Rehash of my Old Stories #2

Gift – Part 3

‘I know you are tired but I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes of your time for me.’

‘Not a problem. Please tell me what do you want.’

The couple sitting next to me offered me the window seat so that I could sit closer to the man.

‘My name is Suresh. I am a native of Patna. I have seen that you have a great gift of God. I have lived a satisfactory life and I do not want to know anything about myself. I was just wondering if’

‘If I could tell something about the future of your adorable daughter?’ he was taken aback by this statement.

‘You truly have the blessings of the God.’

‘No, I don’t. I just saw it on the wedding card kept by your side. It’s clearly written in bold ‘Mamta Weds Prem’ and gives away your name ‘Suresh Singh’ as the bride’s father.’ I explained. ‘So, when you said that you do not want to know anything about yourself, I presumed it would be about your soon to be married daughter.’ My comments have made the duo sitting next to him to pay more attention to our conversation. Probably they saw it as an opportunity to nail me. Geeta had regained her composure and was looking like an angel. 

‘I cannot believe that whatever you did till now was just by observation.’ said Suresh.

‘It is not the case. Astrology is a science but observation plays an important role in perfecting it.’ I smiled. This answer would have disappointed the passengers sitting next to him. ‘Can you provide me with the date of birth of your daughter?’

After he gave me the information, I started making my own calculations. Predicting future from the date of birth is more like a mix of mathematics and statistics. There are many probable scenarios and you chose the one best aligned under a given set of conditions. And while I do not like either mathematics or statistics, I love this beautiful science of astrology. After making my calculations, whatever I divulged to Suresh had apparently pleased him.

‘Is it true?’

‘Absolutely. As I told you she will indeed have a very blissful life ahead. There would be some hurdles somewhere but what is life without facing some challenging situations.’ I commented.

‘What kind of difficulties?’

‘Do not worry for that. Just cherish that your daughter would lead a happy life.’

‘I was worried because…’

‘The bridegroom is of a different caste.’ I completed the sentence.

‘Yes. How do you…’

‘When I know the future of your daughter, will it be difficult for me to know this?’ I laughed. ‘Well, it was just a guess. The surnames of the two families mentioned on the card do not match. Thus, I hazarded this guess.’ He smiled at me.

‘You are smart.’

‘In my line of work, one has to be.’

‘What do you do?’

‘I am entrepreneur.’

We discussed a lot - From my business to his job to his daughter to my interests and what not.  The pantry service had delivered the dinner. I offered him something to eat.

‘I have my own Tiffin.’ He smiled at me.

And within few minutes, all of us were having our dinner together – me, Suresh, the couple sitting next to me and the old couple from the side berths. Surprisingly, Geeta and her companion joined us too. Her companion apologized to me – ‘I am sorry for my behaviour in the evening. Actually, I am very protective about her.’

‘It’s okay. It was not appropriate for me to pass that comment. Actually I was trying to impress her in my own ‘dehati’ way.’ I said mischievously.

The group laughed at my comment.

‘So whatever you told about my future is not true then.’ She asked.

‘It is true – provided you follow your own instincts.’

We had a good dinner. At the end of it, Suresh invited everyone to the wedding of his daughter.

‘Before starting this journey, I did not know any of you. But now I know. This dinner was more like having dinner with family. I know it would be asking a bit too much but if you could be present at my daughter’s wedding and bless her then she would be most fortunate. And especially you Mritunjay. I would like my people to meet you.’ He handed out cards to us which we accepted respectfully. It was an emotionally charged moment. 

‘This occasion demands for something sweet.’ I said.

‘Let the train halt at next station. I will buy sweets for all.’ said Suresh.

‘No need. I have a bag full of homemade laddus. Who loves ‘gond ke laddu?’’

All hands went up. I reached out for my bag and brought out a big container. I took out a laddu and placed it in Suresh’s mouth. Then I had one myself. The celebrations were probably a bit louder as we again had a gathering around our seats. 

‘I think we should distribute the laddus to the entire coach.’ I handed over the container to Suresh.

