answer

I run, my short and stout legs can hardly bear my weight but they are trying their best to move fast so I can catch the train. The train…you may ask why is it so important to catch this train? There’s always the next train cumin but I have got my children waiting at home. My daughter must be peeping out of the window to see if she can see her Momma cumin. She has just learnt to say Ma and shouts from the window, ‘Ma!’ I don’t want to miss that sight. Then there’s my elder son who I am sure is back from college with lots of things to crib about and money to ask for. His room will be a mess and he will be waiting for me so he can zoom off to sum ‘dude’s house. I smile as I view my kids face. Then there are my train friends in the train. The only city in the world to have a breed of friends called ‘train friends’-people who are in the same train with you everyday. I cn feel my cell phone vibrating in my handbag, I am sure its one of my train friends calling. Ignoring it, I rush and climb my first class compartment to see my friends sitting. They frantically wave to me, I walk over to them. The train glides out of the station and so our chatter starts. Theres so much to catch up on, talk about kids, spouses to crib about, dresses to see, shopping to be done, in-laws to be compared, gossip to be shared, more shopping notes, cooking recipes, restaurants to be discussed, movies to laugh about. Phew! The list is endless. Its so much fun to be with them, we look forward to the journey and it jst dsnt remain a journey bt a time to catch up with everyone and we love being together. Its like being a teenager. As I think of this, I see a young girl chatting away on her phone. She is pretty. I notice she has the same handbag as mine. I smile at her and she smiles back. I see her everyday in the same train. I could hear her voice even in the noise going around, ‘Okay, I will come in the compartment at the next station.’ She moves out of the train at the next station. Maybe her boyfriend or friend or relative I think. My friend interrupts my thoughts and I forget the girl. The train reaches Khar and we hear a loud sound like something being blown off. We panic a bit but no one ever imagines it’s a bomb in the train. Sumone pulls the chain and the train stops. Everyone is getting down; sum men help us get down. We walk to see a scene that I never want to visualize again. Bodies lying in heaps, parts strewn apart. The gruesome scene is imprinted in my mind. And my brain was reeling under shock. Why did this happen? Who did this? The compartment was crushed like a tin can and people inside were in a pathetic state. I looked away from the place. my friends were too stunned by this to say anything, it seemed the train we were going in and chatting happily was in sum othr world. There were injured people all around; the scene was filling me with a gamut of emotions. I was just about to walk away when sumthing caught my eye. It was a handbag similar to mine. I felt a strange kind of fear. I remembered the girl and I began to panic. My friend asked me, ‘what happened?’ I walked to the bag and picked it up. It was a bloody mess and I mean bloody in the real sense. I started looking around for the girl here and there. My friends were confused. I didn’t kno why I ws feelin so bad about the girl, she ws jst a nameless stranger to me. We encounter hundreds of strangers everyday so whats so special abt this girl? She ws sumones friend, sister, girlfriend, maybe fiancé and..daughter. An image of my daughter suddenly flashed in my mind. The feeling of dread rose in my heart. Sum guys were clearing up the bodies, I asked them if they had seen a young girl. The thought of asking if her body was removed brought a huge lump in my throat. They nodded. They were too busy and I understood. Thanking them I moved away from the site. I sat on a rock and began weeping. Why these tears were cumin out for a total stranger? I culdnt explain anything. Everyone says how insensitive we have becum and I agreed the fact bt today I have no explanation. My heart cried out for the girl. With shaking hands I opened her bag, there was her railway pass, she was just 19 yrs old. Her book, wallet and sum cash, sum photos. I dropped the bag. I culdnt take it anemore. She didn’t deserve this, no one in the compartment deserved it. I thought of her parents and I feared what wil becum of them. I walked up a constable nearby and handed him her photo. He told me nt to panic. My friends who were first skeptical abt it nw started praying for her and so did i. I hv never been a religious person bt I prayed, prayed for a girl I dnt kno, nt for my family, love or anything material bt for the well being of a complete stranger and also all others who were in there. The constable told me and said he could nt find her. I thanked him but was totally devastated. I handed him the bag. I went home to find my in-laws waiting anxiously for me. My son was sitting in front of the television looking paler than he looks on the day of his exams. He hugged me and I was touched cos hes nt so prone to acts of affection. My daughter was blissfully sleeping and I wondered what wil happen when she wil grow up. My husband out of town had already made numerous calls to ensure my safety. I didn’t want to watch the television. My family was lucky that I returned bt what abt those who did not? What abt the girl’s family? My son travels by the same route. What is the answer to this? Shuld we shut ourselves in our houses fearing death wich you never where it might strike? Will the next generation grow up in an era of diubt, fear and rising intolerance? I just pray that no one shuld experience fear and pain as the ppl in the compartment might have felt. And when I see my daughter, I kno what is the answer to all this. Love, faith and sum more of faith.I have both of them. Wat bt u?
hey everyone who's gng to donate blood, keep it up. real good work u al r dng.
Shikha.