Bangalore Mail ...

It was an usual weekend journey for Vineeth from Bangalore to Chennai, he usually takes this late night mail. He came to cantonment station well in advance and this time he does not have his friends to join him. He took out the latest book that he got "The Name is Rajinikanth" and stared to admire his thallaivar virtually. He found himself a very lonely bench near the S9 coach and he was given a wonderful company by a dog which took shelter under his bench ...

He was flipping thru the pages of his book and soon arrived a good looking girl with her laptop bag and the logo read as "IBM" which to an extent confirmed that she must work for IBM, moment she sat next to him, she took her mobile and started dialing a number, and there started this husky conversation, now Vineeth is no longer interested in reading about this thalliavar, he knews that such conversations will always be interesting, so he decided to place his eyes on his book and his ears on to her mobile's mouthpiece.

So what are your parents telling ?
Hmm
Hmm
Cant you convince them ?
Hmm
Hmm
Hmm

By this time Vineeth lost his paitence, coz all he hears is those husky "Hmm's", he decided its not worth it to continue listening, so he refoucssed on to his thallaivar's book. She hung up the phone in a couple of minutes and tried her level best to control her tears, he took the far end of her duppata and sweezed its tip just to absorb those tiny little tear drops. Vineeth happend to notice that and he sensed that something is wrong, but as you all know, "Curiosity Kills the Cat", and his head will blast if he does not know what is the reason for her tears. He just thot of playing a silly trick, he gathered all his voice on the tip of his vocal chord and asked as if he does not know, "Hi, any idea of when Bangalore Mail will come", not expecting a question from her co-seater, she gulped a sip of water, just to clear her blocked throat and replied, 11:00 PM.

Vineeth checked his watch and said, "Oh, we then have another 45 more minutes to go, thanks and btw - I am Vineeth I work for Oracle" and you ?", she not in any kind of mood to initiate a conversation, just did not turn towards him and pretended as if she did not hear what he said, Vineeth does not know how to react, but was keeping his stare, and suddenly she turned towards him and asked "Sorry, did you say something", while she asked that to him, a tear drop just escaped out of her eye lid and fell on Vineeth's bag, Vineeth noticing that promptly, said, "I am sorry, I think you are disturbed, sorry to have bothered you", She on the other side, looked at him as if she is alright and is doing ok.

Vineeth, slowly started his philosophy, Ya I know life is always tough, everyone lives in their own world of worries, and its upto the individual to cop up to the pressure situations life throws at us, hope you agree on that. She was initially surpised to see why this guy has to tell all these to her, but her situation was something like, she needs a shoulder to cry and all she has right now is Vineeth's, attimes people tend to be very close with unkown faces, as the situation demands. She introduced herself as "Sandhya" and she said that she is into some personal problem now and does not know how to solve it, as it is getting complicated day by day. Vineeth who always believes that he has a good IPR, told Sandhya that, every issue in this world is simple, and its complexity depends on how we look at it, he was very proud of himself to have said such an encouraging statement.

Sandhya, nodded her head as if she too agrees on that point and looked at him as if no one has ever told her that wonderful truth. She said that she is in love with a guy who is of the opposite caste and his parents are dead against this relationship and at the same time her parents have started to hunt of her Mr. Perfect, and she now has an alliance on hand which she has to decide and say a yes or a no, and she also added that she has no reason this time to say a no, as this alliance has met all her requirements she had put across. Vineeth was happy to be a mere listener at this point.

Vineeth asked Sandhya of why cant she put across her views to her parents and ask them to talk to the parents of the guy she loves, Sandhya was quick to respond saying, "If my dad comes to know I am in love, he will kill me the next moment". Vineeth said, "Oh yaa, I think they are all spoilt by seeing all stupid tamil movies, we should first ask them not to watch any movies", though this was just a "mokkai" joke, but that brought a wide smile on Sandhya's face. He too was happy that he could make some one smile when they are feeling low. Vineeth continued, "So there is no point in you crying yaar, either be bold to open up your desire, or if you choose to be timid, just accept this alliance, again the choice is yours, but the point I am trying to make is, its we who have the final say in deciding what we want in life and its not FATE"

Sandhya once again nodded her head as if she is acknowledging his comment. Vineeth said to her with his eyes lit up, "Hey, Idea!!!!, What if you go and tell the guy who is your proposed alliance that you are not interested ? atleast you can get some breathing time naa ?, Sandhya replied asking "But what if that guy says that he likes me ?", Vineeth said, "Oh yaa, thats also possible and that too you look a little cute" and ended that statement with a wink, and once again that brought the same wide smile on Sandhya's face. Though Sandhya, took her mind off this issue, she could not do that for long and again she immersed herself in her tears, as she does not have the guts to open up her desire. Vineeth's blackberry vibrated in his tight jean pocket and he had to strech himself to check who has pinged him and its an email forward from his dad, after reading that, he turned towards Sandhya and said, "OK yaar, wish you good luck and don worry, things will swing your way" and there came Bangalore Mail hopping onto platform number 2, with a big siren and a wild rush of hot air.

The overnight journey was something which Sandhya does not want to go, as she has to meet her parents the next day. The train reached Central at around 4:30 in the morning and Sandhya reached home by 5:00 and gave herself a good face wash, her mom came to her with a hot cup of coffee and also she looked visiblily happy, she said "At last we got you a right match my dear" and here is the snap of the guy who we have looked for you, and there smiled "Vineeth" in that small passport size photograph. At the same time, Vineeth deleted that email from his blackberry which was sent by his dad last night which had Sandhya's snap.