‘Let the train halt at next station. I will buy sweets for all of them. You keep this container or else all the laddus will vanish before you know.’

‘No problem. You can distribute them. My mother had sent them for some of my relatives in Varanasi. I will bring them these in my next trip. My work brings me to my native town quite frequently.’ After much insistence, Suresh accepted my offer. The laddus were distributed throughout the coach. Geeta and her companion were reluctant initially but finally caved in to the pressure of the fellow co-passengers. The celebrations went for some time before all settled for their sleep. I bid goodbye to each of them. I had to disembark at Varanasi and did not want to wake up anybody at that time. Everyone wished me luck – some took my mobile number for their reference. 

‘I would stay awake with you so that you do not get bored.’ offered Suresh.

‘No need. From tomorrow, you would have to work round the clock for your daughter’s wedding. You take rest. And I have my iPod to keep me busy.’

‘I will give you company. Anyway, I am a late sleeper.’ said Geeta’s companion. His name was Shashi. We talked randomly for about half an hour before he started dozing off. 

‘You better take rest.’ I advised ‘It’s only a matter of 2 more hours. I will manage.’

He was drawn to lady sleep almost immediately. Finally train approached Varanasi. Before leaving, I went to everyone in the coach and bid them goodbye while they were asleep. 

It was one of the most memorable journeys for me. It had been 28 hours since I left the train and still I was playing small incidents of that journey in mind. The professional trip had been highly successful and I have been praised by my peer group for my achievement.

‘You have made to the front page.’ My associate smiled while putting the morning paper on my desk.

‘Oh!! Have I?’ I feigned ignorance.

I looked at the newspaper. It was written in bold letters 

A Gift to Mamta

I read the details. An excerpt of that article is provided below:

“In what could be described as one of the most daring episodes of heist in recent memory, Raju Chor of ‘Nashakhurani Gang’ struck the Patna bound Saadharan Express late last night. It should be recalled that Raju Chor had challenged the newly appointed DGP of GRP Mr. Shashi Khurana when he vowed to end his menace on the trains passing through this zone. Raju in his challenge had said ‘Book your ticket in any of the train you want – you do not need to inform me. I will burglarize that train. And no I will not do that in hiding. I will come before you before I perform my task. Use all the security personnel you want.’ Interestingly, nothing has been stolen apart from the service revolvers of DGP Shashi and his colleague and niece Ms. Geeta Khurana. Raju has left two notes before he left the crime scene – One to a Mr. Suresh Singh from Patna and another to Ms. Geeta Khurana. In his note to Ms. Khurana, Raju has written ‘Follow your own instincts. You were right the first time. I was the man but you lost the plot once I turned on the heat. Trust your abilities and you will go places.’

In another interesting note left for Mr. Suresh Singh, Raju has wished Mamta (Mr. Singh’s daughter) a blissful married life. His note says - ‘Wishing you a very happy married life. And just to reemphasize – Your father loves you a lot.’ He has also left her a wedding gift – her horoscope which says ‘A Gift to Mamta’ and a Maa Bhawani’s locket.

Passengers of the coach B1 recall Raju to be a very affable and well mannered guy. He had apparently won over the passengers with the display of extraordinary skills in astrology. It is not known if Raju truly owns this ability. They also volunteered to share his photos and videos with us, which they have captured on their phones but all the data was found to be deleted…”

‘The DGP has sworn a revenge on you.’ said the stout balding man who had challenged me on train.

‘If that makes him happy then let him be.’ I chuckled.

‘Beware!! I have heard this is his first failure in such a long career.’

‘I will.’ I laughed at his suggestion.

‘I do not understand one thing. Why you did not let us rob this train? There was probably loot worth more than a crore on that coach.’

‘I do not know myself. I found myself too much attached with the passengers in this journey - Probably, because it was a very important journey for me too. And also because I was reminded of the dialogue from The Dark Knight – ‘Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.’’ I passed a smile.

‘You will always remain filmy. So, when shall we plan for next loot?’

‘I think we should take a sabbatical for the time being.’

‘So has Raju Chor changed?’

‘You never know.’