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."

___________________________________________________

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'. 

And she waited.............

I waited,

hoping for the bus to come on time,

A long journey it had been, few more miles to be go before being home,

I looked at the crowd around, tired and gloomy they all seemed,

maybe the comfort of home is what they dream of too, I told myself,

but standing out in  the crowd,

there was this one person I saw,

bright, vigilant, cheerful and beautiful she was,

There was a small group of people around her, 

friends/family/random strangers I guessed,

they all seemeed to be capitavted by the warm embrace her smile generoulsy seemed to give away, 

to which i wasn't immune,

There is something about her that's really queer, I told myself,

She seemed old but a young beautiful women she  was,

as age is to heart and not body,

When she spoke...she spoke with all her heart, eyes sparkling, a face glowing, a smile so attractive, 

swaying her hands and wriggling her fingers mesmerizingly,

she was just purely Enchanting if anything,

she seems like someone I know, I wondered.

In the bus,

I tired to sleep hoping to cut the long joureny home short,

and that was when I heard her speak right behind my seat sitting in the adjacent row,

An energy she seemed to give away with every word she spoke,

could be either the gleam in her eyes or the joy in her voice  or may be both,

but I just couldn't resist not looking back at her,

She is so much like some one I knew so well, I thought.  

The people around her were as happy as they could be,

laughing, talking aloud, some sang too...a happy ride it was,

it just din't seem to be a long boring bus ride anymore,

women & men, young & old, white & black & all the colors inbetween,

seemed to have made a deal to make it a journey-happy & warm,

she seemed like an angel acting  like a string tying the hearts of everyone she met,

to make the most beautiful garland of humanity so pure and true,

She is so much like some  one I knew, I felt.

when a place she said was home came,

a cheerful goodbye everyone said as she got down,

everyone in the bus sighed aloud and wished her happiness,

happiness that she seemed to carelessly give away to friends  known & unknown,

but there is somthing not right about her i thought,

because she was so much like some one I knew, so well. 

when she got down and got her stuff together,

I saw her look around with a smile that was fading,

seemed like she was in search of some one she knew would be there for her but wasn't,

she shivered in the freezing  cold trying to cover herself with a scarf that was inefficient,

everyone in the bus felt the pain of her fingers and face getting numb and cold to the harsh weather which was immune to charm of this princess of joy & warmth,

She laughed and said somthing aloud looking at he people in the bus,

what she said no one hear, but everyone waved her goodbye and smiled as long as they could see her, as the bus made the move,

She kep her face lit all this time with the smile that was not fading,

but as I looked at her eyes, i saw the sprakle lost, 

her hands seemed to suffer the pain of numbness not from the cold  weather but the coldness of someone's heart,

I saw her as long as I could as everyone in the bus got back to the joyful mood  she created,

this could have been the reason why,

no one but me saw the tears that felll down her cheeks as her smile faded again,

Oh Yeah, she is someone I know for sure I said aloud looking at the distant figure of her,

a woman I knew so well,

as she waited.

This picture belongs to the original story that inspired this kind of writing style!

P.S. 

1. Who ever she was..............I wish she found what she deserved by now and that she MOVED ON. 

2. This style of writting is inspired  by a story I ready 6-7 years ago. Grammatically wrong but expressively perfect. 

3. The fun of writing is when you consciously break all the grammatical rules. 

Quote: “. . .sometimes one feels freer speaking to a stranger than to people one knows. Why is that? 

“Probably because a stranger sees us the way we are, not as he wishes to think we are.” 

― Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Dear Simbha- A Letter Never Posted.

Dear Simbha...

I hope you have safely reached heaven. Hope you have met Strippy and if you have already,tell him that he is loved and remembered back here. I hope both of you are having a great time together exploring your new home.I hope there are a lot many dirty ponds that are oxygen & worm rich and friends there who don't compete.

As you know I was eagerly awaiting for you all these days so your death came as a blow to me. Its sad that the destiny as always has been cruel to me, to take the little-cute-fishy-you away from me just as soon as we met. Yes, I am hurt and humiliated that you left me even when I cared and loved you so much. Just when I felt that you were reciprocating my feelings....Just when I started believing that I can actually love you as much as I did Strippy....Just when I was foolishly making you part of my life...part of my future.....YOU LEFT..... Your death came as a shock to me but I am angry with myself. I feel guilty too.

Did I overfeed you? Did I not change the water regulary? Did I not put the antifungal medicine? Did I not speak to you day in and night out to make you feel at home? Did I not make sure that the water was not too cold or too warm but just what you needed? Did I not low my TV volume so that you would be comfortable? Did I not plan to take you both to some pond nearby the next day to leave you in your natural habitat so that you could be ' happy and living' ? Did I not follow all the instructions I was given?

Okay! I am really sorry that I forgot to tell you a bye that day when I left in a hurry. But trust me you where in my thoughts all the time. And then when I came back home.......that evil afternoon what I see is that Simona is almost dieing and you were just doing great though you had that scar on your head...The same scar that Strippy had before it died. I was actually scared for you too but was more worried for Simona. I know you loved her too and were worried for her.

You know what Simbha? I had a terrible time that night. Yes,I was away from you the whole night....but I was too scared to come and have a look at Simona. I really din't want to see any of you dieing. I now wonder how it must have been for you. Were you in pain? What is it that killed you? Were you too worried for Simona? Was it really that I over fed you? Or was that scar a tumor? I will never know...but I am sorry if I have not taken enough care of you. But believe me you were the most beautiful gold fish ever with a shaded tail of white and gold...with the most amazing pouty fishy lips that I do never forget. Remember you will always be loved.

RIP,

Mourning Archana.