#Window Seat
Only the lights from distinct sources were visible, rest was wrapped with the thick fog. The benches were about to be masked with the dew drops. The sky was getting overcast with the dark clouds, who hid behind them the serene full moon.
The otherwise occupied place seemed to be a secluded one. The few people who were waiting for their train at 11 in the night, had their hands in their pockets, trying to safeguard themselves from the spine chilling wind. Indistinct sounds of various insects made their best effort to break the uncondensed silence.
The train came and the people began to take their seats. A girl was just about to take thewindow seat; suddenly a boy threw his bag on the seat and claimed that it was his seat. Their conversation led to such a fight that it the drew attention of each and every person in the train coach.
At the end the girl sat on another seat, two seats away from the window seat. The journey began and the boy put on his headphones and the girl started reading a book on her phone. Once or twice they glanced at each other with furrowed foreheads.
The night grew darker. One by one, the people began to sleep. The boy opened his eyes as the train made a sudden halt. He realized that he had slept for two hours and his phone battery had almost drained and charging point was nowhere to be found.
Looking out of the window he realized that the train had stopped at an unfamiliar station. He tried to read the name of the station but the thick fog prevented him from doing that. There was complete silence, silence to an extent that he was able to hear the sound of his own breath.
He glanced at the light that came from a bulb at a distance, thinking about the possibilities from where it would be coming. Then he looked at the insects surrounding the secluded light pole. He then listened to the sound of the crickets and started singing a song in a low voice. The song depicted how monotonous the life had become and how we are getting used to it.
Then he noticed some sort of movement in the direction of the other seats. He turned towards the other seats and realized that the same girl, with whom he had fought some time ago, was listening to his song with a smile on her face. He felt embarrassed and turned his head in the opposite direction.
A voice came,
“Please don’t feel shy!”
He didn’t know what to say so he just smiled. Then he mustered up courage to perform the task he was least efficient in, the task to initiate a conversation. He thought of the various alternatives and made various predictions of the response for each alternative.
He wanted to keep his voice tone low as possible but all he managed to do was to shout.
He shouted,
“Aren’t you going to sleep?”
The girl had who had just dozed opened her eyes in reflex and said,
“No! No! I am not feeling like sleeping.”
That moment they shared a smile. After bridging the gap of several seconds of hesitation, the boy asked,
“May I know your name?”
The girl said,
“I’m Ayesha, Ayesha Khanna. What’s your good name?”
The boy who had earlier talked to girls only for study related tasks said,
“My name…my name is Sam…Sam…Sameer Sharma.”
They again shared a hearty laughter.
Sameer appeared to be a guy of about twenty years, with somewhat short height and somewhat extra weight, and a spectacle adorned his fluffy face.
Ayesha was a girl who was a true example of a heavenly beauty. Her smile melted the hearts of people and there was some inexplicable charm in her look and her smile served as a reference to the perfect smile.
The conversation proceeded and they got to know that the train will start after an hour due to some disturbance in the route. So they decided to take a walk.
The winter was showing its charm. Fog came out of their mouths as they began to say something. They put their hands in their pockets. They were total strangers but somehow the hesitation began to fade.
Ayesha pointed towards a tea vendor, who was sleeping on a bench.
"Tea?" Sameer asked.
"I would love to!" said Ayesha.
Sameer went to the vendor and woke him up and asked if he still had some tea? He nodded his head in confirmation.
The tea was served in Kulhads. They gripped them tightly to absorb the heat. Sitting on a bench, Ayesha opened her purse and took outGood Day biscuits and offered them to Sameer which he first resisted and finally took after she insisted him to have one.
She started smiling at him. Sameer asked for the reason and Ayesha said,
“You don’t even know how to relish the taste of biscuits. The correct way is to dip it into the tea and then enjoy it’s taste.”
She demonstrated the procedure as she spoke. Then she asked him to take another one and eat it in exactly the same way as she taught him. He said, "Yes Madam!" in a mocking tone and followed her instructions as an obedient student.
Then the rain started. They observed the dust fading away from the charming flowers on a nearby tree. Then they enjoyed the smell of wet sand and ran towards the train.
The absence of sources of distraction were actually making their meeting more alluring.
The train started and they continued their conversation. Their conversation disturbed other passengers but they tried just to avoid them.
They talked about topics like movies, politics, college life and other random ones. Sameer got to know that she was pursuing her fashion designing degree and told her that he was just trying to survive during his engineering studies.
As Ayesha’s station came, they bid farewell to each other. Ayesha asked him to recheck his seat number, Sameer did and realized that he was sitting on her seat. He felt embarrassed but Ayesha said,
"Dont worry! We had great time together. Thanks for your company and I would advice you talk more often with girls. Trust me they dont bite."
They smiled and bid each other farewell.
No promises to stay in touch, no contact numbers exchanged, no certainty to meet again.
Sometimes we just have to stop thinking in excess and just live in the present moment. Go with the flow and discover new places and people,who knows they might become a beautiful memory later.
For more such stories. Do read my blog