And love happened…
Bunty’s face could hardly be seen so wrapped was she in her layers of mufflers and cap. The others grinned whenever they caught each other’s eye. Having been born and brought up in the North they were much better equipped to handle the cold.
Bunty came from the more moderate climates of the Eastern part of the country. Incessant rains she could understand and bear but this bone chilling cold almost brought tears to her eyes. For the umpteenth time she wondered how she had let that scatterbrained Neha talk her into visiting Manali in December.
She looked around to see both the guys lighting cigarettes. It looked like something that would give warmth, she wondered if she should take a chance and smoke one. Inspite of herself she wondered yet again how the lean, serious, methodical Rohit could be so enamored by Neha who was a compulsive flirt and had to be upto some wicked plan at any given moment.
She on the other hand had so much in common with him, their serious natures, zodiac signs, songs they liked, poetry they wrote and even their pet names ‘Bunty’. She had blushed to her roots when Neha pointed this out. Didn’t Rohit notice? He had just looked amused and then gone on to discuss cricket scores with Subir completely oblivious to the effect this piece of information had on her. Neha too seemed to not have noticed; probably her mind had already traveled onto her next naughty adventure.
There she was chattering away nineteen to a dozen to a lady with a child who seemed to be sulking. She was upto her usual antics pulling faces at the child, tickling him till he eventually forgot what it was he was sulking about and gave a sheepish smile. Bunty saw with a mix of envy and irritation at the easy way she could chat up just about anyone, anywhere. She on the other hand was forever trying to string together a coherent sentence when faced with people for the first time.
She looked around again at Rohit to see if he had noticed what Neha was upto. Rohit looked up just then to see her looking at him and gave her a quizzing look she nodded her head towards Neha and hoped to catch a look of irritation on Rohit’s face and was rewarded with it.
He looked at her with consternation and as Bunty readied herself for the flash of anger, he walked towards Neha and pulled her cape over her head and firmly tied it back in place. Neha kept on chatting with the kid at the same time squirming to get out of Rohit’s arms.
His task over he moved away and came straight towards Bunty, she wondered if he was coming to readjust her cap and muffler also and prepared an ‘I can take care of myself’ speech. Rohit however had no such plans he came over and with a smile which always managed to turn her to jelly told her “thanks yaar, always need to keep an eye on her. She can never be trusted to look after herself”. She gave a weak smile and nodded burrowing her hands further into her pockets to steady herself. His look changed to concern, “you are cold aren’t you? Why don’t you get into the bus and sit inside. It is far more cozy inside.”
“I don’t want to be sitting alone.” She said and then bit her tongue as she remembered that Rohit would only be too glad to send Subir to sit with her. It was an unspoken plan amongst her friends to team her up with Subir.
She was always hanging out with Neha and Subir with Rohit so it seemed like a very convenient thing to do. Only she wasn’t thinking about him at all. Whenever she was with the group her eyes and ears only followed Rohit.
And sure enough Rohit said “I need to keep an eye on Neha, I will send Subir to sit with you” he guided her into the bus before she could protest and taking her bag off her shoulders, located her seat and put the bag into the overhead rack as she obediently sat down. ‘Atleast he cares. There is hope, there is hope’ sang her heart.
“Subir will be here in a moment” promised Rohit as he jumped down and went off.
She sat back and sighed. She knew what had induced her into going with them to catch the snow at Manali, it was the chance to be with Rohit even if it be at a distance atleast he would be around 24 hours for the next three days.
Subir walked in and looked around to see her staring resolutely out of the window with a grunt he sat down besides her. She turned away from the window and said a low hi and then fumbled for something polite to say, after all he had come to give her company.
Before she could start however he did. ‘These guys are really in love yaar. They can’t do without touching each other every ten minutes. ‘ ‘who are you talking about?’ she asked, dreading the answer. ‘Rohit and Neha silly who else. Didn’t you see him walking over to adjust her cape?’ ‘What’s that got to do with love? She rasped. He didn’t notice her voice and went on to explain ‘When a guy is in love he wants to keep touching all the time.’ ‘That they do in any case’ she couldn’t help remarking. He was taken aback and then laughed nodding his head at the truth in her statement. Subir the self styled psychoanalyst wondered what had prompted her to say that. He thought he should ask if she had any bad experiences then thought best not to. She rarely opened up to him and he didn’t want to try his luck with something that may have been unpleasant.
