The Mumbai Sunset

The compartment was full of passengers and Manish was trying hard to find his way among them, but in vain. Moving between the crowd and holding his ticket hard in his hand, he remembered the instructions given by Madhav uncle to use only the seat given on his ticket. But that seemed impossible for him, so putting aside his moral conscience he took a seat near the window. The whistle was blowing hard and the train was taking pace, leaving the platform behind. Manish took a complete view of the platform, there was a complete rush. TCs, passengers, vendors, all of them were running behind the train, and with every minute he was leaving them behind, leaving behind his village, his family, and of course, Navya. All he had was their memories and the love he had for them. He got filled with sadness but he is the only one who can do something for his family and Mumbai, according to his father is the only place where he can succeed. But what a 10th pass, cycle mechanic can do in such a big city like Mumbai. All these things were new to him, first time in train, first time away from his family, away from his home, he knew it was going to be tough, very tough indeed. Resting his head by the window, he had sunken into deep thought but was suddenly brought to the world by the monotonous call of the 'chana-waala'. Manish had nothing from the morning so he called out to the vendor, "Hey, come over here.""Just a second , sir," replied the vendor.Manish took out the purse he had kept safely in the inner pocket of his bag, there were some 4000 rupees in it.No sooner, he had taken out some rupees, something suddenly stroked him.

'What he is going to do?', this is the money his mother had collected working day and night, long hours , in someone else's kitchen, washing someone else's dirty clothes, and making someone else's utensils to shine. His father had worked in other fields, and that too in the scorching sun. This meek amount may be is nothing to others but for him, it has the smell of his parent's sweat, these rusty notes are the witness of their hard work and they are the proof of their trust in him. And he is going to waste a part of their trust, their hard work in some useless things to cure his hunger. The thought made him discard the decision of eating the snack and he decided to take a short nap,till the station comes. 

"So, when you are leaving for Mumbai?", asked Navya , who was sitting by the mango tree, having Manish's head in her lap.  

"Tomorrow morning", replied Manish, still having his buried in her lap.

"Why so early? Is there any emergence."

"Yeah. Madhav uncle told me that his nephew is leaving for Vadodara in 2-3 days. so we have to hurry."

 His answer was followed by nothing but long silence, only the rapid blow of the hot air and chirruping of the birds mad with heat was heard. The sun was using all it's mighty powers to burn the Earth, but the couple was safe under dense shed of the mango tree. Manish knew the reason of the silence, in fact both of them knew. Navya's parents had decided to fix her marriage , certainly not with Manish. It can be their last meeting, yet there was no formality between them. They met as they meet regularly, they chatted as they talk on any other day. Both of them were overloaded with sadness, but they didn't wanted to show it to the other one. Their love was above the love of gifts, promises and Breakups,  they had a bond of care and trust and this bond helped them in this tough situation. 

"Ticket, ticket", the loud, pinching voice of the TC brought out Manish from his dream and he once again found himself in this crowded, noisy and humid train compartment, away from the pleasant and cozy meadows of his village which continued to relax him, even in dreams. 

The horns blowed hard and the breaks screeched, as the train reached the station it was destined for. Manish took up his bag and moved on. Mumbai-the city of dreams, was just outside this compartment. But the first thing that stroked his mind after getting outside was a disappointing one. 'What is this?', Manish just pondered to himself, he saw nothing but a mob, a great mob in front of him. It didn't seemed different from a large flock of sheep's, which he often used to see in his village. 

Coming out of the station, Manish checked his pocket for the slip which had Madhav uncle's nephew, Rajesh address. Rajesh is a contractor, here on Mumbai and being in relation of Madhav uncle, an old friend of Manish's father, he had promised Manish for a job in his firm. 

"Rajesh choudhary, MCC apartments, Andheri, Mumbai, hmm. ...", for Manish it sounded like a thing out of the world. He called out a taxi and showed the slip and in no time was on the place. After paying the fare, he entered the building that seemed to be a under-construction residential. There he inquired about Rajesh and was directed toward his cabin.

"Hey Manish, come, sit", Rajesh greeted him warmly, very much to the surprise of Manish who was sure he is going to meet a more busy, arrogant and richer guy than him, but this guy seems to be a good fellow. 

"Hi, Rajesh, how are you? ",Manish tried to be as formal as he could. He didn't wanted any pinch of nervousness and surprise inside him to reflect on his first impression. 

"I'm fine Manish and sorry, I couldn't come on the station, I hope you don't have any problem in the way?".

"No, it's OK. Don't worry for that". After an hour long chat on various topics like politics, poverty, etc, Manish realised that its time to discuss the main thing. 

