INTROSPECTING

It was morning and also the time to rush. Bags still unpacked, clothes lying in a mess around the room-some scattered on the unmade bed, the others tucked off carelessly in the shelves. ‘Damn it! It’s already 7:30.I think I won’t be able to make it to my aunt’s home this time,’ muttering to herself, Santoshi made a frantic effort to keep in pace with the unstoppable hands of the alarm clock. Within the next 5 minutes, she was ready-a quick breakfast, dressed up for the journey and her curly short hair combed(though it would be hard to believe that she had indeed combed her hair, as it is always that tuft of keratinized stuff glued naturally to her skull and  she couldn’t do anything but wonder how it could  be so rough and thick, and to add to it all, it’s curly; making it no better than a creeper growing on another tree in the dark interiors of a rainforest magnifying its canopy) .But it didn’t bother her at all. Her thick framed specs, the one she had been using since she was in her 5^th grade, and her short hair-both matched well with her personality making her a complete girl-not a meek one, who shrieks on seeing a cockroach or a chipkali, for that matter, but one who smashes the arthropod, holds it by its leg and coolly offers it a free ride to hell through the window. ‘It’s nothing dirty, the poor thing is made of chitin and chitin isn’t something that can make you vomit, is it?’ she would say every time her friends made faces on seeing her lift an insect carcass off the floor bare-handed. Absurd!!-Many would say and it is justified if it is said so.

In the bus stand, with her bag by her side, she began taking sips of mineral water to cool her body which was distraught with the unbearable rise in the Mecury level. Small boys in tattered clothes and legs as thin as branches of a tree moved around with bamboo fans persuading the people to buy them. So she was there on her own, awaiting her bus. The mineral water bottle which had cost her 4 rupees extra for the freezing, failed to serve its purpose. A man probably 40-45 years in age, she estimated from his appearance, came and stood near her. Cigarette smoke and the constant blabbering by a lady standing beside her, about her newly bought sari made her feel ill at ease. The thought that she was passive smoking made her restless. She turned to have a look at the man, who by then,was enjoying his 3^rd nicotine delicacy of the day. He displayed a rare look of satisfaction and Santoshi hated him all the more for this. Of course she couldn’t gag the lady to provide some relief to her ear drums, so she vocalized a few sharp straight-forward words which made the smoker throw the cigarette and move away from that place, displaying not a change in his facial expression. ‘Hurraaay! The addict finally decided to take a few steps away’ she was delighted at her oratorical skill. But her momentary joy gave way to anger when she could sense that horrible smell once again and it was none other than the same person who had taken out another cigarette and lighted it. It appeared as if what oxygen is to us, cigarette smoke is to him.

A long wait of 30 minutes seems all the more never ending when you are all alone and bound to take interest in the surrounding which bores you out like hell. Having nothing worthwhile to do, Santoshi began to rotate her head (which until then had been focusing on the smoker) and narrowed her eyes on seeing a rare specimen. Rather an antique piece- piercings in the ear lobes, several metal studs on the eyebrows, a ring almost in every finger, a skull tattoo on an arm and a shining metallic cell phone, which was proudly flaunted. ‘Repulsive!’ He appeared like a person thrown into a box of junk in a garage and he came out of it loaded with all the ornate metallic designs on his body. The air of pride with which he enveloped himself, made him even more eligible of Santoshi’s contempt. ‘A silly handy man, and look at him!’ She had a big mouth and spoke the words loud enough for the ‘specimen’ to hear. Lo! The guy turned back to see who passed the derogatory remark but saw only a tomboy gazing intently at her cell. She had been in that place only for the last 15 minutes or so, but she had already begun disliking half of the people present there.

Then her eyes fell on a beast barking to its content. Santoshi had already put on her ear phones of her i-pod. The tasteless noise had already freaked her out. The dog followed its mistress, wagging its tail. The lady was probably in her late twenties, a delicate darling, as Santoshi could decipher from her looks. With her nails carefully manicured, hip length hair straightened and high heels adorning her slender feet, she probably made everyone looking at her wonder that she was a clear misfit in that environment. ‘She would look more comfortable in an ac beauty parlour, with a number of beauticians working to make a Goddess out of her’ Santoshi’s brain was again set thinking. ‘What’s the need to show off her doggy? What’s the need to carry it along with her even to a place like this? Miss Show-off!’