They lapsed into a silence, as neither knew how to continue. Bunty went back to looking out of the window and Subir thought about all the uncomfortable silences he had shared with her. That night at the Red fort mela stuck out when sitting in the giant ferris wheel they had been dizzy with delight & fright and as they swooshed down they could see Rohit and Neha on the seat in front in a tight embrace with their lips locked in one long kiss. He had wanted to badly touch Bunty if not a kiss atleast to hold hands or something. He could see she was frightened but too proud to admit. He kept wondering if it would be all right to put a hand over her shoulder and just when he got up the courage to touch her, the wheel came to a stop. He slowly let his hand fall and gave a sheepish grin while she gave him a puzzled look, she hadn’t seen his hand poised just over her shoulder for the past three minutes and didn’t know what to make of his grin.
He couldn’t make out what to make of this girl she seemed willing to talk when Neha and Rohit were around butwould lapse into a sullen silence the moment they were alone which was quite often because Neha would invariably walk off in some direction with Rohit after her and he would have to stay back with Bunty as most times she wouldn’t be interested enough to join them. Then they would wait for those two to return, sometimes Subir felt it would have been better to have actually gone with them but then it would be too cruel to leave Bunty all alone, so he stayed back shifting from one foot to another, kicking pebbles, looking at her and then looking away, sharing an uncomfortable silence.
The driver climbed onto the bus and started it. ‘Thank God’ they both said at the same time and smiled. Finally it was time to move from Delhi. The other travelers started walking in and just as they were wondering what happened to Neha and Rohit, they heard her saying something about taking off the jacket since the bus interiors are warm and Rohit threatening to leave her behind if she didn’t keep wearing it.
Neha was looking cross as she walked toward them, Rohit held on to her jacket with one hand while taking her bag with the other. He pushed her into her seat and then threw his own and her bag onto the overhead racks. Bunty’s heart went out to him ‘poor guy was so concerned for a girl who just didn’t care enough for him’.
Subir saw the tension brewing and said ‘guys cheer-up we are finally moving’ and as if on cue the bus started moving, making Neha forget her bad humor of a moment ago as she gave a shriek and clapped her hands at the thought of the adventures to come. Rohit gave his friend a slap on the shoulder ‘great timing as usual’ Subir gave a wry smile ‘only in things which don’t mean much’.
They were a peculiar group, Rohit was pursuing his postgraduate studies while also holding a job. Subir had met him at a job interview and they had got acquainted. Neither got through that one and they lost touch only to meet at a consultant's office again after six months. They had burst out laughing on recognizing each other both had asked the same question ‘still out of a job’. Subir had actually gone back to visit his family and stayed on for over four months. Rohit had stayed on in the job he was holding for another three months and then left in disgust.
Both were out of jobs and out of favor at home for leaving jobs so casually. They came from middle class families where jobs were almost like marriage only one in a lifetime. Their parents failed to understand all that they expected a job to do for them, challenging, thrilling, opening new horizons, opportunity to grow, etc. Their generation looked at a job as only one thing - a stable opportunity to earn an honest living.
Rohit and Subir shared their dilemma over a cigarette and a friendship was forged.
Where Rohit is, Neha is bound to follow, Subir met her the following week when he went to meet Rohit at his place to discuss some options and basically while away time. She had been chatting with Rohit's mom, her hand covered in flour trying hard to make a pefectly round roti as Rohit's mom kept telling her what to do and his younger sister rolled over with laughter. Rohit too was enjoying the scene from a distance and he took Subir directly to the kitchen to join in the fun. Subir had thought it was a neighbour or a cousin and had been really struck when Rohit introduced Neha as his girlfriend. Neha had looked up puzzled at the new presence and then gone back to her roti which looked more like a star than the moon.
Subir looked on with the rest at her brave attempts at roti making. Finally Rohit pulled her away to the sink and said "some people are meant for better things. Come and help Subir rewrite his resume" Neha protested but relief showed on her face for having got out of it.
She sat down with them and wrote out his resume and options for the covering letter as he and Rohit chatted about sports and music. Later she conspiratorially told Subir 'am utterly hopeless at rotis can't make one to save myself Rohit stays with me because he keeps changing jobs and needs my writing skills '. Before he could answer Rohit had piped in 'and she with me because she loves rotis and I make them well.'
Neha was doing her Master's in English and through her he came to know Bunty her friend from college. Neha had introduced her as "Bunty, Rohit's namesake" and she had turned a deep crimson. Subir was bowled over by this shy girl with luminous eyes.
