And love happened … (part 2)
Rohit was trying to balance Neha’s dozing head on his shoulder while trying to stretch his legs and gain a slightly more comfortable position. These seats in buses and cinema halls were always a torture for him. He couldn’t manage the feat and Neha woke up bleary eyed to ask him what the matter was, saw the look on his face and realized it was the “Mr. Long legs” problem. She pulled up his feet onto her lap, telling him to turn so that he was stretched out over her. He said it was a stupid pose but did it nevertheless since there was no getting away from an idea once Neha had got it in her head. She gave a triumphant smile and then promptly dozed off again.
Her confident smile had been the first thing he had noticed when he had met her at Malika’s party. She had known no one there and Malika had asked him and Amit to look after her. However within a few minutes of being introduced it looked like they were the one’s who had been put in her care. She asked them half a dozen questions in rapid-fire format. And then skipped through topics as diverse as the last cricket match, Jagjit Singh’s show which she desperately wanted to attend, to the day’s political scenario and a girl in a backless top who had just walked in.
Amit the lady-killer had immediately taken over almost elbowing Rohit out of the way. After watching them animatedly discuss the latest Bollywood flick Rohit had walked off to find something to drink. He returned to them almost a quarter of an hour later to find them still talking at a breathless speed. Neha had looked up to say ‘where did you go? I thought you went to get us something to drink and you plain disappeared. What are you drinking?’ and without waiting for an answer, she had taken his glass and taken a large sip before he could tell her it was a heady mixture of rum and whiskey that some friends had challenged him to drink up and stay steady.
As was to be expected she almost choked on it, gasped for a while before managing a ‘what was that?’ Amit ran to get water and Rohit looked on amused. ‘You should have waited for me to tell you what it is before snatching it from me. This will be a lesson for you to not be so impulsive.’ He replied and immediately regretted his words; he wasn’t normally like this, what had got into him he wondered. Neha surprisingly for the first time in the evening was at a loss for words and just stared at him for a while before accepting the glass of water that Amit offered.
Malika had followed Amit and she took Neha away with her to meet some other friends admonishing the boys for what she took to be their fault. Neha had followed without a word.
Rohit had immediately felt bad for the girl. She talked a lot but wasn’t really bad. He turned to find Amit glaring at him. ‘almost paat gayi this. Abhi aana tha?’ “How would I have known what stage you were at with her? And by the way instead of just yakking so much if you had the courtesy to get her a drink this wouldn’t have happened” he retorted. Amit was his best friend right from school but sometimes his fascination for the female of the species got to him.
The next two days he had fought with the idea of calling Neha to apologize. He thought of the possible ways of getting in touch with her. Amit may have taken her number but asking him meant handling a barrage of questions so would it be with Malika who would immediately go on her match-fixing sprees. That wouldn’t do at all. Then he remembered that Neha had said she was doing her Master’s in English he thought he would take a chance and visit the English faculty at the university.
He had hurried towards the university fearing he might change his mind half way. He reached the campus only to realize that he didn’t even know if she was in her first year or finals nor did he know her full name. There must be a dozen Neha’s in English. He had walked out of the campus not knowing what to do next. As he was making his way past a flower vendor he saw her standing there with a bunch of white and red roses in her hand vehemently arguing with the vendor. He moved closer to hear what the discussion was about and realized that they were arguing over a difference of ten rupees. He silently handed the guy the money Neha looked up and gaped at seeing him. “You can’t pay for my flowers.” she muttered not wanting to make a scene and yet not wanting him to pay for her flowers.
They walked away from the flower shop ‘I came looking for you’ he said ignoring her protest ‘didn’t know where to find you and then suddenly saw you at the flower shop. Am glad you were there so I paid. Does that help?’ she looked stunned for a while and then recovered quickly to ask the next question ‘why were you looking for me?’ now it was his turn to be uncomfortable, ‘wanted to say sorry for the other day I was very rude to you’. She gave him a queer look “I thought I was the one at fault for snatching your drink why would you want to say sorry?’
He looked at her and started laughing, “Do you ever speak in statements?” “What do you mean? She asked and then started laughing. “Am too curious I guess” she had shrugged. They had gone for a coffee and then planned to meet up for the Jagjit Singh concert if he could manage the tickets.
Their friendship or rather relationship had started from there on. They hardly ever behaved like a couple. He was more the elder brother looking on fondly as she chatted up total strangers, climbed up walls, forts, trees and at times people’s nerves stepping in only when she was at risk of some sort. She rewarded his patience by trusting him completely.
