Co-incidence

I usually didn’t believe in coincidences and thought that everything that happens, there is a reason behind it. The Almighty has the screenplay and assigned roles to us. There are no coincidences in scripts. Everything is very well written in the book of fate for each one of us. But I was proven wrong on that day. It was a usual Friday evening and I was returning home for the weekend. I, an engineering student, stayed in college hostel and visited my place on weekends which were 80km from the city where the college was situated.

It was a normal routine for me to board the 7pm bus to Badri Nagar which would reach there by 9pm. On that day also, I was waiting for the bus to come and excited to go home after the semester exams. These exams are very exhaustive, 10 days and 5 subjects, seems like running in a sprint at the speed of marathon race. After 30mins waiting for the bus, the conductor announced that the bus will be late by 2 hours and it will depart at 9:30PM. The already waiting passengers were furious over the conductor and asking for cancelling the ticket. The poor soul had to face the anguish of the waiting passengers who were demanding refund of money. For me, it was fine to reach late as my home was a walk able distance from the bus stand. The only thing that worried me was that how to spend this 2 hours.

The minutes hand was placed on number 2 and seconds hand was racing with itself to complete the minute quickly. It was still 20 minutes behind the timeline and it seemed that the seconds hand will decide the fate of minute’s hand. The earphone was plugged in and the soft music of AR Rehman was playing in my playlist. Suddenly, someone tapped on my shoulder to get my attention. I looked towards my left and was amazed to find a beautiful angel standing there with a confused look on her face. I removed the earplug, asked her “yes?” “Will the bus to Badri nagar come on this platform?” she inquired. My eyes were stuck on her soft lips that were moving like rose petals shining with red lipstick. The sense of vision had overpowered all other senses and it seemed I have seen the most perfectly shaped face ever created by God. She again asked the same question and a shudder on my shoulder woke me up from my dream.

“Yes, it will reach here by 9:30” “You are also waiting for the same bus?” was here instant question after my reply. I nodded my head and tried to hide my blush thinking that she will be my co-passenger till the same destination.

The bus reached and there was jostling of people to get into as it was the last bus for the night. Also, being a Friday night the count of people almost triples, everyone heading towards their home. I asked the conductor for a ticket to Badri Nagar but he replied that all the seats are already booked. I always had the habit of purchasing ticket after boarding the bus and never did prior reservation. In this way, I saved some money that was charged in the name of reservation charges. My smartness backfired me today when I was in the dire need to reach home. I was also losing the opportunity to travel with such a beautiful girl which is a rare occurrence in state transport buses. I requested the conductor to give me the aisle seat which is a special arrangement to accommodate heavy rush by putting bench in the aisle. He denied the availability of any seat and left me dejected.

Everybody boarded the bus and the driver started the engine ignition with a loud sound. There the fuel was burning in the engine and here my heart was burning for not getting any means to reach home. “Hey Boy! Hey you, black T-shirt” someone shouted from behind. I turned around to see that the conductor was calling me. I retraced back towards the bus with the tiniest of hope to get a seat.

“There is a seat available. You need to pay extra 50 bucks for it” said the conductor. I pulled out my wallet, handed him the ticket money with extra 50 bucks and asked for the seat. He pointed me towards the third row seat, which are reserved for ladies. I walked towards the seat stamping on people sitting on the aisle and finally conquered the quest. The light was very dim and I was unable to see who was sitting beside me. In the darkness, I strained my retina to get the last ray of light to look at the adjoining seat. The light from outside helped me to identify my co-passenger and the moment I saw her face, I was overjoyed. She was that girl who inquired about the bus at the bus stand.

I thanked the director sitting somewhere behind the clouds and writing such a fateful night for me. The mistress sitting next to me was just looking outside the window and only interested in the dark scenery. But I was interested in her, wanted to socialize with her. I was only waiting for to move her glare away from the window so that I can start a conversation. I, being a shy person, had problems in talking to strangers or start a conversation with them. But here I was trying my best to at least ask her, where in Badri Nagar she stays?

The bus was hitting the road in full speed and it seemed that we will reach in less than an hour. In the hope of her looking at me, I didn’t knew when I closed my eyes and went to deep sleep. I was woken up by a shuddering on the shoulder by the conductor. “Get up, Badri nagar is the next stop!” he exclaimed. I hurriedly corrected my posture and checked the time in my mobile. It showed 11:47PM and my eyes were asking for more sleep. They were deprived of it for last 15 days and today they were not ready to compromise for suffering. I looked towards the window and observed that the beautiful girl was also in deep sleep and in the process put her head on my shoulder. In my effort to recollect my posture, she was disturbed but it didn’t wake her up. I allowed her to get comfort, no matter for a short duration, and rest her eyes.

The fragrance from her reminded me of Sonali, my first crush in college whom I tried to convey my feelings but lacked the self-confidence. I used to sit diagonally behind her so that I could stare her throughout the lecture. Once during the college fest, we participated in dance competition and she was my partner in salsa. Those 2 weeks of practice and the day of competition were the most memorable days spent with her. We used to talk like normal friends but I never gathered the courage to express my love for her. Although we didn’t win the competition but we got close to each other that we used to sit together in the class. Whenever she used to sit with me, I could never concentrate on the lecture since I was mesmerized by the intoxicating smell of the perfume she wore. In the bus also, the same intoxicating smell was taking back to those days which Sonali and me spent together.

“Badri Nagar, Badri Nagar!” shouted the conductor and the bus stopped with a screeching noise by the sudden apply of brakes. She woke up by the impact of the bus stopping and looked at me, sheepishly saying “Sorry”. I smiled back and got up from the seat to collect my back kept overhead. We got down from the bus on lonely street of Badri Nagar. The watch was displaying coming together of both the minutes and hours hand over 12 and the street lights were casting parallel shadow of two of us on the deserted street.

“Where do you live?” I gathered my courage and finally asked something from her in the last 3 hours.

“Near Namkini Lake” she replied without a sign of fear in this dead night. “Oh, great, I also live ahead of lake. Don’t mind I can walk with you till the Lake?” I swiftly replied in order to spend some more time with her. She nodded in agreement and we walked headed for our destination. None of us spoke while walking, and our silence was disturbed by the growling of dogs in the dark lanes.

My mind was fabricating topic to start to talk to her. Whether should I ask her name or something else? In all the cases, she might think that I am hitting on her and I didn’t want to portray myself any flirt guy in front of her. A sudden thought came to my mind about Namkini Lake. It wasn’t any lake there but our grandmother used to tell stories that there used to be lake whose water was very salty. So it was named as Namkini Lake and now it has dried up. This thought was also worrying me that people used to say that nobody lived around the lake.

In no time we reached at the lake and my mind was still fighting whether to ask her where exactly she lived. I looked at her to ask but was interrupted by her question. “When did you die?” This sentence baffled me and a drop of sweat dropped from my forehead towards the chin travelling through the nose. We were standing in front of a graveyard with rusted iron gate and a board reading ‘Do not visit here after the dark’ and due to this graveyard, nobody used to stay around the lake area. She smiled at me and repeated the same question “When did you die?” a gentle blow of wind was blowing hair away from her face and I was able to see bruises on her face due to scratching on hard surface.

“I died two months back, hit by a state transport bus while going on bike to college. And you?” I replied to her query.

“What a coincidence? Me too. While crossing the road” she replied with those petal shaped lips.