Love Story 1

 Anirudh was a short height person trying to find out a suitable match. He was not very outspoken. He once told his mother that now he is working, earning a good amount, so he should marry. The mother agreed upon his idea. 

Once he took upon a solo journey via train, and road. He boarded the train alone for Guwahati. 

Inside the train, he spotted his berth and laid down for a while, despite it being a day time. He took a nap. There was no one to disturb him . Soon he heard a very beautiful voice, "May I sit here?"

To this he could not deny, he said , "Please, make yourself comfortable"

The girl silently sat down. He lifted the hair strands which were falling above her eyes. Her eyes was constantly looking downward. She was too shy to initiate the conversation, Anirudh felt. 

Anirudh tried to break the silence as he found her striking beautiful. 

"Are you going to Guwahati ?"

"No" She said. This made Anirudh a bit hesitant to ask further

"Then, Where?"

"To  New Jalpaiguri" She confirmed raising her eyelids a bit and looking into his eyes for a while. 

"I see, is it your home?"

"No, I live here in Purnia."

"That is great. Why New Jalpaiguri?"

"Please do not ask me personal questions. I am bit worried. Mind your work."

Anirudh felt her words rude. She was not looking into his eyes and started trifling away with small bag that was on her lap. She took out the water bottle from the bag, poured one ounce of water into her mouth and expressed complete detachment like Lord Shiva poured the poison in his mouth completely unaffected. 

Anirudh started feeling drowsy not wanting to talk to her further. He extended his legs further as if wanting to sleep, ignoring the pain her remarks gave him. He wanted to ask her to vacate the berth so that he could lie down in a complete relaxed position. 

Soon he heard her voice, "I want to marry a guy, my parents do not want me to get married to him. So I am going to meet him without telling my parents. This is making me anxious"

Anirudh's ears got pricked. He wanted to forget the rude remarks and became curious to know about it further. 

"Why your parents do not agree for it?" I asked trying to sit again, half-lying on the berth, half occupied by the girl.

"Because I am a Brahmin. He is scheduled caste." Her words made him more curious.

"Ok. Which Brahmin you are?"

" I am Gaudiya Brahmin. Born and brought up in Kolkata."

"Are you a Bengali?" Anirudh asked trying to further invade into her privacy.

"No, My family is from Bihar. We later shifted to Kolkata."

Other co passengers were looking at them with doubts due to the engaging conversation they were having.

"Still its difficult to marry outside caste due to conservative attitude of people. We cant change the attitude." Anirudh sounded philosophical and diabolical.

But he continued, " You should go ahead if you really love him."

"No, I am planning to just meet him one last time. I can't risk his life. They will kill him" she said with watery eyes.

Anirudh tried to console her, "Elope with him. But it would be even more dangerous and risky. I am not in favour of losing the love anyways"

"Will you come with me to meet him. This will prevent any risky situation that may arise if someone sees us."

Anirudh was not very sure of this. Her emotions had caught his attention well. So he confirmed her.

" Ok. I will come with you"

They both deboarded the train at New Jalpaiguri. Anirudh had started feeling a strange feeling of affection and love for the girl. He did not want her to marry the guy she was going to meet. 

Bus diaries

 A journey from Katihar to Kursela on a public transport for the service to people can be really satisfying. 

I undertake the journey on a regular basis to keep my mind busy on people, on  farm lands, on cattle moving, on the tea sellers and so on. It makes me poignant, to observe the fearful faces, and a lot of expectations they have from the fellow people as well as the Government. 

The Government definitely works within its limits for the people. It gives them subsidised ration, cheap electricity, subsidised LPG cylinders and so on. Central and State Governments combined are responsible for the assigned work, for the people choose them once every five years. 

While travelling on the bus, I reflect, whether people are really happy from inside. 

Many persons are standing on the bus floor, while undertaking the journey.  Does it say that number of buses plying are less or the population is more ? 

Even cattle is boarded on the bus, but they are not allowed by the owner of the bus. This speaks of the economic dependence of the people on livestock, and low or nil earnings from other sources. 

Encountering same faces are difficult, that means majority who board the buses do not return back or take this mode of transport on an another day. This means a large chunk of them often migrates to nearby towns like Purnia, or neighbouring villages. 

Government must address the above socio economic issues at the earliest so that their quality of life improves.