Dead For a Day

The story is about a mid-age man who is messed up with the problems in his life. to make the situation worse he boards an "very" wrong train.

I woke up. I found myself in a moving train. Last thing I remember was, I was pissed off with my life. My name is Bob. I work at Ahmedabad, one of the metro cities in Gujarat. Today was the most pathetic day of my life. First when I woke up in the morning, I got a call from my dad. He said my Aunt just passed away. She used to call me every week and asks me to see her. I usually don’t go there as I felt very awkward. Well!! No… To be honest, I feel very jealous. When ever I go at her place, she use to give me a few bucks and make me realize that I am not capable enough to earn. Up to an extend its true; but I don’t want her to make me realize that. I had decided to go there after I get rich. But she didn’t live long enough.

Secondly, I was been fired from my job. My boss asked me to prepare a report which in real was the task of my illiterate, ignorant, annoying and irregular junior. He use to bunk office all the time when there are important works pending. Everything comes on my shoulder, and my boss asks me to do such shity work. Firstly I said on his face that “I am sorry; I am overqualified for this job”. And the other thing he said on my face was, “You are fired”, not missing that wicked smile. So I am heading back to Baroda; one of the smaller metro city of Gujarat, than Ahmedabad.

Third is I am not welcomed at my home as I had a very heated argument with my dad as he is the one who forced me to complete my MBA and search a good job. In real I wanted to be a writer.

The fourth and the worst part; my girlfriend just broke up with me as I lost my job. How mean b***h she was. Now she knows that I won’t be able to afford all her bills of shopping. So she just found a new one.

This was my life in precise. I was just gazing outside the window. It was weird that there were no houses outside. All I saw was large deserted lands and felt the blazing heat like the sun was on the top. I was wondering whether I boarded the right train. Before I finished thinking, an extremely beautiful woman just sat in front of me. She was very fair, had curly hair. She just looked like an angel. The second thought that came into my mind was, how cool it would be if I get a girlfriend like this. I thought of to start a conversation like, “So where are you heading?” or, “Which is the next station?” I stopped myself as those questions are so stupid. It was an express train. Each one sitting in the train is heading to Baroda and it’s obvious that there is no station in between as it’s an express train. I decided to ask her name first. Before I spoke anything she just started, “So how does it feel?” I felt very happy as she took the initiative but damn confused about why some one would ask that to a stranger. I asked, “Feel what?” She replied, “You know! Being dead and stuff”. I started laughing loudly. I figured she was really crazy. I continued laughing.

To my surprise, everyone sitting beside me started looking at me like I am the one who is crazy. She giggled at first and replied, “Don’t you know you are dead?” Listening to this every one sitting beside me started laughing the way I laughed.

All of a sudden my laughter vanished. I asked, “Is this some kind of a joke?” She said to others in a request, “Hey people! Please don’t laugh. He really doesn’t know that he is dead. It is really tough time for him to accept this fact”. Then she looked at me with sympathy. At this point I just got blank. I felt like everybody on board is making a fool of me. I lost patience and finally asked her, “Ok cut the crab. If it’s a joke, stop doing it as I am already pissed”. She replied in a strange tone, “Now there is no reason to be pissed. You are free from all the problems. Your break up, job lose, parents; nothing to worry about”. I felt like loosing my mind. I was really amazed and asked, “How the hell do you know about my stuff? Were you stalking me? Is it on facebook?” She replied calmly, “No Sir. Actually you died before you could update your status”. I still was not able to understand what the hell was going on. I tried to remember where was I before I went to sleep. Till that she took out a laptop from the top berth and started. Believe me it didn’t take even a second to reboot. She double clicked on a wifi icon which was named, DPST Express WiFi and the connecting dialog box appeared. I asked her, “What do you mean by DPST Express?” She replied, “Dead People Sprit Transport Express” and continued surfing. When I heard it, I felt like something struck very hard on my head. A part of my brain just got paralyzed. After checking she said, “It says your Facebook account has been terminated by your friends as they missed you by seeing your name on their friend’s list”. I snatched the laptop to confirm. And it said “Your account is no longer in service”. I turned around to check where I really am.

With confused face I turned to that woman and asked, “What the hell just happen? Where am I? Who are you?”

With a pretty smile she asked, “What do you remember last Sir?” I replied, “The last thing I remember was me boarding a train from Ahmedabad to Baroda.”

