Short Stories of our beloved ISHMAN

Destined

February 2024...

  Pandits have taken their respective places to perform the Ganga aarti.  Sounds of ghants ( giant bells) can be heard from distance. Everyone is busy in living the moment. In that crowd, two boys unaware of the presence of each other are standing little far from each other. Divine chanting of mantra and magical feeling of gamga aarti will mark the beginning of their journey and universe will conspire to bring two souls together who were always meant to be one.

        I am never coming to this place again, said Shubman to himself. Meet Shubman Gill, 17 years old, from Chandigarh. He is done with his 12th boards exams and before going off to college, he is travelling to ancient cities of India and that's how he ended up in Varanasi, one of the ancient cities.

Yrrr kitna shi lgg rha hai yha, humara bss chale toh hum bss yhi baithe rhe ( yrr, it feels so good here, if it was upto me, i would sit here only), said Ishan to his friends. But beta aisa hota nhi hai aur ab chal teri train bhi toh hai 10 bje( but it doesn't work like that and let's go you have to catch train at 10), said his friend. Meet Ishan Kishan, 19 years old, from Patna, student at BHU ( Banaras Hindu University. He has just given his exams for second semester and college has given them break before next semester.

Here, take this kachori and aalu jhol , kha liyo and please inform once your train departs. Ishan comes out of the hostel and takes an auto to railway station. Meanwhile at railway station, Shubman is buying chips and cold drinks and waiting for train.

Announcement has been made that Neelachal Express will arrive shortly on platform no 5. Shubman takes his bags and walks towards the platform. After few minutes, train arrived and now he has made himself comfortable in his cabin. His cabin  mate has not arrived yet and Shubman just hopes that he doesn't get stuck up with some uncle, otherwise this journey is gonna be hell. While he has been allotted  upper berth but he sets himself up on lower berth till the said he/ she/they arrive. After few minutes, a guy arrives. He is small Shubman notices . Maybe younger than him, Shubman thought. His chain of thought is broken when the said guy speaks, hey there, that's my seat. Ohh...mine is upper wala but if you wanna lie down, i can go to my seat, Shubman says. No, it's okay...abhi to i'll eat something. You can sit here. Myself Ishan and forwards hand to Shubman. Shubman shakes hands with Ishan and introduces himself to Ishan.

     They do their own things untill Ishan speaks ..... you had your dinner? Not yet but i have some chips and drinks ..Shubman replies. Join me, i have enough for two people, Ishan offers. Shubman  declines politely. I promise this is not poisonous and i am not going to run with your luggage. Shubman smiles and eventually he joins. Conversation flows easily between them like they have known each other for forever. Shubman finds Ishan quite amusing. He finds himself smiling almost at every joke of Ishan. And he has just met him ..it's been 2 hours only. This journey is gonna be one of its kind.

    Once they are done with their dinner, they settle down beside each other. So, what do you do Shubman ?  Just gave my boards and will be giving cuet. What about you? I am studying ancient history from BHU, 2nd year. Btw you are younger than me, Ishan chuckles. Call me bhaiya, Ishan teases Shubman. Shubman smiles and says but you are small. Ishan scrunches his nose at that. Which stream you are planning to choose? Same as yours but planning to get in DU. As it will be near home and i can easily blend there. Understandable, Ishan replies but BHU has diversity, blending in won't be a problem. They talk for some more time and finally retires to bed.

     Ishan lies down and his mind drifts back to conversations he just had with Shubman. How easy it was to connect with him. Like he has been with him before or with him in some other universe. A faint smile comes to his lips before he drifts to sleep. Meanwhile, Shubman is surprised with himself , being an introvert he really doesn't have many friends and Ishan is particularly a stranger but why was it so easy to communicate with him and hell even he had food offered by the elder. What's this connection he is feeling with the elder, he question himself .

