The compartment was crowded and suffocating.The Hot April afternoon seemed cruel and harsh. I tried to reach for my seat in vain,as I knew it was impossible for me to argue with the excited mob who were overjoyed to visit the nearby fair and was responsible for the overcrowding in the coach. I knew I had to bear with them for an hour more till they reach their destination.
The compartment seemed to be much better after the excited crowd got down and I finally managing to get my seat. I had just settled down looking out from the window when a familiar voice startled me.A man in his mid thirties,tall,well built,with sharp eyes was standing just in front of me.I was quite surprised too as I had never imagined that I would ever meet him again and like this.His smile was still electrifying and I got transported back to the days when I had given away my heart to this Man who still managed to make me feel like an adolescent consumed in love.
I composed myself and asked-"What a surprise,where are you going?" To which he replied that he was going for some business meeting.Call it luck or sweet coincidence, he had the seat adjacent to mine and I knew life might be offering us a second chance,but I knew it was late, infact too late.
I was surprised to find that he still had the watch I gave him which he wore as a lucky charm for important days.We still argued over Chicken Biriyani being better than Mutton Biriyani and referring to Tagore's lines every now and then.
Everything was so pure and so happy yet everything was so different.That's the saga of life I suppose that sometimes it leaves us estranged in our own island of confusions.We discussed a lot of things from politics to Cinema, literature to painting but not "Us",maybe both of us carefully refrained from entangling into it yet again.
At night when all went to bed I too looked out of the window gazing at the stars of the night sky twinkling brightly.The cool breeze seemed to comfort the heat of the scorching day.The moon was as if draped in her brightest attire lightning up every thing. I looked at him though I wanted not to look.He was in deep sleep,looked innocent and peaceful like the Moon. I felt as if I have never seen him this closely or had I not met him this way I would never have known that "He was this beautiful"...
It was late at night or I guess in the wee hours of the daybreak when a tap woke me up and it was he smiling at me, ready to get down at his destination. I could hardly open my eyes but he slid a paper in my hand and got down.The train didn't halt there for more than a minute. I was still looking out from my window waving at him while the train gathered speed. When he was out of sight, I switched on the light to read the note,it read-" I never knew that you look so beautiful in your sleep, I guess better than me.I saw you gazing at me while I pretended to be asleep. I know you will get mad at me for this but you know somethings never change. I religiously take out time to read your stories in your blogs and like every time you amaze me. I have not found anyone who has turned my sins into poetry like you do everytime.Take care and keep me alive in your lines......"
I knew somethings really never change and some pains just get seasoned with time and stop hurting us....