Yet another journey

Kerala Express was crowded by the time I boarded it at Ernakulam. I entered into a compartment in the back and hopped into the next ones trying to find a seat. After almost 20 minutes of hopping, I reached somewhere in the front of the train and I saw paradise – a compartment with a plethora of empty seats. Tired and sleepy I went and sat down near a window seat. Opposite to my seat was this tall and lanky man in his mid thirties…….with an unusual smile…….in fact his face always sported that smile. After a while, this guy started some chitchatting with me, but overcome with fatigue I didn’t want to entertain anyone…….no, not even if it was a smashing looking young lady in his place……seriously! ;) When the train reached Kottayam, this guy takes his small black bag and places it beside my seat and requests me to look after it while he’ll be back in a jiffy. To my dismay, the man didn’t come and the train had started moving. I lied down on the seat trying to catch some sleep, keeping that bag near my head…….but thoughts started revolving round my head – either the man missed the train or he purposely left the bag in the train. Why? Errrr, bomb? Hmm, thinking about it, the bag is of perfect size to fit a bomb, and there’re scores of people in the train……But……Nay, highly improbable. But still………..The train passed 2 more stations and by now I almost became paranoid, imagining a tick tick from the bag. Realizing that my head is very close to the bag, I got up and put the bag in the upper berth, and lied down again, now really trying hard to sleep. I made my mind to hand over the bag to railway police at the next stop.

It was sometime during my little nap that I heard a commotion; while getting up I saw the man that disappeared in Kottayam station, making a ruckus in the next section of compartment about his bag. I immediately got up and called him and showed his bag in the berth.

What had happened to him? Well, this train when it reaches Ernakulam changes the position of its engine. That is, the front of the train becomes back and vice versa. So this man boarded somewhere in the front of the train at Ernakulam and after he got down at Kottayam to stroll for a while, he asked someone where the front was (which was now the back) and entered the train only to find me and the bag gone. Later realizing the mistake, he hopped from the back to front searching for the bag.

Well that’s the story. But the punch of the story lies in the man’s dialogue after he sat down near me with his bag,

"Ho, bag-inte akathe ente lungi-yum baniyan-um ondaarunnu. Atha enikke tension aayathe."