Chapter 1
The loud noise of train moving along the track made Rohith wake up. His mind was clear of any thoughts, at first he wasn't able to realize even who he was. Took a few seconds to get back to his consciousness and sat up on the bed. He was on the upper berth. Surprisingly his bag was missing, and he doesn't remember where he kept it or even did he actually brought a bag in the first place. With a dilemma, Rohith climbed down from upper birth. Lower birth seems empty. He walked along the bogey. To his surprise his entire bogey was empty. Will the railway let some bogeys empty? He washed his face and went to inspect the second bogey and there too was no one except in some seats occasionally he found some bags. After inspecting the second bogey completely and found none there too he realizes a chill in his heart. This is strange. Anyhow he was soo starving and his stomach is paining with emptiness... He has no food and there is nobody to ask. He opened one of the bags he found and got some biscuits, looked if somebody is watching and started eating them. He continued this with every other bag he found, yet his hunger was still there. The stomach is still paining. There must be some problem with my stomach, he thought himself.
Rohith felt some strange feeling of fear in himself. After all, he didn't find any person till now. He walked bogey by bogey to find someone and failed. There was nobody! The train carries only him and who knows if it has a loco pilot or not? That thought struck him very much.. It doesn't seem safe to be here like this. He went to a door and tried to open, but it seems stuck. He tried another door, that too is not opening and tried another and continued until at last, he was able to open one door. Staring out from it he could see the night sky outside train moves really fast. At a crossroad, where usually railway is perpendicular to the road and the train moves perpendicular to the road, he saw many people on their vehicles, waiting for the long train to pass, so that they could continue their journey. He waved at them and called out for help.. But it seems nobody even cares.. Its like they can't even see him. Along the way he felt the train was slowing, he was sure this is not for stopping as he had already expected that three times before now when the train slowed down. This time he has to make a move.
He held on to the bars outside the door and held himself out, ready to jump. When he realized the train was at its slowest speed, he jumped out.
Fell on to some paddy fields striking and rolling. He stood up somehow, the body is paining the roll must have scratched his skin..one of his hand is shivering with pain... There must be some fracture. He analyzed himself. Without bothering about it much he walked along the field. After about ten minutes walk he found a road. Tried to ask for a lift by waving his hand with thumbs up at many vehicles that passed him. No one seems to stop.. after walking some distance he found a parked vehicle which carries goods to the market, he walked up to it and climbed on its back, and stayed along the goods, hiding by covering with a sheet of plastic. With pain, he slept there.
“It's already 30th Jan man! We agreed to deliver the goods before 28th January. Who knows if they gonna make deal with us anymore. ”
Rohith woke by hearing the speech of the vehicle driver to his fellow worker. He must have slept for hours he doesn't know how long. slowly, he uncovered the plastic sheet and looked outside to know where he was, by looking at the name boards of shops, usually, name boards of the shops has a title of the place. He was astonished that he was now at his own place Pattambi. Oh god, should I jump off from this too? An idea struck him suddenly. He waited for a deserted area and pushed one of the boxes from the carrier out to the road. It worked with a bang the box fell on to the road and the vehicle stopped as the driver heard the noise. As soon as the vehicle stopped he jumped out of it and ran.
Running and running he finally reached his home. The door was closed yet he could see the inside of veranda through the strip of gaps between the wooden striped wall of his old fashioned house. Through the gap as he gazed, he was dumbstruck. He saw his own photo with Flower Garland. Usually, this custom is practiced when somebody dies and with the dead person’s photo. But how?! He saw too many newspapers piled before the door and one of its headings struck him.
THE TRAIN ACCIDENT KILLED 140
Many Are In Critical State
The newspaper dated 26th January also stated one person’s dead body was not recovered as it was unrecoverably split into pieces. By checking the passenger list with the names of those recovered, the railway came to the conclusion that the person is Rohith.
Tears fell dripping out of his eyes…….
