Short story

Suraj smiled to himself as he made his way to the station. No, he had not heard an amusing joke. In fact he had witnessed a small chase sequence at the bus stand opposite the road. “Chor chor chor”, he heard familiar words. He crossed the road immediately and started chasing the accused that was indeed running with a wallet in is hand. Suraj in no time became a part of a small crowd chasing him. It was after they saw the thief getting into a running bus that they had given up.. And what amazing cheek the thief had-he gave the onlookers a fleeting thumb up as the bus moved away. “Oh well” Suraj shrugged to himself. He glanced at the man in the khakhi trousers whose wallet had been stolen. He was sitting on the curb looking totally morose as the rest of the chasers had moved on. Impulsively Suraj walked over to him.” Why don’t u go to the police station?” he said, patting him on the back. “The road parallel to this has one. You can describe the contents of the purse to them etc etc.” The man looked at Suraj and began talking patiently as though Suraj couldn’t fathom how 2 and 2 could be 4. “ I just lost my purse”. he stated. Suraj nodded. “Yeah, so?”. “How will I bribe the police?” he retorted. You neednt bribe to register a comp…” began Suraj but thought the better of it. “As for describing the contents of the purse, there wasn’t much in it anyway.” “Err…why you are so upset then?” enquired Suraj. “Well, the purse was very expensive” the man snapped. Suraj had heard enough. He got up and resumed walking to the train station.

This small incident reminded him how he met his wife. It was just another day like this. He was waiting for a bus to take him to yet another unsuccessful interview. He heard the commotion and high pitched screams of a damsel in distress. “My bag, my bag”, went the cry. Before Suraj could reach her a crowd started gathering around a man that the lady was shouting at. Bang bang! Rained blows on the man sounding nothing like the ones in B grade Hindi flicks. Suraj stood there unsure whether to join them or not.. But then he noticed something. The lady who had screamed was now hurrying away. What was happening? He ran behind her but hse had jumped into a passing auto.

Small built, dark, hear neatly tied in a salwar, tied in a plait and wearing a plain yellow salwar….somehow her image stuck in his head. He glanced behind at the slowly dispersing crowd. The so called thief was wearing torn and tattered clothes and yelling; “It was my purse that was stolen you idiots! Dint you get it? She screamed that I was the thief in order to distract all and stop me from catching her!!!!!!! God, what a country we live in!” The same angry mob not began consoling him while a few others walked away looking ashamed.

Suraj was struck by the girl’s ingenuity. “Sheer genius!” he thought. It was a case of the pot calling the kettle black even if the kettle was clean!. “If only I could meet her”, he thought. Suraj did not attend the job interview that day. But when he did meet Satya, yes ironically that was her name, barely a week later; Suraj went from a failed job hunter to a successful con artist
Some things were meant to be.

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“Two second class tickets to Mumbai”, he told the man behind the counter. “Sorry sir, the seats wont be together, only available for first class. Will that be ok?” “No, replied Suraj immediately.
“Where to” asked the man.
“Gimme a ticket to any destination- where 2 second class two tier AC is available.”
“Sorry sir, I thought you wanted to go to Mumbai”.
“Didn’t you hear me, even Ahemdabad is ok! My wife believes the journey is more important the destination. ”
The ticket issuer did not respond to this strange statement.“2 tickets to Ahemdabad then, Gorakhpur express, 2nd class, 2 tier AC. Ah well the nagging wife will be satisfied” he grinned. Suraj smiled back. In reality Satya, was anything but that!

The journey from Kanpur to Ahemdabad began at 5 in the morning. Suraj and Satya reached the station well in advance, well, early enough to check the passenger list on the train. “Our neighbours for the next 30 hours Amar 47 m and Amira 48 F” announced Suraj. “Sounds like a regular middle aged couple,” he grinned. They
settled in soon after.

Amar and Amira looked even more like a regular middle aged couple. Tall slim, fair and good looking were the words that came to Suraj’s mind when he saw Amar. Amar’s wife was just the opposite. They entered the train just 5 minutes before the train left.. Their three large suitaces shoved Suraj and Satya’s small bags to one side. Nither Suraj and Satya protested. They had other things on their mind.

“Don’t you feel it isn’t worth traveling by AC? It feels like 10 degrees in here” commented Amar. Amira gave a small smile at the couple sitting opposite them. Amar and Amira, it transpired ahd fallen in love because of the similarity in their names. “ Isnt Amira a Muslim name”, said Satya eyeing the sindhoor on Amira’s forhead. “ Yes I get that a lot. My father was Rekha’s biggest fan” Amira replied. Seeing the perplexed look on their faces, she continued, “Rekha, Umrao Jaan…Ameeran”. ”Ah”said Satya, “But Ameerana was a courtesan”. “My dad didn’t see it in that way” explained Amira.” To him, it was her best role ever”. The next hour went so quickly, Suraj and Saya had almost forgotten the reason they were there.

It transpired that they were traveling to see their son in Ahemdabad-an absolutely brilliant student- “Not agreed by all” confessed Amit; third year architecture at SEPT. “ One of the suitcases are filled with sweets and savories for him”, explained Amira. .

This was the moment. “Speaking of savories, Im starving” said Suraj. “ This came out much louder than intended. He then brought out his own bag of Nippats. This was the crucial part. Well at least the flask of coffee in the bag was. As if on cue, Satya began offering cups around. “Nippats have to be washed down with coffee. We don’t like eating out, so we have packed all the food.” She stated.

Amir and Amira stole a glance at each other. They hesitanty accepted the plastic cups from them. Amir gave Satya a questioning glance without a glass in her hand. “Im on homeopathy and cannot have coffee”, came the well rehearsed answer. Suaj himself could onlty pretend to sip the coffee laced with Lunesta, sleeping pills. That would give Suraj and Satya more than enough time to move with the other couple’s luggage, (and wallet of course) and the next station.

Amirs immediately opened her own bag. “Well then, no coffee for Satya, then tea certainly. I don’t want to see her left out”, she declared.
Suraj grabbed the opportunity as Satya accepted the tea. “On second thoughts, I can have your tea too”, he said. Now there was no need for him to even pretend to sip the coffee.

5 minutes passed amidst much munching and sipping. The rocking motion of the train suddenly made Suraj and Satya feel like babies in a crib being put to sleep by a loving mom. “I’ll rest my eyes just a lil bit” , thought Suraj.

What happened for the next few hours noone knew?

Suraj felt someone shaking him awake. “Sir Ahemdabad has arrived” Would you mind getting off” the TC said sternly. Satya heard the noises as if from far away. She opened her eyes. Amira was still asleep in sitting position. A tiny whisper of dout jerked her awake. “ No it cant be”, she told herself. “They laced our beverages too, just like we did theirs. They meant to leave the train, only taking our money and luggage with them.” She stared at Suraj not knowing whether to laugh or cry. At the same time Suraj and Amar seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion.
They were staring at the tea and coffee cups lying on the floor. Noone spoke a word.
Amira’s gentle snoring was the only sound in the compartment.

Amar spoke first. “ How long have you been in this businees?” “4 years for me, 6 for Satya”Suraj replied. “You know what they say, 4 heads better than 2. We could form a business you know!” stated Amar. They woke Amira and hoisted their luggage from the no empty train.

Some things were meant to be.