Valentine’s week se kuch yaad aaya…

 

21st and 22nd December, 2012

Diwakar Bus

NH-44: On the way to Bengaluru from Hyderabad.

 

            I had got down at Gachibowli to grab some snacks and some candies, like the mango bite, to help avoiding vomiting on the bus (and ya, I am claustrophobic). There was rush hour around Lakdi ka Pul area so the bus was going slow and late for its usual schedule. The bus caught up with the Nehru Outer Ring Road and bypassed it to reach Mehdipatnam, the last bus stop. I switched on the reading light overhead and took out Amish Tripathi’s novel ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ to read. My seatmate had not yet boarded the bus. At Mehdipatnam, a sweet voice asked my attention and asked me if she was looking at the right seat. I had booked for the window seat for reasons related to my claustrophobic nature and I would have been adamant enough to not sacrifice it even an old lady came by asking to switch.

 

The Sweet Girl or fellow commuter: “hey hi … is this seat number 15? “

 

Me (I was collecting all the munchies and the water bottle from over her seat for her to have her seat): “umm yeah it is… sorry for the inconvenience, I thought the seat was not booked at all. I guess I wont be travelling alone. Ha ha :D”

 

Soon When I realized I was trying to be funny and when she didn’t even smile, I was like what the hell!

 

Shivangi: “Hi, I am Shivangi. Okay it’s perfectly fine, I want to ask you that if we can switch seats so that I can have the window seat. Actually bus journey creeps the hell outta me, I kind of get nauseated. If it’s alright, can we? BTW don’t worry, I won’t vomit inside the bus for sure, I bought the bags.”

 

We cracked a laugh for a moment. Now that was how a healthy joke is made. My mental ‘Me’ screamed right at me to improvise or else it is going to be a lost cause always.

 

No Shit! Switch? I switched. I sacrificed the seat only to be polite and she was pretty enough for me to do that,  😀 …

 

Me: ” Ya Hi, I am Satyajit. Call me Sattu or sunny, if you feel that my name is a bit long, actually my friends do feel that way. Anyways, Do u have extra vomit bags? Because I might sure need them as well. And Yeah sure, You can have my seat.”

 

We cracked a laugh together, this time on my joke. Now I was back in the game.

 

She switched the seat lights so that I could carefully glide out of the seat row without stamping our belongings. And I was taken aback for a moment. It was one of those thousand moments when my eyes do act idiotically. I kept staring at her. I was trying to make sure she was not some Katrina or Parineeti. This time I stopped the gaze instantaneously, on finding the wisdom that I had to stick to her as a good seat mate for the whole journey.

 

She moved to the window seat and I took her seat. She started making some calls, I guess to her parents to say that she had boarded the bus already. She was talking in Telegu, so I didn’t care much to listen on into the conversation. I moved to page number 103 where the Himalayan Chap named Shiva was still trying to understand the Meluhan Ways of life. Just when I completed the page, She had also completed her call. I tried my first shot at starting an conversation with her and I was successful.

 

Me: “Sooo… (A long one that we, 21st century guys, pull off very well with before starting a healthy conversation with a lady) u goin’ to Bangalore, home there?, parents?”

 

Shivangi: “umm yeah, my parents work there, but my actual home is at Guntur. And you?”

 

Me (trying to make another joke): “I am running away from my home.”

 

She smiled enough to giggle and still I kept the part serious grin on my face to walk the talk ahead.

 

Shivangi: “You not serious, right?”

 

Me: “Nopes at all. (I paused. The smile returned on her face again and I continued) Unemployed and moving to friend’s place in Bangalore to enjoy the new year fortnight. May be Goa.”

 

Shivangi: “Ohh wow Goa! That’s an interesting new year to start with. Have fun yaar.”

 

And so we chatted for the next one hour where I came to know that she is an engineering student. She had already read the two books from the Shiva trilogy when she looked the first part novel in my hand. She went on telling that she was a book worm and has read immense lot of books. She enjoys life a lot, fears God a lot and despite that, does a awful lot of activities not good at all which I don’t want to disclose because I felt she was kind of nice in reality. Around this time, the bus conductor had played a movie on the DVD, it was a telegu movie ‘Businessman’ which both of us had already watched. So we chatted freely and slept later. We had gone to sleep when the bus made a halt at a Highway dhaba at around 11 in the night. I rubbed my eyes and took a big yawn, but not loud enough to awaken shivangi. When I realized that I should wake her up, may be she might need a dinner, she finally woke up herself. I told her that the bus has taken a dinner stop. I was going to have the dinner anyways, so I asked her if she wanted to come along.

 

Shivangi: “Yeah yaar, I need to take up some food yaar. Chalo, let’s go have the dinner together.”

 

I was delighted that I was getting to know her more.

 

On our way, I inquired about her full name. Shivangi Rao.

 

 Me: “Soooo… (Again.) u r non-vegie or vegie?”

 

Shivangi: “I fear god, buddy. But I told you already I do awful lot of sins. I am a brahmin, being non-vegie still is one of those sins.”

 

Again, we cracked a laugh together aloud.

