A Short Story- At last, The Sun Shines

At last, The Sun Shines

It was a busy Monday morning and people of Delhi were all gearing up for yet another hectic week ahead of them. It was eight in the morning and many people had already left their homes to reach their offices on time. Few loved what they did but they had to do it to make both ends meet. In a city where educated people were losing their jobs as easily and quickly as bacteria multiplying in a petri dish, it was not a bad idea to continue doing what they detested and disliked as long as they were paid for it.

People started to queue up at the Rajiv Chowk Station- the busiest Metro station in Delhi- all frustrated and in a hurry. All the local commuters had travel cards which made their transit faster provided they had some amount in the card. A few travellers realized they were short on funds and quickly queued up at another counter where a young girl was deftly reimbursing the cards. The girl’s name was Sanjana who had been working with Delhi Metro for two years now. She was just 24 but was among the experienced lot working at that station. She knew she had to work very quickly that morning as a deluge of passengers flowed into the station premises and formed long queues at her counter. She was used to such pressure situations which happened every other morning from 8 am to 10 am. She knew she would be free after 10 am, free to do whatever she pleased and no one except a few odd tourists would disturb her.  She worked with immense dexterity and served many hundreds in those two hours. After 10 am the station turned quiet and there was no one roaming around except a few security personnel and some others responsible for the cleanliness of the floor and upkeep of the station premises. The silence was broken only by the odd train arriving at the platform. The noise was further accentuated by a horde of passengers alighting from the train and running madly towards the electronic gates with travel cards in their hands, a scene quite similar to an army of valiant soldiers charging for the kill with swords held up high. After this commotion, the station would once again fall quiet, enough to attract peace loving hermits for their meditation and prayers.

Sanjana was now totally relaxed as she shifted to a more comfortable sofa and began reading the daily newspaper. She didn’t have many friends of her age and found it really difficult to open up and share her feelings with her colleagues. Furthermore, it was a male dominated profession which made her think that she was a complete misfit for that job. She was not happy and began distancing herself from the others. As she became more reticent, she befriended loneliness and began to look for compassion in solitude. Sanjana liked to keep herself informed of all the major happenings around the world and brought a newspaper with her every day. She happened to come across a news article regarding the import of new technology for Delhi Metro. The article said that new electronic machines for vending tickets as well as for reimbursing travel cards were in the pipeline. According to the article, these state of the art machines could not only save some valuable time of the travellers but also help Delhi Metro in the attrition of redundant human resource.

‘Well it’s good to change and keep up with the modern world but they can’t just fire us like that and depend completely on those stupid machines. Machines can easily break down and develop technical snags without prior notice. We at least have the decency to inform the authorities whenever we want a day off. Unquestionably, we are much better than those heartless machines’, thought Sanjana after reading the detailed article. The rest of the day passed uneventfully but a sense of insecurity constantly kept her mind occupied as she repeatedly tormented herself thinking and worrying about the future. Finally, it was time to go home. Sanjana switched off the computer and the lights of her cabin before leaving the station premises. It was a cold night and heavy fog had descended upon the well lit streets of Delhi. Sanjana walked along a misty pathway leading to a decrepit bus stop from where she boarded a familiar bus that would take her to her home. The bus was shrouded in darkness and fog came in along with freezing winds from the windows. The condition of the bus was pathetic, a complete antithesis of the clean and vibrant Delhi Metro. The shady and creepy ambience of the bus didn’t bother Sanjana. For her, the more important concern was to reach home safely. At home, she would forget all worries and lose herself in the love and laughter of her kid brother and parents. Reaching home and seeing her brother waiting for her at the entrance made her forget all miseries and hardships of life. This used to be the most beautiful moment for her which gave good enough meaning to her life. After spending several daylight hours in hell, she saw heavenly light only at her home and sometimes wondered if she could feel that happiness during the day as well.

Many months passed by as Sanjana completed her third year with the company. Immediately afterwards, she was handed over a notice which politely asked her to leave and make way for the ‘technological revolution’. Sanjana saw those mean machines taking her place as she stepped out of the station premises for one last time. As she was walking along the pathway towards the bus stop, she felt the sun touching her forehead with a warm blessing as if it was happy for her. For the first time in three years, she boarded that rickety bus in broad daylight. The bus was warm and well lit with cool breeze coming in from the window. The bus no longer felt unsafe and fellow passengers no longer felt as if they were coming to bite her. This bus was now a chariot of God, taking her to heaven- a place of eternal bliss, friendship and serenity. She had no job, no plans and an insecure future, yet she was unperturbed and no longer felt morose. In fact, this was the happiest she had ever been in the last three years.