8:44 Slow Local to Thane
----Panchanan G.
Look at the person sitting next to when you are on a bus or a train. Look at the person selling you Vada Paw or Tea on the street or the guy trying to sell you a credit card in the metro station. You see a million people all around every day. And the best part is they all are guests in our story and so we are in theirs. And someday, we meet someone for a reason because that someone is a good story waiting to be told.
Let me introduce myself first: I am Darshana, 26 years old girl from Assam working as an HR Generalist for XYZ Company in Mumbai. Not that I specifically like anything about this city but at the end of the month I get paid for what I do. For me, that is the biggest source of motivation; at least for the next couple of years.
Day 1
That day was a mess. My flight got delayed by 4 hours and I had to go office to attend a meeting with my luggage bag. Problem is when you return from home after 12 days of leaving your size of the bag increases five times with mom’s love and recipes. As expected the meeting ended quite late and after dinner, I had to hurry to Thane station. Somehow I managed to get up in 12:05 last Panvel train with my huge luggage bag. Phew!! That was some work. I had 17 minutes before arriving at Kopar Khairane station.
Till then I had not noticed that I did not get up in the ladies compartment. It is not a problem in this city though. There was a boy in formal outfit sitting in front of me busy with his phone. Two elderly people were talking among themselves and a couple at the far corner… eehhhh!! Forget it. The real problem would be exactly after 16 minutes when I would get down at Kopar Khairane station. The staircases of the subway are so stiff that I always have to drag myself and that day I had a luggage bag. ‘I should be fine, I will figure something out’ that was the only thought I had in my mind.
The boy sitting in front of me was still busy with his phone. I peaked at his phone, reading the BBC. The couples were still busy among themselves. The other two elderly people got down at Ghansoli station. ‘Three more minutes and I will have not figured out what would I do with my luggage bag. Oh God!!’ I thought. I could see the boy in front of me was ready to get down at the next station. Suddenly I could see a thin ray of hope. The train slowed and had picked up my bag and literally dragged it down of the train. I desperately needed help!
“Hi! Excuse me.” I know the phrase ‘strong independent woman’ does not work at midnight with a 12 kg luggage bag at Kopar Khairane station. Let’s be practical.
“Yes,” He was looking right at me and he has a nice voice and definitely waiting for me to say something. 10 seconds pause….
“Can you please help me with my bag?” I am fumbling and I do not know why.
“Sure, Come along” He picked my bag started to walk down the staircase. He is just in front of me with my bag and I am just following him. ‘He is the messenger of God’ I thought.
“There you go,” He said after we came out of the station.
“Thank you so much” It was such a relief for me.
“Sure” He started walking away and for the next two minutes, all I did was stood there and kept looking at him from behind. I was just thankful.
Day 2
After a lazy Sunday, I got ready for work. As usual, I had to run to the station to take 8:44 Thane Local. This train is not usually crowded and I usually reach the office by 9:20 AM. I reached Platform No 2 at 8:42 and waited for the train to arrive. Suddenly when I looked to my right I saw the boy who helped me on Saturday night. ‘I have to talk to him and thank him once again’ I thought. When the train arrived I got in the same first-class compartment and took a seat right in front of him. He was busy with his phone. I had 17 minutes to make a conversation. The train had crossed Ghansoli station and yet I was waiting with a hope that he would lookup.
“Hi” I called him when I had realised that waiting would not help anymore. There was not a thing but I just wanted to thank him for helping me out the other night.
“Hi” He definitely looked confused.
“Do you remember me? You helped me out with my luggage bag on Saturday night.” I tried to be calm.
He has a pair of beautiful eyes, sharp jawlines, well-maintained figure and definitely a sportsman. He was handsome from the depth of his eyes.
“Ohh Yes. Hi how are doing today?” He smiled. ‘Oh God he would kill a lot many girls with his smile’
“I am good. How are you?”
“Good, for now.”
“I just wanted to thank you for everything.”
“You had already thanked me the other night.”
“Right. Anyway I am Darshana”
“Myself Pranay”
“Nice to meet you” I was confused had nothing to say.
“Yes same here.” He got back to his phone.
The train was about to reach Thane Station. We got down; he waved at me and disappeared among thousands of people. The entire day at work I kept thinking about him. I was so foolish. I could have talked for some time, maybe asked his number as I was pretty sure that he lived in Kopar Khairane.
Day 3
It was 8:41 and I was waiting for the train. And yes, I saw him. I made up my mind that I would utilize the entire 17 minutes until we reach Thane station. As usual, I sat in front of him.
“Hi” I was really very happy to see him.
“Hello, stranger. How are you doing today?” He was cheerful.
“So far good. You?”
“Could have been better, could have been though too.” He was quoting Nicholas Sparks.