She asked, “When did you get on the train?” I replied, “10 AM”. “What is the time now?” She asked. I looked at the watch and it says 3 PM. “Journey from Ahmedabad to Baroda is 3 hours by train”, She continued, “and it’s going to be five hours”. After a big pause, like she gave me a chance to stay amazed for a while, she continued, “Welcome to the DPST Express. We specialize in transporting spirit of dead people to the Judgment Gates”. I totally felt like an after life event. I asked, “What is the Judgment Gate?”  Before she could answer, my ears got numb by the heavy voice of train passing by. I ran over the door to check which kind of train is it that runs on the opposite direction to the DPST Express. As I saw the train passing I got the glimpse of what exactly happens in the after life episode. The other train passing by was full of babies. There were all kinds of babies. Huge babies, fit babies, sad babies, crying babies and so on. The babies were filled like cattle or sheep. I confirmed that they were going to take a birth. To assure, I yelled at the woman, “Which train is it?” She replied, “Ohh!!! The train to India always needs some extra boogies”. I really felt offended as I too was an Indian. I replied, “Hey that’s not fair. Then how do you manage the Chinese?” She replied, “Oh they just had inaugurated their new Airline, ‘The Heaven’s Jet Airlines”. I didn’t have other word.

 The train passed on. She continued, “So You wanted to know about the Judgment Gate”. I nodded with anxiety. “It’s the place where you are taken after the death. There it will be decided whether you would go to heaven or hell”, she said.

I finally accepted the fact that I am dead. I don’t remember how or when that happened, but I realized one thing that I am no more on earth. I was totally shocked and broken from inside. I started weeping in front of the co-passengers; or I must say “Co-deads”. After few seconds that woman tabbed my back and tried to console me. I got a hold on myself and stopped crying. She asked, “How did it happen?” I replied, “I don’t exactly remember”. “Let it be. It happens to most of them” she replied very calmly like being dead is not a big deal for her.

I wiped my tears and asked her, “So what about you? How did you die?”

“Oh! Actually I am not dead” she replied casually, “My name is Sapna. I usually come to make the people realize that they are already dead. All of them are not as gentle as you. Most of them get violent with the ticket checker when he informs them that they are dead”. I asked in an amaze, “Do you have ticket checkers?” She didn’t respond to my question other than just a friendly eyeballing. I looked around me to check on the other passenger.

There were four people around me while the sitting capacity was of five people. One of them was an old man. He looked so strange to me. His skin was colored blue. I’ve never seen anyone with blue skin when I was alive. He was gentle enough to give me a smile and wave his hand towards me. Beside him there was a young girl. She looked like she was around 19 years old. She didn’t look involved with our conversation. She was holding a cell phone in her hand and was constantly texting someone. I guess she might be texting to her dead boyfriend. “Sweetheart, I AM HERE FOR YOU”. What ever

Other than them, there was a couple who were in their mid 50s. They really seemed funny as they had long necks like some African tribes. Their bodies were so weak and skinny.

I turned towards Sapna and asked her, “What’s up with them?” I thought the blue old man heard me. Before Sapna could answer, he replied, “Oh, I was in my 80s when I died. Yesterday night I went to sleep after dinner and woke up in this train. I heard my neighbors saying that my son poisoned me for property”. I was shocked to hear his story. But he still carried his peaceful smile.

“And what’s with you young lady?” I asked to that 19 year old young girl by trying to be polite. She kept ignoring me and didn’t raise her eyeballs from her cell phone. It made me think whether the deads had network of the real world. She never said a word. Sapna replied on behalf of her, “She doesn’t speak. A bus ran over her while she was crossing the road and texting her boyfriend simultaneously. My eyes fell out of my head after I heard that. Her story seemed horrifying.

“And them?” I asked Sapna pointing at the couple with long neck. The male from the couple replied. As he spoke, it seemed like some torn out speaker, “Oh!! We committed suicide due to financial crises”. He spoke with a strange smile at me. When he smiled, his face looked like a rat. I didn’t reacted as I was already much shocked.

I kept thinking about how I died as the train moved. As I was mourning about my miserable death, suddenly I heard a voice. “Ticket, Ticket”. I assured it was the ticket checker. I found myself lucky to meet one of the post life ticket checkers. The ticket checker looked like he was around his late 30s. He was so fat that he could hardly see his toes. He wore his uniform just like the ticket checkers in normal trains. His giant size mustache almost covered his lips.

