[First attempt at writing a short story ... tell me how it is! Used first person to ease narration.]
The blue bus rattled into KBS and jerked to halt. I heavily pulled my bag and jumped down. Half-hearted to get back to hectic coaching class routine. Some dreams are hard to pursue. I apparently have not thought about these classes when I saw a the most prestigious civilian title after my name in the dream that mattered. I have not realised that dream yet. Let's just say that I agree with my dad now. Nothing in this world comes for free.
It's a 2 min walk to the KSRTC bus station. While thinking if it's safe to try the restaurant in the corner, went through the small passage through which numerous travellers negotiate to get to the majestic bus station. An Audi A8L honked from my back. An elderly gentleman got out with a neatly ironed cotton shirt and a white dhoti. He had a heavy book in one hand. I only saw a brown thick and hard cover. What really caught my attention is not his side of the car but the other. She quickly moved out of the car as if somebody was pushing her out, ran to the other side, gave him a hug towards his book-free hand, while he's still giving instructions in Kannada on sleeping well, eating well, etc., grabbed her bag and darted away. She was slender, had curls of light (and selective) coloured hair in the front falling on the face. Every move she made seemed to be as if she's trying to push them away from her glances but the ends just didn't seem to go away. The curls flew and landed back soft on the cheeks. She had a cute pony tail which moved faster than her walk. Her eyes moved even faster. She had the jeans folded a couple of times at the bottom. The white earphone set with one dangling out and one in place also set me off guessing if she was listening to some foot tapping number. She must have been 3 inches shorter, the stilettos didn't give out a hint.
Inter-city bus station was swarming with passengers eagerly waiting to get into the A/C buses on a warmer sunday evening . I had my dinner. It's unusual that one gets to find the bus on the platform in time. The middle row aisle on the left side was just perfect for the journeys in the night as I had to do my staring at the dark contours of villages dotted with street lights wooshing by in the night. The man in white ticked off my seat on his sheet. He also gave suspicious glances at my PAN card and my face a couple of times and went down. She came a little slower now with her back pack and cast a quick glance at my seat almost as if I'm not there and went back fast. It's not uncommon in these buses that the ladies start shouting at the man in white for letting a moron (read 'man') sit next to them. I sensed the argument coming and prepared to relocate to a more secure seat in the vicinity.
She now comes back with a leather purse and pulled a book out of it and sat right next to me. We exchanged uncomfortable smiles.
"I almost had my stuff ready thinking you would ask me to find some other place."
(Smiles) "You could still do it if you plan to. The aisle two rows ahead is mine. There's a lady who wanted to exchange hers with mine as she's travelling with her kid and husband."
"I'm absolutely fine here! Please take this seat."
The bus started moving and so did she. Her wriggling in the seat started making me wonder if I'm taking more space. The non-stop buses with 2 left - 3 in the right seat configuration always made me feel XXL. I immediately pulled the hand rest down to make sure fences are in place. She gave a quick frown and said it feels a little stuffed in there. My vast experience in the buses plying en route involuntarily pointed me to the A/C vent which is twisted to the extreme left. The smile got warmer. I thought hard if I should bring another topic up and continue the conversation. I can never be anybody but myself. Simply put my headphones bought from eBay.in and started humming an old hindi song.
"That's one of my all time favorites! Do you enjoy old songs?"
"There's nothing I enjoy more!"
"Do you mind if I check your playlist?"
( Cursing myself for not having a good earphone, one end of which I could have offered while I still can listen and let her also listen along with me. I thus noticed the only limitation of my most favorite Sennheiser headset. )
"Sure."
She thanked and showed some of those songs on her white phone (you-know-what!).
In the meantime, we had started talking about our purposes of visit to Bangalore. She went on about the current job scenario in IT industry and macroeconomics till I yawned. I made sure I returned my favour, harping about political situation and my close-to-heart practical issues in the public administration. She beat me here and was already sleeping by the time I concluded with conserving the environment. I simply laughed at myself for overestimating my ability to engage people in interesting conversations. Switched the channel on thoughts and hummed an old telugu song this time like I always do when I'm alone. Took the liberty of setting her blanket right till the neck. Sensing the move, she smugly pulled it closer and whispered that she loved that song too. Wondering what the book in her hand was and if she actually knew the song I was humming, I took my specs off and slid my seat down.
Morning came very fast, I didn't want to step out of the seat. In no time, we could hear auto annas calling out their bids on the fares. Just when she stepped out of the seat and pulled her purse from the luggage rack on top. She wished good luck with preparations and I wished her back. She seemed half-minded about saying something but stopped. By this time, I was quickly rehearsing different ways of getting her contact. I managed to say something about facebook. I saw her expression mildy let out am impatient grunt and successfully managed to hide it under a tired expression. While she slowly moved away from her seat without wishing bye, I wanted to kick myself.
