TRAIN 9 2 11 (continued)

“WHEN DID YOU COME TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FATHER?”
“There was a message for me when I got home. I was having lunch with Sindhu.”

I looked down at the biscuits. “I’m not really hungry right now. I’ll get something at the station later.”

Rachana started eating biscuits, and I took one for tasting purpose. It was eight o’clock in the evening. Train halted at some remote station, which was not properly lit. The passenger who was sleeping on the opposite seat was waked by the halt. He looked at his watch. He walked over to the door and cautiously opened it. In the doorway stood a short man, with thick glasses and a thin, sallow face.

“Excuse me,” the man said differently. “You have a lighter”.
“No”
“Do you have matchbox?”
“No,” he said rudely. He started to close the door.

Fifteen minutes later, as the fellow passenger was trying to sleep, we began to smell smoke. The smell was getting stronger. I stood up to open the door. The fellow passenger pushed against it. It held fast.
“Hello?” he called out. “What’s happening out there?”
There was no response.
“Hello?” I pressed my shoulder against the door, but there seemed to be something heavy on the other side of it closed. “Mister?”
There was no answer. The only sound we could hear was a loud crackling noise. The smell of the smoke was becoming overpowering. The bogie was on fire that is probably why he left. He must have gone to get help. The passenger slammed his shoulder against the door, but it would not budge. “HELP!” he screamed. “Get me out of here!”

Smoke was starting to pour under the door, and we could feel the heat of the flames beginning to lick at it. It was getting difficult to breathe. The passenger was starting to choke, Rachana became unconscious. The passenger also was beginning to lose consciousness. I slammed my shoulder against the door with whatever energy left, door budged a little. I slammed harder this time; door budged little more, which was enough for a man to get through. With great difficulty, I fished out both of them.

I pushed my way through the crowd of passengers and bystanders and hurried over to the concrete bench along with Rachana. Three bogies’ had been engulfing by the fire.
“How did it happen?” a bystander asked me.
“I don’t know.”

At 20:30hrs, the station began to fill with official vehicles, fire engines, ambulances, and police vehicles. I watched as two ambulance attendants pushed a gurney carrying a body into the ambulance. The body was of the man who smirked with the co-passenger.

(to be continued.............)