He came near our seats. As the blue man and the long necks handed over their tickets to the ticket checker, a message tone rang in the ticket checker’s cell phone. Sapna stood up and started peeping into the TC’s cell phone. The TC handed over his cell phone to Sapna and said, “Can you help me with this Sapna?” I realized Sapna was the assistant of the TC. “Ohh! I believe you just received the E-ticket via MMS. And it says it is from the cell phone girl”, replied Sapna.

I wondered how accurate the dead people are.

The ticket checker then turned to Sapna after checking the list which he was holding, “Where is Nirbhaya?” I was totally confused as that name seemed so much heard in the television and news paper. Seeing my confused face, the blue man said, “You interpreted it correctly young man. It is the same that you are thinking”. I got a double shock after I heard that. First was how did the blue man came to know what I thought? I guess they might have received the power of mind reading after they died. Secondly, the Nirbhaya case is as popular as it is, among the dead like it is among the living.

In short the sprit of Nirbhaya didn’t board the train yet. Sapna replied to the TC, “I had kept reminding her since a year. But she is not ready to come. She said to me that she won’t come until she gets justice”.

The ticket checker replied, “I guess the Court had already announced its verdict and assigned punishment for the guilty”. Sapna replied, “That is true sir but they are not punished yet”.

The TC’s face got surprised. He said, “That means we have to wait the coming 20 years for Nirbhaya to join us?” Sapna replied, “Absolutely sir”.

During the conversation, the man from the long neck couple interrupted in a torn speaker voice, “Excuse me sir! Our last name is “D’costa”. Do we have to get off the same station with the others?” I believe the heaven too followed religious diversities. The TC replied, “Yes this train goes to the same station but you can get your train from the 8^th platform of the judgment gate junction”. I jumped saying, “Well my last name is Fernandez. So is it applicable to me as well?” The TC turned to me and replied, “Absolutely sir!”

As I kept enjoying the shocks, a voice came, “Ticket please!” It was the TC asking for ticket from me. I never saw what kind of ticket, do a dead man carry. I don’t know whether I have the tickets or not. I started searching my pockets. I found nothing in my shirt pockets. I found nothing even in the pockets of the cargo that I wore. Finally I found a small piece of paper in the back pocket. I handed it to the ticket checker. He looked at it before he threw away. He then said “It’s a platform ticket sir. Where is your ticket?” “That’s all I have” I replied being nervous. I reacted the same way like a non ticket traveler behaves. I never travelled without ticket when I was alive. I always was tempted to travel without ticket once in my life. Now I felt like my last wish is finished after my death.

Anyways; after checking the list which the TC was holding, he asked, “What did you said your name is?” Nervously I replied, “I am Bob Fernandez”. After a cross check, he said, “I guess you are not on the list”.

All of a sudden, I found a ray of hope. But I was still confused whether I was dead or alive. Or it might be possible I was in a coma. I asked the TC, “Does that mean I am still alive?” He replied, “Ohh! Never mind that. Once you are on the train means you will be dead soon”. It made me s**t scared. “So what should I do?” I asked the TC in a panic. He replied, “Find yourself, that’s all I can say. In the meanwhile, get a seat in the Unsatisfied soul Coach. This seat is already booked for Mr………. (Searching the list) Willam Fernandez”. I took a relaxed breath as I realized I came in the train because of some heavenly confusion caused due to similar last names. The TC walks forward. I asked Sapna, “What is the Unsatisfied Soul coach?” She replied, ‘Unsatisfied soul coach’ is the coach that carries the sprit of people who are dead and some of their wishes remained incomplete. So they are called ‘Unsatisfied soul coach’. Didn’t you read the title of the coach you are in?” She asked me. I replied, “No, what is our coach called?” She replied, “It’s the miscellaneous soul coach. It carries people who had accidental deaths like people being murdered, suicides, heart attack etc”.

I said, “Thank God my name is not in that list. I guess I am still alive”.

As I was rejoicing, something suddenly struck into my brain. In a panic, I asked Sapna, “Hey can you tell me who is coming on this seat?” She searched in her super fast laptop and replied, “It is Willam Fernandez”. I asked, “Can I see his photo?” She replied, “Sure we specially keep the photos of the passenger to avoid confusion”. “Funny” I said as they successfully avoided confusion by carrying me instead of Mr. Willam. Sapna showed me the photo and I lost control. I just fell down on the ground. Sapna helped holding me accompanying the blue man. They started asking me in panic, “What is wrong? What Happen? “. In a trembling voice I replied, “He is my father. This seat is for him. That means he is going to die. Oh God. What had happen to him? I want to save him no matter whatever it takes”. Sapna said, “its ok. Don’t panic. That is what the destiny is. No one can change it.”

