Though I had a ticket to travel by the air-conditioned coach in Coromandel Express from Howrah to Chennai, I was waitlisted 21. Enquiries at the station confirmed my worst fears. That I would have to travel in the unreserved compartment as I could not be accommodated in the air-conditioned coach. Twenty-six hours, including two sweltering hot afternoons while the train raced through four hot spots in India, wasn't a welcoming prospect. But I had to go because of the research work I do. I had to complete my field studies of the crop pattern in the southern States of India and the crop auction traditions before I could take the plane back to my university in Canada. My dissertation was pending and this was the last of the phases before I submitted it for appraisal. The worst aspect of traveling by unreserved coach is that it is overcrowded. There is no limit to the number of passengers who can board the coach. And usually many waitlisted passengers find to their dismay that they have to travel by this coach if they wished to travel at all.
Armed with my briefcase – a cute little thing I bought in Canada – and a mineral water bottle, I plunged right in. Well, it was not exactly as smooth as piercing through water when you dive from the board at a swimming pool. I had to elbow and push and shove, and wait, before the person in front managed to turn a little, yielding space for me to go right in. I gave up the idea of taking a chance of finding some place inside the compartment. It was packed like a tin of Jell-O, with people sitting on the floor, on the passageway, and eight on a bench meant for six. Luggage racks too had people, sitting comfortably and dangling their feet in front of the face of those seated below. There was some space near the toilet and I moved in. There is always space near the toilet because people generally avoid sitting close to it. The stench of an overused restroom can be overpowering. The water in the tank runs out soon enough but one's need to relieve one's self is not dependent on the availability of water. So the restroom begins to stink in no time. I was safe because I had an ample supply of facial tissues and eau de cologne to take care of my urge to stop breathing.
People had begun to settle down after the train pulled out of Howrah, and soon the passengers were either sitting down or standing till their exhausted legs gave way.
After some six hours out of Howrah, a young couple boarded the train. The husband managed to push his way through a mass of humanity that preferred to occupy the entrance to get the blast of cool breeze as the train hurtled along at 120 kmph (nearly 80 miles an hour). The people near the gate relented to allow the couple in. Chivalry is obviously not dead yet in India and I felt justifiably proud. With his suitcase lodged firmly on his head, he tiptoed through the crowd, banged a few heads accidentally which drew some grunts of protest, but finally managed to get in safely with his wife following him closely behind.
He had to stop short as he could go no further. The number of people who stood or sat on the passageway ruled out his progress with his wife unless he could, like a spider walk upside down along the roof to reach the spot he desired. He craned his neck to look inside and realised that there was absolutely no space for him or his wife. His young bride, wearing gold bangles and pretty ear-rings and a bright red sari, noticed that there space near the toilet. She told her husband who responded immediately in a language I didn't understand.
Obviously that it would be stinking in no time, but the wife decided to move. She needed some space to sit so she tip-toed across those who dared to sit near the toilet and reached the spot where I was sitting. She looked around and our eyes met for the first time. I smiled and got a bright smile in return. She bent down and spoke to me but I didn't understand a thing, because I just didn't know her language. I expressed my ignorance through sign language which she understood. Her response was a very pleasant smile which warmed my heart, sent my pulse racing. My eight-incher strapped under Jockeys and protected from all coefficients of expansion began to enlarge.
I began to study her more carefully. There was nothing else to do. Not even reading a book because there was hardly any light. The massive number of people in the compartment had blocked out whatever light there was. Here was this young married woman, definitely not more than 19, with flawless skin and a 32-28-36 figure one could die for. Her breasts were not large but they were firm. The blessing of youth and an unspoilt body. I couldn't help my imagination run. She turned her head towards me, saw me staring at her breasts, smiled shyly, pulled the end of her sari and tucked it into the waist.
This allowed me almost complete visual access to her smooth, flat tummy, her recessed navel and her small pert breasts that threatened to tear out of her tight blouse. I couldn't help winking at her. She noticed that and her beautiful, painted lips curved into an inviting smile. Or was I imagining? What if I am imagining? Nothing like it to while away the hours. And forget the pain of traveling without rest or sleep. The young girl took the suitcase from her husband, who was visibly relieved to get rid of the load and ventured to move on as far as he could. But he couldn't go very far. He told her something again, and she nodded her head in reply. She took the suitcase and placed it next to my briefcase on which I was sitting.
After a few hours, I could see her dozing. She had placed her right hand on the wall of the restroom which allowed me an unobstructed view of the profile of her right breast. And I began imagining how it would be to touch, knead and suck them if possible. If possible! My foot! In an overcrowded compartment with at least a dozen people around the restrooms and watching each other's face from time to time to while away the painfilled hours. Ruled out, I thought. Her head began to dip from time to time and soon I realised that she was too tired to continue standing. She came and sat on her suitcase, turned toward me and smiled again. I stared at her lips in anticipation, looked straight into her eyes and smiled back. She whispered something but I couldn't make anything of what she said. So I whispered in English, "I am sorry, but I don't understand your language." She tilted her head to the side, looked at me and said, "You know no Oriya?"
"No," I said. She gave me a broad smile which showed me her beautiful, sparkling teeth behind her sexy lips. "My English good no," said and smiled silently at her own ignorance. We tried to talk and it was a time-passing experience. The programs of cryptology that I had studied were no use here. We struggled to communicate and I struggled to piece together her messages from the broken words of English she uttered. Her name was Pushpa (flower) and she was on her way to Bangalore with her husband who had just got a job as a technician in a company.
After sometime, she yawned, fidgeted on her suitcase to make herself more comfortable. This brought her beautiful arms in contact with mine. I couldn't help deliberately brushing her arms with mine. Rocking was natural and one would brush with another standing or sitting close by but I was doing much more than the rocking motion of the train allowed. Slowly I could see that she was falling asleep. She had done what all others in the train were doing. Sleeping the boredom away.
My heart began to race immediately, as my mind devised ways to tough her without her knowledge. My head was bowed but I was watching her. She swayed and swayed and plop! Her head fell on my shoulder. Next moment she peeled her eyelids open, looked at me, smiled as brightly as she could through her sleep-laden eyes and her plopped on the other side. Before her head hit the restroom wall with a resounding thud and led to a painful swelling on her detectable head, my arms shot out and caught her. I gently pulled her to my shoulders and placed her head on top and began to pat her to sleep. I had by now raging hard-on.
I looked down at her and as her sari had loosened from her waist and shoulder, I could see her left breasts pushing at her blouse. From the gentle curve of the blouse I could make out that she wore no bra. I noticed also that her gold bangles and ear rings were not really gold but cheap imitations. A poor but extremely beautiful young woman on her way to begin life with her husband. Far away from her native home in Orissa. I could see the gentle curve of her waist which was barely ten inches away. The slim waistline was making it difficult for my cock to survive. I had seen that her bums were shaped like rose petals. So she had obviously been married less than a month ago and had not been fucked out of shape.
The few occasions that I was forced to travel in unreserved coaches, I would get off at each station, stretch my legs for relief, have a coffee and restart the painful process of sitting cramped in the compartment till the next station. But this time I decided not to venture out at all. I was too excited and didn't wish to lose my place.