This is a story - fictional yes.. but the skeleton I borrowed from someone. So my apologies to that someone who might want to write his own story :)) Some imaginations.. Some additions... Just to make it a bit more interesting... Here's to you :)))



"Move ! standing in the middle. your father's road is it" , the fat lady pushed by him. Koyambedu in chennai was at its peak on this sultry humid saturday night. Fot the nth time he thought of his reasons for booking in the bus and not going for the comforts of the train. He had been in chennai for 3 days- on official duty- roaming from place to place, having meetings for his current job and maybe even the next one he may take up. After all the flitting from place to place he was finally going back home- catching the late night bus. Tall and lazy looking, he shifted from foot to foot watching people all around him. He was a born observer- it was a second nature to him. His eyes took in the fat lady pushing her way through groups, the wailing baby on the mother's hip, the incessant honking of the buses in and out of the stand, the loud speaker announcing the arrivals and departures (as if it were a bloody airport!) , the slushy mud beneath his feet, the wind which teased with the promise of december coolness yet held itself back. Mind on things, his eyes went on absorbing sights around him without really registering it, when suddenly the earth stopped its rotation. the wind silenced its howling. The fat lady stood still, the baby on the mother's hip was frozen into immobility. For him the moment simply stood still - for there SHE was. He couldnt believe his eyes, his mind went into an overdrive and pulled him 12 years back.

No tensions as only a 18 year old could be, he was enjoying the whiff of adulthood - college gave a boy the feeling of being a man like nothing else did. Not to mention the coveted glances of beautiful girls looking shyly beneath their eyes when they thought no one observed them. But there was one and only one he watched for. Fair, slim and beautiful eyes (though in this HE could give her a run for her money), she was an year his senior. But love bloomed in his young heart as it has never bloomed before and probably would never after too. She was perfect. So sweet. So pretty. Even saying her name made his heart trip a beat and hammer in a rhythmn only he could hear. But she was a secret he hugged to himself. He was big on anticipation. The more you look forward to something the more interest it adds to your life. So he was busy being a friend to her. They will proceed to the next level sometime- of that he had no doubts. After all she seemed to like him, spent time with him, laughed at everything he said and was generally comfortable with him. The next step could wait. There was time yet. He did not have a doubt in his tender heart that she would be his - why! just last week when he fell ill, didn't she come to his house and put a smear of holy ashes with her own sweet hands on his forehead? His parents were so puzzled and asked him a hundred questions, but though his body burned with fever, his heart sang. When you are down, thats the time you find out who really cares. And she most certainly did.

Then came the day when she told him she wanted to talk to him about something. How with a heart full of hope he went to meet her in the groud- their favourite meeting place and how with his big puppy dog eyes he gazed at her waiting for golden words to fall from her lips. His goddess was about to give him the fruit of his waiting. "This is the guy I am going to get married to", she giggled as she showed him the photo of a young man. While she had eyes for none but the man in the picture, she missed the glaze of tears in his.

And so he went and watched the love of his life marry another. He was dead inside as he saw her exchange vows with another. His heart will never know happiness again. Everything was over. His life as he knew it was over. Unshed tears glimmerred as he left her laughing.

And now 13 years later- there she stood, in the busy busstand. Waiting for her bus to come. He recognised her immediately. He had been to chennai countless number of times in the past years. It was not obsessive that he thought maybe somewhere sometime he would catch a glimpse of the long lost love in this mad crowd. He did not actually look for her but he looked for her everywhere. In every face, every hand, every pair of eyes, he thought he caught a glimpse of her. When he crossed her street, he looked for her in every girl who stood by, who shopped, who bought vegetables. So many many times he had been to Chennai- stayed for so many many years, yet never met her even once. Never caught a glimpse of her anywhere. In one corner of his mind he always knew he would meet her.
A hundred imaginations he had of the scenario when he finally did. He would be a big star and she would come ask for his autograph. He would be doing a show and dedicate a touching song for her - hearing which she would cry and contact him. He would be eating in a restaurant in her area and she would walk into the same one. And some really imaginative ones too for who has a control on imaginations !
But never once did he think that he would meet her like this. Suddenly, in the middle of a crowded bus stand, when he wasn't even prepared for it. Only last week he had been going through his old albums where there she was all pretty and smiling and a fleeing thought crossed his mind how it would be to meet her yet again. And here she was ! Right in front of him. He went to her slowly and said "excuse me" . She turned and the universe came to a standstill. The honking of the buses seemed zillions of years away, the crowd seemed planets apart. This moment had only him and her. "I am S.." he started to say and she completed his name. The silly love songs, the sweet nothings described in them all seemed to make sense. Adrenaline pumped like a broken water geyser, making his brain go all fuzzy. They spoke - "my god !", "So many years", "How are you" , "How many kids" - but it was as if he stood steps apart and saw someone else go and take part in this inane conversation. He was just standing and gazing at her. Just drinking in the sight of her after 12 long years. She hadnt changed much. The same eyes. The same expression in them. The same voice. Maybe put on a bit of weight?  One part of his brain managed the talking part, the other had turned into mush.

They exchanged numbers and she got into her bus, promising to keep in touch. He walked as if in a daze and got into his. To go back to his family. His real life. Where his kids awaited him. His mind was reeling. What would you call this - fate? That he chose this particular day to return home when he could have very well taken the bus the day before. Or this timing. Or that he decided to take the bus and not a train. Or she was booked into the last bus - on this day. Or that in such a crowded bus where even with mobiles on hold you could take time to locate a known one- they came across each other? FATE was too small a word to explain this occuring. Miracle? Amazing? Awesome?

She never knew years before what she meant to him. How he had cherished her. His 18 year old heart was still in love with her. The grown up part had matured and learned to love others. His wife, his kids. His family. His job. His friends.
But the 18 year old heart was locked in a small box - untouched and fresh and it was that part of his heart now which was still hers that was ruling him. Now, after all these years- should he tell her about how he felt once upon a time. Will she realise on her own the next time they meet? Is there a purpose to their meeting. In a heartbeat he had gone back to being 18 again. Oh the thrill of simply looking her. The rush of seeing her call on your mobile. He could remember so many things about her - so many frozen memories which were etched forever in his mind. Small even inconsequential things which even she may have forgotten. He forgot what he had for breakfast yesterday but he remembered her first phone number. The mind was a funny thing. Some things it preserved so crystal clear and some it chose to shove out.

Life - so many uncertainities, so many decisions to make, so many problems, so many dilemmas - amidst all this fate thought of letting him become a "younger him" once again. Smile foolishly at his own thoughts. Have a skip and a hop in his steps. Hug a secret to himself and see it when he felt good- or even when he felt low. Show him that life after all can still be beautiful. All it takes is a memory to come alive ....