Omkara boarded the train to Delhi. He was honestly glad to be free of this place. This place had only added to his confusion and dilemma, and not to mention the trauma of seeing another woman burn herself to death due to a man's base instincts. His train of thoughts was broken by a phone call. He saw the doctor's name flashing. The doctor from the hospital in Bareilly called him, was the Thakurain alright?
"Is this Mr. Oberoi?" the doctor asked hesitantly.
"Yes, its me, Omkara Oberoi speaking. Has anything urgent happened that you are calling me doctor?" Omkara asked anxiously.
"Sir, the Thakurain...she passed away this morning. We couldn't save her." replied the doctor apologetically.
Omkara felt like the train floor was slipping from under his feet. He almost dropped the phone in shock, but held on as the doctor continued after a pause.
"Sir, before dying the Thakurain gave a dying declaration to me, naming her husband, and his decision to abandon her in favor of his new, future wife as the reason for her suicide. I recorded it and gave my evidence to the police. Just called to let you know. I'm sorry." said the doctor. After a pause, he added, "Don't blame yourself, sir, you tried your best to save her life, so did we. We doctors have to see many patients accept defeat at the hands of death, but we can only try, the rest is in God's hands. Don't blame yourself, sir. Goodbye." said the doctor sadly and disconnected the call.
Omkara cut the call and pocketed his phone in a daze. The Thakurain had actually died. Despite Omkara's attempt to save her, she couldn't fight it and passed away. The doctor said not to blame himself. Easier said than done. Omkara knew it was not his fault, neither was it his responsibility, still he had failed to save a life. It wasn't his fault. It was the fault of that evil man, Kali Thakur. And maybe it was the fault of that girl too, she agreed to marry a man double her age, who was already married. Maybe she was guilty too, or was she?
Omkara didn't see where he was going, and collided with a women. Looking down he saw the same girl. For a moment he wondered whether he was hallucinating. But he realized that he was actually looking at the girl, she was no apparition.
What was she doing here on the train? She seemed to be in a hurry, and kept glancing behind her. Was she escaping from someone? Was she escaping from Kali? But why now? And why not ask him for help? He was there in the morning, in the corridor. She could've sent a sig of distress and he would have come to her aid. But she didn't say a word. And now she was here on this train....why escape like this? Then Omkara saw the expensive jewelry she was wearing. All those gems and gold sparkling. Maybe she was after Kali Thakur's money, after all.
"So you ran from your wedding?" Omkara asked mockingly
The girl looked back at him in a quizzical expression.
"You danced at the wedding, you agreed to sit at the mandap, you did everything...only for this? These jewels and money? I didn't know ruining someone's home was so cheap these days." Omkara said with disgust.
"Ek jhaap mein deewaar pe sat jaaibe!" the girl said with force, but not loudly. "Without knowing anyone, without understanding anyone, how can you form opinions about them? What have I done to warrant these accusations?" the girl continued angrily.
"What have you done? You have just caused a murder. I repeat, a murder. Your never intended to marry Kali Thakur, you may have agreed to his proposal only for money, but your thoughtless, selfish action resulted in the Thakurain committing suicide, she died. Kali Thakur is to blame, and so are you!" Omkara said with disgust.
"So much hatred? How can someone live with so much hatred in his heart? Definitely something bad must've happened to you, someone must've hurt you, betrayed you....that's why you've become like this." Gauri said with pity.
Omkara heard her, but didn't see her. Her words brought back the memories, he could see his mother burning in front of him, him accusing his father, signing that contract, giving up his life, giving up living in his home for Chhoti Maa, giving everything away that made him Omkara.
The girl sidestepped him and went ahead to go on her way, but before parting she had something more to say to him. "A person can still manage to live without love, but living with hatred is very difficult. I pity you that you live like this." She left.
But her words didn't leave Omkara. Slowly he made his way to his berth in the first class compartment, but the air conditioned coach suffocated him. He left his luggage on his seat and made way back to the corridor. He stood at the door of the train, and felt the fresh air hitting his face as the train started moving.
Yes, he was living a life without love, because love betrayed him, or fell weak like his mother. The only thing driving his life force right now was his hatred for his father, his desperate attempt to save his mother from dying under the burden of a failed marriage. But how did that girl who barely knew him, end up knowing him so well, Omkara pondered.
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Gauri knew that any train going towards Delhi will pass through Moradabad. It was a matter of two hours maximum. She got on the train hoping that she would manage to hide somehow from the ticket collector and get down the moment the train stops at Moradabad. But once she got on the train she realized that there were other people she needed to hide from.
