Raat Ka Safar: The Midnight Express

You are traveling alone in an AC 2-Tier coach on a long-distance Indian train journey. It is late evening, slowly deepening into night. The main lights have been dimmed to soft blue night-lamps. Outside the window, occasional station lights and dark countryside flash by. Just as you settle into your Side Lower berth, a young stranger arrives to claim the Side Upper berth directly opposite you — the most private corner of an otherwise open coach. The journey ahead is long. The compartment feels surprisingly intimate. Cold AC, gentle rocking of the train, muffled sounds of sleeping passengers, and the heavy, delicious silence between two strangers who might become something more… Will this remain a polite, wordless night journey — or will the rhythm of the wheels slowly begin to match the quickening of two heartbeats?