Stranger

This incident happened sometime around June-2009.

 It was the third day of my Diploma course. I was damn too excited taking this course, for the fact that the University was almost an hour (15.5 miles) away from home. I loved the fact that I got to travel an hour & an hour every day.

Well, if you are someone like me, you would understand the simple pleasure of travelling idly and looking at the whole world around buzzing with activity, right? So was I, excited...super excited!

The first two days, were as awesome as I thought they would be. I would go in the auto rickshaw (<--click here if you do not know what I mean) and in the afternoon's Paddu (my bestest friend for the past 3 years) was with me to either guide me to take the right auto rickshaw back home or travel in the bus together.

I have parents, way too protective and it always so happened that the school or college I studied at, was never more than 5 miles away from my home. There was never a reason for me to get lost in the busy-busy roads of Hyderabad with people from all kinds & shades of life.

Travelling in the bus for the first time with Paddu, the previous day was super exciting. 'People-watching' is just not a fun activity; it was something more for me. Since I was a kid, I always found it amazing that no matter how many hundreds of faces I saw every day, they were always different...unique and to imagine that each one of them had a unique life...unique experiences that made them unique, made me wonder how smart god/nature was. Each time I saw someone new, I would make up the life they might be living, the fears they might be facing and what not in my tiny weenie head.

On the third day, I had to travel all alone to go back home, as Paddu was absent. I called Paddu in the afternoon, to ask her what bus I should be boarding.

Paddu was bewildered at my question and said, "Take an auto rickshaw, you never travelled in a bus alone!"

Are you going to be my mom now??  I thought to myself and told her, "Hey! I can manage. Is it 113? The bus no ??"

"YES!! Do call me if you need anything...Okay?!"Paddu said,  pleasantly surprised at my excitement.

"Sure!! Byeeee", I said as I hung up, all geared up for the adventure ahead.

I waited for the bus with the no. 113 for a while in the bus stop. I chose the one with less people in it and chose a comfortable window seat. I sat down with a big-big smile on my face and looked at the people around me. Probably, everyone must have thought I was crazy...I mean... not many would be glad to be travelling in an overly crowded bus. For the next 30-40 minutes, I was in a trance like state looking at the people getting in and out of the bus, looking at the people walking on the road, people in their vehicles as the bus stopped at every red signal. I loved this experience and the fact that I was all alone made it more fun!

I was proud of myself at my little achievement and was lost in my own thoughts making up stories about people around. 

"Aren't you getting down??” I heard the girl standing next to me say (in Telugu of-course). 

I looked at her blankly, wondering with whom she was speaking. In the next couple of seconds, I looked at her, top to bottom and made up who she could be. A not so fashionable dressing style, a old college bag, a not so expensive (brand-less too) sandals.....she is just an average girl I thought and wondered if she had a hard life. 

"You need to get down here!” She said again (she spoke to me in Telugu all the while).

"WHAT??" I said bewildered that she was actually speaking to me.

"This is the last stop....you need to get down, now." She said.

I gave a quick glance inside the bus and realized that apart from me and her, the bus was empty. She was right. I had to get down. I looked outside the window and said aloud more to myself, "This is not where I have to get down. My home is not here."

"Where do you live?"she asked.

"Sr nagar.......You see, I never travelled in a bus...I do not know which way I should go now..." I told her...again I was talking more to myself then her.

"I can tell you, which bus you need to take now....there is this bus stop a fore long from here".....(blah blah blah) she kept on speaking.

"Okay! I can go." I told her but silently was cursing myself, for putting myself in such a strange place. I mean it was not really a strange place. It was the Secunderabad railways station...with just a couple of hundred people walking in all directions possible. Its fun to watch people but to be lost in a crowd, is not as fun as I thought it would be.

May be I should call Paddu....I was thinking, when I realized that the girl held my wrist as she walked me ahead.

I was surprised ......She din’t had to stop her work to help me out...I was actually rude to her...well in my thoughts at least....

"This area is not safe. There are idiots everywhere. You need to be very careful", I heard her say, as she guided me carefully & tactfully avoiding a guy who could have accidentally (well ?) brushed against my hand(?)...

"Well. Here we are. You need to take the bus no...You will reach your place in 30 minutes..." blah blah she went on again.

"What's your name? What do you do?" I asked her...intrigued with her kind personality.

"My name is S (.......I forgot).  I am doing MBA at (....I forgot the name of her school)", she said.

But I remember one thing....She said the name of one of the top most colleges for MBA in Hyderabad. I was totally impressed. She was no average girl....Some one way better than me and way more humble & kinder than me and most probably a year or two younger than me.

"I need to go now. You see that bus there...? You should be boarding it now…take care…Bye" she said as she went back to bus stop we came from.

I took a couple of steps towards the bus I had to get on. When I realized that I forgot to thank her, I turned around hoping to find her. But no matter how hard I looked around, I could not find her. She was lost in the crowd. For a second, I wondered if she was actually an angel....damn! I love to believe that I live in a mystical world. Actually, I think I do.

I smiled at my stupidity...at my arrogance...at my pride as I boarded the bus she asked me to and called paddu.

"Hey guess where am I?"

"Home?" she said.

"No! I am at the railway station...I was actually lost!", I told her excited.

"But ……..how?"

"I do not know. I took the bus you told me too...its 113 K or something?"

"Oh no! You need to take 113 Y...." she said.

"...do alphabets matter?"

"Of course! They do."

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Travelling in the bus was never the same again. I became kinder to the people around me, each time I travelled in a bus. And each time someone told me a "Thank you"...I would think of the stranger who deserved one for not only helping me that day but also for teaching me the most important lesson of my life i.e. 'not to judge a person by their appearance and also to be kind & humble'.