"FUCK!! Theres no one here. You are screwed. Big time. You'll be fucked the next three days. How were you so stupid. How can anybody be so stupid?" About a hundred voices were screaming in my head. And they pretty much all said the same thing. And there I was. Standing at the Jaipur railway station. My eyes frantically searching for a face. Any face. Any face that I know. Any face I can talk to. But there was none. And I was all alone. "See thats what happens when you don't book your seat with your friends." The voices in my head were surprisingly loud and clear. To top on that, I had to travel across the whole country to reach my college. From Jodhpur to Guwahati. All alone in a compartment.
When I boarded the train at Jodhpur, it was 1 in the morning. On the station, not surprisingly, i was the only thing that walked on two legs. But surprisingly enough, there were a host of four legged creatures barking and shouting and huffing and puffing on one another. "Maybe it is a dog parliament or something." My inner voice sounded really stupid this time. Then i came to my senses and ran for my life without looking back. Assured that i was at a safe distance from the Annual Canine Conference I sat to catch my breath.
I checked the time, 11:30pm. Shit! the train is at 1. That leaves me with one and a half hours, a pack of noisy dogs and an almost dark platform with some blinking tubelights, carrying my bags, not heavy, but not exactly feathers, cursing the moment I decided to take this train. I am sitting on an empty platform. thinking of anything from chaos theory to bubble bath, trying to pass my time.
Then I heard it. It was not loud but the voice was so clear for a moment I thought the voices in my head were back again. Then I saw it, the low purring sound was coming from below my seat. from a creature very unearthly. It was a mere cat I realized, but it was the most beautiful cat I had ever seen. The shades of purest white with little black dots. It looked like the Antigod's answer to the night sky. 'The cat' will be called 'The creature' from now on. Calling it a cat will be an insult to its beauty (Yeah! I am a racist. I don't care). "You should take it with you." Shit. The voice again. I tried to argue. Its impractical. How am i supposed to carry 'The creature ' across the whole journey. "Then just throw it in front of a train. If you cant have it nobody else can." The voice whispered. For a moment I was scared of myself. I picked up The creature. I had no intentions of throwing it to the train (if thats what you are thinking). My hands felt wet. The creature was wet. "Maybe The creature is a sign or a God's messenger to earth." My inner voice echoed once again. Shut up, I said to myself. I will have to do something about these voices, I thought. One closer look and I came to my senses. The creature was bleeding. The left hind leg was wounded. The melodious sounds I was high on for about 20 minutes were actually desperate
cries for help, subdued by painful moans.
I decided to help the creature. I brought some water to clean the wound. The canine conference was still in the back of my mind. "If The creature shouts and the dogs realize you are helping The creature, they'll tear you to pieces." I don't care, I decided. The creature was God's masterpiece, and it needed to be helped, and I am not going to ditch The creature now.I cleansed the wound, tied my handkerchief around the leg and fed it my leftover dinner. I felt I had served some purpose that night. I somehow strangely felt important.
The time was almost there. My train would be here anytime. The creature was sitting beside me, eating, not aware of anything else. It was content, satisfied to the last thread of it's heart. The pain had receded. I felt closer to The creature than anyone I had ever met. On that dark and deserted railway station, in that never ending night, scared of a common predator or a conference of predators, we had become best friends. For that one and a half hours we had only each other for company, we communicated without talking, we played, laughed, we bonded.
The sound of the engine pierced my ears like never before. It was the most unwelcome news of my life. The whistle had scattered the dogs. The creature was sleeping. I wished it would wake up so we could share our good byes. But it was tired. It kept sleeping. I decided to let The creature wander in its dreams. I said a silent prayer wishing someone will take it away from
the dogs the next morning and boarded the train.
"Your fucking mind is playing tricks on you, you retarded soul." My inner voice scolded me. Maybe it was a trick played on me by my mind. But I still believe I saw an aura of light around The Creature's face. I saw it stand on two legs and raise one of it's front legs and say 'THANK YOU'.
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