My whole mood went tragic. I was in a great shock. I hope may be I could save my dad but I have no idea how I could. After a few minutes, I asked Sapna, “Can you please let me know the cause of death?” She searched in her data base and replied, “Oh! Here it is written that Willam Fernandez may die from a sever heart attack after a heated argument with his son”. I got a double shock. I realized my dad may die because of me. I can’t believe there was a real monster in me. I wished may be I could go back to time and may be I could save him. I asked Sapna, “Can you let me know my cause of death?” She replied, “I am sorry sir your name is not in the list”. I was anxious and yelled, “How could I get off from this train. I just want to let my dad know that I am sorry for what I did. I just want to go back for a minute and save my dad”. Seeing my anxiety, the blue man and the long neck couple also showed concern. The blue man said, “What does one normally do when he board the wrong train?” The long neck man said, “We pull the chain”. That’s it. I got the way out to get off this train. But there were no chains on the berth. I asked Sapna, “Please tell me Sapna, where I could find the chain”. She replied, “I am not aware sir. You need to take into consideration what the TC said. He asked you to find yourself than the chain”. More than my self I was concern about the chain so that I can get of the train and save my dad. She continued, “You may go and ask the TC where the chain is. Don’t worry I will accompany you”.

We headed forward in search of the TC. I was amazed to see that there were different coaches for different categories of dead people as we walked. All the coaches were jointly attached. So we could go from one coach to other. On the beginning of every coach, the title of categories was hanged just like the sign board of a toilet in movie talkies. One thing I noticed on the train was there were no washrooms or canteens. I mean we are dead sprits. The senses of smell, taste, eat and poop stays till we live. As we walked forward, I noticed the coach with the title, VNC coach. There were around 50 to 60 people on board. I asked Sapna, “What does VNC coach mean?” She replied, “Its Victims of Natural Calamities”. I wondered how organized the system is. I asked one of them, “Sir Can I see your ticket?” He raised his eyes on me. His face and cloths were drenched. He was crying but the tears can’t be seen as his face was wet. He said weeping, “Are you the TC? We have joint tickets. We are the Andra Pradesh and Odisha flood victims. Why did you take me on board? How would my wife and son survive now as I was the only source of their income?” He showed me his ticket. They had joint tickets. I returned the ticket and walked forward. As I walked, I noticed every one on that coach were drenched. Some one lost their family, some one lost their house. It seemed really miserable.

We walked towards the next coach. It was titled as the Criminal coach. As we went inside, my voice started to eco along with the voice of the train. The whole coach was empty. There was not a single person on board. I asked Sapna, who walked very casually behind me, “Why is this coach empty?” She replied, “This is the criminal coach. Anyone who is punished to death as a criminal in India gets on board in this coach. There are rarely any passengers in this coach. They come years after their ticket is been booked”. I realized that it is obvious as it is in India.

We walked through that coach. As we moved forward, I was shocked to see that there was a baby coach. I was horrified to see the same. I heard the voice of those babies crying. I called out, “Wrong coach attached, Wrong coach attached”. Sapna asked me, “What happen? What’s wrong?”

I replied, “You see this coach? This is wrongly attached to this train. It has to be attached with the train that was going to India. These babies are yet to see the world and before that they are attached to the death train. What kind of system is it? How could you make such huge mistakes?” Sapna replied, “Calm down sir! Have you seen the babies closely? If you see you will come to know that they are all girl child. They are been send back to the heaven before even they could take birth. New technologies and pills; they make anything possible. Humans are the only race that finds fault in God’s creation”. I didn’t have other word to say I felt ashamed of myself to be a human. I was not able to ignore all the sad innocent and cute faces of those babies. I asked Sapna, “What may happen to them?” She replied, “Oh! I am not exactly aware what happen. But according to the new heavenly policies that was released last year, it is said that the people who were assigned this babies, they only will receive this lot but the babies will be exchanged. God loves their kids. If you get what I like and I get what you like, what do we do?” I replied, “May be we will exchange the things”. She said, “Exactly! We do the same”. Ohh! God. I wondered and asked to Sapna, “Are you nuts? The people from whom the girl child came back are the people who don’t want girl child. They want boy child. Don’t you understand this”. She replied, “The policy makers in heaven are more intelligent than you sir”. I stopped the argument saying, “The policy makers in heaven are idiots. Mark my words, this are going to come back multiplied”.

