THE REVOLUTIONISTS

Chapter One

The train screamed. I woke up from my unconscious dreaming. The mild light in the compartment made me realize that I was sitting there for quite a long time. I couldn't see anything outside, it was all cloaked with a rushing dark wind; and it almost bored me to death. I looked at the fellow passengers once again.

I could see three types of people there. One, they were sleeping, no matter what; even the death itself couldn't wake them up. Two, these folks were pretending like that they were in their happiest nap. But they were not, because the train berths were betraying their luxury of sleeping. And the third, people of this kind does not sleep in a train, ever; rather they enjoy the whole situation, make fun of the sleepy passengers with their friends, or read a book or something else. Thus, everyone was busy doing their things.

I was of third kind of course; I couldn't rest. I happened to be a very talkative person but couldn't even find anyone to talk to. The book, which was lying on my lap, was complaining about not reading it.

I removed my glasses from my tired eyes, got up and went for a little walk just to remove the unwanted layer of boringness around me. Usually in this time, I look for the door side. The soothing breeze from an open door can entertain you forever.

And I found him; he, who changed my life later on; who helped me learn a different meaning of life. He was standing near the open door leaning on the handle.

He seemed like a charming young man; and probably was 22 or 23 years old. There was a strange vive in his dreamy eyes. His large shoulders and a beefy figure made my skinny outline fade. The stiched scar on his left cheek didn't escape my eyes. His shirt and long hairs were flapping in the air. I took my steps towards him.

- A little cold, isn't it?' I asked.

- It is; but I'm stuck with it.' He curved his lips into a weird smile just for a fraction of second, and then it was gone.

- Why would you say that?' I frowned automatically.

- Well, I had a waiting ticket, and I had to board; so, I think you know what that means.' His lips greeted me with the same controlled smile again.

- Ah... Okay, I get it.' I took a moment to think. 'If you don't mind we can share my berth.'

- You sure?' He sounded a little shy.

- Pretty much. I'm quite bored being alone.

- Okay, thanks buddy. By the way, I'm Vijay.

- And I'm Prateek. Nice to meet you.

We settled ourselves in my window seat, and started talking. He was from Raipur. I had no idea where that was, but from his short description I assumed that it was some place between West Bengal and Jharkhand. You guys may think that, that boy was very chatty and very friendly, but he was not. It took me a while to get these things from him, and when I said 'we' started talking; what I meant was, I started talking and he just listened. He opened his mouth for just a couple of times. He had a mysterious look in his eyes; I couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad one. But I liked him anyway. And that 'one sided talk' continued for another fifteen minutes or so.

Vijay might not talk too much, but he responded enough to encourage me. After a few more minutes I noticed, the train was slowing down; I could hear it and obviously felt it too. May be some signal had gone red. Not a big deal.

Vijay got up from the seat and said, 'We should get outside, and it will take longer than you think.'

- Well, how do you know that?' I hesitated.

- Don't be surprised, I'm familiar with this. Wanna join me?' he sounded confident.

- Okay, but are you sure it is a good idea? The train might leave before we get back.