Ray of a Love Story

A Love Story (Graphics by Ipshita Mitra). © 2022 | Shreya Teresita

The cigarettes hadn't become a habit yet. The eye for truth-seeking, too, was still getting polished by the dog-eared Sherlock Holmes books. The lanky Prodosh Mitra — aka Felu Mittir — then just freshly into his 20s, would turn up at the Sealdah station every evening with an eager pair of eyes.

Every day, he would be one of the handful people to board the last Barasat local train. Every day, he'd climb on into the very last compartment and hang by the gate, waiting. With every passing moment, his heartbeat would quicken. Would today finally be the day she misses it?

But then, every day, just as the train was about to leave the station, she would come running and jump on at the last moment. Every day, she would re-enter Felu's life at at fag end of the evening with a crashing, reckless entrance that left everything about his calm demeanor unsettled. She was his storm.

Graphics by Ipshita Mitra

The last day they met, it had rained. As she stumbled into the train compartment, which was already heady with the scent of wet earth, and filled it with the scent of her rose perfume. Today, she wore a dark green saree, and the loose strands of her braid were dripping with rain. Panting, she leaned back by the door, facing Felu. The train began to roll as she smiled.

"Kaner dul ta kobe kinle?" he asked her — ‘When did you buy those earrings?’. She looked surprised.

"How did you know they were new?" she asked.

Felu smiled. "The stones haven't come off yet, which means your nails haven't yet had the time to pry them off absentmindedly. They also still have their clasps intact, which means you haven't had the time to lose them yet."

She didn't respond right away. When she did speak, her eyes remained lowered. "My fiancé gave them to me," she said.

She looked up after a while and founded him turned away, staring into the evening.

The train was galloping now. They only had a few minutes left. She walked over to his side of the compartment and stood next to him. He shifted a little, but didn't move away.

They stayed like that, the closest they had ever been, as the train jostled towards the station where their journey together would end. He tried to memorise her scent, and the feel of her fingertips against his.

When the train finally came to a halt, she got down and vanished into the crowd, into her new life. Felu rode alone till the next station. And when he finally got off the Barasat local for the last time, he lit the first Charminar of his life.