Neha woke up with a start as the bus gave a sharp jolt, she looked at Rohit to find him smiling his reassuring smile at her and she smiled back. ‘Your legs feel better?’ he nodded, had to admit her harebrained ideas actually worked. She gave a ‘told you so’ grin and gave him a quick hug. ‘What will I do without you?’ Rohit said, ruffling her unruly hair, ‘and me without you? But why should we talk about that? It will never happen. We will always be together’ she replied.
‘What makes you think so?’ he had asked not that he doubted it but it was good fun to rib her for a change. She grew worried at that, “are you having doubts? Would you rather not have me in your life? You just need to say the word I will walk out you know that.” Rohit couldn’t help laughing out this was one bait she always bit. ‘No Love was only joking don’t worry’ he said trying to placate her.
Neha kept frowning for some time in an attempt to show him how hurt she was but then couldn’t resist smiling too. She couldn’t do without him. He was so different from the other men she knew, never trying to control her, never asking her to confirm to the society dictated norms that she so hated and understanding her love for adventure and fun. If he had to absolutely step down on some cranky plan of her’s he did it with care, sitting down to explain logically why it wouldn’t do to carry it through. Even her Mom depended on him to persuade her out of her wicked plans at times. ‘Those are the only times mom accepts Rohit as a presence in my life’ she rued inwardly. His was the calming influence in her otherwise chaotic existence. This calmness was what had attracted her about him right from the beginning, he seemed at peace with the world and its beings, an oasis to her constant sand storms.
She still remembered how stupefied she had been when he had told her that he loved her, sitting on the stairs of a half constructed mall that they used to stroll around in. It was a dream come true, she had dreaded saying the words herself for fear that he would ridicule her for becoming filmy.
But everything about them had been filmy right from the beginning. The meeting at Malika’s party, she had not wanted to go, Malika had been adamant about her coming. The sudden meeting three days later at the flower shop. She never did get round to telling him that the flowers had been meant for him. She had got his address from Malika and was planning to meet him. The first time he had kissed her when she sprained her leg while trying to jump of a wall in the Old Fort in her high heels. The pain had been awful and inspite of her best efforts she had cried out every time she tried to put the foot down. He had finally picked her up in his arms and walked with her. She had been equally embarrassed and grateful and said so and in reply he had bent down and kissed her on the forehead.
Muffled voices from behind drew her attention and she saw that Subir and Bunty were talking about something. She was glad for her friends, Subir was a nice boy and Bunty needed someone to lift her spirits, make her feel that all men are not alike. Bunty had been molested as a kid by a neighbor and that had made her very wary of men as a result.
The only guy to whom she had seen her open up had been Rohit. She had hinted to Rohit about Bunty’s past without divulging details and he had been extra careful around her, trying to make he feel at ease, drawing her out in conversations and if all else failed asking her to sing along as he sang his favorite old film songs. Neha had been grateful to Rohit for taking care of her friend and through him she had put Bunty in touch with Subir whom she found a very understanding person.
However Subir seemed to make very little headway with Bunty. She seemed to barely tolerate him because he was a friend of Rohit’s and she didn’t want to create any unpleasantness. ‘Hopefully this trip would help change the equation and Bunty would open up to Subir as well. Poor guy he was so hopelessly in love with her and this girl just became wooden in his presence’ she thought. She had time and again contrived to leave them together by suddenly walking away dragging Rohit after her but when she would return she would find the two staring in different directions counting stars, cars or grass blades, doing just about anything but definitely not talking.
The bus suddenly stopped and brought her out of her musings. She looked across at Rohit who had already jumped up wanting to stretch his legs. She followed him and so did the others. They trooped out of the bus, looked around and saw the small roadside dhaba choc-a-bloc with people from their and two other buses that had stopped there.The dhabas on the other side of the highway though were empty and they decided to go over.
They ordered some tea and sat warming themselves at the small bonfire. Somehow the long ride had made them all introspective and they continued in a companionable silence sipping tea, the TV in the corner was showing Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge and they watched it marveling at the scenes from Europe.
A bus came from the opposite side and travelers spilled forth at the dhaba diverting their attention. They saw the medley crowd slowly walk out of the bus, blink a few times and then stretch their limbs trying to get the circulation going. The mandatory sardarji loudly ordered chotu to get his order while a middle aged woman looked around for a safe place to sit with her luggage firmly by her side. The silent place of a while ago was now full of noise and life.
Another bus honked somewhere and they looked up to see a bus move out from the opposite side. ‘Doesn’t look like ours or is it?’ enquired Neha always the first one with a question. Subir gave it a hard look and said ‘no the number is different.’ Rohit in the meantime was paying the dhaba walla he looked back in time to see the bus’s tail lights vanish in the darkness. “Hey! That was our bus” he shouted and before they knew was rushing across the road to the other side. By the time the others followed the bus was nowhere to be seen and they were left panting in the middle of the road with nothing but the clothes on their back.
