The compartment was filling up, the yellow bulbs had almost given up to the luminescent tubes of the AC coaches which left very little power for the redundant. Come let me set a rendezvous with one more paradox; yes, the S3 coach of Puri – Howrah express apparently looked no better than an old testament of yesteryear glory and pride, which has forgotten the meaning of sheen. Ignorance has become the new sobriquet but still runs on the rail to exhibit the glittering contour of growth.
Girls and women didn’t have much options in terms of clothing no matter how sticky and clammy it was, but we guys wore stuffs which were short and had customized slits, thus invited the gusty wind through the section which portrayed as a smuggled passage of ultimate sense of satisfaction rather than loud sight. The bay in which i had my berth booked had two more likes of young breed like me, (was bit sceptical using the thought of “Similar breed” because of malapropism). One seemed to be the protégé and the other at the helm of the same discipline. They were caught in the whirlpool of techno functional discussion. Just don’t remember how they initiated the whole thing because by the time i seated next to them they were already mulling over subjects and facts which ostensibly looked devoid of head and tail to me but still managed to surpass the undercurrent. The express was not very consistent with its speed, it came to gradual halt or just propelled itself when it saw some colours other than green but there was no stopping for them. The protagonist sat on my left with his legs clasped close to his torso and the character that provided with all the required impetus to make him roar and soar was placed diagonally opposite to me. Thus while i heard him with all ears i also managed to freeze those flabbergasted countenances from the other side. Taking into account that it is the same express that transcends the same route frequently, i found it to be much bewildered compared to our bay commander –in charge. He was akin to any other protagonist with his ubiquitous presence.
Long back, some sort of antagonistic system virus breached within me since then i have always had problem with system compatibility but still i could convincingly make out through their overt discussion that both of them belong to the newly touted silicon valley of east India (Bhubaneswar). He relaxed his legs and started some programme on which he is working currently, threw some code at his avid partner to deduce, probably he knew but never had sooo much time. Therefore, it was more like a game of squash; he was hitting the human wall harder and faster with every clue and the wall just gave it back with almost same veracity for him to do the honour. The protagonist was a clear overnight star in his work like some of our bollywood stars, he was just in the 2nd year of his profession but exhibited likes of a veteran. He was playing to the gallery about his position in the office team, how in no time he has become the cynosure of all eyes, about his significant contributions which were no less than the blue prints of the recent projects. How he shoved the resplendent onsite chance to London just because he didn’t like the manager who was a heck of a person. His placid partner was a new recruit in the same company and needed some time to find that saddle which his just senior was already boosting off. As a witness to this berserk plot, i can only lament, “The colt in disguise of an avid listener didn’t have the best of practices of breaking into a derby horse by his groom”.
The express started galloping with some heavy rattling clamour of the rails with the sparkling shiny wheels; night was flourishing so there was some relief for those blur yellow bulbs overcastted by cobwebs when those tiring hands started to put the black knobs in reverse direction one after another. By now the listener had ceased popping intermitting replies because his amplitude of thoughts and believes seemed nothing more than pygmies against the protagonist’s gigantism. One of our bay members couldn’t have it any more and forced the protagonist to move from his only and original position so that he could lift the middle berth and lay. Even I climbed the other middle berth of the same bay laid on my right side but just couldn’t avoid him. I sensed my perception changing fast; at the onset, i thought him and his mental faculties to be more polished and cultivated but now this sort of exaggeration was eroding the glitter and gave a barren look. “Down under” mock interview session was on but ironically, it was he who played both the interviewee and the interviewer. Of late, he was visiting the top B school campuses in the quest of management knowledge and he enlightened our dark bay into a management conference room; he framed questions and craned out answers like an orator who was delivering his favourite lines from his much-loved text. I found it hard to control my smirk at his vehement performance couldn’t he salvage the same for some big day or moment. Sitting there, he was flogging the policy makers for drafting salary fitments by which they would never be able to siphon the maximum out of techies like him. I jutted out my neck to get a glimpse of the protégé who was just underneath me on the lower berth; he laded prostrate eyes half closed just giving the commander in chief some back up to finish the remaining programmes. Hey i can’t wait anymore to bestow him with the cult image of paradox or the machine that ejaculates only shock, Half of the HR professional from IT was after his coveted knowledge arsenal everybody wanted him to give a small pie with which they will build that extra edge. But he wanted some real respite thus he is planning strategically to elope donning the mantle of a B school student.( All my HR friends how does it fell? Do you really wana hire such a talent for your company and then do helicopter surveillance to preserve him?? or would you mind keeping your stable empty for some time unless you get somebody just average).
Lashes came closure and locked though tender but anti – porous to all kinds of illumination. All the cumbersome discussion didn’t taunt me any more i just sank in the acute folds of serenity. So it was curtain for him in my theatre the lights of my consciousness was on; dismantling the concocted plots and dousing the self drafted questions with lining of vengenence. Unlikely the train was before time thus most of them was snoring it out but i ensured with my early rise that i craved for my home more than others did. While dismounting from my berth I saw him lying nonchalance, overworked and a fugitive from cognitive driven omnibus. I stepped ahead leaving him to enjoy a tiny sabbatical until the protégé nudged him awake to straighten the skew. Thus, I disembarked from a tech – journey without any iota of tech knowledge.