"Hey, I think you know the reason of my visit, do you? ", asked Manish, again with a formal accent in his tone but this time staring hopefully toward Rajesh. 

"Don't worry about it, man. I need to talk to the officials first and believe me, you will bag this job", there was firmness in his tone which made Manish to relax a bit, meanwhile Rajesh continued, 

"I think you should take rest,  it's already 10:30 and I too had not slept last night. So, I think we must depart and let ourselves relax in our beds ", saying this Rajesh closed the file he had on his desk, took his bag and along with Manish came out of his office. At the reception, Rajesh ringed a bell and at once a peon appeared from the left corridor. 

"Yes sir, what do you want? ".

"Take this sir, to the room on the 4th floor. Here, take the keys", he paused and then looked toward Manish and continued, 

"Manish, you go and take some rest. If you want anything then ask Shankar."

Manish just nodded in a reply and after giving some more instructions to the peon, Rajesh also departed from the building. The peon led Manish toward a silent corridor to a lift. Reaching the room, Manish was directed inside and after making sure he is comfortable, the peon also leaved. Manish was once again alone, here in this unknown world. He put off his boots, lied on the bed and tried to sleep and relax his mind for a while. 

But it seemed like sleep had deserted him, his mind was once again filled with pleasant, yet melancholy thoughts about Navya. He remembered her tight hug on the day of his departure, how tightly she hugged him as it was their last hug. How cozy that was, the pleasantness  and comfort of that love is unexplainable. He even remembered their last conversation, every word of it was printed on his mind.

"So, what do you want me to return with?", he asked, standing on the platform and glaring in her beautiful greenish-blue eyes.

"Nothing, just be back safe and unchanged. And if you want something to do for me, then go and watch the sunset from Mumbai. "

"It's an awkward wish, jaanu",exclaimed Manish, holding her hand tightly.

"Yes,it is, but you know I wanted to see that sunset with you, so if you watched it, I will think I watched it." These thoughts made him doze of to sleep in no time, a thing he needed badly.

Manish woke up late that morning, but the first thing to strike his mind was 'Any message from Rajesh '. He immediately called out to that peon Shankar and was informed that Rajesh arrives at 10:30AM, in his office. Manish took a quick view on the wall clock, it was 8:45 so he should be ready for that. He was ready, dressed and full stomached, till 9:30, and there was one more weary hour to pass,  before the result of his visit and his future will unfold. That one hour was like most horrid time of his life, and he was double nervous and frightened than he was on his board results. 

All the things were going one by one, like a super fast train in his mind. His mind was  filled with thoughts, thoughts about his family, his village, his parents, his future, his plans  if he gets the job and also his plans if don't get it. Everything, just everything was cuddled up in that tiny top-floor of his head.And it seemed to like, heart was racing with his mind, it was beating so hard as if it wanted to come out of him, making him lose buckets of sweat. He went to the water jug and drank a glass of water, quickly and tried to relax himself. 

As he was getting comfortable , a knock on the door again started that chain reaction inside him. He opened the door and the peon Shankar was standing outside. 

"Rajesh sir, is calling you in his office".

Ohhh! The result had come and he must go and accept that, whatever it was. He descended down the stairs rapidly, as fast as his heart beated and knocked on the door of Rajesh's cabin. 

"Hey Manish, good morning, come",Rajesh again was as cool as he was yesterday, but Manish's condition was different. 

"What did your bosses say? ", his anticipation made him ask before Rajesh could say anything. 

"Oh,that's the good news for you, they have appointed you in third class worker section, only on my recommendation. And your starting salary is 8000", these words were like dreams to Manish and his eyes sheded tears immediately as if to realise him it was reality. Seeing tears in Manish's eyes, Rajesh offered a tissue to him and continued. 

"I think I should ring to Madhav chachu, so that you can give this very good news to your family".

"No, I don't think so", was Manish's reply, who was looking toward the floor, abruptly. 

"But why?",asked Rajesh. 

"Because, I wanted to celebrate it with something else", said Manish, once again firmly.

"What? With whom? ", this time it was surprise in Rajesh's tone. 

"Sunset, Mumbai's sunset ", said Manish as he flunged the door of the cabin and dashed out of the building. 

Manish was seating on the hot sand of the beach, withcold winds blowing gently over his face like Navya's beautiful hairs cascading down her shoulders. He was there, thinking of Navya and watching the Mumbai's sunset, not for him, for her.

Sometimes, the relations we make become more valuable than, relations we get. Sometimes, as I already said.