Sunday, June 3, 2012

A good Samaritan

I was travelling by two tier AC sleeper to Bangalore by the night mail. I had the upper berth. I had come earlier to the station and settled myself in the lower berth waiting for the other passengers to come and the train to start. A heavily built man in his forties sweating profusely and smelling with body odour came in and sat in the opposite lower berth. He grinned at me revealing his paan stained teeth and asked “Are you in lower berth?”Somehow I took an instant dislike for him but said “No, mine is the upper berth”“That is what I thought. I saw a lady’s name in the chart” he said with a giggle that was unnecessary.

I ignored him and started looking around. There was just ten minutes for the train to depart and most of the berths had been occupied except the one I was sitting. Suddenly a young lady in her late twenties entered the coach and came rushing looking at the numbers of the seats. She stopped near me and said “This must be mine.”

The stocky man who was watching her said unsolicited”Yes, madam.His is the upper berth.”

I said”Yes, this is yours. I will go up after the train starts”

“It does not matter. I just wanted to make sure. I am also a late sleeper” she replied me with a smile

When she moved near the window the stocky man who was sitting by the aisle side also moved near the window in his berth. It looked a bit crude to me. She was a beautiful woman, slim with short hair that was curly and well chiseled features. The man tried to make conversation with her telling her that Chennai was extremely hot and asking her where she was bound for. She did not encourage any conversation by an imperceptible nod to his questions. She turned her face towards me and smiled at me before asking whether the bed roll man had taken orders. I replied that I hadn’t noticed and went near the entrance gate to find him. He brought her the roll and she thanked me profusely. We were then making small chat. She belonged to Bangalore and lived in Bannergata road. She spoke English with a convent accent and smiled often showing her sparkling teeth. I didn’t know whether she was single or married and if it were the latter, her man is indeed a very lucky bloke. I wished she were single.

I did not fail to notice that the stocky uncouth guy was staring her all the time and averted his gaze only when she turned his side. But she rarely did. The train had gathered speed and it was time to switch off the lights. I went up but could not sleep. She stretched herself in the lower berth. The stodgy guy who was in the other lower berth turned his face towards her side and kept on looking at her. I was watching him from my berth. As I was slowly dozing into sleep, I heard a rustle and saw her sit up. I bent my head towards her and asked her of any problem. The stout guy was pretending to sleep. She said by turning towards his side ”I don’t know whether it was by mistake. But his legs touched mine twice”

I said”OK, if you wish you can come up and I will occupy your berth”

She accepted the offer with alacrity saying “Thank you so much. You are so kind”

When we both got down the next morning at Cantonment station, she gave me a slip of paper with her address and asked me “You must come home this Sunday for lunch. I will be waiting for you and I wish to build on this friendship”

My joy knew no bounds at my luck .I promised her that I would be there sharp at 1pm.She extended her hands and warmly shook mine and said “ I am Sadhana and work in a bank”

I replied ”I am Sampat working in ITcompany.I am so happy I met you. I look forward to meeting you”

The next Sunday as I was driving to her house, I was fantasizing at the possibility of her falling in love with me and our life together. I was sort of sure that she was drawn to me.

As I rang the bell, she opened the door. She was in Salwar Kameez in her dazzling best.”I knew you wouldn’t fail me. Since early morning, you were in my thoughts”

I was in cloud nine as she took me to the living room. A young handsome man in jeans was sitting with a baby in arms and a kid of four by his side. She said “Meet my hubby Abhinav.The baby is Aditi and the boy is Sharath.”“Abhi, this is the good Samaritan who helped me from the lecherous eyes of a monster that night in the train. You were in doubt whether he would come. But he has kept his word”

Though disappointed, I was glad I found a good family to be friend with.






26 comments:

  1. Umm..another nice story of your kind..:) good read to start my day...:)

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  2. The story is wonderful and interesting, saaampat has missed the jackpot though

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  3. Hmmm.. A good story. Not all are Sampats though and Sadhana was lucky.

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  4. I thought it will also end in marriage but a twist in the climax.:)

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  5. good story! But, I could relate to the creeps that women have to encounter during journeys. Before marriage, I had to frequently travel on work and being a single girl I found many men wanting to strike conversations. So much so that I specifically started booking upper berths and would promptly put on my earphones. Sometimes, people don't realize that the other person does not like a conversation. Good for the good Samaritan!

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  6. and I was thinking that the fat man would come out as a good samaritan telling us not to judge the people by appearances:)

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  7. That is indeed noble , to live with the way circumstances turned out.

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  8. nice story... I was thinking the paan man would turn out good...

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  9. Hehehe:P Poor stocky man and the upper berth wala;) Do they both differ anyway? I hope not...Same type, different copis:P

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  10. wow noble indeed. we cant judge people by there looks and appearances for sure , i had a different idea


    Bikram's

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  11. Here again a nice story.. Definitely travelling alone in a bus or a train ends up in conversations with the fellow passengers. Not all are good and not all are bad. Its just that one has to know where to draw the line. This was a good read Partha sir.

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  12. Very well narrated, it brought to me the horrible memory of myself traveling alone with 3 other men from Baroda to Bangalore by night train.But I didnt get to meet any Sampat :-)

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  13. Natural story...it was as if we were looking at the people in a train without any drama or twists. This is also nice, Partha Sir.

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  14. I wont be surprised if you tell me, you were the Samaritan :P
    Simple and sweet one …

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  15. I wont be surprised if you tell me, you were the Samaritan :P
    Simple and sweet one …

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  16. A beautiful heart warming story. KP you continue to weave magic with your pen !

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  17. Anti-climax. I thought the sweet girl would be calling him with an ulterior motive

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  18. glad that it ended this way!! Else it would have been another normal love story!!

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  19. Wow beautiful and romantic love tale......well written KP. have posted my part 2 saga......:))

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  20. Beautiful tale KP. Its truly sweet......

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  21. Oh.. sad! But so what one can always hope can't they?

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  22. That was sweet. I hope the friendship lasts :)

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  23. wow very articulated script,loved every word,and the narration gave the exact picture in front of me....keep up the good work...
    Love to come back here......

    Njoy Blogging.......

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  24. Namaste.....
    I see the romanticist in you is alive and well! Wonderfully woven. I dear say you got it going on. Keep up the good work.

    Stay blessed.
    Rhapsody

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