The platform was nearly empty. Cool mist swirled through the station and she hugged her jacket. Insects and mosquitoes buzzed around the tube lights of the tall station lamps. A chaiwala was peering hopefully through the windows of the stopped train, offering hot cups of chai. Sonia accepted the thermacol cup and paid him. She sipped the tea contentedly, glancing out at the fading peaks of the mountains far away.
“Excuse me,” a rough voice grated behind her.
Sonia turned, to find herself facing a medium-height, pleasant-looking stranger. The young man wore a crisp sky- blue shirt and off-white trousers. Silver-tinted square-rimmed spectacles revealed light grey eyes which stared back at her with a searing intensity.
“I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation with that gentleman in the train,” the man remarked with a sudden fierceness.
“Oh! I’m afraid that wasn’t… ” Sonia began, a little alarmed.
“All that you said… you meant it, didn’t you?” His eyes bore into her.
Sonia nodded, slowly. “It’s what I deducted from the horoscopes. But I don’t know if it’s true. I mean, it was speculation…”
“Of course it’s true! Every single word you spoke was correct! I know it now. I’ve wondered all my life. About my parents. Why my mother sent me to boarding school…”
Sonia gasped.
“Yes, I’m Sunil, Janavi and Dinesh’s son!” the young man rasped. “And that last bit… about the hill station… My Dad called me last week and told me he feared for his life. He spoke about this trip Mom was planning for him and he begged me to return to India and save his life! You know, I scoffed at him. I told him Mom loved him dearly and that he was hallucinating! But he wouldn’t listen. I had never heard him more unreasonable, so disturbed! I couldn’t visit India just now and I told him so. This isn’t the right time of the year and I’d just changed my job. I really couldn’t afford to take leave, for a silly, paranoid whim. But then Mom also insisted. She said I ought to meet with Dad. It would be good for both of us she said! So finally, I persuaded my new Boss and he relented. I’m on my way to Pune to visit my parents right now. I’ve been puzzled with Dad’s accusations. But after overhearing your discussion with that other gentleman, everything has suddenly become crystal clear! Now I know why Mom insisted that I come back to India to meet Dad! Because it will be our last time together!”
Tears glittered in Sunil’s grey eyes. Sonia wanted to reach out to him and offer words of comfort. But she knew that nothing she would say could relieve the pain of reality. Life had a heuristic way of teaching things. It was Sunil’s turn to learn and to discover the hard truths for himself.
“But I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that her thoughts would run in such a hideous direction!” Horror twisted on the young man’s face. “Planning to kill Dad, my own father! I always doted on my Mother, thought she was the world’s greatest Mom. It’s impossible to admit that she could be the world’s worst Mom!”
Sonia’s heart felt heavy. She took a deep breath and in a steady voice said, “Sunil, I think you must remember something. I know that the worst could’ve happened. But it hasn’t. Which means that your mother is not a criminal. You must try and understand what she may have gone through in life. All her hopes dashed, her career in medicine gone, a husband who probably tortured her mentally, till she wanted to die herself! She surely faced a lot for her to contemplate such extremes. And your father must share a lot of the blame, too. He drove her to desperation.”
“What are you saying?” Sunil stared at her with incredulity.
“All I’m saying is this: Don’t judge your Mother too harshly, especially since you’ve had the good fortune of listening to both sides of the story. I repeat - she is not a criminal - not yet. It’s now up to you to stop her from doing anything ruinous. To handle her delicately, so that she retraces her steps from whatever rash path she was on the brink of following. Treat her with sympathy, like an erring human, not a criminal beyond redemption.”
Sunil blinked behind his spectacles. Tears now streamed freely down his cheeks. He nodded and said, in a voice thick with feeling, “Thank you, Soniaji. Thank you, not only for saving my Dad but also for releasing my Mom from herself. Thank you for rescuing both of them!”
Sonia held out her hand and took his in a clasp. “All I can say is, best of luck”
She watched him climb back into the train, his shoulders drooping and his hand brushing away the tears of grim realisation. Every sense of detachment that she had experienced earlier vanished in a trice. She was involved to the hilt now. Committed and responsible for whatever transpired in Sunil’s life. What a strange coincidence that he should be in the same bogey as her. It was almost as if destiny had planned it deliberately, throwing all the relevant characters together as if in a play or a film. Sudden guilt speared through her. Had she done the right thing?
Deep sympathy for Sunil weighed heavily on her heart. Feeling completely upset, she crushed the empty thermacol cup and threw it into the dustbin.
As if answering her agonised doubts, a voice spoke behind her. “Well done, Sonia!”
Sonia whirled around. She stared at the tall figure standing before her.
“Varun!” Sonia whispered. “What in heavens are you doing here?”
Draped in a long buff-coloured overcoat, Varun Thakur smiled warmly at her, revealing his perfect teeth. Blue-green eyes held her honey gaze as he said in a deep voice, “I’ve been sitting right behind you and I heard every word of your interaction. You are amazing, do you know
