Shape of the Sun

Train rides are the new therapy

Rajkumar wasn't the only one traveling, though.

As soon as Manmeet got her valuables that Trisha had left at the front desk, she jumped into the taxi that Rajkumar had hailed for her and told the driver to take her to the shopping mall where she changed into a shirt and trousers, and bought some more clothes with a bag to keep everything in. Then, she requested that he drop her at the bus station. Rajkumar, as conscientious as he was, not only paid for a full-day taxi ride for her but also left her some bundles of cash in the drawer. According to him, some of the cash in her purse may have developed wings to fly with all the moving around for the past day.

And boy, was he right. Manmeet opened her purse to find not only most of her cash gone, but even all of her credit cards, and one club membership card. She didn't even have the energy left to pursue the matter, not knowing where and how long it would take her. It could have been stolen by someone in the crowd at the office, or even by one of the police officers. Who knew? The thief might have even been the front desk staff that Trisha had handed it over to for her.

But at this point, Manmeet could care less. She had already made a quick call to her bank using the hotel phone and instructed them to immediately block any transactions done with her cards, and now that was done, there was another thing on her mind. Hadn't Rajkumar mentioned that some therapy and giving herself some grace was going to help her forget her trauma, help her forget him?

Manmeet decided to listen to her doctor and combine both strategies in one package. That was right. Manmeet decided to get on a train and ride all the way to Shimla, where her parents lived. It was an impulse really, something she hadn't thought through. In fact, she only heard about this particular train ride from staff in the office and even when the ticket was in her hand, Manmeet still stood dazed, looking at the teeming crowd around her, the scent of spicy food and a rich mix of tea and sweat wafting up her nose. It was like she was in a foreign land, but she didn't let that stop her, just like she couldn't let self-pity and loathing take over her life. Did she want to become the woman that would wake up every morning shaming herself for not being able to keep a man? 

Hell no. It was the other way around. 

Rajkumar had been too chicken to handle a woman like her and he ran the first chance that he got. Why should she want to even keep someone like that, a man so deceitful that he said one thing and did another? Manmeet scolded him severely in her heart for being too cunning and abruptly kissing her when he was about to leave the room. She shamelessly omitted the fact that she hadn't really done anything to resist, either. Hey, how could a woman as sophisticated as she was, confess to hypocrisy first?

Look how supportive of men's rights she was. Truly making the world a better place.

As Manmeet was thinking this, the train doors opened and she immediately joined the people flocking in, not wanting to appear odd. Manmeet Chatterjee was anxious in this strange territory, nothing like the swanky and sleek designs that she was used to on the business-class flights that she usually flew in when visiting home. She took the first seat to her left, opposite a middle-aged couple and their daughter, about eight or nine years of age in Manmeet's cognition. Manmeet held her bag closer to her, her eyes discreetly watching the movements of everyone around her so that she didn't act out of place. Then something happened that made her slip out of character.

Under Manmeet's shocked expression, the couple whipped out their phones and ordered food, which appeared ready to arrive soon from what she could gather from their satisfied expressions. Needless to say, Manmeet was stumped at this new revelation. She didn't have a phone, as hers was smashed by Mr. Abir, so did that mean that she was to go on this day-long ride without eating?

The hell?

Manmeet frowned, wondering if she could approach this couple and ask them to buy her meals in exchange for some cash. Unfortunately, their daughter saw all these actions and concluded that this woman sharing their berth had to be a thief, like those in the TV drama series her mother liked watching. She had kept staring at her father's bag for a while now before looking away, a frown on her face. Could she be contemplating how difficult it would be to steal here?