A smiling face sometimes makes you forget your surroundings. No matter
if it's just for a moment. The same thing happened with Vivek when he
was travelling in local train in the evening. It was Friday evening and
like everyone else he was relieved that the work is not going to trouble
him for next two days. He boarded the train from Churchgate in his
favorite compartment, First class next to the ladies compartment. He got
to his usual place from where he could look at the god's better
creation. No matter how cheap this habit was, he was not alone to pursue
it.
But today it was a different experience for him. After staring at the
obvious beauties, his eyes stuck on one girl. She was talking on her
mobile. While Vivek kept staring at her, she was completely engrossed in
the talks. The look on her face made Vivek forget his usual habit of
zooming onto other beauties.
When Vivek was lost in the thoughts of how beautiful the girl was, the
train halted at Dadar. Loads of creatures called people stormed in the
first class and occupied the empty space in front of him. The blocked
vision brought Vivek back to his senses and become aware of the crowd
around him.
It is very unlikely for any person in a local to vacate the coveted
sitting place called a wooden bench except when alighting on a
particular station. Especially when it is peak time where every standing
creature keeps crawling on each others' legs all the time. But for
Vivek, more than this wooden bench, a view of the eternal beauty was far
important. He got up from his seat and stretched himself towards the
compartment partition. Now he was just two feet away from the lady of
his dream. The only hindrance now was the women in the ladies
compartment were giving an irritated look to him.
Vivek again got lost in his thoughts and kept staring at her. Now it was
pretty obvious for that girl to feel uncomfortable with a stranger
looking at her without even blinking his eyes. After disconnecting the
call she gave a firm look to Vivek. After such an uncomfortable look it
was logical for Vivek to look somewhere else with embarrassment.
Although he was one of those "Window" compartment travelers, this time
his mind was the purest as compared to the others. The girl could sense
that look.
But still Vivek was a stranger to her and so she turned away from him
and stared outside the moving train.
Without any fear or hesitance, Vivek shouted, "Excuse me Madam!"
Except that Madam, every other lady in that moving box looked at him.
With not even one percent of embarrassment Vivek shouted again, "Madam!
Excuse Me?"
The girl turned around and with a hint of surprise on her face she
replied, "Yes?"
Vivek wanted to talk a lot with that beauty, but he had nothing to talk
about. With a bit of hesitation he thought of some topic to erupt from
his already-lost-in-girl's-eyes-mind. With lot of awkwardness he looked
away from the lady. His heart was pumping with a feeling of what that
girl will do now? Will she get other women in the compartment to shout
at me? Will she call the cops on the next station to arrest me? Will she
ask the prime minister of India to personally slap me? Vivek was
sweating a lot more as compared to others in that crowded first class.
The train reached Andheri and Vivek had to alight. He quickly rushed
towards the door thinking that he will never board 7:02 pm Virar local
again in his life. He got out of station in a rush and stood in the auto
rickshaw queue. He got in the shared auto and took out his handkerchief
to wipe off beads of sweat off his forehead. While two other people came
and sat next to him he was still lost in the thoughts of his stupid
behavior in the train. But he was not to be blamed. The girl in the
train was something special. Well, that's what Vivek thought.
The auto rickshaw got on the S.V. road and started moving towards his
usual way back home. Sometimes due to the eating habits of Indians it is
recommended to increase the seating space in Auto rickshaw if three
people are supposed to sit in. Vivek tried shift a bit to accommodate
the two ladies seating next to him. He glanced at those annoying ladies
and fortunately or unfortunately it was the same girl sitting next to
him. It seemed like the girl also realized it at the same time that the
guy supposedly teasing her in the train was sitting next to her. She
turned her head and started talking to her friend. Vivek again started
feeling his thumping heart.
After some awkward silence of few minutes, the girl turned her head
towards Vivek and asked, "So, you were asking me something?"
Well, Vivek never thought the girl would do something like that. Her
tone was a bit up straight. Vivek, "Errm, Sorry madam! My mistake! So
sorry! You see I have bit of a problem. Sometimes in the middle of a
conversation, I forget what I am talking about. So when I called you, I
definitely had something in my mind, but in the very next moment I
forgot about it."
Vivek cooked up some story as he had no other option but to respond. But
when he was speaking those empty words all he was thinking was ," My
God! She is B E A U T I F U L!"
The girl replied with a surprised look on her face, "Well, isn't that
weird? Or do you think I am that stupid to believe something like that?"
The conversation was taking an ugly face a bit.
Vivek tried to apologise again, "I am really sorry but let me think
about what I wanted to ask." And he started pretending that he is lost
in some great thoughts. He was actually lost on thoughts of cooking up
some story to avoid this embarrassment further. Eureka! Vivek with a
wide smile on his face continued, "Yeah! Now I remember! I just wanted
to know what is the make of your mobile?" Although he spoke out these
words, but after they were said Vivek understood that it was definitely
not a better story.
The girl with even more awkwardness on her face now replied, "Well, in a
crowded train compartment, you shouted at the top of you voice, asking a
stranger and that too a girl in a ladies compartment for a mobile model?
Are you nuts?"
Now her friend sitting next to her had a smile on her face. No matter
how hard the lady with the mobile tried to hide expressions on her face,
both the girls in the moving rickshaw burst into laughter. Vivek could
not understand what was happening. The lady with the mobile replied,
"Vivek, don't you remember me?"
Vivek was about to fall outside the rickshaw. He asked, "Well, no."
She said, "I am Ritu. Sanjay's sister. Any bells ringing in your head?"
Vivek then remembered a little twelve year old girl nagging behind her
sixteen year old brother and his friend to let her play with them. "Oh,
so you are Sanjay's sister? Well, could not recognize you. It's been
almost ten years since then."
"What does Sanjay do now?" The conversation started and both of them now
forgot about a person shouting at a lady stranger in a packed first
class compartment.
The thoughts were running through Vivek's mind while he was driving his
posh Fiat Linea. He smiled and looked at his wife taking a nap next to
him. It was a rainy day. It had been seven years for that train
incident. Had Vivek not shouted at the stranger in the train, Ritu would
not have been taking a nap next to him on their way to a hill station.
After all Mr. and Mrs. Vivek had a reservation made at a nice Spa resort
in Mahabaleswar.
Sometimes one crazy act can make you happy for all your life.
