My Night Duty Companion...He/She/It?

Two minutes to eight pm...Oh Damn! I am late for my night duty...I almost dash to the booking office from the station entry. There is absolute silence, Venugopal Sir standing ready on the doorway with his bag. My smile is met with a cold stare and a glance at that age-old HMT. Oh well...I am a minute late, okay? Not a big deal gramps...I control my thoughts and place my bag on the table. Without a backward glance he walks out, i know he will be late by atleast five minutes tomorrow morning to relieve me. Well, no issues, anyway i am going to my hostel and sleep my head off. Locking the booking office door and armed with a pen, i briskly jump and walk towards the Station Master's Room on the other end of the platform. Something covered with a white cloth catches my attention on the platform. Ignoring it, i enter the SM's room to sign the muster roll. PKS...oh, he is not our Pammal K Sambandham...this is P.KrishnaSwamy, as usual lets out his babble of frequent night duties, reckless duties of staff and when i leave the room, as a matter of fact says- " Amma...There is a corpse on the platform in front of your room, don't worry, State Police will be here anytime to move it".

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"Oh okay..no problem sir", i say. Now wait a minute, did you say a corpse? Whoa! I have been on duty with a few rats, mice, cats, dogs and once with a snake, but this was too much. I clear my throat and ask again stupidly- " You mean a dead body, sir?" PKS looks at me incredulously and with a smirk says- " Thats what a corpse is..."Well...PKS, If I can manage a night shift with a SM like you, why not a corpse? I try to ask him the details of the case which he narrates lucidly- a middle aged woman had jumped before the Trichy- Lalgudi passenger at 7.30 pm. She died instantly and her body was thrown on the nearby main road. The incident was promplty reported by the gangman to the SM and then to the RPF. They had come, collected the body and due to a "territorial dispute" with the State Police as to who should handle the case, left the body on the platform, with handing over to the SM. Not a nice handing over -taking over. PKS looks warily at me and says- " Be careful, nothing should happen to the body. We are incharge of it".  " Not me, you old man. You are!" I scream mentally and maintain a limp smile, nod my head and walk doggedly to the Booking Office.

I hold my breath whole crossing the body, trying my best not to look at the white sheet covered corpse, but you know women! We simply cannot take these nonchalantly. Shaking miserably i almost run to the office, open the door, bolt it and take a peaceful breath.  Halleluyah! I am saved. I need not open the door till Venugopal Sir arrives tomorrow morning, hopefully. Hey...he forgot to mention the corpse handing over in the Handing Over Register! Praying, i start issuing tickets for Rockfort Express and platform tickets. We are supposed to collect tickets at the gate and i try my best not to look at the white sheet. When the last passenger is out of the station platform, i make a run to my sanctuary- Booking Office with a run that could have fetched us an Olympic Gold! It took well over an hour to complete the daily accounts and by eleven thirty i feel almost dizzy with sleep. Booking Office staff are not supposed to sleep on night duties, but we can close the counters for safety purpose in single counters. I close the counter and as a safety, i padlock it with a reynolds 045! What a safety measure against a corpse!

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I pick up my book and try to learn Probability Theory. Thoughts of the Probability that the corpse might wake up and come for me, rattle me. May be i saw too many Exorcist style movies. Shaking all funny thoughts aside, i try to concentrate. Minutes tick by slowly and i almost lost count of time when there was a thunder accompanied by a flash of lightning. It was the month of November and the sudden downpour woke me out of my slumber. And all of a sudden...ooooooops! A power cut! It is pitch dark inside the room. With trembling hands i reach out searching for the candle and match box at the bottom of the table. Now there was a knock on the counter window. I freeze. Again there is a faint knock. I sit like an idiot, forgetting to breathe! Gradually mustering some courage i tumble and get the candle and matches. Lighting it, i fumble for the Reynolds padlock. Holding the candle in my hand i open the window a wee bit to stare straight into two green burning embers. I can feel the bile rise up my throat, my wail somewhere lodged between the mouth and neck. My brain seems to switch on and i come back to my senses to see the eyes of a black cat. Oh my! I almost throw the candle in shooing him away and he leaves the window with a meek meow.

Catching my breath i hunch back on my chair and now i hear a clear tap on the door. I walk as if in a trance and open the door and now i sure let out a frenzied shriek. There stands a figure cloaked in a shawl, with white teeth gleaming. Silambayee- the pointswoman with a candle. I let out a whiff of air and slump on my chair. PKS had finally decided to send me some company when the lights went out and Silambayee took her own sweet time in reaching the Booking Office. She kept company till the next train and by that time the power was back and i was psychologically limping back to normal. Sunlight streaked through the window creaks and i was never happy all my life to see a sunrise. I was humming the latest song and i did not even feel like staring hard at Venugopal Sir who arrived at 6.05 am for his morning duty, five minutes late as i had predicted! In fact i smile so sweetly at him, his look was bemused. He must have thought- " This girl is completely insane!". But who bothers, I am alive anyway, after a night duty with a corpse. I felt like kissing the lady in the white sheet goodbye when i left off and turned for a last glance at her. The rain soaked white sheet was now in myriad colours of red and black and i run again with a muffled scream, without a backward glance, of course! Never in my life was i so happy that i gave my scooty a mighty kick, the worst it might have ever experienced in its 10 years life with me. I am alive!!!