irritated and humiliated as people passing by gave me a ridicule look checking my father’s treatment in a public place. Suddenly something caught my attention. A girl, in her early twenties, relaxed and casual, walked past me. I was sure she was going to board my train. She never cared to give me back a glance. Let alone a smile!!! What was wrong with her? My mind started forming theories as my brain was flooding with questions “Come on look back at me. You are not going to lose any points with just one look. Don’t I look smart?”

Theory of Mobility
1. Girls traveling in the same direction as you will never even try giving you a side glance no matter how good you look or how neatly you’re dressed

2. Girls who are traveling in the opposite direction, especially the ones coming out of the station will definitely look at you, no matter how bad you’re looking or how bad you’re dressed

Most middle class families choose Three Tier AC as their mode of travel. An ordinary middle class family would go for the affordable 3 tier AC which comes with little luxury. It becomes difficult for someone to figure out if the person traveling in 3 tier AC is from a high class or a normal middle class. It so happens everytime, the compartment that I am supposed to travel is always in the far end. My dad had to catch his breathe and then he compared my seat numbers with the travel chart

Theory of Anxiety
Before boarding the train everyone likes to take a look at the travel chart. Guys like to check the chart for any young girl traveling in the same bay with them. Without any surprise one can guess my bay will never have any girl. Just not my bay, but the whole of my compartment would be void of any girl. One might also add the 2 compartments preceding and succeeding to the list.

As usual, I was totally annoyed and frustrated with no luck. “It’s going to be a gay club for the entire 12 hour journey” I thought. My dad and I got inside the compartment to place the luggage in place before someone else could load their bags under everyone’s seat including mine. We came out to have a casual chat with couple of my father’s office folks who had come to see him at the station. The girl whom I had seen while entering the station had disappeared into some second sleeper. I detached myself from their official chit chats and saw a big gang coming out of nowhere. A girl in that group caught my attention. After all, god was not that bad. I missed that girl in no time and now I could see a more striking beauty than the other one, approaching my compartment. Something from the inside told me that she was going to travel in my compartment. I kept my fingers crossed “Let her come. I will wait”

The group had couple of old men, old women, young lasses and lads. My assumptions started fixing the people and their relationship with the beautiful lass. The not so old yet old pair could be the beautiful looking girl’s parents. The very old couple could be her grandparents. One of the young pair could be married and might be her brother and sister-in-law. The teen guy could be her younger brother. All the married people were waiting in the platform while she and her younger brother took all the luggage and bags inside and came out in a short while. They joined the group in a minute and continued to chat. I stood there watching them.

Suddenly the signal turned green and I heard a loud honk from the engine as the train started moving slowly. The elder and the younger couple got inside. Everybody were waving their hands to their beloved ones. My dad insisted me to get into the train as it started to gain some pace. “What’s wrong with her” I thought. “Isn’t she getting inside or is she going to catch up just about when the train moved faster?” I was puzzled. Dad waved his hands as I waved him back. She never moved an inch and then, I saw exactly for whom she really was. She opened her wallet and took out her mobile and messaged someone. Only then it struck me that she had come to the station to send off her parents, grandparents, brother and her in-law. She walked away from the station as I stood at the door like a jerk watching her beautiful face fade away

Theory of Getting Fooled
You see a beautiful girl in the station; she is all smiling, brilliantly dressed, the most beautiful girl you would’ve ever seen for the 135th time. She stands just a few meters away from you with all old people and not a single smart guy of your age group around her; she is not using her mobile for sweet nothings and your expectations swell to start a casual chat with her once she boards the train. If things go as smooth and yielding as this, she will definitely start the conversation with a guy by texting or calling him. You will just remain a spectator until she gets down at her station. Else she would have just come to send off someone and leave you alone in the party

I consoled myself for the tragic incident that had happened. I walked back to my seat

Theory of Anti-Climax
You dress up too much as if you are going for a Saturday night party; You have the best colognes in the whole world; You’ve got the Apple’s revolutionary THE IPOD; You’ve got the best John Gresham novel in hand; You’ve the most fabulous Led Zeppelin or a Pink Floyd ring tone in your mobile; You will finally see guys from down south, with the traditional yellow bag in a slightly faded dhoti with nose piercing, lot of ancient jewelry on them, forehead containing kumkum which would be the size of a one rupee coin

I was listening to the chit chats of the elderly co-passengers. I switched off my IPOD, changed the ring tone and carefully placed the novel inside my backpack.

