So near yet so far !!!

“Coffeeee!! Teaa!!”
“Coffeeee!! Teaa!!”
The vendor called out as he passed the coupe.
“Thuddd!”
The baby fell on its knee trying to walk across to his mother.
The mother ran to pick up the child and is busy placating him.
Ravishing young lady sat across him checking her flock of hair in the mirror of her mini clutch bag.
The chatter from the group of young boys engrossed in a card game relayed from above.
The train had halted at Varnasi for 15 mins. He hadn’t moved or uttered a word from the time he got on.
The newspaper covered Sanjay’s face; his eyes peered through his bi-focal spectacles and his hair rested neatly combed sideways.
A pencil in his hand was losing his grip.

Since Sanjay, an engineer by profession proceeding to Kolkata  to finalize a huge contract, was lost in thoughts trying to decipher the doodle he had scribbled on the newspaper unconsciously consisting of few random numbers and sketches earlier during the morning. He was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by loud cheers of boy’s playing cards on the upper berth and then he noticed the child had come up to him and was eyeing the pencil. Sanjay gave the pencil and the news paper to the child for to scribble and the child went back and squatted between his mother and the ravishing girl on the opposite berth. It was then he noticed her beauty and sub consciously started to groom himself and was somehow desperate to initiate a conversation with this girl for she was the kind of girl he was looking to marry for last couple of years. 

A hour later the child became disinterested with the Newspaper and pencil and suddenly Sanjay hears the girl speaking to him in a cultured tone asking him if she could borrow the newspaper to which he immediately nodded his head as he was too shy to answer back. Sanjay closed his eyes and was once again lost in pleasant thoughts of this beautiful and ravishing girl sitting opposite him, when he felt tapping of news paper on his body. He opened his eyes to find the girl was returning the news paper back to him and following conversation took place

 She: You must be an engineer

He: Yes and how were you able to make out by just reading the Newspaper.

She with a sensuous smile on her lips replied: Your doodle on the newspaper tells it all

He: Really?? You mean that scribbling on the paper tells you of my profession? I am impressed. But then tell me how you came to that conclusion.

She: I have done psychology during graduation and I try to gauge various people around me. Well in your case, for a moment I thought that you are in finance because of the random numbers you have scribbled all around the sketches but then the sketches had clear boundaries with intricate patterns in them. Seeing it for some time made me realize that the sketches looked like some electrical circuits that I had seen my brother studying few days back and hence I deduced that you are an engineer. Am I not correct in my statement??

He: Yes you are correct and by the way my name is Sanjay and I am an electrical engineer staying at Varanasi and you??

She: Hello Sanjay my name is Monica and I am also from Varanasi and (pointing to her brother and his friends on upper berth) said we are going to Kolkata to attend a wedding of a friend.

He: Oh is it, well I am also going to Kolkata for a meeting with my client to finalize a contract and if it is successful then I would be doing the shopping mall project.

She: You mean the mall which is coming up near Gol Park? It is adjoining my house

He: Yes the same one. Now I know where you live Monica and if it is not a problem can we meet some time for a coffee when you are back from Kolkata.

She: Yes Sanjay we sure can. Just call me when you are free.

Continuous conversation gets interrupted by the ticket examiner and after he had gone Sanjay tries to catch the attention of Monica to continue with their conversation and get her mobile number but then she is busy chatting with the boys who have finished their card game and have come down to their seats. He overhears them talking of taking the return journey by next day morning train after the wedding as it would be easier to get seats on a day train. He decides too that he would travel back to Varanasi by the very train they are planning so that it gives him more time to admire Monica and possibly have a pleasant conversation with her on boring journey back home. 

As the train is nearing Kolkata there is a rush of daily commuters entering the coach from the previous coach crowing this coach and Sanjay has not got a chance to ask for Monica’s mobile number yet and he glimpses her through gaps in the crowd that she is still occupied in animated conversation with her brother and his friends. As the commuter throng towards the exit Monica goes ahead without any backward glance. Sanjay is shattered that he was not able to get her contact details today itself but then thinks that he would be able to get the same during the return journey the next day.

Alas the next day Sanjay searched for Monica on the entire train on the return journey and she was not aboard the train. With a heavy heart Sanjay takes out his pencil and starts doodling on the newspaper again lost once again in his thoughts.

This post has been written for Tell a tale contest posted by Divya

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Shweta 
Ragumuthukumar