“Hey Shruti, give it to me. Hey, please,” a guy said to his girlfriend. She was a vivacious young woman and looked taller than him. She wore a light green top and maroon tweed jacket which left unbuttoned complimented her peach-colored skin. Her black jeans had clenched her long legs tightly. Her hair smelled of pomade and too soft and shining like diamonds.
“No, I won’t. I know you will delete this photo. Oh God, you look so cool in this photo. I have to send it to my friends right now,” she said and tapped her on the facebook icon. They were travelling in a local train. The train was whizzing past the Jagarthla railway station and heading to Histapur in Mumbai. It wasn’t cramped with people, because it was a Sunday. In the back seat, an elderly lady was sitting and munching the peanuts. Her hubby was rubbing his knee to ease the pain. They were returning to their home after visiting the hospital. And in the seat in front of them, a boy about fifteen years old was intently reading a science textbook, probably preparing for his exam.
“Huh? No way. You can’t do this. Just look at me. I look like a beggar with this half beard in it. Please don’t share this photo,” the guy, Vikranth implored but in a cheerful voice. It was all just for fun, and innocent caresses on part of Vikranth. They worked at a telecom software company had joined recently. During the training period, they became good friends and that friendship had blossomed into love within four months. Shruti was happy to have found a guy like him. He was an excellent and courteous guy.
Amitav was sitting in the opposite seat to them and observing them. He was Vikranth’s friend, and he worked at the same company. Not only that, they all together worked in the same team for Tukk-mobile client in San Francisco. In fact, Amitav had fallen in love with her on the day she had joined the office. But something always stopped him from speaking to her. Maybe it was his overweight body which scrunched his confidence. Yes, he was a fat fellow, had a three inches tummy and rotund arms and legs. But he was an excellent scholar. He was the school topper in tenth and twelfth standard, and he had passed with distinction in engineering college. However, he had always been very nervous about talking to girls. Even now. It was like his congenital defect. He could still remember the incident when Pramila in the fifth standard. He was a potato sack that time, full of flesh and no bones. She told him this truth bluntly when he had asked her why she had refused to sit next to him. That incident had fixed itself in his brain. From that day onwards, he had always hesitated to speak with girls, scared that they might be disgusted with his appearance. You could see him ducking his head to avoid meeting Shruti’s eyes who was courting her boyfriend, opposite to him.
The train had stopped at Gazirabhad station, a girl about twenty-two years old entered their coach. She sat down on the window seat right next to the boy who was mulling over his book.
“Here it is. I have shared this photo on Facebook,” Shruti showed the mobile to her boyfriend, who plucked the phone from her and started looking for evidence. He thought she was joking, but she had really shared the weird photo with her friends.
“You…” Vikranth said and lightly tapped on her cheek. She smiled as the furious wind hit her hair. She stroked her hair and tucked it behind her right ear and looked at him earnestly. Her tweed jacket was flapping like a flag on a pole.
It hurt Amitav a lot to see them like this. He loved her so much. But he didn't have the courage to tell her. In his room were a number of unsent letters confessing his love, and picture too. There was a picture he had taken in his mobile when his office colleagues had cut a birthday cake for her in the office cafeteria. He loved that picture. No, Shruti didn’t know anything about this. If she knew, she would have asked him to delete the photo immediately. He wasn’t the fellow she had expected to save her photo in his mobile. His eyes were glistening with tears when he saw Shruti stroke Vikranth’s hands with lust in her eyes.
“What happened Amitav? You are so silent today. Why aren't you saying anything?” Vikranth asked as he released his hand free from her.
Amitav looked at him slowly, carefully avoiding Shruti's eyes who had held his hand again.
“No, I...I… am just looking at the scenery outside,” Amitav said, struggled to speak coherently.
Vikranth smiled arrogantly and said, “That’s why I told you to date, someone. You could have tried Sasha, she is a great match for you.” He laughed. Shruti joined him too. They were laughing because Sasha was twice Vikranth's size and had gotten married recently.
“You are teasing me,” Amitav said in a soft voice. He knew they were telling this just to make fun of his fatty figure.
“Ohhh, you are so smart,” Vikranth said as laughed again and high-fived Shruti.
The cellphone beeped. Shruti ran her fingers over the mobile and scrolled down to see the notification.
“Oh goodness, look at the comments, you are famous Vikranth,” Shruti said and showed it to Vikranth.
“Who has commented?” Vikranth said and pushed his neck to see the messages.
‘Hey, he is your boyfriend??? He is choo chweeet,’ one of her friends had typed in the comments section.
