A stranger in the bus

we got out of our home at 10:00 am and ended up on the bus stop with all my clothes wet. It was the sweating season in north india and i was searching for a bus that was empty enough to allow me to stand comfortably and my papa to have a window seat. Expecting an empty seat,that too be a window seat,that too at this hour of the day,was at par with expecting a politician to be a non-corrupt,expecting my friends to be a gentleman.After half an hour,we managed to board a bus and me,even found a corner to stand comfortably in and papa found a window seat empty.
         
       I was standing near the the window,just behind the driver,facing the crowd in the bus.The cool breeze,became a source of some comfort to me as the bus gained speed.Looking around,as i am interested in observing people,i ended up with nothing interesting to invest time in and focus on,except one thing in particular.There,in the middle of the bus,was a girl occupying the window seat facing the greenery of farmland outside.

      The breeze was constantly playing with her hair,her eyes were closed and she was enjoying the breeze. I was getting irritated with her hair,which was constantly flying around her face,not allowing me to observe her.It looked as she was in a new world,a world she has always wanted to be in. I felt like investing the rest of my day gazing at her. But this gazing did not last too long,it ended as soon as she opened her eyes and looked straight towards me,our eyes met for a second and i instantly averted my eyes from hers as i wasn't interested in being tagged as a stalker.

       OH MY GOD! what a moment that was! i was out of my mind(aise to mai sakht launda hun par uss waqt pighal gaya 😜). I had never seen such eyes. They were bright, nicely curved and had deep reserves of innocence in them. This hobby of observing people,i say,can really be risky at times-you can be branded as an awara(loafer) from a gentleman in a matter of minutes.I tried to keep my eyes away from hers.But,there was a part of me-an inner voice-that was constantly opposing what my mind had decided.

         The new passengers soon occupied the space between me and her and could barely see her now. But with a few adjustments to my height and inclination,i tried to catch a glimpse of her. Her face,wow,i could barely detect any signs of make-up on her face and still she looked eternally beautiful. Any trace of makeup would have been washed away with sweat by now. This in turn reflected her purity and simplicity.

      OH NO,NOT AGAIN! i was caught red-handed looking at her again. Now i was assured that i had lost my gentlemanly image completely.I felt guilty, but all that guilt vanished as i found no signs of irritation or frustration-as one normally expects-on her face;instead i saw a well-concealed smile this time.I felt relieved. As old saying goes,'A single hand is never enough to clap' and her smile gave me the barrier potential,potential required to cross the barrier from a gentleman to a stalker.

          But, the only way i could be sure(is she interested in me or not?), was to check if she too was watching me.So,i hid myself behind the passengers in the bus in such a manner that she couldn't see me anymore. I also managed to find a way to keep an eye on her without making her aware of it.        I was happy to get that childish streak back in me.

          Going by my plan,i kept an eye on her constantly and noticed all her actions. For the first few moments,there were changes as she was busy with her cellphone. After that, she looked towards the place where i had been standing moments ago and instantly went back to her cellphone again.Then again, after  twenty seconds or so,she looked back at that place with her cellphone pressed to her ear. Probably that was a fake call,an excuse to look in my direction,because she put her cell down as soon as she didn't find me standing there.

             I was getting more and more excited as her behavior was making me more and more sure about myself. Not finding me there,she now started looking around with a different excuse each time,making it appear as if she had only been looking at the places incidentally and not intentionally. I noticed that frequency of her looking at that vacant spot where i had been standing had increased,and the curve of her smile had straightened somewhat.

             Her eyes were constantly moving around in search of something in particular and then she fixed her gaze on something.But what was it? i looked down to see that it was the long stripes of my bag.I had been holding it in my hand throughout,and it was visible to her now. Clearly i'd left a hole in my plan.
 
            In a second she noticed me looking at her from hideout.This time her eyes moved away as soon as they met mine,but her face immediately broke into a cute smile.That was the 'KEY MOMENT'. All doubts in my mind were cleared by now.i knew she was interested in me.I was happy;i no longer felt guilty. I was no more a stalker, but was party to a 'two-way arbitrage'.This staring game had now changed into a sort of hide-and-seek with smiles on face of both of us.

           But what next? were we exchanged any words? were we exchanged our phone numbers? are we still in touch?

                   ( to be continued.............................in next blog).