“How was your day?’ Sudeshna
asked as her son made his way into his room.
He gave an almost imperceptible upward
nod of his head to indicate nothing out of the ordinary happened, grabbed a
towel and went into the washroom. Sudeshna waited carefully till she heard the
bolt of the bathroom door and the sound of running water. With one eye on the
bathroom door, she quickly went through his bag. She heaved a sigh of relief as
she found nothing which she was afraid she would find. But that didn’t mean she
would stop this routine of searching his belongings or keeping an eye on him.
She remembered the day
vividly. She had just sat down after lunch to catch up on the series of Marathi
soap operas on television when the landline had started to ring. The Principal
of NMCC, the college where her son studied, had been on the other end of the
line.
“This is regarding your son, Mrs. Kale. He seems to be permanently in a
trance and least bothered about courses or exams. He already has very poor
attendance and hasn’t come to the college today also, despite knowing there is
a cycle test which has 30% weightage for the semester grades”, he had said.
Not
knowing how to react, she had assured the principal that she would talk about
this to her son and make him understand. She had been puzzled. Just as she had
been about to call her son on his mobile, the landline had rang again. This
time the voice on the other end was that of a stranger.
“Are you related to Mr. Pramod
Kale?”
“Yes I am his mother. Who is
this?”
“Sorry to say this madam. Your son
attempted to kill himself by lying down on the railway track. One of our constables
saw him and has brought him to the police station. Can you please come down to
Parel Police Station?”
She had found out a whole new
side to her Son that day. She had seen a vacant frozen look on his face that
sent a chill down her spine. Her attempts at drawing him out and finding a
reason for his depression were futile and she had no choice but to resort to
professional medical help. She had lost count of the number of psychologists
and psychiatrists she had taken Pramod to, after that day. While most of them were quick in their diagnosis of depression, none of them could give any clarity on
the reason for the same.
It had been three years since
that fateful day. The paranoia of checking her son’s belongings and following
his movements in and out of the house had started since then and had not
stopped. Pramod hardly talked to anyone anymore. Though he had scraped through
college and started working in a local digital media company in the Kamla Mills
compound, Sudeshna lived in constant fear. The only reason she had been fine
with Pramod going to work was due to the fact that the company was situated at
a walking distance from their house.
But, over the last week or so,
she had noticed an ever so slight change in her son’s demeanor. While he
continued to converse in monosyllables with Sudeshna, she definitely found a
positive change in him. She noticed it for the first time a week ago when he
had a slight smile on his face when he had come out after a shower. Today, she
was pleasantly taken aback by his off-tune whistling of the song Yad Lagle from the famous Marathi movie Sairat as he came out of the washroom. As
he made his way into the hall, she went into the washroom. Nothing seemed to be
out of place. Just as she turned to move out, her eyes fell on the box of
detergent on the shelf. It seemed to be precariously balanced on something. She
went across and lifted the box. Under it was a bunch of local train tickets.
There were about eight of them, each bought over the past eight days. They were
all tickets to the same destination – Bhayander.
Questions started flooding her
mind. Pramod’s office was in Parel. Why were there eight tickets to Bhayander
lying in the bathroom? And why were there only one way tickets and not a single
return ticket to be found among them? Sudeshna was perplexed. She had been
following Pramod to his office ever since he had started working there and he
had always gone straight from their home to office every day, including these
past eight days. Then it struck her! She raced back to the bathroom and grabbed
the tickets again. Her eyes scanned the top right hand corner of each ticket –
the time on all of them were between 13:10 and 13:15 – lunch hour at office.
***********************************************
The next day, Sudeshna was
outside his office by12:45 pm. He came out exactly at 1:00 pm and started
walking towards Lower Parel station. There was an unusual spring in his step.
She followed him at a safe distance. He climbed the stairs and stood in line at
the ticket counter. She stood a few feet behind him. He approached the counter
and said “One ticket to Bhayander”.
She was surprised to find the sudden
softness in his voice. It was as though his voice contained a smile of its own.
As he took the ticket and walked back, she turned away, careful not to reveal
herself. She could notice the same slight smile on his lips. As he moved
towards the staircase, he started to whistle Yad lagle in his off-tuned style. As she leaned backward to get a
better view, she could see him heading out of the station. The line in front of
her was now non-existent and she found herself at the ticket counter. That was
when she noticed the girl at the counter. She seemed to be in her early
twenties, with curly hair, a pleasant smiling face and dusky complexion. The
oval-shaped sandalwood bindi´ on her
forehead enhanced her beauty manifold. Sudeshna noticed how crisp her salwar
looked despite being old. There emanated from her a quiet sense of confidence
and dignity. Sudeshna quickly got a ticket and made her way back home.
That evening she did not ask
Pramod the usual question about his work. Nor, did she carry out her usual
check of his bag. He finished his bath, came to the hall and sat on the sofa.
She came by and sat next to him.
“You should tell her that you
like her, Pramod’ she said.
Pramod did not respond. She could
see that his mind was struggling to come up with questions and more
importantly, reasons. She put a hand gently on his shoulder.
“Why don’t you tell her when you
buy the ticket tomorrow?’ she asked.
Pramod slowly looked at her. He consciously
smiled for the first time in a few years.
“I saw her a few days ago when I
came out of the office during lunch. I followed her and found out that she worked
in the Lower parel ticket counter. But I didn’t know how to approach her. So I
went and stood at the counter. When my turn came I just asked for a ticket to
the first station I noticed on the map”, he blurted.
This was the most he had
talked in a few years. Sudeshna could barely hide her happiness as she listened
to her son elaborate on his first love.
“I have been repeating this since
then. I just feel happy whenever I think of those few seconds I spend with her.
Those few seconds drive the remainder of my day”, he continued.
“Then imagine if those few
seconds can transform to a lifetime”, Sudeshna said.
“But how do I ask her Aaiyee?”
Sudeshna couldn’t control her
tears. Pramod acknowledged her relation to him by calling her Aaiyee after so many years. It was in
high school that she remembered him lovingly call her Aaiyee. She wiped her tears and looked at him.
“Take a leaf out of her book. Be
simple and straight”, she said.
***********************************************
The next day as he stood at the
ticket counter, he could feel his heart thumping. He smiled at her as his turn
came. She recognized him and returned the smile.
“Two tickets to Bhayander”, He
said.
“Oh! So you have a companion
today for your travel”, she said as she punched the tickets.
“I will, if you say yes”, he
said.
***********************************************
They got married three months
later.
The first local train journey
they took after marriage was from Lower Parel to Bhayander.