That girl in the bus.
She took the last unoccupied seat, the one in front of mine. She looked at me, I stared back. We spoke through our silent stare, mine asking her name and hers asking me to shove off. I sensed that i might not have been the first to acknowledge her presence, and that i wouldn't be the last.
So we begin our journey together from Point A to B. The only obvious contradiction in the plan was that i was expected at Point C. She would alight at Point B, i wondered if i should change my Point C to Point B.
I watched her look out of the window trying to keep track of the places along. I saw that she had red ear plugs muffling my heart's screams with a genre of music which I would never know. She had brown hair, the wavy sort, trying to cover her face with the wind. I remember the sunlight filtering through her hair, it justified her image i was busy creating in my head.
I kept looking, hoping that she would turn any minute and talk to me. I wondered if she'd ask my name, if my name was good enough to be asked. I promised to myself that i would not call her for 3 days, if i got her number. I tried hard to think of a quirky conversation starter, i was never really good at starting a conversation.
I heard her hymn a familiar tune, and i knew it then that the same almost-got-it tune which would haunt me forever.
I saw a tattoo sneak a peek at me from her back. It was a part of something strange, it gave her an air of mysticity.
She had Brown hair, Red ear plugs, a part-butterfly looking tattoo, a yellow bag and an eye colour that i would find hard to recollect later. That was all i knew about this person sitting right ahead of me in a bus filled with people who had more detailing features to offer.
I looked outside the window as this enchanted bus came to a halt. I saw a tree on the other side of the road with bright lavender coloured flowers. The flowers highlighting the tree in all its glory. I felt happiness seeping into me. With a gradual motion the bus started moving again. I turned away, shifting my gaze from the tree which was now moving past to the person I was longing to speak to, but she wasn't there.
She had got off at her Point B, and I had missed my point C.
I would travel by the same bus sitting at the same seat for many days to come, but I wouldn't see her again. I wondered if she would have looked back that day before she got off hoping to catch my name or tell me hers. I wished the tree was never there, but every journey I took from A to C reminded me it was very much there.
And then one day, many months later, I saw her again.
She got on at Point A. She smiled, I sat there dumbstruck. I noticed the exact same features that had become so familiar now. It was me and her slowly inching towards the lavender tree. I promised myself that i would not look away this time, but accept Point B as my Point C. Time stood still as the same tune played in my head again, I wouldn't remember it this time either.
The bus stopped at Point B/C. She got up to get off, I had my heart in my mouth. She went to the door, and ever so effortlessly she turned back.
She had brown wavy hair, and an innocent face. She looked at me as though she had been planning for this moment for a while. She raised her eyebrows, smiled and hinted towards the door.
I smiled.
Many years later, I took the Bus again. Youth was in my past and Old-age a distant future.
I waited for Point B as I tried to remember the first day I met her.
My hair was Oiled and combed to perfection, hers was messy and allover in the wind. I had freckled skin, hers was clear as the cloudless sky. I wore spectacles and she was the spectacle to see.
I got off at Point B. I crossed the road and went over to the tree. I sat on a bench by the tree and wondered, whatsoever happened to that girl who had made this place so familiar to me. The girl who had brown hair, maybe a butterfly tattoo and an innocent smile.
The Girl who bought a smile on my face with every passing thought.
That Girl whose name echoed "Lavender" to me.
