The Steal

The place was hot and dusty. But train stations all across rural India tend to look the same and the people never give the stifling heat a second thought. But the heat had become unbearable that day and the station was empty, save a man sweating profusely in his banker’s suit. He had come to the town on business and was waiting for a train back to the city. Unfortunately, he had missed the first train. A two hour wait for the second train at the station seemed unimaginable. But it was the only option that he had. At the end of the second hour, the train rolled in and the banker gladly climbed into a compartment. Even the compartment was almost empty but for a young lad who was dozing off. Almost entirely out of a feeling of loneliness, the banker came up and sat next to him. He decided that the young man beside him could scarcely be above twenty years of age. Deciding against disturbing him, the banker sat in his own place, gazing at the moving countryside.
At the next station, two more people jumped in. They couldn’t look further apart. One was dressed in a shocking orange kurta and pajamas. He had a ready smile on his face despite the fact that he was in the company of strangers. A mole on his right cheek strangely enhanced his friendliness, instead of marring it. The other one was dressed in rather bad taste and his expression wasn’t overwhelming. While the first person literally jumped into his seat, the second one kept his reserve and sat on the edge of the seat, as if not wanting sick to be associated with his present company. Everything under the sun, thought the banker. The man in the orange kurta introduced himself as Nanjundah Bhatt. He claimed to be unemployed, but happy with life since his brother-in-law was taking good care of him. “Of course, such things come with disadvantages...” he said,” my sister wants to put away her jewelry in the city bank and since I’m the lazy man in the house with no work, she decides to send me to the city. What can I do? It’s either her jewels in the locker or me on the streets!” Then as if laughing at his own fate, he let out what seemed to be half a laugh and half a sigh. The banker asked if Nanjundah had a locker at the bank where he worked. When he heard that it wasn’t so, he almost had a resentful feeling towards the jolly man in shocking orange. But deciding to let it go, he introduced himself. The other man who had got on with Nanjundah, realized that he had to fall in with them if he wanted any conversation. He was a certain Mr. Amman Kumar and he was an IT professional who had come to town to catch up with his family. Suddenly, Nanjundah seemed to be groping in his handbag for something. He pulled out a smaller bag, but the banker could tell that it was absolutely stuffed. Nanjundah pulled open the zip and something shiny dazzled everyone in the compartment. “My sister’s jewels” explained Nanjundah, ”There’s so much gold in there that I was getting worried about keeping it safe in our country house…the village subeidar is such a worthless one! So who advised to keep the jewelry in the bank? I did! Fool that I was I didn’t realize that I would be the lucky one who would be given the honour of carrying the stuff to the city in this heat!” Swearing loudly, he spat on the train floor. The last one in the group was still sleeping. “I feel it is best that we don’t disturb this man and move to the next compartment. After all, there’s plenty of room.” suggested Nanjundah.
As the other three strangers slowly got accustomed to each other, their conversation got more fluid and the least bit of condescension crept away. Conversation turned to the mundane topics of politics and cricket and any difference in opinion was heatedly defended by each member. The three even had lunch and dinner together. As the day drew to a close, merry talk turned into unintelligible mutterings punctuated by stifled yawns. By mutual consent, everyone decided to turn in for the night. The banker remembered hearing Nanjundah humming a tune as he fell as asleep.
He was dreaming about selling new policy ideas when he heard the scream. Never a heavy sleeper because of the perpetual business worries, the banker woke up at the slightest sounds. It took him a few groggy moments to realize that the scream was coming from Nanjundah’s berth. As he climbed down from his own berth hurriedly, he missed a rung and hurt his shin. Uttering a mild curse, he headed towards Nanjundah’s berth to see what the commotion was about. Looking out of the murky windows, he saw that it was still dark outside. Reaching the epicenter of the commotion, he saw that Amman was already there trying to make sense of what had given the man such a bad shock. It took a lot of time to gather the truth. In half bursts and moans Nanjundah explained that he realized that he was missing his hand bag when he had gone to the toilet. The truth was hard. The jewelry was stolen. Even before he went to check up on the young man who had remained aloof from their group the last day, he knew what he was going to find. The man wasn’t there. Nanjundah let out a tearing wail.
A week later, as Nitesh lay on the couch, he decided that it had been a good haul that night on the train. On his finger was a gold ring, catching a glint of the setting sun, a frozen essence of a life that could never be his own.