“Different” I pretended. He smiled back.
“Khaled Hosseini?” I saw ‘And The Mountains Echoed’ in his hand instead of his phone. I had heard of the author but never read any book written by him.
“Yes. Have you read any of his books?” He asked me with curiosity.
“Not yet but I would like to. Any suggestions for me?”
“Hosseini has that rare thing about storytelling.”
“That is promising. Anyway, where are you from Pranay?” I tried to prolong the conversations.
“Assam” He kept it short.
“Really?” I exclaimed! “I am from Nazira.”
“That is fantastic. I am from Numaligarh.” He seemed very interested.
“Okay, how long have been in this city?”
“Two and a half years. What about you?’
“Same, more or less. What do you?” I just wanted to more about him.
“I am a salesman. I work for a bank. My office is at Vartak Nagar.” He was soft and polite as usual.
“Well, I am an HR Generalist. Working for XYZ. My office is in SMC Square.” I was getting into the conversation but I had only 17 minutes and time was almost up.
“Okay, Darshana. I will see you tomorrow then.” The train came to a halt; he waved at me and disappeared into the crowd. I knew I had started to like him.
We have heard the saying ‘the heart wants what the heart wants’. It is an uncontrollable emotion which takes hold. It is true that there are certain unique attributes that a person possess makes him/her more appealing. It is a choice, discovery and expectation of zillion things.
Day 4
Another day and I believed in miracles. I had reached the station at 8:40 am. He had not arrived until then. Another 17 minutes with him but I just did not want to sound too desperate in front of him. 8:43 AM and still no signs of him. I was getting restless. At 8:44 the train arrived and he was nowhere to be seen. 10 seconds and the train would leave the station. Suddenly I saw him running towards the train and waving at me. I smiled and got up on the train.
“I had almost missed the train” He was still huffing.
I did not say anything and offered him some water.
“Thank you,” He said.
“How have you been?” I asked him.
“We met yesterday. So ‘how are you’ is just fine. I am doing fine” He winked
“I did not mean it literally. And it is good to hear that you are doing fine.” I laughed.
“And what about your ‘generalist’ work?”
“Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer” This was the sentence that came out of my mouth.
“Excuse me?” He was caught off guard.
I realised that I said which he was not at all expecting. For that mattered, neither was I. It just happened and I had to make up something fast, really fast.
“I meant to say, my works are the only good things that are happening around me lately. So you know, a figure of speech.” Even a dumb guy would figure it out that those lines were nowhere close to anything that I had said.
“Ohh, Okay.” He said it after a long pause.
“Yes,” I had a force a smile.
“I did listen to ‘Boys like Girls’ when I was a teenager.” He said.
It was a moment of embarrassment for me. ‘He knows the song’ I though. And I was trying to relate something which was not even related.
“And Avenged Sevenfold, Jonas Brothers, A Rocket to the Moon” I just wanted to change the topic.
“And Bullet for My Valentine, Blink – 182, Daughtry. That time was different.” His eyes sparkled when he said those names. We talked a lot about music that day. Well, precisely for 10 minutes. But then it felt like forever. I just wanted to spend some more time with him. I had no courage to ask him that day.
Day 5
I had reached Koparkhairane station by 8:35 AM. 9 minutes felt like 9 long hours of my life. And when he finally arrived I was just amazed. He was wearing a light pink colour BlackBerrys shirt. He got a new haircut and he was sweet-smelling wearing perfume.
“Hi” I could not even look into his eyes.
“Hi, there” He smiled at me.
The way he looked at me and smiled, I knew that he was my world. I would wake up every morning to see that smile on his face. The 8:44 slow local to train arrived at platform 2.
“So Manager Sahib, how is your bank doing?”
“Take a personal loan from my bank and intentionally bounce the EMIs. You would know” He said and we both laughed our hearts out. I had started to like every moment spent with him. I just wanted sometime beyond the 17 minutes I had.
“So are you free today, at around 6 PM?’’ I just wanted to know.
“I would be at Chembur in the second half. Why?”
“I thought maybe we could go for a cup of coffee.” I just wanted to know.
“How about this Saturday?
” That would be great. Café Coffee Day at Sector 11 at 5 PM?” I exclaimed with joy.
“No. Not that.”
“So?”
“We can have lunch at Borivali Biriyani Center, Khopat at 1 PM,” He said.
“That would be great.” I was the happiest person in the world.
“Okay. So see you on Saturday at BBC.”
“How would I contact you?”
He did not say much and gave me his business card. For the first time, I was not worried that my 17 minutes with him were ending for the day. I would get to know a lot about him over lunch. I could feel butterflies in my tummy thinking about the coming Saturday. I smiled and waved at him and waited till he disappeared in the madding crowd.
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