We both were traveling to Mumbai, the city of dreams and the city where the chaotic madness and passion takes over the chaotic self destructing mind.
Seated on the opposite seats, our eyes only met when the ticket examiner came. We both were hiding ourselves in our respective reads from any social talk. Earphones plugged in, eyes glued to the words that created an imaginary yet beautiful world.
It was an intermediate station that I got to see the epitome of beauty that she was. Dressed in a over sized hoodie, torn denims, flat footwear and glasses, she radiated fragrance of beauty. Her hair nicely tied, eyes running on all sides to ensure no glances were stolen, the baby sips of the hot tea already had my heart racing.
The train began its journey again and we took our respective seats opposite each other. Her eyes were glued on the tales of love and my eyes on her. The Innocence of her face, the widening eyes, the skipping beats heart and the quarter smile shrieked her belief in Love.
It was late and the elderly lady requested for the lights to be turned off. She had put on the reading lights. Only her beautiful face was visible now, the yellow light gracing her face like the sun had ignited an aura of warmth. Her earphones appeared like a pair of those big ear rings. I was hiding behind my mobile phone screen, listening to my favourite retro songs and occasionally stealing glances. She saw me glaring at her a couple of times but kept mum.
I tried to adjust myself to be able to see her more clearly and in the process removed the jack of my headphones from my phone. The song played out loud and I could already hear the co-passengers complaining. I fumbled to pause the song and reconnect the jack. I was embarrassed. I saw her laughing at me. That laugh killed whatever non-existential chance I had with her or so I thought.
I looked at her and said, "I am sorry, that was unintentional."
There were other passengers as well, but I only felt the need to apologise to her.
"It is okay. Happens." She said and smiled.
"Why did you laugh then ? Why are you laughing now ?" I asked in an embarrassingly shy tone.
"I am not laughing, I am just smiling. Smiling because I am listening to the same song as you are. I am smiling at the coincidence." She smiled again.
"No, u r kidding ?" I asked in a desperate tone.
She just nodded. I smiled bright.
"So you are this pretty, graceful, you read and then you listen to retro songs ? Am I actually dreaming this I know I am sounding cheesy but I am stumped and I can not think straight." I said.
She laughed and swiftly changed the laughter into a shy smile.
"So you are this tall and handsome, modern guy then listen to retro songs ? Is this for real or am I dreaming?" she winked.
We both laughed at the same wave length. Our eyes did the talking for the next couple of minutes. Our conversations flew smooth whilst the moon graced the night. We talked at lengths discussing our lives, our likes and dislikes before dozing off.
The train reached Mumbai. I had never been this sad about reaching my destination. The journey seemed better. I was about to bid adieu to this wonderful girl and lose her in the vastness of this city. As we both disembarked the train, I couldn't refrain myself from singing,
"Zindagi aur kuch bhi nahi
Teri meri kahani hai..."
She smiled and stopped in her tracks and came close, handed me the novel she was reading and said, "Bring me this at the address mentioned at the back and call me on the number if you have any difficulty finding it."
I stood there, mesmerised by her presence.
"Bring it soon. I don't want to wait any further to read it." She said and disappeared.
I stood there like an idiot and smiled. Everything seemed too good to be true. We met later that evening. I was still singing,
"Zindagi aur kuch bhi nahi
teri meri kahani hai.."
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