And love happened …(part 3)

Bunty sat straight without a word and looked out almost willing herself to see the bus that must be traveling somewhere before them in the darkness. The others had more or less regained their composure and Neha was pulling Subir’s leg about the bus number. Subir had memorized the number of the bus he was standing in front of while at the terminal and it skipped him that they had got into not that but the next bus. He had been very embarrassed. They had just stood there not knowing what to do next when the headlights of another bus shone on them. The conductor had hailed them with a “bus miss ho gayi?" He had offered to drop them at the next stop. They had hesitated, between themselves they barely had enough money to get back to Delhi, if they traveled further up and then were not able to get to their bags they would be in deeper trouble. It would mean having to call up home for someone to come and fetch them.

Neha the ever impulsive had taken the decision for everyone by hopping into the bus with a “come on guys the bus must be barely a kilometer away we will catch up with it in a few minutes”. They had followed her not being able to decide much. The conductor a friendly fellow barely out of his teens had been encouraging, telling them they were sure to catch up with the bus if not in the night then surely in the morning when it would stop for refreshments.

Now crowded into the cabin of this bus listening to the blaring Punjabi music the driver was playing to keep himself from falling asleep, they were keeping up a forced cheerfulness if only to allay each others fears and uncertainties. Bunty looked back once again to see Neha discussing bus routes with the delighted conductor while Subir and Rohit looked on. She noticed Subir glance at her and turned back again to look at the empty road.

Dark roads had always fascinated her, the feeling that one didn’t know where they led, what was on the way and then the sudden flashes of light as a tea stall or a small hut went past. Being the daughter of a tea garden manager had meant that she travel a lot between her home in Assam and her boarding school in Darjeeling. She had always delighted in traveling unlike her friends who found the going away from home too heart wrenching to be able to enjoy the ride or the road. Enjoyed till that one time when in class seventh she had been driven down from the estate by her father only to realize that her regular bus had left. They had got delayed due to pouring rains and she had to reach school for the 2nd term papers beginning a day later. Both father and daughter were at their wits end when they chanced upon Sen a regular at her father’s club. He was traveling to Darjeeling to pick his wife who was visiting some relations there and was only too glad to drop Bunty off. Her father had effusively thanked him, himself unable to go as his boss was expected any moment on his half yearly visit to the estate. Bunty had climbed into Sen’s brand new ambassador car and waved her father goodbye promising to call home when she reached.

Sen drove on and she occupied herself with looking out of the window and stealing occasional glances at him. Though socially she was expected to call him Kaku (father’s younger brother) she had looked on him more as her friend someone she could share her dreams, long walks and an occasional game of badminton or ludo with, both of which he lost to her great delight. This was the first time since his marriage that they were alone and she found it difficult to speak to him. All their former camaraderie seemed wiped out by the presence of a glittering ring she could see on his finger and her eyes returned to it time and again. Sen had seemed content to drive on in silence as if oblivious to her presence next to him. She wondered if he was thinking about his wife. She had taken an instant dislike to the young bride even though she had tried to befriend her with gifts of chocolates, “am I a kid?” she had muttered to herself.

After two agonizing hours of silence Sen had asked her what was wrong? His sudden question had surprised her and in trying to answer her voice had choked up and tears risen to her eyes unbidden. She had looked down ashamed, not knowing how to go on or where to stop.

He had stopped the car and taken her hand in his, pulling her to him and giving her a one handed hug. She had been to dumb founded to protest and then truth to tell hadn’t she dreamt of just this so many times. His touch had released the dam of tears and she cried on in complete abandon. He had not said a word letting her cry, slowly massaging her neck as if to release all the pent up tension in her thirteen-year-old body. She had not realized when his hand had crept up her skirt to rest on her thigh but then as the pressure of his hands increased she had suddenly grown apprehensive, and tried to push him away. He had taken away his hand only to sweep back her hair from her face and then had suddenly gripped her hard and kissed her on the mouth forcing his tongue into her mouth tasting her and leaving a taste of his cigarettes in her. She had panicked trying to move away and kick at him but he had been too swift for her. With one quick movement he had torn away her skirt and panty. Crushing her into the seat with his weight as he kneaded her barely there breasts, she had closed her eyes in terror and didn’t even see it coming when he had entered her with such force that the breathe had been knocked out of her frail body.

She had woken up in a strange hospital bed; sore, unable to move, to see a lady police officer and a doctor looking at her intently. She had asked for her parents and then the nightmare of reliving the incident again and again infront of them, then the police, the court, the psychiatrists had started. It had taken her years to be able to bear any man apart from her father to touch her. She had tried hard to put it behind her and move on but it would perhaps take a lifetime to wipe that knowing look in people’s eyes.

That’s why when her admission to a Delhi college came through she had packed her bags and moved away without a second glance at her hometown. Glad for a second chance at life. She had met Neha on her first day in college and had been struck by her vivacity. They had slowly become good friends inspite of their differences and for the first time in her life she had felt like confiding her past without being goaded for it.

And then she had met Rohit. It had seemed so impossible for her to ever feel safe around any man but he had won her over with his polite, caring attitude. Knowing that Rohit was Neha’s boyfriend didn’t help to control her obsession for him. She had felt guilty initially but then she saw how much for granted Neha took him and she had started feeling hostile towards her. Rohit was so good to Neha, what did he get in return? A peck on the cheek or a hug once in a while, she would have laid down her life for a love like his. Inspite of herself she had started cataloguing Neha’s frivolities and using them as defense against her own feeling of guilt.

Rohit bend forward and helped Bunty who had dozed off into a more comfortable position. Subir extended his jacket to Rohit who rolled it up and used it as a cushion for her. She woke up to find him hovering over her for a moment a scream rose in her throat before she realized who it was and what he was doing. The lights of the truck from the other side suddenly illuminated the cabin and the driver cursed loudly as the light blinded them. Rohit had crashed on top of her as the bus swayed wildly.

There was a loud noise as the bus rammed into the stationary trailer packed with construction rods by the side of the road. Glass crashed on all sides and she hid under Rohit’s unmoving body. Once the bus had come to a shuddering stop she peeked out and shook Rohit who was lying motionless on her. He didn’t utter a word and she was frightened, she kicked at him wildly and only then he uttered the scream that she would remember for her life. Without looking up she knew that Neha was dead.

It had been like ages before the ambulances and firemen had arrived and released them from under the mangled bus. She had found Neha pinned to the cabin door with three rods from the truck struck through her body. Subir had been taken to the hospital he had a severe head concussion and his chances of survival were slim. Rohit was shell shocked. She had stood up marvelously under pressure explaining what she saw to the Police umpteenth times. Giving the details of their nearest relatives and then organizing a dharamshala room for them to wait for someone to come from Delhi. After all she had been through a calamity before and now she even had hope on her side, Rohit was totally dependant on her and she intended to keep it that way.

She looked up to find Rohit looking at her and gave an encouraging smile and thought 'love has to happen'...