We walked ahead. The next coach was titled, the US souls. I asked Sapna, “Is this the coach meant for US citizens? I mean if any US citizen dies in India, are they boarded on this coach?” She replied, “No Sir. The US Souls means the unsatisfied Souls”. I said, “Do you remember the TC said to find myself in the Unsatisfied coach? I bet the chain to stop the train might be here”. I walked ahead and Sapna followed replying, “The TC said to find a seat not the chain”.

I walked ahead searching for the chain. After walking a while, I found something important than the chain. I noticed a sad and lonely soul sitting at the corner of the seat. There were not many people so one could easily notice this woman sitting beside. I saw the side face and tears rolling out from her eyes. The face looked familiar. So I went closer to the lady to check who she was. I just face a shock and surprise together when I saw her face. She was my aunt. With sad and trembling voice I called out, “Aunt Mary?” With heavy and tearful eyes she looked at me. Her eyes filled with tears and her lips were smiling.

I gathered courage to talk as I have to be shameful looking at her eyes. I said, “I am sorry aunty as I was not able to come to meet you”. Wiping her tears, she replied, “It alright Bob. I missed you a lot. Finally I am happy that I am able to see you”. I looked down as I was feeling shameful. She said, “Have a seat”. I sat down in the front seat. Sapna sat down on the passage seat. Aunt continued, “I was really unsatisfied as I was not able to see you. Right now I am happy to see you but a little sad to see you here”. I found myself able to open up in front of her. I started, “Aunt! I am scared. This train has a booking for my dad as well. I am scared. I searched and found that my dad will die because of me. I won’t be able to bear the pain”. She replied, “Calm down son. No one in this world could change the destiny. If he has to die, he will. You or I can’t change the fact. Don’t loose hope, have patience and pray for forgiveness. By the way, how did you come here?” I replied, “I don’t remember what had happen to me. They say that I am dead. But I don’t have tickets and I don’t have a booking”. She said, “Don’t worry son. If you do not have the ticket, that means you do not belong here. You have your whole life to live. You have to get rich first as you have decided”. I wondered, “How did you know about my plan?” She replied, “I am a sprit now; far from the limits made by humans. I know everything. I also know that you were fired from your job because you were so proud to do the work assigned to your junior. And even you were so proud that you won’t visit me because you think I make you realize that you earn less”. I continued my silence as each and everything that she said was true. She continued, “I always wanted to let you know that I love you more than even my own son. You meant more to me. As I owe much to the favors your dad did to me. He paid all the money for my son’s education after your uncle died. He helped my son become an engineer. And the tough part is, he never asked a single penny back. I give you those bucks just to make you realize that you mean a lot to me. No matter how much money I give you, that won’t be equal to the things your dad did to us. And today I really want to apologies that I made you realize that I reminded you that you are not capable to earn”. I felt like I got all the answers to my questions in just few seconds. I was never able to realize Aunt Mary’s love. But now I did. On a day when she is no more, I realized how much she loved me. By the time a voice came, “Are you Mrs. Mary?” We turned and it was the TC. Aunt replied, “Yes I am”. The TC said, “Congratulations madam, you have secured your seat in the VIP Coach”. She looked at me with a smile, pinched my cheeks and replied, “I guess I had”. She stood up and started walking. In a while she stopped and turned towards me. She then started searching the hand bag she was holding. She then took out little money from the bag, a ten rupee note and a Hundred rupee note. She put back the hundred rupee note in bag and handed over the ten Rupee note to me. Every time she gave me, I use to resist. This time I was not able to resist. She then told with a smile, “I am giving you 10 Rs. Not hundred Rs because that may make you feel like you are poor. Keep it with you as a good luck. Don’t use it”. She finished and walked away. I didn’t say another word and took that 10 Rs note. It was an old note. Few numbers were written on the note with blue pen. The number seemed like 613. The next few numbers were not readable. I was sad and kept thinking about Aunty. I kept that 10 Rs note in the back pocket of my Cargo. I stood up and tried to follow them for a final glimpse of my Aunt. But I wasn’t able to find anyone. They just vanished into the air. I guess that’s what happens when we let our loved once go. We won’t find them once they are gone.

