(Those who haven’t read the first part, you can find it here)

She looked at her again. A slender girl, she liked her in the second look. She would have loved to have a figure like her. She even liked her chappals* that had a pink and white base with star-shaped crystals adorning the straps. She wondered where she could get those, but of course, she’ll like to have them in blue color, which was her favorite color and coincidentally even his. At another terminal spot, the compartment got a little empty and she had a sigh of relief. She wished it was all empty and she could have enjoyed the train journey, sitting at the window, feeling the air even if it wasn’t so fresh like of the hills. Her trance was interrupted by the ring of her mobile.

She took the call. ‘Hello!’ She exclaimed. With effort she managed to hear what was being said from the other side, sometimes the signal taking a toll on the conversation.

‘So! What you have decided?’, ‘Today? Are you sure?’, ‘and if you don’t, I am sure you know I’ll never see your face again!’, ‘tell her’, ‘yes’, were the only few sentences she spoke during the conversation. Putting her cell in her bag, she smiled victoriously and again disengaged herself from the crowd with planning of a lovely life. Suddenly she felt a little pain as the arm of the ‘lady in the red’ brushed hard on her chest. She looked at the lady, who was busy finding something in her purse. This was the moment, when her mind went blank all of a sudden; she couldn’t believe her eyes and what was in front of her. Conscious of her blank stare at the photograph that was accommodated in the flap of the purse, next to the mirror, the ‘lady in the red’ pointing towards the man said, ‘he is my husband, we got married four months back. Do you know him?’

‘Ah! No! no, I don’t’ was what all she managed to reply. The ‘lady in the red’ being of a jolly nature and having characteristics of a typical Indian female, who is born and bred in a middle class family, started telling her about the marriage and her husband. After a few minutes, when she wasn’t being questioned about anything and wasn’t even getting replied, she decided to cut off the conversation. A few minutes of silence followed and then the girl only managed to stammer ‘do you love him?’ The question was enough to make the lady blush.

‘I mean it looks like you both had an arranged marriage, so I asked’, was the explanation she put on, aware of her illogical question.

‘Yes! I love him’

‘And he?’

‘I am not sure…I think he loves someone else or he loved someone else but I am sure he’ll soon forget her. That is how life is! We all have t make adjustments…even I did.’

She took a deep breath.The girl looked at the lady. She saw a reel of expressions swarming on her face. All of a sudden, that beautiful face became sad, angry, blank, depressed and again beautiful. She sighed! After another moment of silence, she spoke again…

‘Well, life is like this train journey. We all have to make adjustments coz we have no other option then traveling in the same compartment. I loved someone else but I was married to him. First…I adjusted with him and now…now I love him and him alone.’

‘So, that’s an adjustment too?!’

‘No! Initially we all have to adjust like in this compartment. But what becomes a habit as per the compartment, changes into love in relationships. I accepted him as my husband and that’s the fact of my life now. I am sure, he will accept me the way just as I have and would even love me unless he doesn’t decide to leave me for that girl.’

Her words were heavy, her voice as well. The last line particularly pierced into her heart, she started staring at the pink and white chappals* of the girl just to hide her emotions. The train halted and it was her destination. She didn’t go to office that day but roamed here and there for a few hours, drowned in her thoughts. She got a new SIM and three double packs of Maggi. In the afternoon she got back to her single room rented apartment and tried to sleep but in vain. Finally, she picked up her phone and dialed his number. Her hands trembled but she had made up her mind. It is my final decision, she convinced herself.

What she spoke next was undoubtedly her lesson from the journey but the only lines she spoke with a firm mind before switching off her phone were ‘It’s over’ and ‘She loves you’ . With tearful eyes but a winsome smile, finally, she slept!

(*chappals-slippers/footwear)

Image credit: firstscience