Arunlekha Sengupta
Naina dreaded the overnight bus journeys. The trip home was always meticulously planned; the joy that she carried in her heart for her home-going reflected in the way she packed. The clothes were all butterfly coloured, the fabric light and happy; her light backpack hummed with the happiness of going home. But first, there was the overnight bus journey to overcome.
This long-dreaded 12-hour bus ride, replete with danger in the guise of just that one stop for a dirty toilet, motion-sickness, loud mind-numbing in-bus movie and inane co-passengers. There had once been an aunty, who at first had seemed so nice and caring, who had then spent the entire bus-ride either talking to her various sons and daughters on the phone, or about them to Naina. By midnight, the conversation had veered in to the very dangerous territory of why Naina wasn't married. Several shushing by the people sitting around them had little effect on Binati Aunty.
As Naina climbed Raheja Travels Bangalore to Hyderabad,' she prayed to her atheist god - the Universe, to not give her another Binati Aunty experience. "12b. 12b," She muttered as she searched for her seat number. Lifting her backpack over her head and placing it on the overhead rack, she sat down on her allotted seat. The window seat next to hers was still empty. She was thirsty but only had a small sip from her water bottle.
After a few minutes of whiling the time away by calling her mother to tell her that she had boarded the bus and that she couldn't wait to come home and Whatsapping her roommate and best friend the bus number and then checking old messages, Naina realised that there was no charging the phone on the bus and she quickly stashed her phone inside her small sling bag. She adjusted herself on the seat and reclined it, put her eye mask on and closed her eyes behind it. The bus was about to move and the seat next to hers was still empty.
As soon as the bus started its engine, it came to a halt. A big pink duffel boarded the bus, helped and hoisted by the world-weary bus conductor. Attached to it was a chit of a girl. She headed right for Naina and in an instant all her dreams of stretching her legs on the empty seat next to hers were gone. Naina got up to help the little girl with her bag, who thanked her and slinked in sideways to her own seat. Up close, Naina realised that this was no little girl. She was short and slim but buxom and beautiful. "Hi! I am Anita." The sexy girl next to Naina held out one slim hand and spoke in sweet song-like clarity. "Huh- huh-Hi! I am N-n-n-n... I am sorry. My name is Naina." She struggled to say as a little shiver of pleasure and trepidation trilled through her body. Anita smiled at her and sank back in her seat.
Naina, who prided herself in keeping it cool under all situation, felt her palms sweat and her face flush. She could smell Anita and could discern two things about the girl; One, that she smoked and two that she had just shampooed her hair with something that smelt like strawberries. The two smells combined to create a heady combination of maturity and innocence. Naina put her eye mask back into her sling bag and smiled at Anita.
"Are you from Hyderabad?" Naina asked her.
"What?" Anita looked surprised that she was mistaken for a Hyderabadi, "Born and bred in Bangalore." She grinned impishly as her diamond nose pin shone.
"Why? Are you from Hyderabad?" She asked Naina.
Naina nodded, sure she had just been insulted, but taking care not to feel too bad about it. Anita was young, at least 5 years younger than her, and to someone at that age, being 'cool' mattered.
Anita wriggled around in her seat, fiddling with the lever that reclined. She pulled it a few times and rocked her seat back and forth and then gave up and looked at Naina.
"I don't travel by bus too much. Do you?" She asked Naina.
"Yes, I take the bus all the time." She replied. "My family stays in Hyderabad and I work here so I take this bus almost every other month."
"Oh nice. These seats are quite good no?" Anita asked Naina. "You look very comfortable."
"Yup." Naina smiled. She was feeling less nervous now. Anita was clearly young and inexperienced and she was looking at her for guidance. "Do you need some help with your seat?" she asked Anita.
"No thank you. I am fine. The bus is good. I hadn't expected it to be this nice."
Naina took some chocolate out of her purse and offered it to Anita
"Wow. See what I mean? What a cool bus. The A.C is working properly, the seat looks comfy and a passenger as sweet as you." She looked right into Naina's eyes and smiled before taking the piece of chocolate and biting into it. Naina melted.
********
Every time Naina looked at Anita, she was either wriggling in her seat or looking out of the window with a sad expression clouding her beautiful face. It had been some time since they had had chocolates and Naina was now waiting for the bus to stop at the customary dhaba.
"When will we eat dinner?" Anita turned towards Naina.
"Another 15 minutes or so the bus will stop," said Naina, glad that Anita spoke to her again.
Once at the dhaba, the two women tucked into middling vegetarian fare; faux paneer butter masala and some 'meh' naan.
Afterwards as they smoked in between two buses, Naina asked Anita, "What are you travelling to Hyderabad for?" wen
Anita looked away from Naina and stared at the bustling groups of travellers now trying to enter different buses. She looked at them unmindfully and smiled absently. The smile had a trace of sadness and tenderness. She then stretched her back and grimaced.
"I am going to meet an old friend. We have to settle some things. Apurva stays in Banjara Hills. Do you know the place?" Anita asked Naina.
"I live in Banjara Hills too. Awesome!" Naina had a vision of them going for weekend brunches and evening strolls. "I will take her for the best coffee in town at Ruci & Idoni," she thought excitedly.
They got on the bus again and kept talking. Naina stopped herself from asking more about Apurva. "Is it a girl or a guy?" The question kept playing in her mind.
Back in the bus, they were sitting in their seats, with their heads together and whispering to each other. The movie had just started and some people were really into the relentless torture of the auditory and visual kind and the girls didn't want to disturb them.
**********
In spite of the noise of the movie, the sometimes bumpy road, and some indiscriminate driving, Naina found herself in a delightful bubble of the first feelings of a major crush. Waves of dopamine rushed at her and she felt exhilarated; the moon outside rushed along with them seemingly heady with love too. Naina was waiting for the movie to end and complete darkness to fill the bus. With it dark inside the bus, the moonlit night would be ready to play an unusually romantic role.
Anita was talking about her elder sister and various cousins and what they did for Halloween, but Naina was only pretending to pay attention. The question of Apurva
bothered her still.
"Was it a boy or a girl?" She wondered, "It definitely sounded like something serious. Like the end of a long-term relationship. She said that she had to settle something. Like closure."
These thoughts went round and round in her mind. In the throes of what felt like chance, love and danger, Naina decided to throw caution to the wind and only be hopeful. If Apurva was a boy, then it was a good thing that they were ending things. Anita might be ready for a rebound. If Apurva was a girl, then all the better. This chance meeting could climax to something exquisite.
The movie was almost about to end. The passengers were almost dozing off. This was the chance. But before Naina could think or do anything, Anita placed her hand on Naina's forearm. Naina was thrilled and hopeful at once.
"Can I ask you something?" Anita said with a hint of plea in her voice.
"Sure. I also wanted to ask you something." Naina gulped and stammered.
"Ok. You go first." Said Anita
"No that's ok. You go ahead." Naina replied.
Anita turned fully in her seat and cupped the back of her neck and grimaced.
"I have a horrible backache. Something is wrong with this seat. Will you exchange it with me, didi?" She asked Naina, looking at her with her big eyes filled with hope.
Naina was filled with a massively dissatisfying feeling of an anti-climax. Her face fell and her heart dropped.
"But... but." She started to say, but didn't know how to complete the sentence or the thought. Instead, she got up and exchanged the seat with Anita who gleefully curled her elfin body in the warmed seat, put on her eye mask and straightaway went to sleep.
Naina sat in her newly-acquired wobbly seat, holding on to the pieces of her broken heart as the credits of the movie started to roll.
"This is way worse than Binati Aunty." She muttered to herself. She looked out of the window and gave the laughing moon her finger.