Thursday, August 31, 2006
THE LAST TRAIN TO PARIS
THE LAST TRAIN TO PARIS
Lata Jagtiani
They had run to the gare and reached just two minutes before the TGV took off for Paris. All because they had lingered at the lake so that she could spend more time with the cygnes and the canards. She was surprised by his uncharacteristic patience.
“Happy?” he asked gently as she finished feeding the ducks. It was forbidden to feed them in Annecy. The beautiful Mount Veyrier was enveloped by mists. And they had to leave.
Suddenly they noticed the time and ran from the lake to the hotel, from the hotel to the gare, running madly with their strolleys over the cobbled streets.
Now they were aboard seated on opposite sides. The countryside started to run away from them. Now and then the sun winked at them and she winked back. Ashish smiled but his mind seemed elsewhere.
“Something wrong?”“It will go….”
“Share..?”
“Just thinking how happy we are in France, not in India…”
His phone beeped. He glanced at it and quickly put it away.
“Wrong number.”
The shadow began to loom again.
She turned again to the flying landscape. Suddenly a river burst through the manicured verdant fields. It ran fast and breathless. It was alive.
“Want my seat? Going to the toilet.” He rose and left. He always took the seat that saw what was coming and she always saw what had already gone. She took his seat.
“You reflect too much, life is not serious, live for a change! Life is to be enjoyed..! You and your retrospect, your regrets!” Yes, she was sad. But she had been a happy lark before he arrived on the scene.
She looked out through the window-pane. She froze.
She saw something menacing, sharp, angry. It was scary. Her eyes saw her face reflected on the glass-pane. Am I really like this, she shuddered. How awful, poor Ashish. The angry lines between her brows were fearsome. Although the two of them were thirty-two, it was she who seemed jaded and not him. And so Ashish’s shadow. No wonder.
He returned and sat across from her. “Do I look like an angry person?” she asked.His neck jerked forward, ”What?” He paused. “No, not angry exactly, grim…yes, grim.” She saw his hands shake as he picked up his cigarettes.
“This is non-smoking.”“Damn them, I’ll smoke if I want to!”
Thankfully the compartment was empty save for a Frenchman nodding sleepily at the rear.
“I think I’ll visit the loo too.”
She shut the toilet door. She gasped. On the floor of the toilet lay his Ericsson mobile phone. As soon as she picked it up it rang. She pressed “Ok” and heard a voice, “Don’t ever hang up on me again, Ashish, I’ll kill you. You think it’s that easy to break up with me? You traipse off to France and now you don’t want to tell her about us?”
Her knees wobbled, she switched it off. Shadow was following them.
She sat down on the toilet-seat, fidgeting with her hair. After a few minutes she got up, pressed the cistern-button and flung the phone into the flushing toilet-bowl. Now she had forty-eight hours.
She combed her hair, applied some lipstick and mascara and dabbed some perfume behind her ears and between her breasts. Smiling weakly at herself she noticed her frown fading.
“Saw anything special?” she asked happily.
“You missed nothing.”
“I missed you!” she laughed and tugged at his coat-sleeve. He pulled his arm away.
“I have to talk to you about something… something serious..”
“No, nothing serious, you said I take life too seriously, now I have decided no seriousness, only joy, laughter…you, me…in this lovely train, just us, a happy couple married seven years. Only hopes and songs, rainbows and butterflies!”
Her gaiety was forced but she had no choice and no time. It had to work.
“Are you crazy? Why are you…”“Because I saw myself in the window-pane, you see, I am not what I seem, please, I’m not angry, I am not grim, I’m a happy person on an Annecy train. Please.”
His face was ashen.
“Look, I have to say something to you…please, listen to me.”
“Ashish, no! I won’t listen. There’s just you me and this beautiful day in this beautiful country. No serious talk, promise. Tell me a joke, we are under forty-eight hours to Delhi.Something drew her attention to her face in the window-pane. Just in time.
“Tell me a nice joke!” She felt giggly.
“Ok, here’s the joke. But you have to listen carefully.”“OK, shoot.”“A man and a woman were unhappy with each other. They stayed together because they were decent but they were unhappy.”
He paused and saw her eyes mist. He reached out to hold her shaky hand on the table between them.
“He thought he would find somebody and he was going to break up but he couldn’t.”“Why?” she whispered.
“He was going to tell her that he would leave her but just then he saw her feeding the cygnes and the canards. He saw the mischief in her eyes as she turned to see if anybody was watching her and he also saw the canards rush towards her, he saw how they all looked so natural, so serene and he thought, this is my world, not the other…. That’s when he made up his mind.”
“But the punch-line?”
“His life was a joke till he saw that lovely picture. The joke’s over.”
He took her hands and kissed them. She looked away. The shadow had gone.
At least for now.
She tried to remember what she had said to the ducks while feeding them. Ah yes-she had said to the cygnes, “You and me, we can see what lies beneath the mist. A shadow is momentary, not eternal, it passes.”