After sometime I decided to at least go for a stall up till the last sleeper coach to check out the other girl, who got into the train when I entered the station

Theory of Exhaustion
If a guy takes the pain to check his “la belle” and travels the whole length of the train in finding her, the Railways Department takes care of allocating seats in such a way that the girl would be sitting among a group of men whose age would definitely be above 50 or sitting opposite to a guy who will be over studious and will never have any interest on girls and will only pay attention to his GMAT book throughout the journey

I took a U turn towards my compartment not wanting to see such things in my life again. I was in no interest to traverse the other half of the train to try some of my luck (?!) with other girls (hardly if any)

I ate the Bread Butter Jam which I had bought after I had fought with my father. He insisted me to get a Dosa or some solid food and not the American Food. I refused to buy Dosa or anything of his choice just to portray myself as a Hi-fi Software Engineer

I finished the dinner and arranged my sheets and the pillow. The train was nearing the next station and I finally lay down on my berth.

The train came to a halt at the station. I could hear lot of voices coming closer. Suddenly I saw a beautiful girl passing by my bay. I just told myself, “Calm self. After all she will never end up taking any berth in the compartment. Just close the eyes and sleep”. After sometime I heard a sweet voice waking me up. It was her, the same girl who passed my bay a few minutes back. She was looking for the correct seat number I thought. “Can you please pass the bed sheet and the pillows?” She asked. “Yeah sure” I said and passed her things. She thanked and took the lower berth

Theory of mistiming
You will get a piece of your meal one day for sure. I’m not kidding. Seriously!!!
A girl satisfying all your calculations boards the train, the same compartment as yours and the same bay where you belong to. She boards at the 6th station from the source station where you’ve boarded some 3 Hrs back. You get a glimpse of her beautiful face, only from the upper berth when you’ve already made the arrangements to shut down your body system for the night. She will definitely be allotted a berth far from the reach of your eyes in the upper berth ensuring that you can never give her a glance, while she is sleeping and while you manage to keep awake the whole night
Adding insult to the injury, she will get down from the train way before you open your eyes in the morning and only to find an old lady in her late 50s sitting in the same berth watching the sceneries outside from the inside, where your angel of dreams had been sleeping the previous night

I woke up in the morning hearing the mobile alarm. The train was just nearing the outskirts of the city. Few people were awake by then. I stretched out my body from the upper berth to check if she was still there. To my surprise, she was still there!!! It was pitch dark but I still could say it was her. I thought for a moment and without any hesitation I withdrew my wallet and found a pen inside my backpack. I took out a piece of paper from the wallet and scribbled my name and my mobile number on it and threw it on her. I thought she might find the chit when she wakes up and if she cares for a casual relationship as me, then I assumed I had hit the Bulls Eye. Though there was a 50-50 chance, I still had a gut feeling she would call me back.

I got down from the train and with one final look at her I moved towards the exit, pulling my trolley and the travel bag. Suddenly from nowhere I heard a voice “Sir, Tickets please”. I stopped and stared at the checking inspector with a weary look. I took out my wallet to show him the ticket. Checking my wallet, pant pockets, shirt pockets, backpack dint really help. And suddenly it struck me; the paper which I had scribbled my name and number to throw on the girl who was sleeping in the lower berth was my very own Train Ticket. I turned around immediately but managed only to see the last compartment passing me.

I explained the Inspector that I had missed the ticket in the train. He was in no mood to listen to me. Other passengers started to queue and show him their ticket. Many good looking women stopped to show the tickets too. They gave me a scornful look and I was facing the ground standing still.

“Come on. Follow me to the room” the Inspector said. I followed him to pay the price

*******THE END *******