Standing at the crowded Tambaram station, she shifted the
umbrella to the other hand, and wiped the grime and sweat from her brow. After waiting
for him for the past one hour, her patience was beginning to wear thin. She
made her way through the crowd and sat on a bench overlooking the station entrance
which admitted a fresh stream of passengers every minute. Dipak had promised to
meet her there after his classes got over. The station was a half an hour ride
away from his college. The signal near his college was notorious for its hour
long traffic jams. There was a very good chance that he got caught in one of
them. Or maybe there was the extra class which the head of the department had
been planning for long time. She tried to pacify herself by trying to reason
out the delay in his presence, but was running out of both time and excuses.
The group of girls who had taken seat next to her were
discussing the latest Surya movie. She found the topic of discussion
excessively juvenile and was annoyed at the effect their presence had on her
already disturbed mind. Thankfully, their talks came to an end and they
dispersed.
All her previous calls made to Dipak had gone unanswered.
Fidgeting with the mobile she debated if she should just walk away and board
the train. As if on a cue, the unmistakable automated female voice announced loudly,
“Passengers please pay attention! The next train to Chennai Beach will be
arriving shortly on platform number 1” and then the voice continued to relay
the message in Tamil and Hindi. Her eyes looked furtively at the group of
people, scanning them for Dipak’s familiar face. Her irresolute state of mind
was proving to be of no help. Next moment, the train pulled in sounding loud
notes; women made their way to the ladies compartment, others moved towards the
closest coach with an empty seat.
Dipak was nowhere in sight. Reluctant, she took slow steps and
climbed into a coach. As she settled into a seat in the farthest corner of the
coach, with a heavy heart, eyes brimming with tears, she silently made a vow
not to wait for him. It was all empty promises, with heart break written all
over it. As the train chugged out, her mobile notified a message from D. He wrote:
Mamta came back with the kids. She is not agreeing to the divorce, and we fought a little. I am sorry, it got late and I
missed my train. I have boarded the next train; will meet you in Tambaram shortly.
Without a second thought she typed back: Do not wait for me. Its time you make a
choice. Goodbye.
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda. WOW theme of the week: Post must include the line: '... and I missed my train.'