Lata Jagtiani
They had run to the gare and reached just two minutes before the TGV took off for Paris. All because they had lingered at the lake so that she could spend more time with the cygnes and the canards. She was surprised by his uncharacteristic patience.
“Happy?” he asked gently as she finished feeding the ducks. It was forbidden to feed them in Annecy. The beautiful Mount Veyrier was enveloped by mists. And they had to leave.
Suddenly they noticed the time and ran from the lake to the hotel, from the hotel to the gare, running madly with their strolleys over the cobbled streets.
Now they were aboard seated on opposite sides. The countryside started to run away from them. Now and then the sun winked at them and she winked back. Ashish smiled but his mind seemed elsewhere.
“Something wrong?”“It will go….”
“Share..?”
“Just thinking how happy we are in France, not in India…”
His phone beeped. He glanced at it and quickly put it away.
“Wrong number.”
The shadow began to loom again.
She turned again to the flying landscape. Suddenly a river burst through the manicured verdant fields. It ran fast and breathless. It was alive.
“Want my seat? Going to the toilet.” He rose and left. He always took the seat that saw what was coming and she always saw what had already gone. She took his seat.
“You reflect too much, life is not serious, live for a change! Life is to be enjoyed..! You and your retrospect, your regrets!” Yes, she was sad. But she had been a happy lark before he arrived on the scene.
She looked out through the window-pane. She froze.
She saw something menacing, sharp, angry. It was scary. Her eyes saw her face reflected on the glass-pane. Am I really like this, she shuddered. How awful, poor Ashish. The angry lines between her brows were fearsome. Although the two of them were thirty-two, it was she who seemed jaded and not him. And so Ashish’s shadow. No wonder.
He returned and sat across from her. “Do I look like an angry person?” she asked.His neck jerked forward, ”What?” He paused. “No, not angry exactly, grim…yes, grim.” She saw his hands shake as he picked up his cigarettes.
“This is non-smoking.”“Damn them, I’ll smoke if I want to!”
Thankfully the compartment was empty save for a Frenchman nodding sleepily at the rear.
“I think I’ll visit the loo too.”
She shut the toilet door. She gasped. On the floor of the toilet lay his Ericsson mobile phone. As soon as she picked it up it rang. She pressed “Ok” and heard a voice, “Don’t ever hang up on me again, Ashish, I’ll kill you. You think it’s that easy to break up with me? You traipse off to France and now you don’t want to tell her about us?”
Her knees wobbled, she switched it off. Shadow was following them.
She sat down on the toilet-seat, fidgeting with her hair. After a few minutes she got up, pressed the cistern-button and flung the phone into the flushing toilet-bowl. Now she had forty-eight hours.
She combed her hair, applied some lipstick and mascara and dabbed some perfume behind her ears and between her breasts. Smiling weakly at herself she noticed her frown fading.
“Saw anything special?” she asked happily.
“You missed nothing.”
“I missed you!” she laughed and tugged at his coat-sleeve. He pulled his arm away.
“I have to talk to you about something… something serious..”
“No, nothing serious, you said I take life too seriously, now I have decided no seriousness, only joy, laughter…you, me…in this lovely train, just us, a happy couple married seven years. Only hopes and songs, rainbows and butterflies!”
Her gaiety was forced but she had no choice and no time. It had to work.
“Are you crazy? Why are you…”“Because I saw myself in the window-pane, you see, I am not what I seem, please, I’m not angry, I am not grim, I’m a happy person on an Annecy train. Please.”
His face was ashen.
“Look, I have to say something to you…please, listen to me.”
“Ashish, no! I won’t listen. There’s just you me and this beautiful day in this beautiful country. No serious talk, promise. Tell me a joke, we are under forty-eight hours to Delhi.Something drew her attention to her face in the window-pane. Just in time.
“Tell me a nice joke!” She felt giggly.
“Ok, here’s the joke. But you have to listen carefully.”“OK, shoot.”“A man and a woman were unhappy with each other. They stayed together because they were decent but they were unhappy.”
He paused and saw her eyes mist. He reached out to hold her shaky hand on the table between them.
“He thought he would find somebody and he was going to break up but he couldn’t.”“Why?” she whispered.
“He was going to tell her that he would leave her but just then he saw her feeding the cygnes and the canards. He saw the mischief in her eyes as she turned to see if anybody was watching her and he also saw the canards rush towards her, he saw how they all looked so natural, so serene and he thought, this is my world, not the other…. That’s when he made up his mind.”
“But the punch-line?”
“His life was a joke till he saw that lovely picture. The joke’s over.”
He took her hands and kissed them. She looked away. The shadow had gone.
At least for now.
She tried to remember what she had said to the ducks while feeding them. Ah yes-she had said to the cygnes, “You and me, we can see what lies beneath the mist. A shadow is momentary, not eternal, it passes.”