Kali Thakur had sent goons after her. She quickly made her to the other end of the train hoping to evade them, and on the way she collided with hippie again. Gauri was shocked to hear that the Thakurain had killed herself. She understood why the Thakurain did this, and felt bad for what happened. It was not her fault, but that stranger's words did make her feel little guilty, and also a little hurt that even a person who didn't know her so well, thought so badly of her. She wondered how low the zila thought of her. But before she could dwell on these morbid thoughts further, she saw the goons closing in on her.
Gauri started running towards the end of the coach. There was no way out of it, no other option, she would have to jump from the train. But as she reached the door, what should see but that buffoon again, blocking her way. With the goons behind her, Gauri frantically gestured at him to move, but that fool kept staring at her. In a hurry, her foot slipped and she fell on the stranger, falling into the river, taking him with her.
Splash!
Gauri knew the water below the bridge wasn't that deep, which was good because she wasn't a good swimmer. She had only learned swimming because of a horror in her childhood. She swam carefully to the bank, and slowly dripping wet, walked inside the jungle. Heavy footsteps behind her told her that the stranger followed suit. He went ahead and plopped down on a rock, squeezing his jacket of the water collected in his pockets. The stranger mumbled something "....girl..."
Gauri knew that he was cursing her. To let him know that she heard him, she said, "By the way it wasn't my fault either."
Gauri continued to free her dupatta of the water from the river, so she didn't notice him walking up to her, until he literally shouted in her ear. "Who pushes someone from a moving train?" He seemed more annoyed than angry. And Gauri loved to annoy people further.
"I was not intending to push you out of the train. I was planning to jump myself. But no, you had to stand at the door of the train like a statue. I gestured you so many times to move, but no you lazy chirota, you had to keep standing there. And in any case, who stands at the door of a moving train?" Gauri asked mockingly.
"Who pushes someone from a moving train?" the stranger questioned back.
"So what else would I have done? There were goons chasing me, I had to jump from the train, you don't know...." Gauri explained, but the stranger cut her off.
"I don't want to know, I just want to get out of here." said the stranger, annoyed. "God knows where I'm stuck?!"
"In a jungle." Gauri replied to annoy him further. The stranger looked even more annoyed at this, and seemed like he wanted to say something, but instead turned and started walking in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" Gauri asked him, as she followed him
He stopped and replied, "Jahannum (hell)! Chalogi saath mein? (will you come?") full of annoyance and snark.
Gauri replied, " Achcha, yahi paas mein hain kya?" (Oh is it nearby?)
That seemed to have annoyed him to his limit, and he walked off without replying.
"Ae Jatadhaari hippie where you going? Listen this jungle is full of difficult paths and pits and vines. Just follow Gauri Ssarma and I'll lead you out of here." Gauri said merrily, not noticing that he had stopped in his path.
"First of all, its Sharma, not Ssarma." he said, trying to stay calm.
"So that's what I said, Ssarma." Gauri replied, confused.
"SHARmaa" he stressed
"SSARma" Gauri repeated. The stranger gave up.
"And secondly I'm going nowhere, if it involves you. You are trouble. I'll rather be stuck in this jungle, than go anywhere with you." he said, walking off.
"Haan, so stay stuck here..." but before Gauri could complete her retort, the stranger slipped into one of those pits she was talking about.
Oh my god, Gauri thought to herself. This is one of those hunting pits, used to trap wild animals and immobilize them with poison. Even as she tried to scream out a warning to him, two poisoned arrows hit the stranger as he was trying to get up, one pieced the heart and the other his back.
The stranger fell down unconscious. Gauri saw all of this as if in slow motion. Then she snapped out of it and went to the edge of the pit. The pit was not deep. With the help from a few tree roots for support, Gauri managed to drag the stranger out of the pit. She took out the arrows, but how to stop the poison?
Gauri felt through the stranger's pocket for his smartphone. She got up and started moving it around for signal. She looked upwards at Shankarji for his help. Luckily the phone had network. Gauri knew exactly what she was looking for. She changed the phone's language to Hindi, and searched for the anti-dote to the poison. In the back of her mind, Gauri wondered why did the stranger have no password protect on his phone? After a few false starts, Gauri found the solution she was looking for.
Now it was only a matter of taking the stranger to any inhabited area. But how? How was she going to transport a man so much bigger than herself? She didn't have that much strength.