I turned towards Sapna and asked, “What is VIP coach?” She replied with a smile, “A completely satisfied soul gets a seat in the VIP coach. It means all her unfulfilled wishes are completed”. I kept looking towards the way they went. I realized the only wish that was unfulfilled for my aunt was to meet me.

I went forward to search for the TC who can show me the chain to stop the train. A few coaches ahead, there was the celebrity coach. I was so fascinated to explore that coach. As soon as we entered there was a very sweet and soothing smell of a perfume. It seemed like the perfume was very old. As soon as we entered there was a huge wall of posters. Those posters were of well known personalities. It began with a very large poster of Mahatma Gandhi. As soon as Sapna saw the picture, she went closer to clean it even though there was no dust. I guess she showed respect to the Father of our nation. Beside them were other pictures of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, and many other freedom fighters. It was very beautifully arranged. After seeing it, I felt proud to be an Indian. Sapna said, “These are the people who once travelled in this train”. Further we saw photos of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Dhyan Chand etc. We walked forward. Then comes the posters of Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Mukesh, Rafi etc. The photos of those stars looked so alive. When we turned around, we were amazed to see who was sitting there. My jaws almost touched the ground. I lost control over my knees. The first thought that came in my mind was to fall down with respect. The person sitting there had a very light line of mustache, brown color framed spectacles just like my grandfather wore, a brown fur cap, and few wrinkles. He smiled and I cried. He was none other than Manna Dey the legendary singer. He wore the same suit that he wore when he came to receive the Dadasaheb palke award in 2007. I was hardly able to speak anything after seeing his smiling face. He seemed too young as we see in the news papers. I gathered some confidence and approached to talk. I didn’t sit as I wanted to show how much I respect him. I said, “With due honor sir, I would like to let you know that our country had lost a gem after you left us. And I am the huge fan of each and every work of yours”. He smiled and replied, “Thank you”. I said, “Being you is a real honor. You were one of the rarest singers who sang with more than 300 music composers and more than 3500 song in 10 or 15 different languages”

He interrupted and told me, “I am glad to know that you are such a huge fan of mine. But can I know who are you? I have never seen you before”. I replied, “I am sorry sir. In excitement I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Bob. I work in a bank. Ohh. I am sorry; I use to work in a bank”. He asked me, “That means you are not a celebrity. Then you do not belong here”. I felt like I was making the king of music feel awkward. I started to talk in a friendly way, “Actually I am searching for the chain to stop this train. I saw the TC going forward and I was following him. But he vanished somewhere”. After my polite tone he showed a little bit interest in my matter. He asked, “Why are you searching for the chain?” I replied, “I was picked up by mistake instead of my father. Now I want to get down from this train and save my father. I came to know that there is no ticket on my name. That means I am still alive”. He asked, “What do you remember about your life?” I told the whole story. I narrated him about my dad’s argument; my break up, my job loss; everything. He said nothing but just kept looking at me. After a while he gave me a strange smile and told, “Have a seat Bob”. I didn’t have a heart then, but I bet if I had one, it would have started pounding. I was feeling honored sitting in front of him. I could never finish my wish of sitting in front of such an honored person when I was alive. I sat down with a smile. He said, “Who told you that you are alive?” My smile vanishes. He continued, “After listening to your story I feel like you are dead. And there is no purpose for you to be kept alive”. I was sad and confused. In flattering voice, I asked, “How could you say that?” He replied, “Bob, I don’t want you to get offended but I want you to know that each and every thing that could have ever been better in your life, you have completely ruined it with your ego and ignorance”

He said, “After listening to your story I realize that you had problem with everything. Your dad never loved you, your girlfriend didn’t love you and your boss was a hypocrite. You spend all your life complaining about the people or the situation around you. I want to ask you just one thing. Where is BOB?” I was totally wordless. He continued, “There was a critic when your dad or aunt called you, there was a proud man when you boss gave you some work. There was no Bob”.

I wondered when he said those words. He was making me realize that I lost myself. He continued, “I was 11 years old when I started singing and started taking singing classes. I always wanted to be a boxer. I always wanted to be the one who I was not. At the age of 11 I found myself. I feel like myself when I sing. I became the best by myself. I could have never been me if my uncle Krishna Chandra Dey wasn’t there to support me. No one ever knew Prabodh Chandra Dey. I was only known when I became Manna Dey”.

