MY EXPERIENCE WITH A “TALIBAN” DRESSED

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.