9.42 CST Slow – 5th bogie.

(This article is a fiction)

There are 2 dates that I can never ever forget in my life. The first one is 19th dec 2005. That was the day when I lost my vision. I lost the chance to see the beauty of this world because of one mistake of Dr.Sharma. He is one the most trusted eye-surgeons of this city. But still, God had something planned for me. HE was envious of my happiness and threw me in the pit of darkness.


The second date that I can never forget is 10th November 2007. That was the day when I proposed her and had our engagement ceremony in the 5th bogie of 9.42 Kalyan Slow. 5th bogie in a 9-rake train is normally reserved for the visually- handicapped, mentally- handicapped and cancer patients.


It all started with my visits to the teaching sessions at Rajawadi school- a school for the mentally handicapped kids.


I, Vikram Jadhav, aged 23 years, hold a BA in arts and have learned sign language and also have undergone a correspondence course for psychology. Since childhood I have had a soft corner ‘Special people’. Till date I don’t understand why God makes someone one handicapped – whether it is physically, mentally, visually,etc. That is the primary reason why I am an atheist.


She-I mean vidya-, aged 20 years, studies in Rajawadi school for mentally handicapped people. She is one of the toppers of her class. Out of the class of 28 students, I find her the cutest, most innocent and the most intelligent. The 2 qualities of hers that I like the most is her compassion towards others and her concern for everyone. I have never seen a day when Vidya had not completed her home-work. But when it comes to class-work, she scores very low. The main reason here is that she spends a lot of time in helping all her friends and she forgets that she has to complete her work too. This quality of hers is what every human being on this earth should learn. I have high respect for Vidya for these 2 qualities.


By the way, because of my compassion towards the ‘special kids’, I had taken a part-time job of teaching at the Rajawadi school for mentally challenged kids. From May 2003 upto May 2005, I taught those ‘special kids’.The school used to start at 11.30 AM. So, i used to board the 9.42 CST slow from Kalyan station. i never travelled except for the first class bogie. Vidya, the brightest of all those kids, was my most favorite student. Once, I had given a sum for all the students to solve.


Q: A tree has 30 birds perched on it. A hunter comes and shoots 10 birds. How many birds are left on the tree?


Out of 28 students, only she had the courage to go forward and solve the question on the board. She came to the board, took the chalk in her hand and took just 2 minutes to solve the question. I was so happy that she solved that question in 2 minutes. I always kept dairy milk chocolate in my pocket. I don’t why I had the conviction that she would be the one who come forward to face any challenge that I gave to the whole class. I was not sure that whether I had started liking her. On one hand I felt that it had started loving her. On the other hand my mind kept telling me “She is a mentally challenged girl. Your parents won’t accept that. And even the society wouldn’t accept that. What your relatives say when they come to know that I am marrying a mentally challenged girl?...”. But love is blind.


For 2 years i.e. during my stint at Rajawadi municipal school, I met Vidya’s mother every day. Vidya and Aunty used to board the 9.42 CST slow from Kalyan. They used to sit in the 5th bogie which is a special bogie. Aunty used to come to the school to drop her and then take her in the afternoon at 3.00 PM. Whenever I used to narrate any incident of Vidya being the best in the class, aunty used to start crying. I could understand what she must be feeling. In 2 years time, even aunty had started liking me as her son. Neither she nor I knew that I would turn out to be her son-in-law. I used to try my best to teach the kids how to behave in public, how to speak clearly, how to talk to elders, etc. But, one thing that I never had to teach them was to be creative; because I felt that they are creative people. It’s just that their creativity is different from our creativity. We all judge others as per standards fixed by society. But, people like Vidya are happy in their own world. And I strongly feel that they don’t need to be what the whole world thinks. For them, the world is how they perceive it. And perspectives are never right or wrong. Judgments are never right or wrong. What is wrong is taking a side and judging the other person as different.


One thing I hate about life is the unpredictability. I sometimes feel that God must give us a blueprint of what our whole life-span so that we can make the most out of it. And I am saying this because I wanted to do so many things before the unfortunate incident of losing my vision happened. It so happened that once, around mid 2005, I had some pain in my left eye. I went to the most famous surgeon in my area- Dr.Sharma. He had the cleanest track record until I became his patient. He suggested some eye drops. But, unfortunately those eye drops had adverse reaction on my eyes and 18th dec 2005 was the last day I saw my parents and the beautiful world around. And Vidya too. For 3 months, I couldn’t control my frustration. Was I being punished for being an atheist? I was ready to say “sorry” to God any number of times as HE wanted me to. But then I guess the blueprint of my life had such an unfortunate incident etched in it. I had to face it. Needless to say, I hadn’t been to the Rajawadi school since I had lost my vision.


4 months passed by. I was sleeping in my bedroom. Phone rang. I answered the call. On the other side of the line was Vidya’s mother. She was shocked to hear about the saddest incident in my life. I couldn’t hold my tears. Neither could she. After all I was her daughter’s favorite sir. Vidya greeted me “good afternoon sir”. Vidya’s face flashed in front of my eyes. I could easily visualize her greeting me with her innocent smile and brightly lit eyes. “good afternoon dear vidya”, I greeted back. She said “Mumma told me that now u are blind?”. The word “blind” hurt me really bad. But it was OK because Vidya said that. Silence ensued her question. Then I heard voices of her sobbing. I couldn’t control myself. I cried too.


I don’t know why, but my liking for Vidya had turned more into Love. I mean, when my vision was proper, I had never thought of Vidya as a person whom I would love and would want as a life partner. But now, with my vision lost, I was dying to see her. I was dying to take her hand in my hand and ask her whether she would like to spend the rest of her life with me! I know that my mother would have resented earlier. But now, even my mother wouldn’t say NO to my decision of spending life with Vidya. Circumstances make you change your decisions.


The next day I went to Vidya’s place and talked about my willingness to marry Vidya. Aunty couldn’t hold her tears. Both families agreed. Vidya too. I know that Vidya won’t be able to understand the true meaning of love, marriage and husband. But still, I am there to care for her and she is there to care for me. And there was one more thing that was common between us - the 9.42 CST Slow from kalyan.


Finally, on 10th Nov 2007, in the 9.42 CST slow, 5th bogie, Vidya and I exchanged rings. Now, she had one more family member to care for her life. And same was applicable for me. 9.42 CST slow, 5th bogie will always be special for me. 2 hearts melted to become one. 2 lives joined to become one.