The Library Couple

The Library Couple 

It was the beginning of my mid-semester break and I had decided to travel to Goa for a short trip. It wasn’t a trip that I decided to take at an instant which meant that I did have a reserved ticket. As I entered my compartment I felt a bit out of place. Unlike my other fellow travellers, I wasn’t dressed in some swanky bright coloured clothes. In fact, since my journey was just a two week visit to home, I did not bother packing much. However, most of the passengers in my compartment looked like they were travelling to Goa to settle there for good. Their bags looked like they had emptied their wardrobe for their trip. I decided to stay silent during the whole journey as I went to my berth without causing much commotion.

As I gazed out of the window pondering as to how bad my journey could get, a young couple sat across me. The young lady was dressed in a yellow kurti with floral designs on it and white leggings while the young man was dressed in a blue collared shirt and white pants. Gauging by the proximity between them and the nearly faded mehndi on the girl’s hand, I guessed that they would have been newly-wed off to their honeymoon. I decided not to engage into a conversation so that they could enjoy conversing with each other and so I pulled out a ‘Ruskin Bond: Collection of Short Stories’ to keep myself entertained.

“Hey! Is that Ruskin Bond you’re reading?” the young man interrupted, “I just love his short stories. It is amazing how he combines factual with fiction.”

Sensing my uneasiness, his partner spoke up, ”Sorry for disturbing. My husband loves reading books and acts like a kid on a sugar rush when he sees someone reading a book.”

“Not a problem,” I said, “it is quite difficult to find someone who as a good taste in reading.”

“Do you read a lot?" she asked.

“Yeah! Mainly short stories for leisure,” I replied.

“By the way, I am Ananya Malhotra and this is my husband Ajay.”

Curiously, I asked, “So are you two also off to Goa?”

“Yes!! We are off to our honeymoon,” Ananya replied excitedly.

Ajay then said that they had tied the knot a few weeks ago, and because of their busy schedule they had to delay their honeymoon.

“Goa is a wonderful place to unwind. You will really enjoy it,” I added.

Ananya was more outspoken and would usually complete Ajay’s short one-liners. Then all of a sudden, without any enquiry, Ananya began describing how the two had met.

“We were just two complete strangers before we met,” Ananya blurted out.

(This was quite obvious to me. No two known people meet for the first time. We always meet strangers who become acquaintances and then later become friends.)

“The situation we met was also quite unusual. Ajay, at that time, worked as a librarian

while I happened to visit that library with a friend of mine. Not being an enthusiastic reader, I did not pick out a book to read rather I sat in the reading area and began chatting with my friend.”

Ajay added, “Now, usually, I would tolerate misconduct in the library but Ananya was so loud in her speech that I had to go and sternly tell her to remain silent. I felt quite bad for giving such a harsh correction and so I did not expect her to come again. On the contrary, she would come daily to the library to speak to me only. At that time I thought that she was just there to annoy me. But my annoyance soon converted to love for her and we soon began dating. That was almost four years ago.”

Ananya then said, “After getting to know each other better, we decide to commit ourselves for life by getting married.”

“That is such a unique love story that you’ll possess,” I replied.

I did not know what else to say. Here I was on a train journey unwilling to speak to anyone but this young couple who were my co-travellers decided to share their love story with me; a love story that they so deeply cherished. I was a complete stranger to them but they were ready to share a part of their life with me.

Just then, an announcement was made in our compartment: “Next station: Madagaon.”

As we prepared to get off the train, I pondered as to how even a brief encounter with a person can change one’s view on life. This is what we all experience at some time or another. While some keep these experiences to themselves, there are others who note them down into stories that they can keep, just like Ruskin Bond.