“I must have disappointed you” , the smiling passenger sitting by the window said, just as
I was settling down with my not –so-heavy bag on my aisle seat.
I was taken aback.
Did I know him? He did not seem familiar.
“Excuse me”, I said, which in this context meant, ” I had heard what he said, but needed more explanation. Moreover I don't even know you”
“I said that I must have disappointed you”
He surely had disappointed me by not letting me know why he said
that in the first case.
“Why ?” I politely inquired, still trying to guess who it
was.
This senior citizen could be anyone. My grandfather’s
friend, my father’s acquaintance, the “common man” from the movie “The Wednesday”
or the LIC agent from “Kahaani”.
“I must have disappointed you because I am not the
beautiful young girl you hoped to be in this seat to travel with you for next
eight hours.”
I was glad that he was not any of my acquaintance and hence
I need not feel uncomfortable or embarrassed for not recognizing him but what
he said was cent percent true, I always wished a beautiful female stranger to
be my co-passenger, jaise film-o mein hota hai !! But I could not agree with
him straightaway. I would seem to be a loser then.
The passenger behind my seat, who had no better business than
to overhear our conversation also waited for my reply.I spawned multiple threads from my brain’s thinking process
which individually started working overtime to get a fitting reply to this
know-all grand old man in the bus and the dropper of the eaves behind my seat.
“Not really, I have got enough material “, I said
pointing to the girl sitting diagonally opposite in my front seat near the
window.
The division between the window seat and the aisle seat was
unusually large and I was easily able to see her clearly from my seat.The eavesdropper behind got his answer. Satisfied he went to
sleep. The person next to the girl was already sleeping. I safely assumed that
the girl was indeed travelling alone.
The grand-old man had tried his ice-breaker and was successful
but little did I know that the ice was broken between other people too. He
smiled at me and started staring outside.My brain killed all the extra threads it had created and
started to relax when the girl in the front seat turned back to me, smiled and
said,
“I noticed that you pointed at me!!”
Oh maaay Gaawd …
I could do nothing but smile. I leaned forward and
apologized and for the first time saw her face clearly. Or I must say half the
face.When I had been to Pune, I had seen many girls covering
their faces with dupatta to escape from dust and sun and ended up looking like
terrorists. This girl was also covering her face not horizontally but vertically.
I could see the part of the face from one side only and that
was enough.
This was the first time a girl to whom I was a stranger had
talked to me. I was thrilled. My heart jumped in joy so much that it hit the
top of the roof of the bus and came back.
“No probs”, she said.” Let’s talk later”.
It was a true Mann mein laddu
phoota moment !!
My ears kept telling my brain to not let eyes have all the
fun when her voice was also as sweet. I leaned back and again spawned multiple threads from my
brain’s thinking process which individually started working overtime to find
out what would happen next.
I did not have to wait long. Forty-five minutes later the
bus stopped for dinner .I usually do not get off the bus but this time it was
different.
Not to seem too excited, I casually got down the bus, taking
care not to even glance at her.I strolled a bit hoping for her to come and talk to me. And
kept rehearsing what should be my first words to her. Should I apologize again
or just start with job-interview type introduction when they ask “tell me
something about yourself”.
From the corner of my eyes , I could see her approaching. I
wondered what her first words to me will be.She came very close to me.
This was a Mann mein doosra laddu phoota moment !!
“Do you have three rupees?”
Mere mortals would have scoffed. Money? Already? Atleast
introduce yourself.
But being a practical person that I am I would not fall into
the trap that she was after money.
“Two rupees naa? “ I said.
“I too think so, but one does not come back from the dead
just to switch off the room light. So it’s better to switch off lights before
leaving the room”
“Okay, here it is. And your destination is over there”, I
pointed towards the wall which read, “LADIES”.
Before she left I asked, “I will order in the meantime.
Seeds or leaves ??”
“Coffee”, she said
So our second meeting
too was very short.I could still see only half of her face though.I stood there with two coffee cups in my hand. In these days
of coffee-days, this must be one of the cheapest coffees a guy must have bought
a girl on their first meeting.
As we stood sipping the coffee, staring at our bus, under
the dark night sky,I asked her.
“Why are you covering the other half of the face”
She said,” What ?? Is this your first question, no introduction,
nothing?”
“Hello, you started it. Took my three rupees too”
“Oh yaa, here is your one rupee,”
Now this was too insulting.
Regaining my composure I said, “Keep it, give it to some
beggar in Bangalore. And transfer his blessings to my account”
“Hi hi hi”
By now I had found out the sounds of laughter’s we type during
chatting are:
“Ha ha” : sounds like coming out of stomach, a general laugh
to a common joke
“He he” : A lil personal joke
“Hi Hi” : Giggling.
So she was giggling which means she took it in the right
spirit.
“So do you like me?” she asked.
“Well , you need to elaborate. “Like “ has lost its meaning
after facebook has come into picture”, I replied.
She just smiled. Said nothing.
“ So , why is the other half of the moon dark ??” I asked.
“ Coz the sun chose not to shine there.Have you heard of
acids?”
I stood shocked. I could not believe what I heard
.
“So are you not going to ask my name? My Facebook Id ?
Mobile number ?”, She seemed casual about it
I would have, surely,
if I had not heard what she said just now.She would be cute , but only half face. I could not even
imagine how the other half would have looked.
All my excitement went downhill.
I did not want her number. I did not even want to remember
that I met her.
Now I came to know why she talked to me in the first place.
I mean no beautiful girl talks to you if they know that you will anyhow fall
for her.
“I don't think that's necessary, after few hours , we will
go in our own ways , probably never to meet.”
I did not want to talk to her.I feared, now that she has spoken the truth, she would
remove the veil from her face and I would be stuck to that image all my life.The conductor whistling came as a big relief to me.I had earlier thought, I would request the guy next to her
to shift to my seat so that I could sit with her or ask “my friend who
understands me” sitting next to me to shift to her place.But now I was just happy to be where I was.
I silently walked to my seat and closed my eyes straightaway
to avoid making eye-contact with her.I could still see a puzzled look in her face though she did
not look disturbed by my sudden change in attitude.
Nothing happened the next five hours. I made sure nothing
should happen too.
As we reached Bangalore, I said bye to my fellow passenger
and hurriedly got down.
I assumed she must have noticed this but there was nothing
to feel bad coz I was still some random passenger in the bus. There were many
others too who will not notice her.
I walked away from the bus and when I was at a safe
distance, I turned to see her for one last time.
Angel or half angel, atleast she had created flutters in my heart
for sometime.
She got down and took an auto.
As the auto took a ‘U’ turn and started coming in my
direction, I panicked, for again I might have to give that indifferent look. As
the rickshaw whizzed past me, she did what I feared about.
She removed her veil
covering her other half of the face and gave the most gorgeous smile ever!!!
I obviously knew about acids,infact topped in chemistry, but unfortunately failed the
acid test and our chemistry too.
The moon was beautiful on the other side too..
It was only
that the sun was not shining there till now!!