 

Shivangi: “Hey Sunny, you occupy two seats, I will come by from the washroom.”

 

Me: “Okay Sure.”

 

I took the Menu Card of the Dhaba. I started looking out for the cheapest meal I could arrange for my ownself. Shivangi seemed to me to be the over-spending types. So I looked for the average meal, not so cheap, not so expensive for the final bill. Later, when Shivangi came back to the table I had occupied for us, the waiter too came to take our order. The waiter in his own Hyderabadi Hindi started reciting the menu which would avail his motives of incurring profits from their customers. “Kyaa miyaan, aap toh sharma(shy) re miyaan, safar lamba rehta, pet(stomach) bhar ke khana mangta na miyaan, aap hyderabadi biriyani toh khana padta, nakko bolo miyaan.”

 

And suddenly she barges into the battle-field saving the injured me. well I have to admit that I slip easily into insistence. So I was relieved that she spoke up finally. May be she already found it that I was losing the ground. Well, I left that guilt in open as I had to work upon my less bill thing too.

Shivangi, with her commanding voice: “Bhaiya aapko jitna bola jaaye utna laayein. mera toh naan aur hyderabadi chicken le aana…. (while looking at me, to order something)… sunny, what would you order?”

 

I was surprised to find myself wrong that she was quick in ordering and she wasn’t that expensive girl thing.

 

Me, finally finding that I have to speak now: “Same, bhaiya.”

 

I coughed and asked her, “So less for the dinner?”

 

Shivangi: “Yaar I told you na, I vomit too often during journey. So, I ordered less. Abhi toh aur 6 hours hain, before we reach Bangalore. Kuch khana bhi tha, par kam hi.”

 

She smiles, and adjusts her hair by her hand. I took her spectacles to just fill the moment by my actions. She slaps my hand, but I still didn’t let go off her specs. “Ruk bhi jaa, let me see how much is the power of your lenses.” And she warned me then, “dekh le, Don’t tell me that I didn’t tell you.”

 

Well, I already had it on my eyes, replacing my own specs. I was flabbergasted when she finally uttered, “it’s eight.” I instantly took it off, rubbed my eyes, “Woah boy!”. She laughed at me funny gesture.

 

Until the food came, we talked about all our bad habits. She teased me for atleast 45 seconds for when I told that I don’t smoke. She confessed that she was a chain smoker, but just got rid of that habit when she got caught at home, it was her mother who found the packet in her bag-pack last summer and she was scolded heavily enough, had to promise on God’s name that she wouldn’t touch it again. And she feared god as she tells, she left that habit far away in the past. Well, very few get past it, and she did. I clapped literally there in the moment. “Bravo!”

 

Her list of brands of alcohol she drank was longer as obvious than mine. But she tells she hates Whiskey because it kills her nerves and she acts foolishly when she is high with it, ultimately getting her the worst hangover the following morning.

 

I kind of started liking her as she spoke freely. But the ultimate questioned kept me choking at my throat, “Did she have a boyfriend already?” well, to lose the surprise here, I never got to ask her that. It was going fine and all while I never wanted to screw it in any way. Finally, the food arrived. She asked me if we could order beer with the lunch. I called the waiter and hence, arrived two chilled cans of Budweiser on our table. After finishing the dinner, we rushed to the bus which was waiting, blaring the horns, for us as we were already late from the Dinner. we packed some munchies and chocolates.

 

The Bus caught up with the National Highway again and set it’s trail to our destination. We took our seats. everyone enjoying the Mahesh Babu Dialogues on the screen. And as usual, we two chatted along. She took out her Ipad, and I was like, “Man, she’s indeed rich.” She started scrolling through her college photographs for me so that I could co-relate the stories that she kept telling on about her friends. We exchanged our phone numbers and she sent me a facebook friend request. And suddenly…

 

Shivangi: “You are indeed a nice guy.”

 

All the riches that I needed for that one moment was there in that one sentence. I felt nice. And I replied back, smiling in a thanking way, “Yeah I am.”

 

22nd December, 2012

5:30 AM
Hebbala, Bangalore

 

 

Bus conductor started yelling out to all the passengers on the microphone, “Aye, hebbala hebbala.”

 

It struck me that Amit had told me that I had to unboard at some Esteem Mall, near Hebbala and call him. So I called him. He was obviously asleep at that very moment and he kept telling me to drop off at his said address for sure and he would come to receive me. But I got late from getting up and packing my belongings to get down, and as a result, I missed the stop. Plus I wanted to bid goodbye to Shivangi before leaving, but she was deep asleep. So I waited upto the Next Stop, Majestic. I had remembered that she told she would get down at Koramangala. It was very later after majestic stop. But she was asleep still. So I took one Sticky Note out of my purse, wrote, “Nice meeting you, shivy, Bye for now” and pasted it on her Ipad.

 

 

I got down at Majestic, half-hearted and called Amit back to enquire how to get back to Hebbala from majestic. He started scolding me, “kaise miss kar sakta hai yaar!” and then he understood when I made several excuses, and told me that I had to catch bus BIA-6 towards Bangalore Airport from Majestic.

 

“Ahoy Benagaluru!”

 

 

– Satyajit