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'.
