The Absolution

3-4 days back,I was chatting with my buddy Himanshu on Google Talk.

Excerpts from the chat...

"Yaar How do you find my blog??"...Writers are always hungry for comments be it good or bad.It motivates them,fuels their spirits to do better work.

-"Yeah I've read it,and I liked your style - the simplicity and the finishing".

"Kaunsa tujhe sabse achcha laga ?"...Writers always want you to rate and compare their work.It makes them aware of their holes.

-"Wahi Jethu wala....Yaar social issues pe bahut likh liya tune,ab kuch masala-wasala likh..???"

"Jaise...???"

-"Jaise romance shomance daal....bandiyan bhi visit karengi...."

"Yaar pakk gayen hai log romance se...aur romance khilaun to vomit karenge.....Even Bollywood is fed up of love stories now.They seem to be focusing on handicaps these days."

-"Tab ek kaam kar,tu thriller likh....bahut time ho gaya ek dhaasu thriller padhe hue."

"Thriller...lemme see...I dnt know,but i'll try".

I thought for three days.I said to myself - "There is no challenge more challenging than the challenge to challenge yourself".

So here it goes.....

Himanshu...buddy this one's for you.

The huge digital clock on the walls of the Park Street Metro Station showed the time as 9:15 PM.The platform bore a long deserted look.Metros can be a dangerous place,specially for women at night,but this small attractive woman seemed not to care. She was absorbed into her book - Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.Smartly dressed in a suit,carrying a light color leather bag,she appeared to be a daily commuter.People who seldom commute in metros do not carry books to read.Daily commuters,however had their own ways to kill time.Some listened to music,some talked on the phone,some dozed off and some,like this young lady,read.Two more commuters stood at the opposite end of the platform, but no one near this woman.She seemed to be cutoff from the desolate and eerie atmosphere,and was enjoying her read.

Minutes later,a Man stepped out of the rising escalator.In his forties,dressed in a pair of jeans and a tweed jacket,this man carried around a small suitcase,and a receding hairline. His gold rimmed glasses sparkled in the soft light. Despite the emptiness of the station, he went up and sat next to the Woman.

The Man glances down at his watch and says,"In exactly six minutes and forty-eight seconds the next train will pass through this station."

This startled the Woman, and she looks up at him.He stares straight back at her and gives her a warm smile. She looks behind him to find the person he is attempting to address and she realizes it is her.

"I... Excuse me?"

He laughs a little, "In exactly six minutes and forty-eight..." He looks back at his watch, "thirty-one seconds, the next train will pass through here." He smiles at her in his little friendly way.

She smiles back and tries to go back to her book.

"It doesn't stop you see," He swoops his arms through the empty air, "just goes flying through."

The Woman nods and smiles.

He leans in towards her.

"That last bit is quite important to you and me." She slowly looks up at him.

"I'm sorry,the next train is not mine." He interrupts her," Oh! Yes, I figured that was it."

The Woman looks more closely at him and shakes her head, "So you see, the next train doesn't matter to me."

He smiles that empty smile once more, "No, not normally, but today... it will."

She suddenly starts to get angry, "Look, I am not really sure what the hell you are talking about."

The smile leaves his face. "I am so sorry, let me explain. It's important for you today because you will determine whether or not I throw myself in front of it." He smiles, but this time, meaningfully.

The words take a second to sink into the Woman, and then she shakes her head, her eyes wide with shock.

"What?"

The Man was beginning to get annoyed, "You will decide whether I throw myself in front of the next train or not."

She looks around the platform; her eyes find the two commuters on the opposite side of it. Her wondering eyes return to the man, "I'm not sure if I am the right person for this, I'll get someone."

She signals to the others across from her, but the man calmly, yet firmly says, "No. You're the one. You need to decide this. The Woman starts for the other commuters, but the Man grabs her arm.

