MY EXPERIENCE WITH A “TALIBAN” DRESSED
S8-52,
showed the message from the 4” screen of my mobile. “Thank God” I sighed out of
relief. It was a confirmation for my ticket to Bengaluru from Hyderabad. Yeshwanthpura
express – Platform No 4 was scrolling on the electronic display. “Two years of
Management Education has come to end! It was like yesterday I joined” climbing
up the stairs on the foot over I was lost in deep thoughts about our
farewell.
“S3, S4…..S8
there it is” with the heavy luggage I reached out for seat 52. Middle berth it
was, busy in finding a place for my luggage I didn’t bother of who’s around. It
was when I am about to sit and relax I did pay attention to the man sitting in
front of me. Flinched at the first sight, couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Small ferocious
eyes, with thick eye brows, black thick moustache running down the long nose
joining the long beard which ended up half the way to his chest line. All in
white kurta and white pajamas there he sat beside the window. Cascades of long lustrous
hair emerging out of the Taqiyah(Muslim cap) and running down to the back of
his ears. Kaffiyeh: the reddish brown cloth went around his head above the
Taqiyah and folded on to the shoulders”, it was then to my horror I realized I was
confronting a TALIBAN dressed.
In one hand
he held out a book in Urdu in which I presumed to be Quran, albeit the Quran is
so small. Reading from the book he was counting on the prayer beads of the
Tasbih (Rosary). Then there was my brain sending mind boggling unanswerable
questions.
“Probably he
was reading out Quran for seeking pardon for what he is gonna do to night?” “Was
this a suicide bombing mission for him?”
“Why did
they choose a train, because the target people are myriad?”
“It has only
been a few weeks from the Hyderabad blasts, is he connected to it in any way?”
“Are they
planning for blasts in Bengaluru now?”
“AND WHAT
WAS THAT IN THAT BIG BLUE PLASTIC COVER NEXT TO HIM?” there was a big plastic
cover next to him and it appeared too thick to find out what was in it.
The side
window co passengers seems to be least bothered about him, while a middle aged
man next to this Taliban was staring at my askance and laughing as a sign of
sharing similar thought.
“Was the
Plastic bag is full of RDX?”
“What if he
comes out with an AK 47 from his luggage bag, which is under his berth?”
“Why should
this happen to us, why should this happen to anybody at all? What did anybody
on the train did to ‘em?” questions kept popping.
“Was that
the last Biryani of my life?”
“Is this
the reason behind my going home before this Bengaluru trip, meeting parents for
the last time?”
“Was that
the last time I said goodbye to my friends?”… “Oh, fuck! Was that the last time
I shagged off?”
Sensing no
sense outta this LAST TIME non sense, I prepared to be tough. First thing came
out of my mind is “If this guy escapes after planning something let me tell the
world how he looked like”, then I opened my facebook account and posted a
status about him.
“If the guy
opens up an AK 47 from his bag, let me hurl pair of my shows on him and try
attacking on him” expecting others to join, weird thought isn’t it?
“I bet ya,
you will face the hard me”, let me keep a watch on him, I was talking to
myself.
MIDNIGHT
On this horrendous night, I know it
would be a sleepless night for me. But I tried to be normal and closed my
eyes. “Wake Up” sudden flow of
adrenaline woke me up and to my horror, he wasn’t on his bed. I looked out for
his luggage bag and plastic bag, which I found to be intact. Post 5 minutes he
come from the aisle, looked tired and went to bed. I waited, waited and waited until
my eyes shut.
Early in the morning
It was half
past five in the morning I woke up to see the ‘Taliban dressed’ already woke up
and reading the same book. It was like the opposite atmosphere from the last
night, so serene and peaceful. Now I look a different man in him, all gone in
one night, soon everything started becoming clear. The blue plastic bag is
filled with clothes which I couldn’t see the last night, the book should have
been a daily prayer book for prayers.
Experience always
teaches you something, this trip has taught me
“Not
everything you see is what you assume it is”
“A religion
or attire is never an inference of something”
"You will find how stronger you are when being tough is the only option left"
“Mostly,
when you pass your brain the negative it will only send back the negatives making you
blind of the positives, intensifying the impact and forcing you to act in haste”
I thanked
god for doing nothing in haste that night.
