A Rail Journey

It was a cold morning; and my train to Delhi was to leave the Jammu Tawi Station at 0630. It was a tremendous effort to pull myself out of my warm bed at the hotel; and an even bigger effort to walk the short distance to the station. I could have taken a Tonga but they always overcharge. The sun hadn’t yet come up when I clambered onto the A4 compartment of the Rajdhani Express, thanking whoever who invented air conditioning. The slight warmth in the cabin was refreshing. I checked my ticket and searched for seat number 9. I walked into the compartment where seat 9 was situated. The first pleasant moment that entire day was the sight of the pretty little thing that sat opposite to my seat. She was gazing out of the window when I came in. She looked at me as I entered with my luggage.

The things that I noticed first were the bright blue eyes she had and the big smile she wore. The fair skin, innocent face, cashmere shawl, and the pale white hands I noticed only later. She was the one who started the conversation. No sooner had I sat down than she started asking my name, my hometown, what I was doing etc etc etc …. I was only happy to oblige. After all how often does a beautiful angel with the sweetest of voices start a conversation with you? I returned the favour, by asking my own questions. She was named after the goddess Lakshmi. To me she was like an apsaras sent from heaven. It turned out that both of us were of the same age; both of us had just finished our first years of college. She was studying in a college in Jammu and was going to her home in Kathua not too far from the railway station at Kathua. Kathua was the first stop of the train, the first of the 3 stops before Delhi. I swiftly calculated that perhaps there was an hour till Kathua. I do not remember what we talked about. She was always smiling; sand I was always distracted by her eyes and smiles. I stopped thinking and listening altogether. It was when the sun came up that she placed her hands on the window, as though she was soaking the warmth from the sunrays. That was when I truly realized the beauty of the moment. In front of me was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen; and to my side out of the window was one of the most beautiful places on earth. Between Jammy and Kathua, there were a few valleys and hills. The sun lightened up the valley; reflecting off the dew on the expanses of flowers and trees. Heaven would have been something like that. The sun also seemed to reflect off of her face as well, making her look even more beautiful.

Lakshmi was the goddess of beauty and prosperity among many other things; it in Sanskrit itself meant a lucky sign or omen…..and it was to be so. Her sweet voice had a calming effect on me. I was worried about a lot of things, many things had troubled me but those moments with her; time stood still. The train appeared to slow down; Laksmi asked me whether we were nearing Kathua station. I checked my watch and told her that the train would be reaching the station shortly. I cheekily asked her for her number and she smiled and gave it to me. A few minutes later, when the train entered the station, she reached under he seat and took an aluminium stick out.

She was blind. I was totally taken aback by it. Not once in the past hour did she show any signs of blindness; yet she was…..I softly cursed the heavens for making her beautiful eyes worthless….cursing the heavens for depriving such a kind soul of the vital sense of sight. “Wait, I’ll lead you out…there will be a big rush…”, I remember myself saying. I held her hand and took her luggage and led her out. Someone was waiting for her outside. She whispered a “Thank You”, as I returned to the railway coach.

By being blind she couldn’t see the bad things in the world. Perhaps her innocence was untainted because she was blind to everything bad….shielded forever….