Bunty came from the more moderate climates of the Eastern part of the country. Incessant rains she could understand and bear but this bone chilling cold almost brought tears to her eyes. For the umpteenth time she wondered how she had let that scatterbrained Neha talk her into visiting Manali in December.
She looked around to see both the guys lighting cigarettes. It looked like something that would give warmth, she wondered if she should take a chance and smoke one. Inspite of herself she wondered yet again how the lean, serious, methodical Rohit could be so enamored by Neha who was a compulsive flirt and had to be upto some wicked plan at any given moment.
She on the other hand had so much in common with him, their serious natures, zodiac signs, songs they liked, poetry they wrote and even their pet names ‘Bunty’. She had blushed to her roots when Neha pointed this out. Didn’t Rohit notice? He had just looked amused and then gone on to discuss cricket scores with Subir completely oblivious to the effect this piece of information had on her. Neha too seemed to not have noticed; probably her mind had already traveled onto her next naughty adventure.
There she was chattering away nineteen to a dozen to a lady with a child who seemed to be sulking. She was upto her usual antics pulling faces at the child, tickling him till he eventually forgot what it was he was sulking about and gave a sheepish smile. Bunty saw with a mix of envy and irritation at the easy way she could chat up just about anyone, anywhere. She on the other hand was forever trying to string together a coherent sentence when faced with people for the first time.
She looked around again at Rohit to see if he had noticed what Neha was upto. Rohit looked up just then to see her looking at him and gave her a quizzing look she nodded her head towards Neha and hoped to catch a look of irritation on Rohit’s face and was rewarded with it.
He looked at her with consternation and as Bunty readied herself for the flash of anger, he walked towards Neha and pulled her cape over her head and firmly tied it back in place. Neha kept on chatting with the kid at the same time squirming to get out of Rohit’s arms.
His task over he moved away and came straight towards Bunty, she wondered if he was coming to readjust her cap and muffler also and prepared an ‘I can take care of myself’ speech. Rohit however had no such plans he came over and with a smile which always managed to turn her to jelly told her “thanks yaar, always need to keep an eye on her. She can never be trusted to look after herself”. She gave a weak smile and nodded burrowing her hands further into her pockets to steady herself. His look changed to concern, “you are cold aren’t you? Why don’t you get into the bus and sit inside. It is far more cozy inside.”
“I don’t want to be sitting alone.” She said and then bit her tongue as she remembered that Rohit would only be too glad to send Subir to sit with her. It was an unspoken plan amongst her friends to team her up with Subir.
She was always hanging out with Neha and Subir with Rohit so it seemed like a very convenient thing to do. Only she wasn’t thinking about him at all. Whenever she was with the group her eyes and ears only followed Rohit.
And sure enough Rohit said “I need to keep an eye on Neha, I will send Subir to sit with you” he guided her into the bus before she could protest and taking her bag off her shoulders, located her seat and put the bag into the overhead rack as she obediently sat down. ‘Atleast he cares. There is hope, there is hope’ sang her heart.
“Subir will be here in a moment” promised Rohit as he jumped down and went off.
She sat back and sighed. She knew what had induced her into going with them to catch the snow at Manali, it was the chance to be with Rohit even if it be at a distance atleast he would be around 24 hours for the next three days.
Subir walked in and looked around to see her staring resolutely out of the window with a grunt he sat down besides her. She turned away from the window and said a low hi and then fumbled for something polite to say, after all he had come to give her company.
Before she could start however he did. ‘These guys are really in love yaar. They can’t do without touching each other every ten minutes. ‘ ‘who are you talking about?’ she asked, dreading the answer. ‘Rohit and Neha silly who else. Didn’t you see him walking over to adjust her cape?’ ‘What’s that got to do with love? She rasped. He didn’t notice her voice and went on to explain ‘When a guy is in love he wants to keep touching all the time.’ ‘That they do in any case’ she couldn’t help remarking. He was taken aback and then laughed nodding his head at the truth in her statement. Subir the self styled psychoanalyst wondered what had prompted her to say that. He thought he should ask if she had any bad experiences then thought best not to. She rarely opened up to him and he didn’t want to try his luck with something that may have been unpleasant.
