It was 1943 and I was at Allahbad in British India. After finishing my FPSC exams, I had decided to go to Agra to meet my class-fellow, Salahuddin Ahmad, a second-lieutenant in the Bihar Regiment.
Boarding the mail train in that beautiful wintry morning of December, I noticed an aged Bengali couple occupying one of the lower berths, and a couple of passengers sitting on the second. I took my seat with them.
The train pulled out of the station and in a few minutes it was steaming at full speed. The breeze was cool and the train passed through lush green fields. It was indeed a very pleasant experience.
After enjoying the surrounding scenery for an hour or so, I turned around to take a closer look of my fellow passengers and the compartment. I noticed that the elderly Bengali lady, sitting on the opposite berth, was looking at me very minutely. First I did not take much notice of her gaze. But it continued for quite some time and I started feeling a little edgy.
However, this mind-boggling situation did not last for long. Sending my unease, the Bengali gentleman drew my attention and inquired of me as to who I was, and where I was going. This abrupt question puzzled me a bit. Still I replied that I was just a passenger like others. I further added that I could not comprehend the necessity of that question which was being put to me alone.
On hearing my reply, the elderly man was taken aback a little. He immediately clarified that, that was not his query but that of his wife’s, who was continuously coaxing him to put that question soon after I had boarded the train in the morning. To this I acknowledged that I had been mindful of her anxiety too, as I noticed her looking at me continuously which I could not understand.
My somewhat perturbed reply forced the man to look towards his wife, as if to take permission to disclose the reasons for her looking at me. After a brief wait, he said that sometime back they had a son, the same age as mine, with the same features, height and built. But, after a short illness their son passed away. This was a few months back. Now, soon after I stepped into the compartment, his wife looked at me and immediately took up for granted that her lost son had joined them in their journey to Delhi. And that is why she had been looking at me throughout the journey.
After hearing their tale I apprised them of my name, caste and place I belonged to. I was deeply grieved after hearing the woeful tale and sympathized with them whole-heartedly.
In the mean-time my station of disembarkation had come, and after wishing them farewell, I got off.
