The smile that scared the shit out of me..

 

I was waiting for 10.04 pm Malad (F) local at Dadar Railway Station. 

An old lady approached me and asked if I had water. 
She said she was thirsty. I obliged. 
The old lady looked fragile. Her tattered and washed out nine-yards saree said that she was a beggar but she had bright light blue eyes.
She drank the water and said 'dhanyawaad' (Thank you).
I smiled and turned around to see if the train has arrived.
She walked a few steps ahead and waited for the train.
A minute later, train arrived and we both boarded the train.

Even as the train was not crowded, I preferred standing near the door. She was sitting down on the passage, like normally beggars sit.  
As Bandra Station was about to arrive, she got up.
The train crosses Mithi River before arriving at the Bandra Station. Sometimes trains halt or slow down while crossing the river.
The train slowed down. She looked at me, smiled notoriously and inched closer. This confused me and honestly I was a bit scared too.

The train crossing the bridge over Mithi River during the daytime.

What if she pushes me? Looked like, the way she smiled.
I thought I should sit down on one of the many vacant seats, but it was too late. She was so close and she had a fixed menacing smile with her canine teeth sharp like a vampire. I was about to push her aside and scream. I felt that the temperature around me dropped all of a sudden to 0 degrees. Or maybe I was so scared that I thought the temperature dipped so low.  

She said ata tu je baghshil te tu ayushyat kadhich baghitla nasel, ani parat kadhich baghnar nahis (Now, you will see something that you have never seen in your life. And you will see it for the last time.) As I was about to push her hard and shout help, she dived into the river with her body facing towards me.  She waved at me with that smile still on her face.
I was so shocked and mind-numbed that I didn't move at all for a few seconds neither did I scream.
Then suddenly as the train jolted back in motion I came back to my senses. I bent ahead to see if I could see if the lady was struggling, but surprisingly, there was no sound of the water splashing or any movement in the still river. 

I was so shocked that I turned around at the fellow passengers to ask if they saw the lady jumping.
Five ladies, two were busy gossiping about some person in their office so they didn't notice at all, one was asleep and the other two were busy on their cell-phones.
Just one agreed that she did see the old lady, but added that she saw that lady boarding off the train immediately on the Dadar station. She said that the old woman didn't board the train at all.
I narrated the incident to them, but she was sure that I was standing alone and I must be hallucinating. Others agreed and chuckled.
I was a bit annoyed by that but didn't have the energy to argue. I sat down shocked, unconvinced that it can be a hallucination. Such things  never happened to me.

Malad Station arrived. I climbed off the train. I was so shocked that I was standing still on the platform.  The train was scheduled to go the nearest railway yard. The lights of the train coaches were now off. I started walking towards the nearest foot-over-bridge. I rubbished the incident as a nightmare.

I met my neighbour and was relieved to have company till home. As I was climbing the bridge, I heard a whisper in my ears.. aye taai, maage baghun bye kar na (Hey sister, turn around and say goodbye)
I turned around, saw no one was that close to whisper in my ears. I asked my neighbour, if she said something, she denied. I turned to see the train which was slowly moving towards the direction of the Borivali railway yard. I saw a dark figure of the same old lady waving at me from the same ladies coach. I thought her canine tooth was shining in the platform light. Was she smiling?

I was about to shit in my pants. I held my neighbour's hand and ran for my life. I narrated the incident to my confused neighbour when we were in the auto, she was laughing her ass off thinking that I have gone mad and I was tripping on something. She was sure I am high on drugs. 
I told her, that I am not on drugs and all this happened for real. She didn't believe me.

Later, in my mind I agreed too. I thought, maybe, there was something mixed in the evening snacks which I ate.  Anyway, I ate dinner and thankfully had a peaceful sleep sans such moronic real-life like nightmares.

So, this is how I narrated this cooked-up story to scare my 10-year-old cousin, out of sheer pleasure, while we were travelling on one of those regular 10.04 pm Malad (F) train.