I came to know what he really meant. He explained me the same thing that the TC told me few minutes ago. That is to find myself.

I said, “I am very pleased to have such kind advice from you sir. But how can I find myself in such a situation”. He replied, “You were the one who brought the solution. That is to pull the chain”. I asked, “Sorry to bother you sir but where can I find the chain?”

“It is very simple” he said. “I was on the same train like you without a ticket in the year 1941. I was in same situation like you are right now. Then in this same coach I met Johannes Schlaf. He gave me the same motivation that I am giving you right now. I never knew him before or heard about him before. I even didn’t remember him during my entire life. He was a writer. I am in the same place after many years. And when I saw you, it reminded me lot about him. After he showed me the chain to stop the train, I was able to start my career by Tammana. He said that the chain is right beside the seat where you were sitting. I went there and I found the chain”.

I didn’t wait another moment. After a very pleasing handshake with Mr. Manna Dey, I rushed towards my seat to find the chain. I pulled Sapna along with me when I was running. I was so happy to find the chain.

I reached at my seat and had my last handshakes and goodbye to the blue man and the long head couple. I said in a dancing tone, “It was very nice to meet you gentleman. I am going back to my life as I had found myself. Thank you for every thing”. All of them wished me good luck. Now before pulling the chain it was the time to say good bye to Sapna. I turned towards Sapna and said, “I am very thankful for your support. I don’t think I could have found myself without you”. She said in a farewell tone, “Thank you”. Then I gathered a little courage and finally tried to tell her what I really thought about her. I started, “Sapna please don’t think the other way but you really look a lot like Katrina Kaif. If you were a real human, I would have proposed you, as I could never find a perfect girl like you”. She didn’t said much but just winked her eyes and smiled at me. I felt she was least interested in me. Moving on; the time has come to get off the DPST Express.

I pulled the chain and it stopped. I finally had a breath of relief. Coincidently there was no station anywhere on the way but when I pulled the chain, the train exactly stopped at the Ahmedabad railway station. It seem like it just appeared from no where. I was happy that I won’t need an auto or other transport. I reached the door of the train. As I took my first step outside the train, I heard a voice, “Ohh BHAI(Brother)”. I turned around and it was Sapna. All my dreams broke after she called me bhai. I was looking at her and she again called me, “Ohh Bhai”. All of a sudden she took out a newspaper from her hand bag. I didn’t see any hand bag before in her hand. She then rolled the news paper and started hitting my face.

Once; twice, then the third one was so hard that it made me wake up again. I realized I woke up from a deep sleep. I found myself on one of the bench of Ahmedabad railway platform. A police man was standing right in front of me trying to wake me up by hitting newspaper that I was holding. I asked, “What happen?” He replied, “Your train is here”.

After few seconds I rebooted my brain and realized that it was a dream. I asked the policeman, “How long was I sleeping?” He replied, “It’s been 30 minutes since you were sleeping”.

I boarded the train. It was a very crazy dream that I had. It really meant to me. I felt like I just came out from the most adventurous ride. It felt like everything settled down after a huge storm. I found my seat. It was a normal train with normal seats and normal people. To get that dream off my brain, I started flipping the pages of the news paper.

After I saw the newspaper, I had a real shock. On the 2^nd page of the news paper there was news about a man who poisoned his own father for property. On the third page was the news which goes like, “D’costa couple ends life due to financial crises”. A small column on the fourth page notified about the girl who caught in an accident who was crossing the road texting her boyfriend.

As I checked the first page, the headline was about the news of death of the legendary singer Manna Dey.

After that I felt very weird and creepy. I was shocked and surprise about the dream I had. My brain just stopped working and I started searching all my sides whether there were ghosts of the people I met in my dreams. As I was busy searching, I heard a voice, “Ticket”.  I jumped back after I heard the voice as it scared me. I looked at the TC and took a breath as the TC was different than my dreams. I threw the newspaper aside as it scared me and started searching for my tickets. In the back pocket of my cargo, my fingers felt two pieces of paper. One was the ticket of the train and the other was a 10 Rs note.  For a moment I was wondering why I didn’t keep this note in my wallet. After observing it closely, I found something much wired; something that changed my whole life. I saw the numbers 613 and few unreadable digits on the note. That note looked exactly like my aunt gave me.