Her confident smile had been the first thing he had noticed when he had met her at Malika’s party. She had known no one there and Malika had asked him and Amit to look after her. However within a few minutes of being introduced it looked like they were the one’s who had been put in her care. She asked them half a dozen questions in rapid-fire format. And then skipped through topics as diverse as the last cricket match, Jagjit Singh’s show which she desperately wanted to attend, to the day’s political scenario and a girl in a backless top who had just walked in.
Amit the lady-killer had immediately taken over almost elbowing Rohit out of the way. After watching them animatedly discuss the latest Bollywood flick Rohit had walked off to find something to drink. He returned to them almost a quarter of an hour later to find them still talking at a breathless speed. Neha had looked up to say ‘where did you go? I thought you went to get us something to drink and you plain disappeared. What are you drinking?’ and without waiting for an answer, she had taken his glass and taken a large sip before he could tell her it was a heady mixture of rum and whiskey that some friends had challenged him to drink up and stay steady.
As was to be expected she almost choked on it, gasped for a while before managing a ‘what was that?’ Amit ran to get water and Rohit looked on amused. ‘You should have waited for me to tell you what it is before snatching it from me. This will be a lesson for you to not be so impulsive.’ He replied and immediately regretted his words; he wasn’t normally like this, what had got into him he wondered. Neha surprisingly for the first time in the evening was at a loss for words and just stared at him for a while before accepting the glass of water that Amit offered.
Malika had followed Amit and she took Neha away with her to meet some other friends admonishing the boys for what she took to be their fault. Neha had followed without a word.
Rohit had immediately felt bad for the girl. She talked a lot but wasn’t really bad. He turned to find Amit glaring at him. ‘almost paat gayi this. Abhi aana tha?’ “How would I have known what stage you were at with her? And by the way instead of just yakking so much if you had the courtesy to get her a drink this wouldn’t have happened” he retorted. Amit was his best friend right from school but sometimes his fascination for the female of the species got to him.
The next two days he had fought with the idea of calling Neha to apologize. He thought of the possible ways of getting in touch with her. Amit may have taken her number but asking him meant handling a barrage of questions so would it be with Malika who would immediately go on her match-fixing sprees. That wouldn’t do at all. Then he remembered that Neha had said she was doing her Master’s in English he thought he would take a chance and visit the English faculty at the university.
He had hurried towards the university fearing he might change his mind half way. He reached the campus only to realize that he didn’t even know if she was in her first year or finals nor did he know her full name. There must be a dozen Neha’s in English. He had walked out of the campus not knowing what to do next. As he was making his way past a flower vendor he saw her standing there with a bunch of white and red roses in her hand vehemently arguing with the vendor. He moved closer to hear what the discussion was about and realized that they were arguing over a difference of ten rupees. He silently handed the guy the money Neha looked up and gaped at seeing him. “You can’t pay for my flowers.” she muttered not wanting to make a scene and yet not wanting him to pay for her flowers.
They walked away from the flower shop ‘I came looking for you’ he said ignoring her protest ‘didn’t know where to find you and then suddenly saw you at the flower shop. Am glad you were there so I paid. Does that help?’ she looked stunned for a while and then recovered quickly to ask the next question ‘why were you looking for me?’ now it was his turn to be uncomfortable, ‘wanted to say sorry for the other day I was very rude to you’. She gave him a queer look “I thought I was the one at fault for snatching your drink why would you want to say sorry?’
He looked at her and started laughing, “Do you ever speak in statements?” “What do you mean? She asked and then started laughing. “Am too curious I guess” she had shrugged. They had gone for a coffee and then planned to meet up for the Jagjit Singh concert if he could manage the tickets.
Their friendship or rather relationship had started from there on. They hardly ever behaved like a couple. He was more the elder brother looking on fondly as she chatted up total strangers, climbed up walls, forts, trees and at times people’s nerves stepping in only when she was at risk of some sort. She rewarded his patience by trusting him completely.
Neha woke up with a start as the bus gave a sharp jolt, she looked at Rohit to find him smiling his reassuring smile at her and she smiled back. ‘Your legs feel better?’ he nodded, had to admit her harebrained ideas actually worked. She gave a ‘told you so’ grin and gave him a quick hug. ‘What will I do without you?’ Rohit said, ruffling her unruly hair, ‘and me without you? But why should we talk about that? It will never happen. We will always be together’ she replied.
‘What makes you think so?’ he had asked not that he doubted it but it was good fun to rib her for a change. She grew worried at that, “are you having doubts? Would you rather not have me in your life? You just need to say the word I will walk out you know that.” Rohit couldn’t help laughing out this was one bait she always bit. ‘No Love was only joking don’t worry’ he said trying to placate her.