Shubman wakes up before Ishan and finds Ishan tucked in those white sheets of Indian railway and those sheets are adding brightness to his feature. Shubman finds himself staring at Ishan. After sometime , he goes to brush his teeth and buy water bottle. When he comes back, he finds Ishan awake and lazily scrolling his phone. Ishan notices Shubman and passes a smile. Brush kr lo aap , extra pani le aaya mai, say Shubman and hands water bottle to Ishan. Ishan comes down and after few minutes goes for washing his face and brushing his teeth. Shubman goes to pantry cart and asks them to prepare special chai for two people. He offers some money to the worker and comes back to his seat. When he returns, Aise sb saman chhod k kha chale gye the? Ishan asks. Kuch nhi bss chai k liye bolne gya tha, Shubman replies. After few minutes the railway employee comes with chai and pours two cup of chai. Chai to piyoge na aap? Shubman ask Ishan. Hnn bilkul , Ishan replies. After taking a sip, Ishan says.. Train me aisi chai phli baar mili hai and Shubman heart swells with pride like he has done something magnificent.

After 22 hours of long journey, they are finally at Puri . Since both are here to explore Puri, they have decided to tag along. They hire an auto and reaches to hotel. Shubman wanted a beach facing room so here they are. After taking shower and resting for a while, they decides to go to beach for a walk. The cool breeze and moonlight is providing comfort to their soul. Shubman is walking behind Ishan and he is mesmerised by the beauty in front of him. Black hoodie, grey sweatpants, long hair, earings and tattoos are doing something to his heart. He wants to be in this moment forever. This unexpected meeting with Ishan is going to be one of the most cherished moment of his life. After sometime they came back to room as they will be leaving early to
explore parts of Puri.

Ishan woke up first and finds himself dangerously close to Shubman but somehow he didn't find it weird. Who're you Shubman? Why am I allowing you to break all the walls around me? With these thoughts still lingering back of his mind he went to washroom to wash himself up. When he came back he found Shubman awake. They exchanged smile and got ready for their day outing. They visited many places like Shri Jagnnath Temple, Panchmukhi Hanuman Mandir, Konark Sun Temple, Chillika lake, Sakshigopal temple etc. before coming back to their hotel. They clicked pictures of each other, they clicked picture together , overall it was fun and filled with knowledge and pride for our ancestors. They reached their hotel and after shower immediately retired to bed. They spent a week exploring puri and neighbouring places and still there was so much left.

It was time to go back go home. Ishan was going back to Varanasi instead of Patna and Shubman was going to Chandigarh via Delhi. Neelachal express was the train once again which will be going to Anand Vihar( station in Delhi) via Varanasi. But this time their ticket was in different cabin but somehow Shubman managed to convince an uncle and exchanged seats with him and went to Ishan. Now it was time for Ishan to go as Varanasi was near. Shubman felt like he is losing something. He wanted to hold on to Ishan or maybe follow Ishan through out his life. He was scared by his own thoughts but he will deal with that later. Ishan was about to go and Shubman doesn't know if he will ever meet him again. Thought itself was haunting. Ishan himself was not in better place, it's been merely 8 days since he has known Shubman but why is it so difficult to part ways with him. He questioned himself again and again but there was no reasonable explanation for it. He wanted to hold onto this moment, it felt like an invisible thread was pulling them closer but some unknown forces were keeping them apart. It was getting difficult for Ishan because next stoppage is Varanasi and this beautiful journey with Shubman will end here and they might not meet again. Ishan doesn't want that to happen.

Ishan chains of thought is broken when Shubman speaks...Ishan, let's be in touch. Ishan just nodded in response. He couldn't speak. He was ready with his luggage and was about to go out of cabin when Shubman pulled him closer and hugged him so tightly like his life depended on it. Ishan was about to cry with the amount of emotions he was feeling but nonetheless he hugged Shubman back with same intensity. Thank for tolerating my nonsense throughout the trip, i'll be forever thankful; Shubman said. Ishan nuzzled his face more to Shubman neck in response, he was surprised with his actions but not sorry. They broke hug after sometime and Ishan went out and Shubman followed him to the gate. Finally train stopped at station and Ishan said goodbye to Shubman and came down. Shubman watched Ishan until he disappeared from his sight. A lone tear escaped his eyes, was Shubman surprised? No. His heart was aching like his most favourite person has been snatched away and he couldn't do anything. He came back to his seat and slept throughout the remaining journey.

Thank you for reading...
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