It was one of those intercity trains and that too from the starting point. Plenty of seats would be available but what bothered Reghu was the queue at the ticket counter. There were some 10-15 people ahead of him and just five minutes left for the departure of this train. He was on his week-end travel to his native town and if he missed this train, he would have to wait till next week but more than that it would be a great disappointment for Geetha, his girlfriend. Time was ticking away and he was about to abandon the journey when a good looking lady patted him on his shoulder and gave him a ticket to his native town, saying, “I saw you at the fag end of the queue and thought of buying one for you”. Before he could express his surprise and gratitude, she moved fast towards the ladies compartment. “I’ll collect the money next week”, she shouted while boarding the train. He too hurried his way to the nearest compartment and got into it, seconds before the train moved.

While Reghu was carried away by the ‘noble’ gesture of a lady who was neither his friend nor his colleague, the lady was deriving some sadistic pleasure from what Reghu considered a ‘noble gesture’. She was, of course, not a total stranger, for he used to see her at this station every weekend. This lady, on the other hand, knew something about Reghu and his love affair with Geetha and extracted some pleasure by playing a practical joke on her. On that day, she saw Geetha at the Ladies’ waiting room and knew for sure that she had come all the way to this town to spring a pleasant surprise on Reghu who was totally unaware of her visit. The lady thought that if Reghu missed the train, Geetha would succeed in making Reghu too happy and become closer to him. There was no harm in it but she was more concerned about her own sadistic pleasure!