Neha kept frowning for some time in an attempt to show him how hurt she was but then couldn’t resist smiling too. She couldn’t do without him. He was so different from the other men she knew, never trying to control her, never asking her to confirm to the society dictated norms that she so hated and understanding her love for adventure and fun. If he had to absolutely step down on some cranky plan of her’s he did it with care, sitting down to explain logically why it wouldn’t do to carry it through. Even her Mom depended on him to persuade her out of her wicked plans at times. ‘Those are the only times mom accepts Rohit as a presence in my life’ she rued inwardly. His was the calming influence in her otherwise chaotic existence. This calmness was what had attracted her about him right from the beginning, he seemed at peace with the world and its beings, an oasis to her constant sand storms.
She still remembered how stupefied she had been when he had told her that he loved her, sitting on the stairs of a half constructed mall that they used to stroll around in. It was a dream come true, she had dreaded saying the words herself for fear that he would ridicule her for becoming filmy.
But everything about them had been filmy right from the beginning. The meeting at Malika’s party, she had not wanted to go, Malika had been adamant about her coming. The sudden meeting three days later at the flower shop. She never did get round to telling him that the flowers had been meant for him. She had got his address from Malika and was planning to meet him. The first time he had kissed her when she sprained her leg while trying to jump of a wall in the Old Fort in her high heels. The pain had been awful and inspite of her best efforts she had cried out every time she tried to put the foot down. He had finally picked her up in his arms and walked with her. She had been equally embarrassed and grateful and said so and in reply he had bent down and kissed her on the forehead.
Muffled voices from behind drew her attention and she saw that Subir and Bunty were talking about something. She was glad for her friends, Subir was a nice boy and Bunty needed someone to lift her spirits, make her feel that all men are not alike. Bunty had been molested as a kid by a neighbor and that had made her very wary of men as a result.
The only guy to whom she had seen her open up had been Rohit. She had hinted to Rohit about Bunty’s past without divulging details and he had been extra careful around her, trying to make he feel at ease, drawing her out in conversations and if all else failed asking her to sing along as he sang his favorite old film songs. Neha had been grateful to Rohit for taking care of her friend and through him she had put Bunty in touch with Subir whom she found a very understanding person.
However Subir seemed to make very little headway with Bunty. She seemed to barely tolerate him because he was a friend of Rohit’s and she didn’t want to create any unpleasantness. ‘Hopefully this trip would help change the equation and Bunty would open up to Subir as well. Poor guy he was so hopelessly in love with her and this girl just became wooden in his presence’ she thought. She had time and again contrived to leave them together by suddenly walking away dragging Rohit after her but when she would return she would find the two staring in different directions counting stars, cars or grass blades, doing just about anything but definitely not talking.
The bus suddenly stopped and brought her out of her musings. She looked across at Rohit who had already jumped up wanting to stretch his legs. She followed him and so did the others. They trooped out of the bus, looked around and saw the small roadside dhaba choc-a-bloc with people from their and two other buses that had stopped there.The dhabas on the other side of the highway though were empty and they decided to go over.
They ordered some tea and sat warming themselves at the small bonfire. Somehow the long ride had made them all introspective and they continued in a companionable silence sipping tea, the TV in the corner was showing Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge and they watched it marveling at the scenes from Europe.
A bus came from the opposite side and travelers spilled forth at the dhaba diverting their attention. They saw the medley crowd slowly walk out of the bus, blink a few times and then stretch their limbs trying to get the circulation going. The mandatory sardarji loudly ordered chotu to get his order while a middle aged woman looked around for a safe place to sit with her luggage firmly by her side. The silent place of a while ago was now full of noise and life.
Another bus honked somewhere and they looked up to see a bus move out from the opposite side. ‘Doesn’t look like ours or is it?’ enquired Neha always the first one with a question. Subir gave it a hard look and said ‘no the number is different.’ Rohit in the meantime was paying the dhaba walla he looked back in time to see the bus’s tail lights vanish in the darkness. “Hey! That was our bus” he shouted and before they knew was rushing across the road to the other side. By the time the others followed the bus was nowhere to be seen and they were left panting in the middle of the road with nothing but the clothes on their back.
Comments
how come Subir was so sure about the bus number being different and was so wrong ?
anyway ... I am able to find some parallels between Neha & our Pinku herself :-))
waiting for the next post ...
Thanks yaar. and you are right I have missed a bus too but not just once but many a time in life. Guess what you see written stems from that.Neha has bits of me but only bits. Am to vainglorious to leave myself completely out I guess.