A heavy traffic, busy roads,
people hardly bothered about people's presence and a lot of noise and activity.
He stood right in the middle of the street, in front of a statue in bronze
color with some pavement around it. If you captured it from a camera, it would
separate him from the crowd. His eyes searched for something, someone. He was
visibly anxious as his eyes moved to and fro faster than the fluctuating
directions of the traffic and maybe his heart too was beating a bit faster than
usual. As he turned to look towards the Bank Of Maharashtra branch towards his
right, amidst the fleeting crowd he saw one person on whom his eyes stopped and
then there was a silent happiness in his heart. There, at a distance of a two
roads she stood she in black and blue. A black T-shirt and blue three fourths
with the hair tied neatly in one pony behind and a cell phone in her hand. She
waved lightly to indicate her presence and to get his attention and she
succeeded marvelously at the latter. She went one better in fact, she captured
it!
They were meeting! They were
finally meeting! It had been around four years now, since they had last seen
each other. There had been chance encounters and small silent, unmentionable
meetings in between but this was the first meeting, in the true sense of the
word where two people face each other and talk, that they were having. She came
closer as she crossed the road and his anxiety rose to new heights. 'She is
still so beautiful' was the first thing he could think of, saying it was a
different ballgame! They shook hands, smiled and wished each other a Happy New
Year. His mind was full of questions to ask and answers to hear but somehow he
was finding it slightly difficult to clearly open up and speak. She was being diplomatic, polite
in fact as she conducted herself with him and asked if they could sit somewhere
and talk. He consented and they walked into a neat and clean restaurant on the
roadside. As he ordered for two cups of coffee, he was about to begin. They
talked, for an hour and then some more, the past came to life, the present was
its result and the future seemed completely hollow and blank. He was trying to
get to something, just a friendship was more than enough, she was adamant,
understandably so but he could hardly see it. He was not able to frame it
right, she was not able to get it right. It all ended in a sheer mess! As they
headed out of the coffee shop, he was full of disappointment, she probably was
a bit sad too at the way things had gone, they both had wished there would be a
different outcome this time but some miscommunication meant that was not meant
to happen. A friendship would have been a bonus of sorts for him. As they bid goodbye
to each other and walked the opposite sides of the road, he, cliched as it may
sound but nonetheless emotionally looked back to her, she walked on. He knew
probably this was the last time their paths had crossed, he wished they would
cross once again some other day.
It has been three years but that
day hasn't yet dawned. Even a coincidence was not meant. But after those three
years, when the boy through destiny or whatever you may call it was brought
back to that very place again and he could literally see those three or four
hours that impacted him so much, play out in front of him he could only smile,
smile at his naiveness then, at her situation, at the sheer nostalgia it
evoked, at how far he had come from that day and also how far must she have
gone. Everything there was just like it was then yet everything had moved on.
Yes, I could have handled things better then and maybe things could have been a
lot different today but the way it stands, I accept it wholeheartedly. I caused
my own situation. She was not wrong. She just couldn't get it. For whatever its
worth, I am sorry the way things went that day. And I still wish our paths
cross someday just so I could say this to you. You were not wrong.
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