I realized it was not a dream. There was much more reality than I thought. I remembered what Sapna said, “My name is Sapna. I usually come to make the people realize that they are already dead”

I realized I was already dead after my rude behavior towards my father, after I lost my job, after my break up and the most important was I did not understood the love of Aunt Mary.

The next and sudden thing I did was I called my dad and apologize. I was not able to say much due to shame. The only thing I could say was, “Dad! I am really sorry”. I said this in a trembling voice. My dad understood that I was about to cry. He said nothing more than these three words that meant a lot to me, “Come home Son”.

Finally this story couldn’t end with the best and final twist. Just like in my dream, a beautiful young woman sat just beside me. I was surprised to see that I proposed Sapna in my dream and she appeared in real. My heart started pounding and I could hear music. Just because of Manna Dey, everything got perfect in my life.

Finally I asked Sapna as I promised her in my dreams. I said, “Sapna, you are really beautiful and I am really in love with you”.

And with her sweet loving voice, she replied, “Excuse me! My name is not Sapna. I am Priyanka. And this is not the way you ask a girl for a date.

Author's Note

Please read and review the work

Reviews

[Will Neill]

Prince, I read your story-an iteresting read. A good idea that you worked well. Threre was some spelling mistakes and poor grammer, but if you work in this then you can only improve. The piece is quite long and may put off some readers. I think you could break up the big paragraphs and maybe put your dialogue into short sentence form -it looks better, try it and see. Also maybe read it over again out loud to yourself to see how it sounds, this will point out the mistakes. I hope you found my comments constructive and above all keep writing.
Will

[prince]

Thank you Will. I find my self lucky to have my story reviewed by you. Actually this is my first write ever. And i have no experience in writing. So it may take a while for me to polish my writing. i am working on the grammar and spellings. Be in touch.
Regards
Prince

[Will Neill]

You are welcome, dea-fhortún.
Will

[Prritiy]

wow i liked the story line very much and though initially i thought its lengthy but on reading i found it good. you do write well concept wise. keep on penning

best wishes

[Vidya Bacchus]

Your story is very interesting,your grammar sucks haha don't worry you just have to work on it but otherwise you have all the elements of a great write.Write more i for one am addicted and will keep on reading

[MAC]

this is a strong story. I completely agree with Will, a little work in visual areas and this will be an excellent piece. nicely done Prince, you have great imagination and I can't wait for you to post new stuff.

[Mary]

Very impressive, Prince. Excellent detail and flow in your story. You might work on proof reading for grammar, but that can be done last. This is very creative- love how each train car is for a specific purpose, and especially love that the "chain" for release can only be found within.

[prince]

Thank you mary. I appriciate you just understood the essence of the story. I will surely be working on the grammer part. Your review seemed very constructive for me. Thank you take care

[Chris Rampersad]

Dude I havent had time to read the whole story yet but I'll tell you what I think so far. Its GREAT. You have a really good talent for story telling if you keep developing it you would become really good. I like the humour too and the idea is really good. Make a couple slight touch ups( I mean like miss spelled words and stuff not the story) and you would have a perfect piece. I will read out the rest when I get chance but so far I like it. :)

[prince]

Thank you sir for spending a bit time to read and review my story. Will take care of the points you noted out so far.
Have a good day.

[prince]

Dear chris
i appriciate you spend time reading part of my story. But i recommend you read the whole story as the real surprise for the readers lies in the end

[Chris Rampersad]

lol. I fineshed reading it. I stand by what i said its a great story interesting, meaningful, I figured he would meet Sapna in the end.lol. I enjoyed it very much dude. Write more and when I have time I'll read them. :)

[Sheila Kline]

Prince,
Keep working at your goal to become a story teller as you are in this story! You are able to give many details which makes it an interesting read. You are young and can learn much as you travel through life - this will make for some more stories of intrigue, and tell of lessons of life!

[prince]

Thank you mam for your valuable review. I will keep polishing my work the way you said

[prince]

Dear Daniel. I am really grateful for your review and will take care about the points mentioned by you. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

[Daniel Sala]

Nice story, Prince. For me an interesting idea, actually gives you something to think about; and the style is sincere (not boring, unoriginal, and forced like you just read a writing manual) which made it an alive story (for me). It made me laugh at times, very witty about the criminals taking years to take the train...
Like my stories, maybe needs a little tidying up and polishing, but I have enjoyed it on the whole. Good luck!