The Bus Journey

‘Hi Sameer, you are looking really happy today, is it love or is it dove?’ mocked my colleague as I entered my workplace.

‘Neither’, I said with a smile ‘I’m going back home for a week.’

‘Even better, enjoy the holidays.’

It was my first leave after 2 years and I was delighted. The day went as usual and I completed my work by 5 in the evening. I carried my luggage to office that day not knowing if I’d be able to finish my work early. I had forgotten my mobile charger and the battery was already a bit low. I left office and started for the bus station. In about 30 minutes I was at the bus stop. I had booked my tickets for the 7 p.m. bus and was sitting idly reading my book. Almost 1 hour passed and the bus arrived at 6:45. As I was getting up, I saw a well dressed man hurry to the ticket office. The bus cleaner took about 10 minutes to tidy the bus and by that time I called up at home and told them the bus number MH31 5055 and the time of arrival 7 am. As I was about to pick up my luggage to board the bus, I saw that man again, this time right in front of me.

‘I know I am troubling you, but I really need to get on this bus. I have an emergency and the next bus is at 10 pm. Please help me out. I would pay double the amount for the ticket, please let me travel on your seat.’

‘But even I need to be home early tomorrow’, I tried to argue.

‘I have purchased the ticket for the 10 pm bus, you can take this too.’

‘Not a bad deal’, I thought and agreed, took my fare and the 10 p.m. ticket and started reading the book again.

I had dinner and boarded the bus at 10 p.m., tuned in my IPod and went off to sleep. At about 2 a.m. the bus stopped in the jungle due to a flat tire. With nothing more to do I dozed off. In the morning I got to know that they took almost 2 hours to repair the puncture and we were about 3 hours off the scheduled time. When I reached the destination it was almost 1 in the noon.

The bus stop was walking distance from my place, so I decided to walk. When I reached home I saw a big crowd gathered around my house. A chill ran down my spine. What must have happened? Was papa alright? He didn’t keep well these days and that was one reason for me to come home. Even my younger brother rides the bike rashly? Did anything happen to him? I almost ran to my house, trying to push everyone aside as I tried to go in.

I could hear murmurs all around me.

‘He was such a good man.’ ‘How can god be so ignorant to good people?’ ‘God bless his soul.’ ‘This is such a great loss to the family.’

And suddenly I heard a shout from behind me, ‘Sameer’s here.’ There was pin drop silence for a moment and everyone turned to look at me.

The murmurs started getting louder. ‘What happened?’ I asked ‘tell me, is everyone all right?’

I glanced around the room to see my brother and my mother sitting at the far corner of the room. They stood up and ran towards me. I could see multiple emotions on their face at once. ‘What happened?’ I thought trying to clear my mind. And then I saw a small framed photograph on the table besides them. I squinted to see it clearly. It was my father’s photograph. He passed away this morning when he heard that the bus number MH31 5055 had met with an accident.

I wish I had not been ignorant and charged my mobile. I wish I had informed my family that I had changed my schedule. I wish I was responsible enough to understand why my father would always tell me ‘Keep calling, wherever you go.’


Epilogue: This story is dedicated to the several youngsters who get irritated when their parents ask them where they are. They feel the parents are not giving them the ‘FREEDOM’ they deserve. Please think twice before you switch off you mobile or ignore calls from your parents.

The Last Meeting ...

It had been 4 years today. On first thoughts, it felt like it was just yesterday, when they met each other and as he drove down to the florist to buy a bouquet for her, all the memories rushed back in his mind. He distinctly remembered the way they first met. After all, it was the same day, 4 years back.

That was one accident he didn’t regret at all, although he had a hairline fracture, it was worthwhile because that was the first time he had met her.

It was about 7 in the morning and he was going for his tuition classes. Standing at the traffic signal waiting for the lights to go green, he was casually glancing around, when he heard a loud scream accompanied by screeching of tires. And before he knew what was happening, he was on the ground with his bike over him. He turned around and was about to throw a volley of obscenities, when he saw a girl flat on the road with her scooty over her. She was carrying a couple of books and some flowers and was dressed like she was going somewhere important. As he got up pushing aside his bike, he saw the girl struggling to get up, tears running down her face. He felt a pang of guilt, not knowing why, and he went over to help her. Maybe the guilt was because he didn’t like to see the tears in her eyes. Her eyes were beautiful, dark and big. She had put some mascara too, which emphasized the size a bit more and as the tears ran down her eyes, the mascara left a dark trail all along her cheeks.