‘Wow, such a beard I had never seen. He rocks baby,’ her college friend Gaikwat commented.
‘I think, you can marry him for this fascinating beard alone…he heee…..’ more smileys attached.
“Oh, that’s interesting,” Vikranth said. He came close to her and smelled her like she was a morning flower. He couldn’t control his temptation to kiss on the lips. He brushed past her linen soft full lips, painted in an enticing shade of red.
Amitav almost wanted to get off on the next station, he couldn’t stand them romancing with each other anymore. Their comments were like a droning motor in his ears, harsh and plummeting.
He cleared his throat to stop them. Though he knew it wasn’t a good etiquette, he didn’t have any other option.
“Hey boy, why are you still sitting there?” Vikranth said in a thick voice, but almost grating. “Go and see if you can ask that girl out,” he pointed his index finger at the girl, who had entered into the train earlier. He knew she couldn’t hear his words since she was listening to songs on her I-phone.
Amitav stood up immediately. It was like his friend had punched his chest with a brick in hand. He had walked down through the small aisle and came to stand in the footboard. It was for the first time he was attempting to footboard in the train. Though it was a deadly experience, it had taken his mind off his friend's harsh words.
He swallowed a blob of air into his mouth as his hair swayed to and fro with the strong wind as the train furiously sped forward. For a moment he felt like jumping out of the train. But he whacked his brain for that thought. Though he was a dumb fellow sometimes, he didn’t want to give up his life for such trivial matters. Things will change in the future, he muttered to himself as grabbed tightly the vertical iron rod for the support.
“What the fuck is this?” Shruti screamed suddenly.
Amitav thought it was a joke. Maybe they both were pretending again. But he was wrong.
“I don’t know,” Vikranth said. “This is fake. I don’t even know this girl”
The sudden commotion had brewed in between them because Shruti’s friend Shalini had commented like this:
‘Dude, I believe he is not your boyfriend. If he is, then control+alt+delete him from your life immediately. This one sentence would give you a clear picture of him: He is a fucking asshole.’
“Don’t give me bullshit. I know my friend Shalini would never lie to me. She is my best friend from my school,” she boomed once again.
“Oh babe, please believe me. I don’t even know who she is. Don’t you trust me?” Vikranth said, his hands were shaking now.
“For God’s sake, don’t call me babe. Tell me what you did to her. Did you ever fu….?” Shruti said, her eyes were burning with anger.
Amitav averted his eyes from them. In fact, everyone was staring at them. The girl had removed earphones from her ears and was looking at them wondering what had happened so suddenly. The old woman had stopped munching peanuts and looked at them with a gaping mouth, and quivering jaws.
“Shruti, calm down. We can resolve this matter peacefully,” Vikranth said in a low voice, as he had turned his head left and was embarrassed to see all the people were looking at them.
“No, I can’t keep quiet. You are the cheater. You just get out of my life,” she blared as she threw her hands in the air.
Vikranth swallowed a thick lump down his throat. He had never seen her in such a ferocious temper before. She was always a cuddling teddy, he had thought earlier. But now he thought differently.
He slowly came forward and tried to touch her hair, but she threw his hands aside and sprung out of her seat and jogged down towards Amitav, who thought she was going to hug him. But she didn’t. She tossed herself out of the speeding train. Her skull was smashed against a jagged stone and died immediately. The people inside were hollering and averted their eyes from that hideous suicide. Amitav was speechless, his senses were numbed. He couldn’t believe what had happened before his eyes. On seeing this, Vikranth came down furiously. Amitav was devastated, when his attempt to save his friend failed miserably. It was like a nightmare. His friend too jumped from the train and was crushed another train. Amitav closed his eyes, he didn’t know what was he supposed to do. The girl who was on the train had pulled the chain and stopped the train.
Shruti's mobile beeped again Amitav slowly grabbed the mobile. He wanted to know why they had fought so suddenly. His forehead was swarmed with perspiration as if he had trekked for hours. His cheeks turned pale as a dead body had kept in the mortuary. His friends' death had crushed his soul.
He slowly turned the mobile in his hand, which was cold as ice. His eyelids fluttered faster like the wings of a bird as he scrolled down the mobile. His heart pricked and thudded furiously when he saw a new comment on her facebook page. The comment was:
‘April fool!!! April fool!!! Dear, I am sorry for the previous comment. Have a great day!’
Shalini had commented again.
He let out a huge cry as he smashed the mobile phone on the iron door of the train.
*