‘Ah, IT!’, Vrishank smiled, eyebrows raised. ‘Super-sassy air-conditioned glass buildings, free cabs to commute, perks… You must so love it, aye?’

Daiwik smiled.

Vrishank continued, ‘Yeah, but, you know what? You’re not even engineers. You guys are pathetic money-suckers. You just tinker with pre-made stuff. You guys are no different than the cake shop guy who does the icing.’ His smile had now been replaced with contempt.

‘Uh huh?’

‘Yeah, you study mechanical engineering but choose an IT job. You think you are some cream layer ’coz some IT services company hired you straight out of college. You’re all pampered, toothless babies, who know naught about life, about uncertainty, about pain. And someone who knows fuck all about pain knows fuck all about passion’, Vrishank grunted. ‘Ever stood under the Sun in a line for hours, with your recorder? Ever walked a hundred kilometres to the border with nothing but your camera in your hand? Ever lived on tea for three weeks straight, because that’s all you could get apart from ants and rabbits?’

‘Have you?’

‘My job requires me to be ready for all of that!’

‘But have you—’

‘It shouldn’t make a difference. I’m prepared to. You’re not.’

‘So, you mean, I must reinvent the wheel for an approval from… Sorry, I can’t help but laugh at the number of ways your logic is flawed. But I’m glad that you’re at least attempting to think, sending a message to evolution that the brain is something you want to use, unlike the tail we all lost,’ Daiwik said, closing his eyes and placing his head on the protective grill of the window, as the train chugged.

A moment later, he stood up, pulled the chain and exited the compartment.

‘Sulking away, are we now?’

Ignoring the comment, Daiwik walked to the door and hopped off the coach, as the train came to a halt.

A few moments passed before the guard jumped out of his cabin and approached the coach that had the lever protruding.

‘Excuse me, Sir, I want you to step into the train.’, the guard said to Daiwik.

‘I am the one who pulled the chain; the train cannot proceed.’

‘Last I checked, I was the one authorised to make such statements,’ the guard smirked.

‘Of course, but with all due respect, Sir, you cannot move further before a technician inspects the tracks on the bridge. Unless you want me to make the call, that is.’ Daiwik pushed his phone towards the guard.

.

Daiwik returned the smile, as the guard approached him, three hours later. ‘What’s your name, young man?’

‘Daiwik Sharma. Pleased to meet you again.’ The men shook hands.

‘A passionate engineer is a lifesaver.’

Daiwik’s smile widened.

.

As the train jerked into motion, Daiwik threw back his head, closed his eyes, and sighed, ‘Sad, it takes an engineer to understand that the underlying principles are… I mean, it’s sad that the definition of mainstream passion is… weird, don’t you think?’ He opened his eyes, arched his brows, turned to Vrishank and said, ‘So, you were saying?’