Shadows and Dust -Part I

It was long time i was thinking to pen down something for Sabnam , the only romantic trance in my life. For most of my friends and well wishers ,she is just my imagination but i know she is more than "Just Imagination" . It was long back when I first saw her in the coffee house of Calcutta. She was as beautiful as the morning dew on the rose. It was 27th October, 2005 . The azure sky with some babbling college street and in all this she came into the coffee house. I was alone waiting for my orders and with some murky thoughts in my minds. She came and asked me if she could join me . At that time , i was famous as a misogynist among friends so as expected behavior, i didnt reply her.She put her books and sat on the chair next to me. It was a month of October and Durgapuja celebrations were at acme in Calcutta . She was carrying a book on idols and pandals. I was carrying some of the engineering books as college street used to be the hub for cheap books and we used to come there once in a semester. I picked one book out of my bag and started reading the book as if I was a great technocrat ;-). But that what Coffee house was for . This Coffee house was always crowed with people discussing political situations ,revolutions, movements and chit chat of guys-gals and with slow moving fans and Cow boy waiters. As soon as you enter here , you would find yourself involved in some discussion or the other and of course the service was that slow that you need some discussion to pass your time . But amidst all these discussions and noisy environment, our table was surrounded with silence . Then suddenly she asked me "Tummi Bengali ache (Are you a bengali?)" . Perplexed with her question , I replied with a head shake "NO" with no word uttered from my mouth.Before I start looking down ,She put another question in front of me "You are a computer engineer" . Mustering all my courage , one word came out of my mouth "NO". Before she put forth her next question, my order came and deep in my heart I was happy that now I will concentrate on eating so no need to reply her questions. i started eating Chicken noodles with a cup of hot coffee. I was acting like while eating i dont look up. I could see that she was looking at me but completely ignoring her. Suddenly she waived her hand infront of my eyes and said "I am not going to eat your food, I am a veggy so you can eat it with your head up" . I gave a crooked smile as if i was a some james bond ;-) . I said thats not an issue , its a habit. She smiled and said it ok ,she was just joking. Then I also thought that it really ill mannered behavior if i will keep on eating like that. So i decided to wait for her order to come. Till then she again asked me the same question "Are you a computer engineer" and this time i appended some more words "No, I am an I.T engineer" . She looked at me and laughed . I said "I am not joking like you . I am an IT engineer and IT engineer are different from computer engineer". She stopped laughing and replied "Ooh really, how they are different ..i thought both are same , just different terminologies". Now since she had challenged my answer so i decided to prove my point . I told her this and that logic, i was then groping for words .Suddenly the cow boy came in (i.e the waiter of coffee house : I call them cow boys as they were like dictators of coffee house ) with a plate same chicken noddles as in my counter . I thought of asking her that why she lied to me about being veggy but than thought how it matters to me. She put the plate down and said "Speak out , whats in your mind?? I am non-vegetarian and working in IBM as Software engineer". i was flabbergasted as i thought that she must be some arts student because she was carrying some arts and crafts book on Durgapuja. I , with a distorted look , replied "Okay". We continued eating and had coffee with no words transfer . Once i was done , I called the cow boy and asked for bill and so did she . We paid our bills and I started picking up my stuff . She asked me "tummi kothaye jabe (Where are you going now)". I replied "back to the my heaven". She smiled and asked "where is that" . "REC, Durgapur" ,said I . She told that she was also going toward railway station and so lets go together. I nodded my head stating ok. We took an auto for railway station. In the auto , she told me that her name was Sabnam and she was from Lucknow basically, she was married and had one daughter . She even showed me her daughter's photograph. She talked and talked on the whole way down. Whenever I tried to ignore her talks , she gave baleful look as if she would slap me . She told me lots of stories, about her family, parents, parent-in-laws , her daughter ,her husband and how her home was like and how her office was like, the struggles of her life and the most memorable moments of her life. I kept shaking my head for the whole time. Soon the howrah railway station came and I took my luggage out of the auto . She paid the auto fair , i resisted but she replied "You have listened my talks and think its a fee of bearing with me ". I replied "No, thats not fair. I was enjoying your talks". She told "ooh, really .. I am elder than you kiddo, I have lived more than you, seen more that .. and I know I.T and computer engineer are not different". I was like a numb looks like no words left in my mind. I started walking toward the station with fast beating heart , that much fast that in the hustle bustle of the station, i could hear my heart beat . I got into the train "Danapur express" , but in the obscurity of the journey, I keep on thinking for her simplicity and her extravagant talkings. Reached Hostel late dark night with her words illuminating my mind. Till today , whenever i close my eyes, her face comes infront of my mind with her stories and words flowing out of herself.She was not the most beautiful lady or nothing like that , She was a loquacious lady with an unfailingly jovialness.


All my college friends know about the authenticity of the narration.

Regards,
Aditya Dogra
P.S : Its part-I of the story because I met her again in somewhere in delhi. Zindagi ke kiss morh par unn se mulakat hogi aisa socha nahi tha .