Short stories.

Destiny.

The stickiness in the air seemed easily felt. There was a new crowd moving towards me, pushing anyone who came in the way. This was very common in all the railway stations in India. Although it was a very busy place I still loved coming here. There would always be some families reuniting here. Some who had been out for work, some for studies and so on. Seeing their faces brighten up after meeting their loved ones gave me happiness and hope that someday even I would reunite with my family. There was something new here every day, but one thing never changed. The T.C. He was always there running from here and there. He would always look at me and we shared a long stare at each other. I don't know why but I felt like I know him. Like we had a connection. One day he came up to me and asked me why I came here every day. I told him that it was because of my father. A few years ago he had gone to Mumbai to try his luck. We weren't exactly wealthy. He had got job in Mumbai, he used to come and visit me a lot but suddenly six months ago he stopped coming. I hadn't heard from him, and that's when I started coming here with the hope of seeing him again. But I hadn't.

A few months passed by and me and Anil uncle had become very close. After the day he came up to me and asked me why I came to the station, we started talking a lot. We used to go outside every day after his shift got over. Some days he would take me out for an ice cream, or chaat and on rainy day for hot pakodas and tea. We enjoyed each other's company a lot. We often spoke about each other's families. He told me he had a wife and a son. He loved them both dearly. But he wasn't the man he was now a year ago. He was a criminal. He only cared about money but then one incident changed him forever. During an argument with one of his rivals, his son was murdered. Because of this his wife was affected in ways he couldn't imagine. He was the only child they had and the loss was killing her. A few weeks after his son had passed away, his wife committed suicide. Since then he pledged never o hurt anyone and left his work. Now he worked as a T.C here at the railway station. He told me that he sees his son in me. Whenever he looks into my eyes his son's face comes in front of him. I felt the same way. My father's absence had made me very lonely and after meeting him, that emptiness was gone. We both had taken places of the people we loved the most for each other. It worked very well. A few weeks later he told me he has to go to Mumbai to regarding some issues taking place about the property he owns there. He asked me whether I want him to look for my father. I gave him all the information I had about my father and was really excited and hoping that he would come back with him or at least some good news. He came back but he told me that my father had passed away. I was shaken and cried for days. He wasn't telling me how, But I could see his eyes were dreadful now. He could never look me in the eyes after he came back. It was like he was guilty of something. I asked him so many times, but he was just not ready to tell me anything. Then suddenly one day when I was at the station waiting for him he was nowhere to be seen. He had been arrested for murder. He had confessed himself that when he was a criminal and shortly before his son's death, he had killed a man in Mumbai. But when I heard who this man had been, my world was torn and I was shattered. It was my own father. When he went looking for him in Mumbai, he realized that my father was the same man he had killed. Seeing me every day was burdening him with more and more guilt every second. So he decided to confess and pay for his sins. He apologized a lot, cried and begged for my forgiveness. But I couldn't do that.

Twenty years have passed since he was convicted for murder and now I run my own company. When he was arrested he had given all his wealth under my name in his will. I didn't want to take it, but I couldn't refuse. With that money I educated myself and now I have become someone I never imagined I would be. I still got to visit him, but time has not healed those wounds. He was a father to me and always will be, but nothing can change the fact that he took my only family from me. I have forgiven him but deep down, I still haven't.