In love with a stranger...(part 4)

                      The train started moving, and I sat near the window trying to figure out which way my life is leading me to. A girl from Delhi came to Hyderabad through Karnataka and messed up my feelings so much that today I'm sitting in this train to go to a completely alien place!
I wondered what made me go out that day. I confronted myself but couldn't get any answer.
'Is she my destiny?' I asked myself.
'No!' screamed Varun, startling me. I turned to him; he was playing some car racing game in his cell and had lost a race. I gave him a dirty look.
'What? were you saying something?' he asked innocently. I shook my head and turned to my thoughts.
                      Suddenly the weather turned windy. Changes are so fascinating I thought Though we witness slow transitions, we still feel that they were sudden. We watch sun tardily fading away, clouds drifting allover, wind roaming around like a loafer; but still we feel that all these changes occurred without our notice. A gush of air smooched my face as I sat watching the sky changing its colour. Changes are so fascinating I said to myself again.


                    'Tanu,'called Varun,'its our stop.' I looked at my watch, it was 1:43 am. 'No doubt its so dark,' I said picking my bags up. We stepped out of train and looked around; an eerie silence greeted us with a chilled hug. Wrapping ourselves with our arms, we found the way out. We walked for about ten minutes in search of a taxi, but all we could see was deserted cabs on the empty streets. We trekked for some more time and saw the similar sight.
'I couldn't walk any more,' I said dropping myself on the road. Varun sat beside me, hopelessly  , and looked around.
'Hey, look at that,' he pointed to my left. I followed his index finger. It was a cross symbol mounted on an old church-like structure.                                                                                                             

'I think that's a church,' said Varun,'let's go there.' He walked excitedly, pulling me up. It was indeed a church. We walked to the door and I began knocking. Varun gave me a serious look. 'Are you expecting God to open the door?' he asked, criticism dripping from his words. He gently pushed the door open and peeped inside. 'God is watching you're actions, son,' I laughed.
'There's no one in here,' he said stepping inside.
'Wait!' I held him, ' I think we should remove our shoes first.'
Really? I never noticed that in movies.'
'Even I didn't. But why take risk?'
                      As I stepped on the cement floor with my naked foot, a chilled shiver passed through my spine. 'Its so cold,' I said. We lit a candle, that we found on a table and prayed-the way we knew.
'Its not that bad,' I said stretching my legs along the bench, using my bag as pillow.
'You know, when Shah Rukh Khan went to Mumbai in search of Gauri, he had to sleep on the footpath bench,' I recalled, 'we are lucky to have got church bench.' I added.

Varun remained silent.
'Thanks for coming with me,' I said.
'Don't insult our friendship with that word,' he said.
'Sorry.'
'Shut that hole of your face,' he said calmly.
'Good night,' I wanted to say, but dropped the idea.


                      I rubbed my face against the pillow, my eyes still closed.  I felt a soft bed below me and warmth around.  An image of a church flashed in my mind and in a reflex, my eyes opened.  The wall against me had pictures of Jesus Christ and framed quotations from Bible.  I looked around and saw Varun sleeping on the adjacent bed.

     'Varun,' I shook him.  He inflated his body saying, ' I had a great sleep.'

     'Where the hell are we?' I shook him again.  'How did we come here?'

     He looked at me puzzled.  'You didn't remember anything?' he asked.

     'What?' I was bewildered.

     'About what happened last night,' he said.

     I began recollecting the last night's incident.

     'Oh, yes,' I said excitedly. The church father brought us here last night when we were trembling with cold.  I was half-sleep and so father and Varun helped me here.  He wrapped us both in warm blankets before leaving.

  

     'Good morning, Father,' Varun and I said in unison.

     'Good morning sons,' he said with a pleasing smile.  'Did you sleep well?' he asked.

     We both nodded.  'Have breakfast,' he said, 'I'll be in the church.'

     After having breakfast, we walked out of the house.  It was a small cottage beside the church; a calm and serene place.  We walked inside the church; it was more brighter and colourful.  There was a large portrait of Jesus on one side of the pedestal and a one look at it soothed my exxagerating feelings.

     We walked inside the church waiting for the Father to finish his prayers.

     'So, you both touring here?' he asked after returning to us.

     'Something like that,' said Varun.

     'Acutally, it was pretty late yesterday and so we couldn't find any place to stay,' I said.

     'You can stay here, if you wish,' he suggested.

     'We don't want to bother you, Father,' I said.

     He laughed, 'There cannot be any trouble in serving His sons,' he said pointing at the portrait of Christ.

     'Thank you for everything, Father,' I said.

      'Now?' asked Varun.  We were standing outside the church.

      'Sharada Girls Hostel,' I said.