Part 3
After 10 years
At railway station, a girl at her 20s was sitting on the platform waiting for the train to arrive. Her one small black suitcase was standing beside her. She was wearing blue jeans and full sleeves, v- neck t shirt. She had a long smooth black hair complementing her big black eyes and her fair complexion. She had kept her backpack on her thighs. It was nearly 11 at night. She looked at her right side and then on left side while tightening her hold on the backpack. There was no one on the station except one tc and a guy who was cleaning the counter of the edible shop, who were looking not so wise. She cursed the idea of leaving alone. But she has to do it if she wants to reach her college on time, which was starting from the day after tomorrow and before joining the college she has to complete her pending assignments. If her maa n papa would have came to know that she had missed the train and was sitting on the platform waiting for another train at night, they would never ever send her anywhere alone, she thought worriedly. It was not that she was afraid she thought. She has been living in London since past one year. So she knew all the trains and their incoming and outgoing patterns and stations. ''Cool Nandini cool'' she said breathing deeply in n out to relax her mind '''so what if you missed the train'it's not like that was the last train to your hostel. Another train will come in few minutes'.hopefully.'' she added less confidently.
To divert her mind from the unwelcomed thoughts she opened her back pack and inspected it to find her dear and most loving mobile phone. It was a simple sliding handset coated in silver but the most precautious thing for her as it was her first phone gifted by her father when she was leaving for London for the first time. She slide her mobile phone for checking new messages or missed calls, but there was none, except the service centres' message of downloading sexy wallpapers of female models, she twitched her mouth at the message and deleted it. She would have thought of downloading it if they offered tom cruise, salman , rajat..but female models no ways.
She extracted her head from the phone to look for any signs of train. The underground platform was constructed with white medium sized smooth titles and the top of the platform was in half rounded shape decorated with white lights at a fixed distant gaps. On the opposite side of her, there was an electronic notice board showing the time 23:15 pm. And the information about incoming and outgoing trains was displayed below that. At every corner and turn there were sinages placed at the top. After no movement in the lifeless station she drew back into her mobile, shaking her head at the thought of crowded station which had became solitary at night.
She thought of calling her friend but there was no use because by the time they reach she would be in the middle of the journey to her hostel. Growing tired of the situation she inserted her phone in the backpack and bumped her head backwards on the metal reeling closing her eyes to gain composure. It was a bad idea, she thought reluctantly, to spend the weekend at Pistos friends' house, not that she didn't enjoy herself; she made many new friends but at the same time got annoyed at more than necessary attention from the boys. But she got to know more about the people around here. At the time of the departure Pistos boyfriend and her non blood brother Kunal showed up and as usual Pisto made her puppy dog face to convince her to stay one more night but being stubborn she rejected the idea of her staying there. Both of them were not ready for the idea of her going alone and asked her to accompany her but she refused as she didn't want them to spend their personal time with her, which they got very little with each other. Besides she insisted that she could take care of herself and it was not a big deal. After convincing them for an hour, she left. When she reached the station at 7 pm, there was enough time left for the train to arrival, so she thought of the worst idea of going for shopping in the nearby area as the train would arrive after an hour. As per habit she lost the track of time and came to station exactly at a time when the gates of the train closed and as it was a metro there was no use of running behind the train. After mouthing herself and the train few bad words she went to the enquiry counter praying to lord Shiva that the next train would be early. But got 100 volt current, when the enquiry person disclosed that the next train would be after 3 hours. In three hours she witnessed the crowded station turned into an empty one. And here now, she was sitting in solitary station all ALONE.
For passing the time she opened her backpack and took out her dairy. She opens it and saw her maa and papas photo. They were standing and artificially smiling for the photo on the insistence of the photographer. She smiled down at the photo. Her maa n papa was her world she could do anything for them, to make them happy'they had supported her in every way. Her maa papa always told her to be independent and if they hadn't insisted her to go to London for pursuing the business degree she would have never dared to come alone.
It was very hard for her to leave Manali, her maa n papa, she thought sadly. At first she was scared of what would be her university like, how would be the people, would she be able to adjust herself or not. But her first day in Imperial College was one she could never forget. At the first day she met Pisto, a girl with round face with little but perfectly shaped nose , green eyes, medium length red highlighted hair and 5 feet height with blackish complexion and was wearing shorts and and tank top. Pisto was bangali and was studying in the same class as her. Pisto has been living in London since the last 4 years so she was very well aware of London. They first met when their business technology mam parterned them for an assignment. Pisto was very friendly with her as she understood her feelings, loneliness and fear of being alone in the city. They immediately gelled up and now after a year they are best friends. Pisto was a party animal who loves parties and within a year she had taken her in almost all parties. At first Nandini was resistant to go to party as she found the culture and lifestyle very different to adjust but with a friend like Pisto she had made enough friends and adjusted herself in the environment. But deep down, she always missed her hometown, her family, and their people. Pisto was the only child of her parents and lived in a two storey house whereas she lived in a hostel. In a period of one year Pisto has became a support pillar for her, she understood her feelings without her voicing them. Even if she hadn't lived in India long enough she was a true Indian by heart. She never got bored while listening her hometown stories, about her maa papa; in fact she had also talked to her maa papa on phone.
Kunal on the other hand was our senior. Through parties she met Kunal who was 5.7 feet tall, healthy body, and fair complexion and had a secret crush on Pisto. He was a sincere guy and always treated her as his sister. He saved her n Pisto innumerable times from getting bullied. He was the GS of the college and is not afraid of doing anything; but his voice got stuck in his throat when it comes to Pisto. So as a dutiful sister, she encouraged him to tell his real feelings to Pisto and as her best friend she also knew that somewhere Pisto also liked him. So after a lot of practicing, Kunal proposed Pisto and from then onwards they had been in a relationship. They were like perfect for each other. Kunal was a very decent and nice guy on the other hand Pisto was fun loving, loud but golden hearted girl. They had become her family in London.
Lost in the trail of thoughts Nandini startled with the sound of train announcement. Thanking g lord shiva for thousand times she jumped from her seat in excitement and quickly put the photo back in the backpack, she wheeled her bag and stood on the platform, happily looking at the proceeding train. As the train stopped and the electronic gates got separated, she got on a train. The compartment was empty, and the sitting arrangements were made in such a way that the seats, covered in blue covers, of the opposite sides were facing each other. In the middle path of the compartment, there were few yellow poles standing in row with distinct gap and many handles were hanging at the top for the convenience of the passengers and above that, lights were located in a row of the length of the compartment. The compartment had two entrance located face to face with each other. She dropped the luggage on the nearby seat and settled down on the seat near to the gate. As the gates in front of her were closing, she got relived in a thought that finally she would go to her hostel; but suddenly a hand came in between the gates that were few inches away from meeting each other she sucked in her breath. A hand wearing a black Montblanc watch was pushing the gate back to get into the compartment.
Nandini panicky clutched her backpack close to her chest and closed her eyes.
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