Ishq vala Love

The stranger from the train

“You should get married now”

Akanksha looked up at her mother to have a glance and returned back to reading her book. This was her way to convey to her mother that she was absolutely not interested in indulging into this conversation.

“Ignoring me, won’t do any good Akanksha. You are our only daughter. Your father and I want you to get married and settle in life”, her mother tried to reason with her stubborn daughter who had been avoiding this conversation for almost a year now.

“Is there someone you like? You can tell me”, her mother insisted for an answer.

Akanksha burst out into laughter while her mom kept gazing at her absolutely stunned.

“You are scaring me Akanksha. What is so funny?”

“Mom, I will tell you a joke and you will laugh with me too. Hear this, I love a man very deeply but you know what is funny about it? I don’t even know his name or where he is right now of if I will ever meet him again”, replied Akanksha laughing. After almost 5 minutes of incessant laughter, Akanksha realized that her mother was in a shock.

“Don’t take it seriously Mom. I was just kidding. The fact of the matter is that I am already married Mom, married to my duty and you know that”, replied Akanksha.

“You can fulfil your duty after getting married also. Why don’t you get married to an army officer of your choice?”

“Mom please, I don’t want to talk about it”, said Akanksha and threw the book on the table and retreated to her room. The room was still dark but she didn’t care to switch on the lights. She lied on her bed and her mind drifted to the train journey four years ago that changed her life where she met that stranger from the train.

Four years ago

“Excuse me”

“Excuse me Mr”, said Akanksha.

He removed the hat from his face which he was using to cover his face while he dozed off. As he opened his eyes, his sight landed on a girl in her early twenties. Akanksha wasn’t beautiful in a way as those romantic novels define beauty rather she was something different but real. She wasn’t fair but had a wheatish complexion; her long hair weren’t perfectly straight or curly but wavy and were tied up in a ponytail and were swaying as she arranged her luggage below the berths in the compartment. She wasn’t innocent as a flower but tough as a rock which reflected on her face. Her eyes were big and deep as an ocean but were bordered with dark circles below them. Her plump lips were fleshy and pink and one of the most attractive features on her average-looking face.

“Ohh hello Mr”, she said as she snapped her fingers in front of his eyes bringing him back from his reverie.

“Sorry, were you saying something?” he asked.

Akanksha gave a smug look to him, narrowed eyes and scrunched up nose while her hands placed on hips, “Yes, I was. Can you please move your luggage a bit? I have to fit in my suitcase below this berth.”

“Where will I keep my luggage then?” he asked being astonished on her adamant and dictating behaviour.

“Ohh, you have a small backpack. You can use it as a pillow at night”, she said faking a smile as she pretended to be polite but the fellow travellers in the compartment could say she was failing badly.

“What? Are you for real? How the hell can you tell me that I should remove my luggage and keep it on my berth? I too have paid an equal amount for the ticket madam and you should have booked a whole coach for yourself if that is the amount of luggage you travel with”, he said raging pointing to two big suitcases, two small suitcases and four bags.