‘I’m sorry’, he said instinctively and what happened afterwards made him realize that he was in love. She gave him an innocent and confused look, tears still running down her face. Without saying a word she stood up and started gathering her things. While helping her, he saw a greeting card too, a birthday card.

‘I’m sorry’, he said again, ‘I spoiled your birthday.’

‘It’s not your fault, I couldn’t control my scooty. It’s me who should be sorry; I hope you are not hurt.’

‘No, I’m ok.’ I said but by then the pain had started to overpower all the other emotions. He saw one more rose lying on the road. He picked it up and handing it over to her, he said ‘Happy Birthday.’

She couldn’t help but smile and he realized that he had a crush on her. She invited him to her party in the evening and he obliged. Days went by and they fell deeper and deeper in love.

‘Here’s your change’, said the florist, pulling him back out of his memories. ‘Do you need a card over it?’

‘No, Thanks’, he said and walked out of the shop, heading to the destination of the meeting. It was just 5 mins walk from the florist’s shop. He reached quickly and walked directly to her.

‘Happy Birthday Sweetheart, how are you? It’s been so long since we last met but I’ve missed you with every passing day. I can’t tell you how I’ve desired to be by your side, to hold you and be close to you. I’ve missed your smile, your touch and your fragrance. It becomes difficult at times to stay away from you and I feel like crying but you know na, I’ve promised you that I would never cry. I love you honey’

Saying this he put the bouquet down over her grave and tears ran down his cheeks as he made the long walk back out of the gate.

Railway Station

It was about 9:30 in the evening that night and I was driving to the railway station to pick up a relative. The evening breeze felt good on my face and the slow gazaals on the radio added to the soothing effect. I parked my car and walked to the information board to find that the train was 30 minutes late. With not enough time to make a round trip back home, I decided to wait at the station itself.

I entered the platform and started to walk the whole length unconsciously humming the song that I heard on the radio a while back. While walking back, I saw a blue silhouette across the railway line. It was a pleasing shade of blue and I couldn’t help stealing a glance once a while. A fast local rushed thru the tracks between us not stopping at the platform and after the train passed by, I squinted again towards the place I saw the outline, but couldn’t see her.

My eyes went there a couple of times again but in vain and as she was starting to disappear from my mind, I heard a pleasant voice from behind me.

‘Excuse me’, I turned around to see an elegant woman in blue standing there.

‘Is she the same woman?’ I thought.

‘Ahem Ahem’, she cleared her throat conscious of the way I was looking at her.

‘Yes?’ I asked coming out of the trance. I felt my expressions deceiving me and revealing everything I was thinking at the moment.

‘May I stand with you for a moment; there are some guys over there that are troubling me. I’ll leave as soon as they go away. I hope you won’t mind.’

‘Not at all’, I said, hoping that the guys troubling her should never leave.

She just stood besides me but said nothing more. She just stared down the platform across the tracks. There was a cool breeze blowing and her flowing brown hairs were casting a spell on me. All I could do was stand there and admire her. Everything about her seemed to be perfect and I was wondering what she was doing here alone in the night.

‘Hi, I’m Saahil.’ I said trying to strike a conversation.

‘I’m Sonal.’ She replied not really interested in keeping the conversation going.

Maybe she’s scared of me too, I thought. I didn’t try to converse any further, but just stood at a distance stealing stares once a while. She wasn’t carrying any luggage and I wondered if she’d come here to pick someone up.

‘Waiting for someone?', I asked again, thinking I might miss the chance.

‘Yes’ she replied but didn’t elaborate.

What does she want? She seemed to behave in a very strange manner; I really couldn’t understand what was going thru her mind. Maybe she just wanted to feel safe and I was the only decent guy around(or so I thought).

Just as I was getting ready for the 3rd and final try to talk to her, she turned to me and after a moment gave me a smile. ‘Damn, this girl is going to get me crazy in no time.’ I thought. I opened my mouth to say something and I heard the voice.

‘Hi honey, where have you been? I’ve been searching for you all around.’

I couldn’t believe my ears, did I say that? But I saw her smile widen and thought maybe it’s a dream. I saw a man pass me from behind. He walked all the way to her and held her hand.

‘Lets go’, he said. ‘Its high time you get a mobile now.’ She just smiled back at him.

‘Thanks.’, she said turning back to me and just started to walk towards the exit. All I could manage was a smile as I saw her all the way to the exit, hoping against hope that she would turn back and give me one last glance.

‘ ....... is coming on platform number 1.’ blurted the platform speakers, jolting me back from the trance. The announcement was repeated, and it was the train I was waiting for. I glanced back again towards the exit wondering if it was my mind that was playing games or was she actually there.

And then I knew....