They lapsed into a silence, as neither knew how to continue. Bunty went back to looking out of the window and Subir thought about all the uncomfortable silences he had shared with her. That night at the Red fort mela stuck out when sitting in the giant ferris wheel they had been dizzy with delight & fright and as they swooshed down they could see Rohit and Neha on the seat in front in a tight embrace with their lips locked in one long kiss. He had wanted to badly touch Bunty if not a kiss atleast to hold hands or something. He could see she was frightened but too proud to admit. He kept wondering if it would be all right to put a hand over her shoulder and just when he got up the courage to touch her, the wheel came to a stop. He slowly let his hand fall and gave a sheepish grin while she gave him a puzzled look, she hadn’t seen his hand poised just over her shoulder for the past three minutes and didn’t know what to make of his grin.
He couldn’t make out what to make of this girl she seemed willing to talk when Neha and Rohit were around butwould lapse into a sullen silence the moment they were alone which was quite often because Neha would invariably walk off in some direction with Rohit after her and he would have to stay back with Bunty as most times she wouldn’t be interested enough to join them. Then they would wait for those two to return, sometimes Subir felt it would have been better to have actually gone with them but then it would be too cruel to leave Bunty all alone, so he stayed back shifting from one foot to another, kicking pebbles, looking at her and then looking away, sharing an uncomfortable silence.
The driver climbed onto the bus and started it. ‘Thank God’ they both said at the same time and smiled. Finally it was time to move from Delhi. The other travelers started walking in and just as they were wondering what happened to Neha and Rohit, they heard her saying something about taking off the jacket since the bus interiors are warm and Rohit threatening to leave her behind if she didn’t keep wearing it.
Neha was looking cross as she walked toward them, Rohit held on to her jacket with one hand while taking her bag with the other. He pushed her into her seat and then threw his own and her bag onto the overhead racks. Bunty’s heart went out to him ‘poor guy was so concerned for a girl who just didn’t care enough for him’.
Subir saw the tension brewing and said ‘guys cheer-up we are finally moving’ and as if on cue the bus started moving, making Neha forget her bad humor of a moment ago as she gave a shriek and clapped her hands at the thought of the adventures to come. Rohit gave his friend a slap on the shoulder ‘great timing as usual’ Subir gave a wry smile ‘only in things which don’t mean much’.
They were a peculiar group, Rohit was pursuing his postgraduate studies while also holding a job. Subir had met him at a job interview and they had got acquainted. Neither got through that one and they lost touch only to meet at a consultant's office again after six months. They had burst out laughing on recognizing each other both had asked the same question ‘still out of a job’. Subir had actually gone back to visit his family and stayed on for over four months. Rohit had stayed on in the job he was holding for another three months and then left in disgust.
Both were out of jobs and out of favor at home for leaving jobs so casually. They came from middle class families where jobs were almost like marriage only one in a lifetime. Their parents failed to understand all that they expected a job to do for them, challenging, thrilling, opening new horizons, opportunity to grow, etc. Their generation looked at a job as only one thing - a stable opportunity to earn an honest living.
Rohit and Subir shared their dilemma over a cigarette and a friendship was forged.
Where Rohit is, Neha is bound to follow, Subir met her the following week when he went to meet Rohit at his place to discuss some options and basically while away time. She had been chatting with Rohit's mom, her hand covered in flour trying hard to make a pefectly round roti as Rohit's mom kept telling her what to do and his younger sister rolled over with laughter. Rohit too was enjoying the scene from a distance and he took Subir directly to the kitchen to join in the fun. Subir had thought it was a neighbour or a cousin and had been really struck when Rohit introduced Neha as his girlfriend. Neha had looked up puzzled at the new presence and then gone back to her roti which looked more like a star than the moon.
Subir looked on with the rest at her brave attempts at roti making. Finally Rohit pulled her away to the sink and said "some people are meant for better things. Come and help Subir rewrite his resume" Neha protested but relief showed on her face for having got out of it.
She sat down with them and wrote out his resume and options for the covering letter as he and Rohit chatted about sports and music. Later she conspiratorially told Subir 'am utterly hopeless at rotis can't make one to save myself Rohit stays with me because he keeps changing jobs and needs my writing skills '. Before he could answer Rohit had piped in 'and she with me because she loves rotis and I make them well.'
Neha was doing her Master's in English and through her he came to know Bunty her friend from college. Neha had introduced her as "Bunty, Rohit's namesake" and she had turned a deep crimson. Subir was bowled over by this shy girl with luminous eyes.
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