Ashish got back after a couple of hours to that same place where he sat when he came in and sat down in the same posture. Everything seemed to be back to normal with the coming of Ashish once again. Santosh who was half tossed in his sleep and half tossed in puzzlement at Sona’s strange behavior, found Ashish as his savior. Ruma too came down to have her dinner and was glancing the Femina magazine lazily, when the appearance of Ashish brought some kind of a fresh lease of air to her. Only Sona didn’t and couldn’t resume back to her normalcy. She kept staring outside the window seeing nothing, but avoiding everyone and everything around her.
“Hey Ashish, will you be in touch with us? Here take my cell number.”
“Thanks Santosh! Sure, I would love to. And don’t get angry if I call you back to interfere once again into your lives. Here, this is mine.”
“Oh, come on! You are always welcomed and we would be glad to have you with us at any part of our lives.”
“Thanks buddy.”
“Here, this is mine!”
“Oh great! Thanks Ruma. Will be in touch.”
“May I have your cell number, Sunanda?”
“I don’t have a cell. This is my father’s cell. If you wish to have his number you have to take his permission.”
“Ok! Not an issue. He is a busy person, so why to bother him. It’s fine with me.”
Santosh was in an awe to see such rudeness in Sona forAshish. But he couldn’t dare to counteract her false statement. He could only sympathize with Ashish.
The night seemed to be never-ending and irritating for Sona. She lost all her peace of mind and remained awake all through the darkness. She felt she was going through a hell and Ashish reigning there as king.
The night swiftly passed and with the rise of dawn Sona felt warm and cozy sitting with others around her. She didn’t pay much heed to the man whose sight disturbed her last evening and was regaining her normalcy. Ashish’s carefree talks and behavior had put everyone to ease. He often took occasional breaks to loiter in the next compartments or to get back to his sincere habit of smoking.
With the arrival of Vijaywada station, the passenger’s eagerness to get down created a rush in front of all the compartments’ doors. And that’s because Vijaywada station is synonymous to food station. People got up and down the train in search of food and beverage. Mango, banana and pineapple shakes being at the top of the menu charts. Santosh, Amit and Sona’s father too got down to stretch their backs by taking a brisk walk. Sona too wanted to get down but couldn’t as she lacked a company. However, at last, she couldn’t resist the mango shakes displayed outside the window. She got up from her seat and moved towards the compartment door, all alone.
Hey eyes and her feet went fixed at the sight of Ashish at the door. He was standing in his usual manner leaning against the door, his left hand in his trouser pockets and gaily piping out bubbles of smoke. He didn’t notice her at first as he was looking outside the chaos happening all over the Vijaywada station. But as she moved front towards the door his eyes met hers. She quickly dropped down her eyes to avoid any kind of contact with him. He slowly moved back and made a way for her.
She didn’t look up to thank him and simply fixed her eyes on her next careful next. She got down carefully and properly maintaining the kind of air she carried with her. She went straight upto the nearest fruit juice shop available. It was crowded and she had to wait for a long time before her turn came. In the mean time, she glanced twice at the door. On the first time, she saw Ashish coolly making rings of smoke with his cigarette. And another time, she saw him observing another lady who turned her back towards him and his head gradually turning from there to hers.
Facing Ashish made her shudder in fear, anger and most importantly, helplessness. She felt too weak and meek when he stared at her. And to get away from that look she took her mango glass, paid her money and moved to the other side of the platform where the humdrums of the crowd lesser and where Ashish would not bother to disturb. She sat on a platform bench and closed her eyes at ease. But she didn’t realize that these few seconds would be pretty a long time. She had fallen asleep and didn’t hear the whistles of the train or the start of it. Suddenly a passenger’s hand bag hit her head so badly that she jerked from her sleep only to find that her train was leaving her in an unknown place.
