Now Mannu
had a cold feeling now about what he had done, where he had come in search of
his love. His eyes opened up wide. Every head on the train seat was straight.
The other passengers were in a hurry and were busy packing their belongings to
make a safe and early exit from the train. The watch showed 6:30 am. The train
was only half an hour away from Borivali. God! What a feeling it was. Even the
water in the bottle, chilled by the air conditioner, couldn’t warm the chill
down his spine. Mannu looked outside to pacify his soul, but what he saw
further ignited his senses. The sun, the skies and the wet moats of dust were
immaculately the same he had dreamt of. What was it? This
moment he was living at the horizon of my real and virtual worlds. There are
some questions in our lives whose answers we never try to look for. Eventually,
the answer looks for us. A life full of love had made Mannu a better person and
transcended the average guy within him to a hero.
Pia called
up.
“Hii darling. Good morning... Happy birthday
baby.” Pia spoke in a voice that was surely coming from under the quilt.
“Thank
you sweetheart.” Mannu spoke, stifling a yawn.
“I’m
sorry, I called at night. The number you have dialled is currently
unavailable... unavailable... unavailable...’ At last I slept at 1 am Sorry jaan...” She spoke with a bite of
freshness.
“No
problem. I understood it... Okay, leave it. So when are we meeting?” Mannu
questioned Pia.
“Very
soon.” Came a reply after moments of silence in a voice that touched Mannu’s
heart.
Here he
was at the place he had seen and heard in movies. He was here to romance with
his lover Pia. At 7 am sharp Mannu was at the Borivali platform.
Be brave. You’ve come to meet her. Be a man now.
He
consoled himself and with his head straight up made way off the platform.
Signboards
in Marathi and English clearly read Borivali.Vada paav and tea stalls were lush with customers. People were in a
hurry pushing each other to make a quick exit. Mannu stood struck, confused on
which exit to take. He was also slow because a fear in him had started rising.
He wanted some time to absorb the reality that he was going to meet Pia. The
world around him seemed strange. The unknown faces still brought to life
memories of the missed meeting of October. Here Mannu knew no one else except
Pia. Some fear and nervousness was natural. His only solace was one face in
Mumbai. He decided not to rush out, took a cup of tea to calm the turmoil
within him. The service was very quick as if the waiter knew what Mannu was
going to demand. The coolies were lined up beneath a bridge that led to the
other block of the station and to the exit, but no one enquired Mannu for
assistance Still people were running in a fast pace to catch a seat in the
local trains and if that wasn’t possible, just a cling at the gates was enough
to take them to their destination. All this was very new for Mannu. As he further looked around, he found that
everything was in its natural pace, only he was slow. But there was no one
around to hear him, not now not after hours. . The pride in coming to Mumbai
urged him to speak aloud the cause of his being in Mumbai. But keeping this excitement within him was a
troubling cause. He had to be calm and composed with Pia. He had to behave in a
responsible way. Somewhere he needed to vent out the rising noose within him. Finding
no one around, he penned down his feelings. He he sat for some time to calm
down himself. The paper napkins did a good task again. Such an outflow of emotions was again new and
strange. As instructed by Pia, Mannu remembered that he had to pay Rs.1 less to
the rickshaw driver as indicated by the fare meter.
No comments:
Post a Comment