My Co-Passenger

MY
CO-PASSENGER

                                Saibal
Bandopadhyay

I don’t
remember the exact time, but it was somewhere around 7 O’clock
in the evening when I met Mr. Ghoshal, an investment banker by
profession.He was going to Durgapur to meet his friend.He was my
co-passenger in the train ,which I boarded around 5:30 at the time of
sunset from Madhupur.I was really happy that day because I was going
to Kolkata to meet my Aunt after almost 5 years.There was no one in
the compartment except us at that time ,which was quite normal in
weekdays here in West Bengal.

Mr.Ghoshal was busy
with his laptop and I was just looking to have a short nap as it was
still a long way to go before I reach Howrah, from where I would hire
a cab to my Aunt’s residence in Ballygaunge.Just when I was
preparing myself to lay down,Mr.Ghoshal interrupted me.

“Excuse Me,
Sir” – He said suddenly

When I looked at
him, he said,”I need to make an urgent call and my phone’s
battery is dead. So, if you don’t mind,can I borrow your phone
for one call please?”

He was really
polite and gentle in his approach, which was visible from the manner
in which he asked to borrow my phone. I was really impressed with his
manner of speaking and so I readily gave my cellphone to him.He
dialed a number and then after a few rings he cut the call.

“What
happened ? Why did u hung up the call?” – I said

“I was only
looking for a missed call, my friend will call me back in a moment”
, He replied

After that, we
started to have a nice conversation and I was really enjoying his
company. I came to know that his name was Vikram Ghoshal and he was
an investment banker in Asansol. He was going to see his friend Rajan
Malhotra  in Durgapur. We were having a nice time out there and I
hardly realised how time passed. He told me that he is married and he
has a 4 year old daughter, Pooja was her name. He aslo told me that
he is a rich man and he mostly travels by Plane but since he was in a
hurry and couldn’t get a plane ticket, so he chose to go by
train. He was a tall guy with a diplomatic appearance complimenting
him. He wore glasses and had a stubble look in him. He was definitely
a rich person which was clear from his outer appearance. One thing
that I noticed about him was his impatience, Whenever the train
stopped in between stations due to red signal, he was like very
frustrated and he was not sitting comfortably enough sometimes. But,
I thought he was very eager to reunite with his old pal.

At around 9’25
PM , we reached Durgapur and he left after bidding goodbye to me.
Then  I decided to take my pending nap as there was no one to disturb
me anymore. So, I closed my eyes and was in my sweet dreams after a
few minutes.

All of a sudden, a
terrifying sound woke me up.The train stopped right away and I heard
sounds of cries from the tailend of the train. When I went outside to
check out what’s the matter, I saw something really horrifying.
The last 3 coaches of the train were destroyed and were burning,
people were lying down dead and in pieces ,some where just
alive,there were cries of help from them. I had just encountered a
serial bomb blasting infront of my eyes.

Then suddenly,
something struck my mind. The face of Mr. Ghoshal shown up in my mind
and I realised why he took my phone, connected to a number ,let it
rung for a few seconds and then cut the call without talking to
anyone.Also I realised why he was so frustrated whenever the train
had unscheduled stops.

Just one thought
came up in my mind, “I helped a terrorist execute a serial bomb
blast and killed numerous innocents”