Pete had never been an enthusiastic traveler. Nor was he an early riser except when it was for playing cricket on the overcrowded grounds of Bangalore. And yet here he was, on the Mysore railway station at 6:30 on a Monday morning waiting for the next train that would take him back to the ordeals of routine life in Bangalore. It had been a heavenly weekend with his cousins in Mysore. Sunday, which also happened to be the republic day, was one of the best days in recent memory and Pete and his cousins had hardly slept in the night... playing games, talking movies and sharing ghost stories well into the wee hours.To make matters worse, the train was delayed by 30 minutes thanks to a train accident the previous night and a derailed compartment on the tracks a couple of kilometers from the station.
"Piyush Agarwal!!" screamed a voice behind Pete. It was a young man in his early twenties talking on top of his voice on his mobile phone. "That's P-I-Y-U-S-H... yes that’s right... 'P' for Paris! Yes... Please let me know if there is any interview scheduled any time." He gave a sheepish smile to Pete and would have been run over by a coolie walking straight into him if he hadn't moved in the nick of time. Pete smiled back.
Forty-five minutes later, the train finally arrived at the platform and Pete trudged over to board it. Luckily for him, there weren't many people in his compartment and Pete settled into a quiet window seat in a corner with only one thought in his mind... to catch up on his beauty sleep. He was just about to doze off when he saw her enter the compartment.
She was like an angel. One of the prettiest faces Pete had ever seen and his heart skipped a beat. She was dressed in a light blue jeans and a simple white formal shirt and had a sling bag hanging from the shoulder with a few rolled up charts sticking out. The train had already started moving when she barged into the door and would have had a clumsy fall if she hadn't caught hold of the pole in time. She gave out an awkward smile of embarrassment which nobody seemed to notice… nobody except Pete. Pete simply could not take his eyes off the new passenger and almost did not notice that she had actually made her way right next to him and was smiling at him. "Is this seat taken?" she asked Pete pointing to an empty seat right opposite to where Pete was sitting. She had to repeat the question one more time before Pete came out of his reverie and managed a faint "N-no". Pete could not believe his luck as the girl went on to occupy the seat opposite him. Pete was consciously trying not to make eye contact with his co-passenger, lest she gets offended, and tried his best to look the other way out of the window. But he could not help but steal sporadic glances at the girl. The girl did notice him a couple of times but only smiled back almost mockingly as if to say 'Well... I caught you!' There was something about this girl that made Pete lose his sleep that day.
"Can I have the newspaper please?" the girl asked Pete pointing to the Sunday Times that Pete was holding on to. "By all means!" Pete replied looking directly into her eyes for the first time. She had amazingly enchanting eyes that Pete instantly fell in love with. "Are you a painter?" asked Pete trying to strike up a conversation. "Uh? No... Why do you ask? Oh of course... It’s these charts isn't it? Actually I am an architect. I stay here in Mysore and now I'm heading back to Bangalore where I work." she replied. "Good! Err... I mean it’s good that you are here. These journeys can get a bit boring sometimes if you are travelling alone." Pete could have kicked himself for saying that but the girl just let out a nervous laugh and replied with "Yes... I totally agree with that" putting Pete at ease. They spent the next three hours talking about different things... about their experience in Mysore, their tastes in movies, about the software MNC where Pete worked, even about the newly married couple sitting on the opposite side of the train. Pete was beginning to feel very comfortable in her company and could even make out that she was also beginning to slowly enjoy the conversation with him. All the while though, Pete could not help but notice how pretty she really was. He did have a few crushes of his own, including that cute girl who shared his cubicle space at work, but this one beat them all hands down. Pete did not realize how the time flew by until he saw the time on his watch. It was 10:30 already. Just about five more minutes, he thought. How he wished this journey would never end!
Pete noticed the young boy moving around from seat to seat trying to sell some snacks. He had been doing the rounds for quite some time and although nobody seemed to be buying any of his goods, he seemed as cheerful as ever and was constantly humming a popular bollywood tune. Pete waved out to the boy and signaled to him to come over. "Chai hai?" Pete asked the boy who seemed to be about 15 although he looked much younger. "No sir! No tea... Only chips and biscuits." came the swift reply. Pete was impressed. "You speak good English. What's your name?" "Swami, sir! Short for Swaminathan. I have studied till 5th standard sir" he said with a twinkle in his eyes just as the train pulled into the Bangalore station. Pete and his new friend were among the last passengers to alight and Pete reluctantly made his way out of the station with the girl.
"So this is it I guess!" said his friend. "I guess so. Well, I really had a good time with you... although it’s funny that I don't even know your name yet." Pete said. "Oh... yes of course!" She reached out into her bag and pulled out a card. "Here's my card. I need to go now. Do keep in touch." she said and hastily turned to go in the other direction. The card simply had the words "Saloni Joshi, Architect" along with the logo and the name of the firm that she worked for. "B-but you did not give me your phone number..." Pete protested as she was leaving. "Don't worry! I'll call you!" she replied, and before he could say anything more she had vanished into the Bangalore crowd. Pete sighed and made his way to the prepaid auto stand. That’s probably the last I'll see of her, he thought.
For the entire day, he could not stop thinking about the girl. But this was a hectic time in office with a delivery deadline looming for Friday. Pete gradually immersed himself into the work at hand and his friend from the train was slowly forgotten... until Friday came along.
Friday had always been the best day in Pete's book, indeed for any software engineer. The sheer thrill and anticipation of the weekend ahead helped Pete sail through the day and finally it was 8 pm, the time for friends. Pete and his cronies got together every Friday for a few drinks and this was no different... except that Pete had a few drinks too many and had to be literally carried home by a friend and deposited on his bed. Within no time he was fast asleep and snoring.
It was 4 in the morning when Pete suddenly woke up with a start. The first and the only thing that came to his mind was the girl from the train! He desperately wanted to talk to her, to meet her. If only he had her number, Pete thought to himself and was about to go back to sleep when he thought of an idea. "Why don’t I just Google her out?!" Pete thought to himself. With renewed vigor he leapt out of the bed to boot his laptop, opened his wallet and desperately began searching for the card that the girl had given him. He could not find the card there although he clearly remembered keeping it safely in the wallet. Pete had a good memory and he was relieved that with a little effort he remembered her name.
Pete searched for "Saloni Joshi Mysore" and was elated to find that the search had yielded a few results. The first two links talked about the paper that she had presented at a couple of architectural conferences. The third result was the link to her Facebook account but it was the fourth link that really caught his attention. It was a news article in the Times of India dated 27th January. It simply read as :
“Train derails in Mysore
Rail traffic was disrupted in Mysore on republic day after one compartment of the Bangalore-Mysore passenger train derailed at about 7 pm in the night on Sunday leaving three people dead. The deceased have been identified as Swaminathan, Piyush Agarwal and Saloni Joshi... “
In the morning, the 7'o clock alarm on Pete's clock went off... uninterrupted...
