The Polychromatic Train

She decided on a whim, as she got off the Shatabdi at Dehradun that while in Mussoorie, she was not going to bond with Ruskin. With James maybe but definitely not with Ruskin.

Getting off a multi-coloured train, she chuckled at her own personal joke. But really, did she want to bond with either? In her heart, she knew who she was here for. It was that longing to see 'her' just this once. Was she fine after so many years? How had life panned out for her? Would she remember me? With these thoughts clouding her mind, Gauri kept walking towards Paltan Bazaar, a local shopping area. She was sure to find a small gift to take to her childhood friend there. They would be meeting after fifteen years after all.

The bustle of the bazaar in a blur, her thoughts drifted to their childhood when Himadri had just started school. Gauri had finally found a friend to walk with her. The nearest school being at least ten kilometres away, the walk was quiet a distance but her father insisted that his daughter would go to school. When mother chided that there were chores to be done at home, he just hushed her up. 'She will learn the household chores like you one day. Sasural jaake sikhna hi hai! Par meri beti doctor banegi pehle!' he would say with pride in his eyes. Gauri went to school just to see that look of approval in his eyes. But there was no other girl from the village who was going to school and she would often get lonely. The boys who went would tease her, pull her pigtails and run away. She pelted them with stones couple of times but soon gave up. It was no use. She started taking a longer path which went through the jungle. It seemed more dangerous but Gauri preferred the perils of the wild jungle to the incessant mocking of the boys.

Himadri started school when her uncle from the city who had a government job came over to visit her family. Her parents saw the aura he had around him and how everyone went 'Ji Sahib, haan Sahib' around him. He also told them how government was giving special benefits to girls who studied. He knew people higher up in the ranks who would ensure that she got a government job. After all, would that not make her marriage prospects much brighter? Hearing all this, Himadri's parents reluctantly agreed to send her to school.

Now Gauri had a companion. She would call out to Himadri early every morning reaching her hut and they would walk with sticks in their hands (in order to ward off any wild animals, though it would hardly be any use, if ever an actual wild animal crossed their path). With sun rising above the horizon, the two girls would walk chit-chatting through the sparse jungle, hitting the bushes and stones in their path, reaching the school by mid-morning. Both were immensely interested in language and math and somehow, outdoing boys in the school seemed to be an added incentive. On the way back home, both would gobble their lunch packed by their mothers, which mostly consisted of paratha and onion and sometimes, when mother had been exceptionally generous, dhaniya-pudina chutney. The girls loved this routine which gave them a break from the usual household chores and slowly, going to school became something they both looked forward to each day. Soon Gauri and Himadri started accompanying each other for the household chores as well. Fetching water from the well, feeding fodder to cows, getting groceries from the market – the two were soon inseparable.

One day there was news of dispensary opening in the village. There were laddoos being distributed at the opening ceremony. All the kids gathered excited at the prospect of free sweets. Gauri and Himadri were there too. 'Baba, what does a doctor do?' Gauri asked her father that night. 'He cures our ills, beti! I really hope one day you would become one too! That's why I sent you to the school even though it's so far away. You must observe how he works one of these days. I am sure you will become a big doctor one day!'

After this, Gauri and Himadri would spend afternoons after school peeping into the doctor's dispensary till he would shoo them away. 'Doctor babu, they are just curious kids!' his assistant would say smiling indulgently. He would hand them a few popsicles on one of the days. Gauri and Himadri loved playing doctor-doctor now. Of course, Gauri would always become the doctor. After all, this was just the beginning of a lifelong dream.