It was just another early morning journey from Jaipur to Jodhpur. I was going back home from college to celebrate Holi with my family. It was a sleeper train and I’d usually pick the upper berth where I could catch up on my sleep and wake up just in time.
I got into the train feeling drowsy and wasn’t in the best mood. When I got to my seat I saw someone was fast asleep on my berth. As it was way too early to wake anyone up for a seat, I just decided to park myself on the lower berth. The man sitting on the opposite side said, ‘The same thing happened to me’. I casually nodded and started reading my book so that I could fall asleep. He called out again and said, ‘Hey, same pinch!’. He was reading the same book; it was the Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It was a funny coincidence and we started conversing from thereon.
One conversation led to another and while everyone was trying to get us to be quiet, we couldn’t stop! He was travelling to Jodhpur for a vacation but got held up coz’ of which he took this train. He was going to join his friends there, as they’d already reached. From college to travel to hang out places in Jaipur, it had been almost three hours since we had started the journey and to be honest, I didn’t even realize what time it was.
At some point, I got a bit hungry, so I decided to eat the paranthas I’d got. I offered him some too and we happily ate and started chatting again. It was strange, I liked talking to him. It felt like I had known him forever.
What was always a boring journey for me, turned into something else and both of us were really enjoying it. People around assumed that we were travelling together too. We reached our destination and it was time to say goodbye. While getting off the train, we shook hands and he asked me for my full name.
I smiled and told him my surname and walked towards my brother who had come to pick me up. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, though. There were thoughts in my head about how I should have taken his number and the fact that we could have totally hung out in Jaipur once I was back. I was feeling stupid that I didn’t. Almost like, I had lost a chance. I had to stop thinking about it and let it go.
After being back to college for a week, one random evening I checked my ‘Other’ inbox on Facebook. There was a message from him saying ‘I don’t know if you remember me, but we met on the train to Jodhpur sometime back. I can’t seem to stop thinking about that journey… If it’s alright with you, can I take you out for coffee here in Jaipur?’
That was it. That was the beginning. One coffee date changed into a lifetime full of memories. It has been six years since we met and three years since we’ve been married to each other. God has blessed us with a beautiful baby boy. I still cannot believe that I met him on a train journey! I could have stuck to my usual plan and found my way to the top berth and taken a nap. He could have taken another train. But the odds were with us. It was truly serendipity.
Images: Shutterstock
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