It was not a very pleasant evening at the train station, but then you cant expect many of those during summer in Madras. I was waiting, sitting with a laptop in my lap and with two bags on the chair next to me and a bottle of Bisleri. Waiting for the announcer to call out the train i was to board to go to the US. I had waited quite sometime and wanted to go to the rest room to relieve myself before I could get in to the train. But I was in that uncomfortable zone from where it was going to be neither too long for the announcement to come over, nor will it be within the next minute. I was kicking myself for not going earlier and now I had to take a call here. To go or not to go!
I did pull myself up finally, convincing myself that even if the announcement came when my bladder was being emptied, I would hear it. After all, isnt that what loudspeakers were supposed to do?
Then came the point when i had to decide again! The toilet was exactly 10 steps away. Should I take my luggage with me or not? Oh! How difficult life could be...no respite even sitting on a railway station during these hot evenings with no fan on. I actually could, but then I was lazy and then, what the heck, the toilet was so near and so many people had seen me sitting there for long, that they would instantly sense something amiss if someone else picked them up.I got up and gingerly stepped away from the bags, and casually looked over my shoulder. There was a bearded man, maybe in his forties. reading a newspaper, sittng in front of where i was sitting. He seemed to not notice me at all, and in anycase he he was too distinguished to resort to something as petty as thievery.
I walked to the toilet and stood just outside its door, positioning myself in such a way that I could see the folks sitting in the hall but most of them, at least the ones sitting near my bags, could not see me. The bearded man shifted, closed his newspaper, stretched his hands high up in the air, and looked behind while covering his yawn with one hand. I froze! Is he going to do it?
Suddenly the announcement came! And I could not have been more thankful to whatever or whomever it is that told the arrival of my train. I decided not to go to the toilet after all, and walked past the rows of men and women and wailing children to my seat and yes! Murphy was right! If things had to happen, they would happen even if God needed to create a miracle to prove Murphy right. It could happen even if it was impossible for anyone to thieve two big red bags, when the owner was walking straight towards them from a distance of 10 yards.But how the heck did he leave the laptop behind? Not much market for stolen laptops anymore eh? But that was the last of my concerns. The RSA tag to my office PC was inside that bag, and I was sure to lose my job if my manager found out about it. That would mean great difficlty in paying off the home loans that were sitting invisibly on my head. And that meant, all the reason to find the man soon, that took my bags, along with my house inside it.
People around had started moving towards the platforms forming queues in the security check area. The white lights reflected off the equally clean and white ceiling and created a bright atmosphere inside the station. I was looking here and there frantically, trying to know where one should look in these times. I caught sight of Varun, my namesake friend from college. It hit me suddenly that he was also supposed to return to America on the same day. He had told me that when on phone one day before we came on vacation to Bhratmata.The guy was looking paler than he ever looked before and very clean and tidy in his fresh pressed clothes, to the point that
he had a halo around and over his head.
'Hey Varun!, What are you upto','he asked irritatingly from the queue.
I dont know what I answered next, but I do know that I felt so shabby in front of him. Maybe people who lose their belongings irresponsibly feel that way, in front of those that are responsible enough not to do such things. Gods way of running things!
I then ran in the direction of the exit point, where baggage was handled in a small room. I dont know how they 'handle' baggage, but thats what I have heard they do in there. On the way to the room, I saw a bespectacled lady, wearing a boring government given uniform - it was such a dullish grey color - holding her head high and trying to peer into a magazine beneath with her spectacles. Never understood why people needed spectacles if they need to peer beneath them, but maybe they did. I never wore a pair before in my life and I didnt care at this point, so I thumped my fist onto the desk in front of her, startling her, and myself in the process.
'What do you want?', she asked me in perfect Hindi.
I can talk Hindi perfectly only in times of duress and this was one such time.
'I lost my baggage, where do I find them?'
'Go straight and into the room on your left. They will tell you.'
I ran into that room and found a dinghy room, a single lamp hanging above a table. Men were crowded around the table and smoke was swirling in the air.
'Go, go, search somewhere outside. Why will someone check in stolen luggage?' said the guy with the limp.
Darn, he was right. Why the hell will someone do that.
'Go the same room, but take the stairs to the basement. There is a person there whom I believe can help you,' said the bystander who saw me running around and called me to enquire what my problem was. So I went back to the same place and paused at the top of the staircase. The room I had stepped into minutes back was empty now (I guaged that by the absence of light or sound from inside it) and the staircase, well, it was so dark I could barely see the steps.
Taking a deep breath but making sure I dont let it all out in one big whoosh, lest it disturb whomever or whatever was in there, I slowly took the first step. A small bulb came on above me, throwing soft light onto my feet. I experienced the same thing in subsequent steps and it happened like in a movie. I had to clear some cobwebs when I reached the bottom and the room, I didnt even want to enter that room, doesnt matter if I dont get back my bags, and with it my house.
I ran up the stairs not caring about the thudding my feet made on the wooden steps, up into the open. I took a deep breath of fresh evening air, and sat on a small stool. But wait..maybe... and then I walked towards the place where it all started minutes ago... There they were.. The two bags, the laptop, and even my water bottle, only someone had emptied it of its contents.
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Sorry to sound filmy, but this is the truth. I woke up with a start at this point and thanked god that I really was not in such a position. I have crazy dreams like this very often. I dont know how your dreams are, but mine are very vivid and contain a lot of truth and events taking place in my life. For instance, when I recently went on vacation to India, I actually had lost my baggage, not because it was robbed from me, but due to the carelessness of the airline staff that lost it while 'handling' it. And there was one event that happened five years ago, when I had gone to the restroom thinking I would hear the announcers call, but didnt. And I missed my bus by the time I came out because it had already left.
The dreams can be crazy too in sections. Which train from India takes you to the US and I dont know of any railway stations in the world that has a security check, like airports do. Well, I take that back, maybe they do, but not in India at least.
Anyway, I will put down my interesting dreams in this blog from time to time, and you tell me about yours, you can comment in the post itslelf or email me. So long then...
