April 22, 2009

You are a stranger, you can't be nice



Aleena moved away from the window side seat and took out a book from deep inside her bag, as the train started moving from the station. She has had the book with her for a while now, her tough schedule kept her away from it for most of the time. After making a mental note to finish it before getting home, she sank into the book.
She barely noticed the middle aged man limping past her and throwing himself onto the single window side seat in very next compartment - facing her. It was a while after she glanced up and saw this man. He had a large forehead blemished by the scar across his left eye brow, and his shirt though appeared clean was all wet from sweat. He appeared uneasy and was looking out into the nearly fields through his deep sunken eyes.

When did he get here? I was sure no one was there when the train left.

She glanced around, there werent many passengers around, and her attention again feel on this man who was looking directly at her now. His cold stare made a chill run down her spine. She was never comfortable with strangers, but this was far worse. She instinctively turned away.

God! He is staring at me... Should i go and sit with someone else?

She tried to concentrate on the book, but she couldnt take her mind away from those staring eyes.
Who is he and what does he want? May be i should talk to the TT about this...

She had heard about strange things happening in trains, trains with less passengers, trains like this.. drug addicts, child molesters, gangmen... Her mind found new and new possibilities and each made her heart sunk even lower.

The train came to a halt in a small station, and the man glanced out of the window as though searching for someone. Minutes passed by and he was still leaning out of his seat and looking, sweating even more and looking worried.
Just then a small girl probably 10 years, boarded the train. Without even saying anything to whoever who had brought her, she turned and looked around. The little girl saw the man sitting on the window side seat waving at her. With an innocent smile on her face she moved towards him.
Aleena didnt know why, but caught the little girl by her hand and turned her around.
" What are you doing here? and where are your parents?"
With the smile still on her lips, she turned to the man and said "... there." and ran to him.

She jumped onto him giving him a big hug.

"How is your leg,Daddy? and what did doctor uncle say?" she asked patting his right leg.

"Daddy is OK, sweet heart.. I can... I can walk." he said.

Looking at his leg she said "I love you Daddy" planting a gentle kiss on his cheeks.

She started talking about different things that happened to her during the day, the new friends she made, how she hated the gardener and so on. He smiled at her and some times laughed out loud just like the small child on his lap.

On the next station he stood up and started limping out.

"You can hold onto me Daddy, ill walk you out."

"Thats OK sweetheart, I can walk" he replied.
He saw Aleena watching the both of them, and smiled at her like a proud father.
She tried to force a smile on her face, but nothing came out.

32 comments:

Rahul Viswanath said...

Trust me ..... This was a real good refresher for me at work !!

A lovely piece .......

Hemanth Potluri said...

it was a good post buddy lots of thoughts put into it :)..

urs..hemu..

Niti said...

A nice paradigm shift incident.. :)

Sharmistha Guha said...

Hmmm...nice & interesting!

I loved the 'look' of your blog!!!
Is it downloaded from someplace or self-customised?

Priya Joyce said...

that was a nice one...the thing turned out to be completely different than what i thought..
:)

Amritorupa Kanjilal said...

Amal, lovely story man, really perked me up in the middle of the day...

Timeless Memories - My Bygone ! said...

That was a vry interestin n nice wrk... the endin wasnt smethin i thought..

Amal Bose said...

Rahulthank you.. :)

Amal Bose said...

Hemuthank you,
i tried to... ;)

Amal Bose said...

Nitithank you for the kind feedback :)

Amal Bose said...

SDG
well both.. i downloaded it from somewhere n did some editing on my own..

Amal Bose said...

Priya
thank you..
every story has a surprise ending doesnt it?
but there is no twists or turns in this one.. just a simple ending.

Amal Bose said...

Little girlthank you... :)

Amal Bose said...

Devil
thank you..
what kinda ending did you expect?

vinny said...

very nice flow throughout...u brought out her fear in me - i was angry with her not changing her place fast or calling the TT:)

keep it up, man:)

Anya said...

twists and turns make a great writer and you are indeed a great writer

chriz

workhard said...

That was a very nice story.. good post..

Poetry directory

Priya said...

How cynical we become to judge someone just bcoz' how they are or make us insecure...

Thank you for visiting my page.

Amal Bose said...

@Vinnie
thank you..

Amal Bose said...

@ Chriz
Oh.. thank you.
getting compliments from someone like you is just great :-)

Amal Bose said...

@Workhard
thanks a lot for the feedback :-)

Amal Bose said...

@ Priya
ya most people have that feeling..

Deepika said...

you know you write well....
this was another wonderful work of urs... liked it :)

Sriram said...

lovely short piece of writing :)

Amal Bose said...

@ Deepika, Sriram
thanks a lot guys.. :-)

Rr. Raihan Rizki Ramadhani said...

Surely, this is lovely !! =)

Praveen said...

really great work man...felt like I was sitting somewhere on the same compartment as them...

Amal Bose said...

@Rene, Praveen
thank you..
keep visiting

RiĆ  said...

Hey very well written post!! U write well buddy. :)

in search of ...... said...

just came across ur blog....very nicely designed.....and the story was like....in todays world we do have more of a suspicious behaviour with no good reasons....

anupama said...

DEAR AMAL,
i am astranger,but iam nice.over confident?oh,yes........
would you like to share a journey?
goodness still remains!
unbelievable?
let's be the good samaritans.......
good work;catchy style.
sasneham,
anu

SatyU said...

Hey Amal
Really a gud1.
If I ws in Aleena's position..evn I must have misunderstood that guy.
But yeah..I would have certainly smiled at d end hehehe :)

Take Care
Keep Smiling :)