Midnight musings — An unexpected rendezvous

Credits — Alexandru Zdrobău

Dear diary,

I am Akash. Yet another entry from my mostly mundane life. But today something unexpected happened.

As I left for the office and reached the bus stop, I saw her standing there like always. I walked towards her and stood a few feet away from her. She posed a familiar smile at me, and I smiled back. She looked very pretty today in her dark blue Kurta and white jeans, while carrying a black handbag in her left arm and a circular dialled white watch on her right wrist. I noticed her hair has grown longer since the first time I saw her. They have grown past her shoulders now. She kept them open today as opposed to tying them in a pony like everyday. With the wind, her hair flew over her oval shaped face again and again as she kept trying futilely to put them behind her ears.

We stood there for several minutes when a young couple came and sat at the bench behind us. They looked like a newly married couple as the wife wore a chuda (type of bangles wore by newly married Hindu women in India) They were constantly talking, and as the time went by, their talks turned into an argument. It was because the husband was going away for six months or so in order to search for a better opportunity in another city and she had to stay back until then, and hence she was teary eyed. She kept pleading him to take her along with him and that it would be very difficult to manage without him. He constantly assured he will call her every day and will come visit every other month. But she continued pestering him. They argued like that for several minutes but as soon as they saw the bus arriving, they quieted and embraced one another in a tight hug. They stood there like that for a few seconds until the bus conductor yelled for a final call for passengers boarding the bus, after which they broke apart. They said their final goodbyes. The husband said something to her, which made her briefly chuckle and then quickly back tearsome. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and blushed immediately. After a final hug, he boarded the bus and soon the bus soared away.

After the couple went their way apart, I looked back where the woman was standing earlier, hoping to see her again, only to find her not there. I scanned the place as my heart dropped a bit. I couldn’t find her. Did she already leave. I couldn’t bear waiting another day to see her face. But what else could I do. Whom would I ask about her, I didn’t even know her name. I just know that she came to this bus stop every day at 8:45 and even though my bus didn’t come until 9:15, I used to come early for the sake of catching her glimpse. I could never summon the courage to go upto her and talk as I always got cold feet. Everyday I convinced myself that today I will talk to her no matter what and everyday as she smiled at me, as soon as our eyes met, I was rendered speechless.

While waiting for our respective buses, there were a few times, our eyes would meet, and I would immediately look away, as if I was afraid that her eyes could read my thoughts and it made me feel naked as I looked into those eyes. There were a thousand things that I wanted to talk to her about, what were her likes, dislikes, her thoughts, her fantasies, goals, aspirations, her favourite food, color, her role model, her accomplishments, her fears, what she hated and she loved. But I knew deep down I will never be able to even say a simple hello let alone have those detailed discussions. It was a vicious circle of aspiring and failing one’s own set expectations.

My bus arrived. I reluctantly boarded, and sat on an empty seat. I peered out of the window to distract myself. The bus had started moving. I checked one last time to find her but in vain. She must have departed as it was 9:20 already. I put on headphones and closed my eyes.

Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. I abruptly opened my eyes to look to my right, and to my wonder it is her!

She said something about missing her bus and catching this one to get to the next stop from where she could take another bus to her destination, but I didn’t pay much attention as I was already on cloud nine seeing her sitting next to me. I smiled at her and said, “Hello I am Akash, and you are?”