The Fourth Passenger

By Moutushi Ghoshdeysarkar

Ever thought of the fourth passenger? The guy who shares your cabin, in the first class AC compartment.

So they were three strong, three adults – men at that. Just bagged their first Phd and on a spree to take on the world – beginning with a trip to Lonar – a crater lake created in the Pleistocene epoch when a meteorite fell.

The trio boarded from New Delhi at around 1 in the afternoon after a hearty but early lunch at Connaught place.

Luckily the fourth passenger did not board from Delhi and the trio had the cabin all to themselves.

At around 10 pm they thought of hitting the bed with their favourite ‘me’ times – one with a book, another with a movie and the third with Sudoku.

The train has a beautiful rhythm along with the lullaby of the wheels on rails that forces one to fall into that dreamy sleepy state.

So without their knowledge boarded the fourth passenger. It was not until midnight that one of them noticed someone sleeping in the upper berth that was supposedly empty.

After a short visit to the washroom, Kavish went back to sleep. At around 1.30am – Ronit woke up to a knock at the door.

“Here is a upgraded passenger for the free seat.” Said the TT trying to usher in a man. “But the seat is already occupied.” Kavish chipped in having awoken by the commotion.

“Where is the passenger?” the TT looked sharply at the empty bunk. “Must have gone to the loo, he was here a while ago.” Kavish said casually.

The TT stood for a while and then went away. Sleep was beckoning and the three succumbed to it without waiting for the fourth passenger to return.

“Tea sir” Satyabhama woke to the voice of the waiter. The waiter had stepped in after knocking for a while. Ronit n Kavish sat up too. “I’ll bring tea sir?” the waiter repeated.

The morning was fresh and fragrant with the aroma of steaming tea. The waiter knocked again, “newspaper sir!”

“News? What news can you offer dear sir?” said Ronit mockingly. “I can offer a sensational piece fresh from this coach sirs” the waiter said creating drama with his voice.

“Yesterday night around 1.30am a passenger was upgraded to first AC and was given a seat in cabin B – everyone slept off immediately.

Then one person came from the adjacent coach – apparently he was a friend of the trio travelling in that cabin – since they didn’t respond over phone he came to check as they were supposed to de-board at 4.30am” The waiter took a meaningful pause.

“The TT came to us with the person first too but since we were full he went off to cabin B I suppose.” Kavish said thoughtfully.

“But you are three people sirs,” the waiter had a confused look on his face.

“Ya Kavish, where is this passenger – we never saw him. You said he must gone to the loo, when the TT asked.” Ronit asked.

“Looks like he is still in the loo” Satyabhama chuckled.

“But he was sleeping in the upper berth when I woke up around midnight. Then I came back and again saw him turning. He even gave quick smile as our eyes met.” Kavish said earnestly.

“Then he must have de-boarded somewhere.” Satyabhama said nonchalantly.

“But the station after 1.30 am was at 4.30 am and since there was a lot of commotion, we were all awake at that time. No one from this cabin emerged. Thereafter we staff have been awake and before I came and knocked nobody came out to de-board the train. I would have known otherwise.” The waiter was highly suspecious.

“Then did the man just vanish in thin air?” Kavish’s voice had agitation.

“Okay lets hear about cabin B.” Ronit tried to steer the conversation away from the unpleasant confusion.

“Ya lets hear it!” Kavish and Satyabhama said in unison.

“So this person – the friend came and found them all sleeping, with a sweet smell still lingering in the air. He tried to wake them, but they didn’t buzz.” The waiter took another meaningful pause.

“Jogesh! Jogesh!” a very angry called beyond comfortable decibel levels.

The waiter literally ran off.

The trio pursued him till the pantry.

“How can we help sir?” one of the waiters turned to face the trio who stood there like school boys trying to take a peek at a damsel, only in their case the desired was not an eye candy.

“Jogesh!” they said in unison.

“He was telling us what happened in cabin B”, said Kavish “but he left when someone called.”

“Oh! That was unfortunate.” Said the waiter.

“What? What was unfortunate?” Satyabhama chipped in.

“The three people were chloroformed and robbed off their valuables. The man who posed as TT was an imposter too, the real TT would never knock at the middle of the night.” Said the waiter.

“That would have happened with us if the fourth passenger would not have boarded and occupied the vacant berth in our cabin.” Satyabhama spoke aloud what the other two was thinking.

“Oh! Bhutababa saved you then.” The waiter said.

“What???? Who???” the trio said in unison.

“He was a renowned thief and a dreaded one, no matter what the railway police did they just couldn’t catch him.

But one day, the thief having accomplished his loot, was getting away fast but a voice called him – ‘uncle uncle help me’ – but before he could turn and go back, the door banged against him and he was thrown of the train. Spot dead.

But ever since in numerous occasions he has helped various passengers. We and everyone who knows about him, have come to believe that he helps the good people from eminent danger which he can sense beforehand.”

The trio went back to the cabin and Satyabhama said, “Thank God!”

Ronit quickly corrected him, In our case – Thank Ghost!”

By Moutushi Ghoshdeysarkar