Friday, January 11, 2008

The Suspension

Phewww”-a deep warm sigh emerged out of Atin’s otherwise cold nostrils. Its 9:50 and he had missed the 9:36 Diamond Harbor local for only a few minutes. “What now??”-thought Atin. Being a daily passenger in this route he knew that the 11:20 Diamond Harbor always remains overcrowded.” I will again have to hang from the gates”- thought Atin.

At this stage, we should make ourselves a little bit familiar with Atin. Who he is? From where he has come all these details are immaterial here. The sufficient information about Atin is that he is still single and works for a B.P.O.

“Whooooosh-koooooooo”- the 11:20 arrived at Bullygunge junction with the passengers hanging from everywhere and it is only Bullygunge so it has way to go and gather some more stubborn passengers.Atin managed to keep a foot in the train and the train left the station.

“Shit! here comes the fatigue again!!”-thought Atin, his forearm was aching because of hanging. The passengers know that the only way to get rid or better to say, suppress the pain is to indulge in some conversation with someone so that the mind may remain distracted. Atin looked at his sides. At right was a coughing old man (possibly an alcoholic), he looked as if his days are almost over.Atin looked at left. A lean and pale boy was hanging there. Despite of the poverty that clearly reflected from his clothing, his eyes were exceptionally bright almost like glittering marbles. “ Hi!”- said Atin. The boy looked at him n smiled.” Are you habituated with this kind of journey??”.” No, not really. But I reckon I better do so”- replied the boy and the conversation started. From the boy’s words, Atin came to know that his name is Asesh. Previously they belonged to a middle class family as his father worked as an LIC agent. When he was eleven, his father passed by. Asesh finished his studies with great difficulty and secured a job in a small company. He has his mother in the home and his mother is completely dependent on him.

Surprisingly Atin realized that this guy has a great potential to be his friend so the conversation never seemed to stop and the train got crowded even more. Being an experienced fellow Atin was able to orient himself in a comfortable position but Asesh was unable to do so. But still they continued to talk as if they were a pair of long separated friends. Then the moment came.

It was between Baghajatin n Garia. A fellow inside the train elbowed a man standing at the gate. Unable to control himself, the man fell over Asesh n Asesh was so absent minded that he failed to withstand the thrust. As his grip slipped from the bar, he tried to clasp the air. Once, twice, thrice but the air betrayed him, a screeching halt, few droplets of fresh bloods stained Atin's face. “oh my god!!”” what happened”- questions n comments from all over the compartment filled the air. It took 5 mins to Atin to realize what actually has happened.

Finally the train got running after 15 mins but it again made a long stop as it reached Garia. Atin got off from the train, sprinkled some water on his face n vomited a little. He could not believe that the boy, to whom he was talking moments earlier, is now no more. The train reached Sonarpur most of the passengers left the train. Atin retired to a vacant corner n occupied a seat there, when a lady entered.

She was an angel, an absolute beauty, “ Wow!!”- thought Atin, she must have fallen from the heavens!! Atin stared at her, as if a child is staring at candies. The girl noticed it n came to him n sat next to him. The hint of smile in her face encouraged Atin to speak to her-“Are you a regular passenger??” “Oh no!! But I will be one soon.” “Do you work in ********??”, “ yeah! I work in a phone booth”………….. The girl’s name was Puja. She lived in **********. Atin came to know many more information about her but I will not bore the reader narrating all them. In a nutshell, a small bud of romance bloomed in both minds. Atin thought himself to be lucky to board 11:20. Time went on as if he has a hurry to attend the first class in the school n ******** arrived. Atin will get off in the next station. In the meantime, he managed a date with Puja. Atin wondered of the times when he got humiliated by his friends for being single, of the time when Priya dumped him leaving him all alone, now he has an answer to all of them, he has arranged a date with a gorgeous lady.

While building all these castles in the air n talking to Puja, Atin unmindfully reached the door. All on a sudden, the train gave a powerful jerk as if something huge has thrashed on its sidewalls, the passengers all fell on each other n on the ground. Puja got smashed with the seats. When she managed to get into control, she looked for Atin. He was not there. A loud shriek came out of Puja’s throat n the train squeaked to a halt for the second time. Soon the guards n the stuffs arrived. “Very unfortunate case indeed, anyway its a suspension problem”- reported the engineer.

Next day, when Puja entered the same compartment, she saw a very handsome guy staring at her. As usual, the conversation started soon. The guy’s name was Pradip. It took no time to turn strangers into friends n friends into something special. Pradip managed Puja for their first date at some place. Meanwhile the train reached ********. Pradip went to the door and………..

No, nothing happened this time. It reached the next station safely n Pradip boarded off. Whether Pradip became able to impress Puja on their date or if the became able to marry her are all immaterial here. But one thing for sure- Both the animate n inanimate suspensions worked fine this time!!


Note:- Carefully note the nomenclature n the words in bold at the end, think......., this is not a very easy to comprehend type of story, n the english of the author is a little bit weak so please excuse him.

1 comment:

GrEeN said...

great follow up
short and sweet with moral being incuded
we wish to hear (read: see) more of ur literary skills than boring engineering stuff that u post

POST MORE

ciao