The Complan Boy

It had been a hectic trip before that Shared Auto ride from Konch to Ait (2 Small towns of Uttar Pradesh). The trip eased my mood a bit and my head was also aching lesser now. The sun had almost set. It was a huge plain landscape. There were fields on both the sides, which had heaps of already cut wheat crops kept stacked in them. Mild breeze was blowing and there were no other vehicles on the road. The Auto driver was playing "Sheila ki Jawani" and some remix songs which ideally were not suited to the ambiance but nevertheless, I liked the experience.

At the end of this 18 KM trip, I reached the Ait Railway station. It was one of the smallest stations that I had seen before. There were no lights on the platform. Only a small lantern was lit in the Station master's room. I went and sat on a bench and took a deep breath. I looked around and noticed that there were hardly 4-5 passengers on the platform. I was very hungry and thirsty. At first it seemed like, I would not get anything to eat or drink there. Later I saw a hawker at the end of the platform with his "Thela", containing some biscuits, Laddoos, Gulab Jamuns and Samosas. Amongst all of those previously unknown Brands, I found Britannia "Time pass" Biscuits and bought a packet of the same. I came back and went to the Station master's room and en-quired about the train timings. He did not say anything. But he switched a Button on which led to lighting of two CFLs at the station and the station was lit now, though poorly.

I looked around and saw a boy curiously looking at me. He seemed to be well fed but was wearing very dirty clothes. I had already eaten a quarter of my Britannia biscuits when he signaled to me that he was hungry and wanted something to eat. I was hungry but I decided to give the rest of my packet to the boy. As I went near him, a foul smell came from him. I gave him rest of the biscuits and quickly came back to my seat. The boy ate all the biscuits in no time at all and then he even ate from the ground whatever had fallen out of the packet while he was eating at first. I noticed that the boy was wearing his pant inside out and there was a lot of dirt on it. The boy then lied down on the platform and laughed. He started moving his body as if he was doing butterfly strokes on the platform. Then he looked at me and laughed again. I was reading something but was not able to concentrate and was noticing him.

Suddenly there was a lot of hustle-bustle on the platform and a bell was hit by the son of Station master. It was a sign that some train was reaching the station. The boy stood up and became a little curious. As the train arrived, a lot of Samosa vallahs, Chai Vallahs, Cold drink vallahs attacked the train as if this was their only chance to earn some money through out the day. I thought they deserved to sell their cold drink at more than MRP irrespective of what the law says. I looked around but could not find the boy. For a moment I thought if the boy was actually there or I had just imagined him.

Then, I located him looking at a compartment with curiosity. He seemed to be meditating. Dogs had surrounded him from all sides. He looked at the platform gate and then at the Station Master. Then he looked at me and smiled. He kept looking at me, and I felt very weird. Then the train started moving, the boy jumped and reached near the train. I thought that the boy will hurt himself. I approached him to save him but he ran faster and then Jumped in to a compartment. Standing at the gate he shouted, "I am a Complan Boy. I am a Complan boy". I looked at him, he seemed happy. I looked at the station master, He seemed happy.

I went to the Station master and asked him, who this boy was. He said nothing. He switched the lights off. Again there was only one lantern lit at the station. Only a Complan boy was missing from the platform.