‘What happened to the bus today? It’s 8:30 and no sign of it as yet,’ she muttered to herself trying to rest her strained legs by sitting gently on the bag. She couldn’t stand any longer. She had been standing for at least 1 hour by then, and to add to it all, it was getting warmer and her sweating mechanisms were unusually more active that day. And a slight headache could crop up any moment. She sat snugly on the trolley-bag letting out a sigh of relief and tore open a packet of chips. One thing good about travelling alone is that you have plenty of packets of chips and chocolates to accompany you throughout the whole journey, so that any time you feel lonely or bored, you can enjoy munching these down rendering many packets empty within a record-breaking short time

‘Are you waiting for the bus ‘Pushpak’2998? Santoshi looked up from her packet to see a sweet faced middle-aged woman, staring at her intently. ‘Ya, it should have arrived by now, dunno why it’s taking so long today. You’re going by the same bus?’ ‘Ya’ she replied with a brisk smile ‘the same bus.’  Santoshi developed  an instant likeness for the woman. Probably it was because of her smile which had some similarity to one of her favorite aunts. The way her lips stretched along a curve on the left half of her face acted like an attention grabber for Santoshi. So you see, good appearance has its own advantage, and if there is a sweet smile to add to it, these 2 things  together can work wonders!! Let 2 people of the fairer sex alone, and they can go on talking for hours (provided they go along well with each other). The conversation commenced. It started from their asking each other’s name, information related to where they both live, their purpose of the journey to their common dislike for the smoker, who was still busy making rings of smoke. They also shared another aspect of their character-their habit of mocking at people. Her name was Kiran. At times, their nonchalant conversation would be interrupted by sudden bursts of laughter, the very sound of which was enough to turn the heads of a few drowsy babies resting on their mother’s shoulders.

The bottle was emptied into the mouth, which seemed to soak up any liquid poured on it and dried up instantly like a blotting paper. Santoshi excused herself from her new friend and went to a nearby stall to buy another bottle of aqua. She was still gulping down the water when the green background of Pushpak appeared a few feet away. The stall-wallah was busy attending to some other customers and took some time to return back the change to her. The handy man of the bus, with a bunch of crisp notes in his hands went from one person to the other asking something. Pulling her bag across the road she went near him and asked him to lift her bag inside the bus. The bus had already started and all the passengers had settled down by then. ‘But, all the seats are occupied. What’s your name, miss?’ ‘I have booked a ticket in this bus yesterday. How come there’s no seat for me. I told them I would pay the money today. Didn’t they get what I said?' she blared out.The driver shouted from inside and the passengers were getting restless. After all, Pushpak was late by  a good 1hour and 25 minutes. The handy man boarded the bus leaving her drowning in a cloud of white smoke. ‘What the hell! What am I to do now?’ she uttered, almost in tears, totally helpless. She thought of calling her aunt but the very next moment, slid back the cell into her pocket. ‘It will make her all the more worried,’ she thought. The friendly lady was nowhere to be seen.

With a pain in her throat and moist eyes, she could visualize how she would have looked at that moment. She had the apprehension that probably everyone was staring at her. Her creative mind failed to hit upon a solution. With mixed sentiments of anger and worry (the latter predominating), she opened the 500mL bottle and rendered it empty in a few gulps. A slight touch of hand aroused her senses and turned to see Miss Show-off, her dog in her arms. ‘What happened? Where are you headed to?’ Santoshi narrated her ordeal unhesitatingly. ‘In that case, you can accompany me in my car. I missed my bus, so am going by my own vehicle. Kamnagar lies on the way to my place. I can drop you and you stop worrying so much’ Miss Show-off uttered, caressing strands of hair while doing so. Having no other option other than trusting in the sugar-coated words, Santoshi nodded despondently.  Soon, she was travelling along with a complete stranger (and of course, her dog and driver-that add up to 3 strangers in total). Miss Show-off showered her hospitality on her by offering her home-made food (Santoshi came to know that she was very health conscious) and a bottle of lemonade.

They bid good bye after Santoshi extended her thanks to Miss Show-off. It was already dark and Miss-Show-off insisted on leaving her right in front of her aunt’s home. But Santoshi hated to trouble her further. So they left her near the ‘gali’. Much to her dismay, there was neither a single auto to be seen nor a single soul. Just then, a bus came to a halt and a man got down. From his silhouette in the dark, one could make out that he was not a youth. She headed towards him to ask him if she could get any vehicle at that time. ‘Poor chance. Where do you need to go?’ ‘My uncle, Mr Kumar, lives further down this road. But he isn’t home today to pick me up and aunt’s all alone,’ she sighed. ‘Ahha! So Kumar’s your uncle? A very close friend of mine. I am heading to his neighbor’s place. You can accompany me.’ As he spoke Santoshi could sense the obnoxious smell. He lit his torch and much to her surprise, he was the ‘smoker’ she saw in the bus stop!! A little walk and she reached her destination.

The next day she called up the travel agency to enquire why they hadn’t reserved her seat. But they said that some Kiran had called up the previous morning saying that Santoshi cancelled her trip and she would like to take her seat. Kiran….the sweet smiling Kiran!!