It was the 5th time I stared at the clock in the span of 2 mins.., was it just me, or is the clock was dreadfully slow. I looked around at my colleagues who seemed to share the same feeling. What could be the worst thing to happen...to be in a meeting on a friday evening? Not really...it is to be in a meeting on a friday evening when you should be in travelling to the bus stop.
When I began to wonder if this was the most boring 20 mins in my life, the presenter was generous enough to let the poor souls get back to life. As anyone would guess the smiles were back on everyone's face which rather looked dead all this while.With no time to waste I rushed back to my seat, picked my bag and when I stepped out of the cubicle, there was a loud voice at the back of my head..."Save the planet!!!".
"What does that suppose to mean?" I looked around and noticed the computer monitor was blinking. "Uff!!!", cursing by conscience I turned off the monitor and glanced at the watch. OMG!!! 10 minutes have passed, how can this happen? the clock which was dreadfully slow all this while had a wicked smile at me this time... With no time to ponder about it, I rushed out of the office to meet the ever-so-cunning autowalla.
"No less than 50 Rupees sir, I have to come back all alone" said the autowalla, trying to capitalize on the opportunity. Since I didn't have any previous experience of getting someone a date just because they had to travel back alone and also with very less time left, i had to agree for the insane price tag. Jumped into the auto and said "Lets go 'bhaiya'!!!" (My sincere Thanks to all the Hindi Movies I had come across).
Seemed like it would be the last ride for the auto...every visible part of it was vibrating and not to mention the creaking sound. What was more terrible is the vibrations were more than the distance it covered. If only there was a technology that could use vibrations to travel, I would have reached my destination under 5 mins in this auto. I was cursing the person who scheduled the meeting...
When all hope seems to have lost...there it was, the bus stop!!! I gave my hard earned money and thanked the autowalla for letting me live than to have brought me to the bus stop. I glanced at my watch, with 5 minutes past the scheduled time I ran towards the bay.
There it was, for some reason the bus looked like an angel to me then (even though the only similarity could be the color).I handed my ticket to the conductor, for which he replied "Welcome sir., we were waiting for you".... "Wow", I couldn't believe that the conductor greeted me even though I was late. Could this be the turning point of the day, which all this while was terrible?
"Sir, we had to give your seat to a senior person. Would you mind take his place instead" before I could answer, he pointed at a seat next to a girl reading a novel. How could I walk away from a chance like this, to help someone elderly? "No problem".
I placed my bag in the cabin when I looked at her face... I noticed that she was talking, but for some reason it was all melodies. She smiled at me and gave way for me to step in to my seat. In my head...it was still the same melodies.
"Stop it!!! don't you remember the last few Hundred times you heard the same melody" shouted my damn conscience. "No this time it is different", "Yeah! Just like the those Hundred times" came the reply.
"Damn you!!!"..."What!!!" came a feminine voice, it was the girl "Oops I was too loud". "Hi my name is...Blah blah", how else could I avoid the embarrassment. With the formal introduction, we spoke for some time (some 4 hours) starting from the novel she was reading to the steps for World Peace. There were lots to discuss and so little time...thats when the lights went off. (Thanks to the conductor)
She wished me goodnight and went off to sleep. Little would she know that i would hardly sleep that night. In a attempt to get some sleep I closed my eyes... the melodies started all over again. The rest 4 hours of the travel seemed longer than the initial few hours.
The sunrise was looking beautiful than before, "Ohh, you woke up early!!! good morning" came her voice. "Yeah, i usually wake up early" i lied to her without any regret. She was planning to attend an job interview that day and was all excited about it... few more minutes passed by in our conversation as we reached our destination.
Everyone except us, were in a hurry to get out as the bus entered the bus bay. We waited until the everyone else got down. I helped her with the luggage and as we stepped out, the conductor winked at me. We thanked the conductor and walked along the pathway.
We walked side by side but never spoke a word. Seemed like she was also finding it hard to part. Where are those melodies."There she is..." pointing to his friend who had come to receive her, "Come let me intro you to her...".
