Drop

The fans made a purring noise, but instead of cooling the compartment, it was directing the hot air directly into the face of the old man. Beads of sweat came flowing down his forehead and onto the end of his eyebrow through the side of his left eye and onto his cheek and slowly dripped off from his chin drop by drop. He tried flapping the newspaper as hard as he could, but he just fell more tired doing it.

He placed his bag on the seat and went to the loo to relieve himself. Urine flowed out with a stutter and in a yellowish colour. He felt a tinge of pain. He washed his hands and looked at his face in the mirror. There was still perspiration on his forehead and his nerves were bulging out from his temples. He washed his head a few times till he felt cool and waited till some of that water was absorbed by his dry skin. He then wiped his face and went back to his seat.

                The train stopped at a station. There were quite a few vendors shouting at the top of their voices, ‘Cold water, juice…cool drinks…’. He didn’t want any of those drinks produced by the MNC’s.  A girl in her early 20s brought a bottle of Coca Cola. She opened the bottle with some difficulty and the cola spilled out of the bottle onto her hand and then onto the floor. A few drops also fell onto his feet.

Oh, ……………………… I’m sorry, she said to the old man

He nodded his head to show that it was alright. The coolness of those drops that fell on his leg felt good. The girl wiped her hand with a handkerchief. She then brought the top of the bottle onto her lips and gulped some coca cola and finished it off by licking her luscious lips. This action made the old man more thirsty and he now wondered whether he should buy something or whether the girl would offer him the cola. The train started moving. All the calls by the platform vendors started to die out. He looked at the girl again, but she just repeated the same action once again. He started cursing himself for not having brought at least a bottle of water.

                He started getting restless and shifted his leg to & froth and hit the girl’s leg accidently. This time he apologised to her and she gave him a big smile. She then opened the cola bottle once again and took another gulp. He watched that in despair and he got up from his seat and went to wash his face once again.

He stood near the door and looked outside. The hot air hit him hard on the face. The train approached a bridge. He contemplated jumping onto the almost parched river. And then it hit him on the cheek and another one on his forehead with some force. The drops then came down with more force. He closed his eyes and took in the cool rain in all its magnanimity. He then looked at the girl and smiled at her for the first time.