The floor was cold…
A frigid wind woke him up from a deep slumber… Even before he opened his eyes, his ears could pick up the distant rumbling of a train chugging along its tracks… Was it coming towards him or going away… He did not know…
“Where was he…”, He thought, trying to get back control of his numb body…
Groggily wiping his eyes, he opened them…
It was a metro station… An elevated one… And the whole place was dark and damp, with tendrils of light pouring into the station from the two open ends…
The station was empty… Not a soul was in sight and it seemed the power was out… There was a deathly silence all around, it was so dense that the only thing he could hear was his breath…
The noise of the train was also not audible anymore… So he realized it had actually left the station…
“What is with you and metro stations…” a familiar voice questioned him from behind…
He was startled… He knew that voice… He had last heard it, quite a long time back and had not expected to hear it again…
Bracing himself for the encounter, he turned around and spotted the owner of the voice…
Standing on the opposite platform, was Mr. D.
He had not changed a bit…
A black three piece suit, the golden tipped black walking stick, and shiny dark black leather shoes… He seemed to have walked right out of a Victorian novel…
And… The same annoying smirk of superiority was playing in his fair face… Well, one thing had changed… He had grown a full beard… Thick and black as the moonless night…
It had been more than a year or two, since he had met him… They had not parted ways amicably… He had never wanted to meet Mr.D again…
“Why am I here…” He asked aloud… His voice cracking a bit, almost as if in shock from having come face to face with someone he secretly feared…
“I should ask you that question… It is your party, after all… “ Mr. D replied, boring deeply into his eyes.
“And… After all that has happened… Here we are at a metro station… Again?”, Mr.D continued, walking towards him on the other platform…
“Which one is this, if I might ask… There are no labels…”, Mr.D asked, now standing right opposite him… The smirk now much more clearly visible…
“The glasses and beard suits you by the way… You look swell…” Mr.D added, twirling the walking stick in his hands and staring out at him through those dark black eyes…
Everything about him was black… Only his skin was freakishly fair… It was once a frightening sight to behold… It still was… But, just not as much…
He did not know, what to reply… But, he now realized why he was here…
It finally sank in…
“So… How have you been my dear friend… It has been long…”, Mr.D continued on his monologue, not even pausing for a reaction.
He did not reply… Staring out at him and then slowly turning around to see, if or when the next train was due…
He had to get out of the place and fast… He knew that, if he allowed for Mr. D to drag it on, he would lose it.
“I know you more than you know yourself… Listen to me… I am here to help…” Mr.D crooned, in a voice so tantalizingly comforting… Anyone would fall for it…
Well, not him… Not this time, at least…
He did not even glance at Mr. D… He was frantically, searching for signs of the next train…
“Common now… sooner or later, you are going to come with me… Deep inside you know it… ” Mr.D crooned on…
Well, it almost felt as if, Mr. D was right and he did not really have a choice in this matter…
But, he felt he had a chance this time around and also that time was running out… He knew he would not be able to avoid the voice for too long…
He was at the end of it a mortal…
“Let’s cut the act boy… You may have grown a beard and seen a bit more of the world… But, both of us know, who you truly are… ” Mr.D intoned…
Mr. D’s voice and words, tore apart more and more of his well-honed defenses… “Where is the bloody train…”, He shouted out in frustration, exerting his vocal chords for the first time.
“I don’t know… but it’s not coming anytime soon…” Mr. D replied, with a savage smile…
And just then… He heard it…
It felt like he had ran a 100 mt sprint and he had somehow reached the finish line… He also knew that just Mr. D’s voice had brought him to his knees…
But… All said and done… He had survived… The train was here… And that was all that mattered then…
As the train rolled into the station… He got onto it through the open doors and dumped himself into the floor of the empty carriage, relieved at the end of his ordeal…
Just then he realized that the doors on both sides of the carriage was open…
Mr.D was staring at him through from the other side… A touch of irritation reflecting on his face, at having been interrupted so early…
“We both know… This is not the last we see of each other…” Mr.D told him, the smirk now back on his face…
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of a reply… He asked Mr.D, ” How is your sister… Hope…”
“Ah… You remember her…” Mr.D replied, surprised a bit by the coherence in his voice, even after the treatment…
“Well… I don’t get to meet her often… But you know very well what happens, when we do…” Mr.D added, with a sly grin…
He knew the deadly two faced woman well… The sweetest and bitterest person one could meet in their lives… That was her…
Just then, the doors started closing…
Both of them did not speak a word… They just stared out at each other’s dark black pupils…
He knew… This was not the last he’s seeing of Mr. D…
As the train slowly picked-up speed, he got up…
He knew it was a close call, but he had made it out… Something had changed this time around…
He was drained, but not defeated…
The difference, he realized…
Was…
He knew who he was…
My Discovery of India 