It was 5.45 a.m. Quietly, she stepped out of her room and made her way down the stairs. Outside, it was still dark. In 10 minutes, the first rays of the sun would appear on the horizon – Arunima, her namesake, the first red light at dawn. In her heart she was praying that the campus gates of the university would be open, even though it was not yet 6 a.m. God heard, and he added a bonus. The gates were open, the guard was away and right outside the gate stood an auto-rickshaw.
“Santacruz Station”, she said. The driver nodded and she got in.
10 minutes later she stood on a platform at Santacruz station to catch the local train to Dadar. Daylight had started creeping in through the asbestos sheets over her head. Another 15 minutes and she was at Dadar, the hub of the early morning commuters, where even 6.30 in the morning felt like 9 a.m. The Mumbai-Pune Intercity Express was not due for another 20 minutes.
Her mind wandered back to last night’s conversation.
“This whole idea is ridiculous. He doesn’t even know that you are coming. He is in Pune for just 2 days. You should at least inform him of your plan. Plus, you have never been to Pune before. And what if the train back does not arrive on time? You are cutting it so narrow.” Her room-mate was more apprehensive than she about the whole trip, planned just a day before.
“If I tell him about my visit, it will not be a surprise. And how different can Pune be. Look, in the worst case, if he is busy or I don’t find him, I’ll just spend the day sitting in a coffee shop and take the train back home.” She had replied. And against the better judgement of her friends, she had booked the tickets.
The train chugged into the station. She got into the compartment and took her seat. It was his birthday, his first since they got together as a couple. She knew it was a risk. She stayed at the university girl’s hostel in Mumbai, which had a strict 8.30 pm deadline. If she missed the deadline, all hell would break loose and she would have to answer a whole lot of people. Also, this was the first time she was taking a train on her own to any place; leave alone a new city where she knew no one. All she had was the address of the college which he was visiting to attend a tech fest. But something in her heart had make her take this step, a step closer to the man she knew she had to have as her partner for life.
She knew she could have never taken this step half a century ago. Many would still be unable to take this step. But she had been lucky to be one of the few who could take such a step. A step towards what she knew was the right thing for her.
(Image source: Augustus Binu from Wiki used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)
