Not again. Riya sighed. Aghast. For the past fifteen minutes her bus was stuck at the Sholls signal. The red light turned green and then red again but her bus only moved an inch or so. Luckily she came to the bus stop early and could secure a seat on the left hand side. Else she would be totally scorched by the sun by now as it shone directly on the other side.
It was a hot and humid day. Her face scarf was totally unbearable and the soft skin behind her ears ached from wearing the sunglasses for too long. Hailing from a small town in the north east where the sun hardly showed its face, it was too much for her to cope up here in the southern city where the sun left the earth to scorch even when it went to sleep in the evening.
A blue gray Ford stopped beside her window. A muffled chirpy beat was coming out of it. It was one of her favorite Bollywood tunes. Some relief at least from the mad honking around.
Suddenly she felt a tap below the window outside. Looking out she found a very small kid holding out a book while a very old woman held a pile of around a dozen books. “Buy a book didi.” The kid shouted in his native language. They both were very skinny and looked tired. “How much?” Riya asked removing the scarf from her face. But the kid didn't know English. She quickly fell back to the sign language she had been getting comfortable to use these days. “How much?” She gestured again.
The Ford's window rolled down and a face appeared out of it.
“Twenty.” The boy gestured back. Riya gave the boy a twenty rupees bill and took the book. It was a Tamil story book for children. She put the book inside her bag without even looking at it. She covered her face again and leaned back in her seat. The old woman and the kid were now selling the books to the man in the Ford. ◊ The signal finally decided to let her bus pass past it. As the bus glided on the smooth road, Riya dozed off with the slight breeze that blew on her face.
She woke up when the bus stopped at the bus bay of her office. Hurriedly, she got up and stood on the queue that formed from people waiting to get down.
When she got down, she noticed the same blue gray ford parked and a tall guy stood leaning against it. Oh my god. Was it not the same guy she saw that day at the Adlabs at the River Side Mall and could not stop looking?
The guy came forward and spoke, “Hi. I thought you were never going to get down.” He smiled.
Surprised awkwardly, Riya frowned. “I was also stuck at the signal. I saw you buying the book from the kid.”
“Okay.” Riya answered as she expected more explanation from him. She was not sure why her buying a book stirred this stranger's interest.
“Why did you buy one? You don't even know how to read it. Do you?” The stranger asked. Riya felt irritated now. “How do you know I don't know how to read it?” she had a definite edge in her voice. “Because you cant evenspeak the language. You were gesturing.” he said.
“I am sorry but I don't understand why it bothered you so much that you had to wait for me here. And how did you know I was coming here?” Riya asked.
The guy smiled. “Let's say I have a reason to know. I will tell you once you tell me your reason. And about knowing that you would be coming here, its not too difficult, you see, our company boasts its logo on almost all its buses and yours was no exception and I noted the number of your bus.” he admitted.
Riya's surprise knew no bound! But she chose to answer honestly. “I respected their self respect. At least they were not begging. They were trying to earn their living in a legitimate manner. Why cant I spend just 20 bucks to help them?”
The stranger looked appreciative. “Interesting,” he said, “Can we meet during lunch? I will tell you about my reason then? I have to really go for a meeting now.”
Curiosity took over the conscience when Riya answered, “yes” immediately. “Whats your employee id?” he asked. “350035”, Riya replied automatically. “I will ping you. See you at lunch.” he left.
What do you think it was?Follow me.