"This Man is in pain. If you walk off, I will jump. By the time you find someone it will be too late. This one is up to you. Go now and be responsible for the death of me, or listen to this story and possibly save my soul... Your choice."

The Woman stood horrified, she looked around and then back at the man. He attempts a smile, but it just looks sad. The woman swallows, "I don't know who you are, but I don’t want you to jump, okay?"

"You don't know that. You haven't even heard the facts, so you don’t know that at all."

"It doesn't matter, no one deserves death."

"Oh, but I think some do, you need to hear this..."

The Man looks at his watch again, "and it needs to be done quickly. At the end: you decide."

The woman is fearful, and hesitantly nods. The Man takes a long sigh, "It's the first time I have done it, " He starts to cry, but then gathers himself and continues, "I've had the yearnings before, but this is the first time." The woman is confused, and the Man quit talking. "The first time you what?" The man looks her in the eyes, this time without smiling and utters, "The first time I molested a child."

The woman covers her mouth, and looks away from the Man. The Man looks away also but then back at her.

"I know, I even disgust myself. I'm a revolting piece of shit. If it were down to me then in a minute I would be dead." He hangs his head and looks at the ground. The Woman removes her hand and steadies herself.

"What's her name?"

He looks at her with more disgust. "It gets worse, it wasn't a girl. He was nine-years old."

The Woman steps back and takes a deep breath.

"I didn't want to hurt him, not physically anyways, but-" ..He stops, they stare at each other and the Man turns away. "I don't know why I am even talking to you; we both know I should just die."

"The next train at platform no. 2 will not be stopping at this station. Please keep behind the yellow line." The station announcer said over the intercom.

The Woman looks intently at him, holding the stare. She hates this Man now, "How could you do that to a little boy?"

He was tearing up, "I have no real excuse, and someone did it to me when I was six. It's like a cycle."

They stood in silence, "I am a parent, and I have a nine-year old daughter. I need to know something."

The man nods, the sound of a train approaching grew louder and resonated across the lonely platform.

"Can you stop yourself?" The train drew nearer.

He nods. He turns away from her and walks to the edge of the tracks, ready to jump. He lets his suitcase fall to the ground, bouncing open, papers fly out. The train is seconds away from racing past him. The Woman grabs his arm, "Don't do it."

The train crosses by them in a flash, the Man's jacket and the Woman's hair rush in the wind. The papers from the suitcase whirl like debris in a hurricane.

The train is now gone.

Silence fills the air as the papers settle to the ground. They stare at each other.

"Thank You." The Man said almost in tears.

The Woman looks at him, "You need help. Profession help."

He nods again.

The platform announcer once again calls a train; this was the Woman's train.

"I know I do, I will get it. I promise." The 9:45 train pulls in and the woman boards it.

"Thank you for your ABSOLUTION..!!!"....the Man exclaims.

She turns around.

The Man smiles.

The woman takes her seat, slightly confused at the smile.The train picks up speed and leaves the station.

The next morning before leaving for office, the woman, comfortably sips her hot coffee and reads the newspaper.She casually reads the first page….the second…but there is something in the third page that catches her attention.

“Kolkata mourns the first death anniversary of Sudhanshu”

Kolkata 3^rd March : Hundreds of people gathered on the streets of Esplanade and Park Street to commemorate the first death anniversary of Sudhanshu Bhatnagar.It was a year back when 9 year old Sudhanshu was molested and killed by his uncle Surinder Bhatanagar,a 40 year old textile businessman.Weeks later Surinder was found hanging in his city apartment,with a suicide note in his pocket.The incident had shocked the nation......."

The article contained a picture of the two together.

-"Wwwhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat..???"

The woman was paralyzed, pinned somewhere between nausea and asphyxia.Her eyes ballooned as she saw the picture of the man.Every single hair on her body stood in shock and fear.

She locked her eyes with the man in the picture…he had the same smile…he knew she’d gotten it all.

- "Gumnaam hai koi....Badnaam hai koi...."