She was haphazardly running towards the bus stop after swiping her card at the office exit gate. She noticed her bus from a distance as she limped while balancing her dupatta with one hand and her laptop bag with the other. This was the last bus for the day & hence she had to board it at any cost. Luckily, the driver noticed her and decided to wait until she had hopped on safely - a very rare perk of being a woman in a country like India sometimes.
The bus was crowded beyond an imaginable point. People struggled to chat/converse or play candy crush on their phones while attempting to balance themselves by dangling from the handles. The bus was supposed to be equipped with air conditioning - which was only in theory and certainly not in practice. The only respite - it was filled with the educated IT lot.
As the bus progressed its journey one bus stop at a time, the seats too started getting vacant one at a time as people started to alight. I looked at my watch & realised I still had another 15 minutes to go & hence taking a seat would be a welcome respite to my tired ankles.
As i proceeded towards the front of the bus, i saw a visual unlike the usual. Out of umpteen people mindlessly engaged with their smartphones, here was a boy calmly poring over the pages of a regular novel.He was dressed in formals albeit his sleeves were now rolled up & his top button left loose. I was instantly drawn to him, i wanted to know him better.
My mind threw a thousand conversation starters at me sensing my restlessness. However, one part of me did not want to disturb him in his endeavour. What if he is at the most interesting part of the novel? As i contemplated my next move, his phone rang. He lifted it up and casually replied in Konkani - “anik paach mintaan re”.(This translates to - “Five more minutes”)
My happiness knew no bounds - He was a Goan! Moreover, someone who stayed at a stone throw distance from my residence. I mean how often do bump into a fellow Goan in a software hub? Even though we all leave Goa on the pretext of a job, we rarely find each other in the realms of this giant city. Unlike people from other states like Orissa or Andhra Pradesh who are scattered around in Bangalore as densely as ants on a drop of honey!
I looked at the L.E.D signage above the driver’s seat & it flashed my bus stop. Alas, i had no time to spare. I pounced on his book with my hands to grab his attention & quickly blurted - Are you from Goa? He looked at me puzzled and obviously alarmed but somehow understood the seriousness of the situation and quickly responded in an affirmative.
With no time left to spare, my parting words to him were - Hi, i’m Aditi.
With this, i got off the bus partly amused partly dejected and partly tired as i approached my colony gate.
Did I actually do that? Did he hear my name properly?
What could have been?
Was one of my last thoughts before I retired for the day.
As I nonchalantly dozed off, the backlight on my cellphone flickered. There was a notification which read “You have a new Friend Request”
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