Sunday, January 30, 2011

Bomb!!!

This happened back in 2002 when I was still doing my MCA at KVM Engineering College at Cherthala. There were a couple of us travelling every week from Trivandrum to Cherthala on Sunday evenings  by intercity  express. There would always be lot of things to discuss, starting from the new girl who had joined the college to hard core spirituality. During this particular trip, I and my friend, Tinu kurian [name changed as he still has not matured enough not to kill me] were all alone, as most of our friends had spent their week end at the hostel itself, since exams were nearing. Tinu was a short and smart guy, always active and smiling. He was one of the best friends I had in that college, though at times I used to wonder how that happened.
Tinu was then in the state hockey team and he always had lots to tell about how he defended the 6 foot guy in the opposite team and how he scored the winning goal at the very last second of the game. I never used to interrupt or show any signs of disbelief on my face, as it would provoke him to exaggerate more on his already exaggerated story. Stuck along I had no other way than to listen to this hero.  He would show actions on how he held the hockey stick, how he tackled etc and his face would display a book of expressions. I always tried to keep a straight face and not to show the urge to doze off, well; he never cared either as far as I did not walk away.
We had travelled for about an hour when Tinu suggested we go and stand near the entrance, to which I readily agreed. Not because I fancy standing there inviting danger, but then it was a better choice than to hear him narrate his heroic deeds. We walked towards the door when Tinu noticed something. A leather suitcase, left near the toilet door. Well, it looked expensive and we were surprised that the owner was not there looking for it. We made a plan to look for the owner when Tinu stopped like he had been shot at point blank, he looked at me and  asked “sarat did you read today’s news paper?”. I never had the habit of reading every column in the news paper other than the editorial and the cartoon column. As per Tinu, there was news which said about  some bomb threat in Kerala. Well, I could not relate for a second on what he was coming to, but not for long. A flush of chill waved across my body. Tinu tried to remain calm but could not utter anything other than stammering out something that sounded like B-O-M-B!!!. Though little sound came out of his throat, it was loud enough to panic the middle aged buffoon who was standing near him washing his face. He just ran across the compartment crying out that there was a bomb in the train. Thought it did not cause any chain reaction, many were at the verge of panic. People gathered around the suitcase and suggestions like throwing the suitcase out.  No one dared touch the suitcase though. Tinu had a better suggestion to me which was simple and precise “lets jump”, well I never expected any better suggestions from him, but this was way too far and I just held him firm enough so that he would not execute his plan. By that time our train had reached Kollam. As we were about to call in the guards, a slim middle aged gentle man in formal dress walked in worried. He looked around and with a burst of happiness took the suitcase and left. There was a moment of silence before everyone dispersed as if nothing had happened. I knew it was safe now to let go of my dear clever friend.
Tinu did not utter a word till we reached our hostel. While I was settling down in my room, I could hear my dear friends sound from across the hall. As I walked in I could see a group sitting around Tinu, eyes wide open and mouths to match. Tinu had both his hands up in air narrating the whole story dramatically. He described about how he spotted the suitcase, how he was bold and mature enough not to arose panic, how he made clever suggestions over my stupid comments, etc. he even added glory by describing how he opened the suitcase using a pin and how he passed the suitcase to the owner with a line of advice on how to take care of belongings. He went on till I reached near him. He looked at me, stopped his story. I am not sure on what his eyes said, but I guessed it meant “come on my friend don’t spoil the day”. Well I too sat there hearing the rest of the story and nodding in agreement to every pathetic look Tinu gave.

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