STORY V: THE BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY (part II)

continued............

Once we were seated at our respective locations I realized that I had pretty much nothing to do. We ere both seated at the window seats which makes the location seem like the end of the tunnel where you have nowhere to go. If you are a kid and if it’s daytime you can pretty much pass your time by looking outside the window. But to my disappointment neither was I a kid, nor it was daytime. I checked my watch; it was 7:00 PM.So here I was seated in front of a beautiful piece of human being having nothing to do but stare right into her face.

I observed that she wasn’t facing the problem which I was, as she had a book in front of her face, perfectly shielding her face from my staring. I read the book's cover. It was something called A Monk who sold his Ferrari. Now, to be honest I haven’t read a novel type book in my life. The only thing which I read till now was a kiddo type book written by Sidney Sheldon. That too I read because I had to in my school library. Besides that I also read my CBSE Literature book because that piece of shit earned me marks in my final exams. I was also into the Bike World magazine but it had more of watching than reading. The name of the book she was reading clearly gave me the impression that she was one of those studious types girls with whom you are better of talking something which doesn’t come in text form. Now who would keep a name like that for a book?

Which monk would buy a Ferrari? And even if he does why the hell would he want to sell it off?

I found out the place where I could safely park my eyes was downwards as it was the safest. She was wearing a tall slipper or sandal which you call. It resembled a three story building with half your foot on the top floor and the other half on the first floor. The ground floor is reserved for parking. I once heard my sister call it a platform type sandal, whatever it meant. There was dark red nail polish on her toenails, with one toe encircled in weird spring like ringlets that only girls can justify wearing. I just wanted to keep looking at her feet but she started to talk.

“So, you don’t read much do you?” she enquired.

“No, certainly not, I do read, it’s just that I forgot to keep my book along with the luggage……..silly me, don’t know what I was thinking. Now how would I pass this journey without a book………”

I had no idea where that came from. A perfectly framed lie which came out from some part of my body I had no knowledge. Maybe I wanted to impress her. I mean you got to say that if the girl you are fantasizing is one of those studious types…..

“So what do you read Rahul?” was her immediate reaction.

I was dumbstruck.

“I don’t know …I guess the mystery ones are good……”

That was clean. I must get a PhD in lying. I knew I was walking on thin ice but now I had no option.

“Oh, that’s good ……then I suppose you must not have read the Da Vinci Code……..have you?” she again finished the sentence with a question mark.

I heard that weird name on the news channel. I couldn’t say yes, since it might given rise to millions of questions which was suicidal.

“No, not really...my friends were insisting on reading that, but somehow I didn’t get the time………….”

Hail king Rahul. The noble prize for Effective lying goes to you.

“Oh, that’s no problem” she opened her bag and took out that book with a weird name on it and gave it to me. “You can read it now……..”

“Thank you, you saved my journey……”

I took the book without and further questions. I realized that this conversation is not going in a safe direction. So I put a seal on my mouth and stuck my eyes on the book. At least now I had something to look at.

Both of us were sitting face to face reading books as if we were preparing for board exams. She might be used to this stuff but for me, I had crossed the limit of staring at a book. Of course I was not going to read it, so I thought maybe it’s time for me to get a bit naughty. She was now seated in a very comfortable posture. We were the only two people seated on the two opposite births. The compartment was not that crowded. On the passage seat there was this uncle and auntie .their kids were already asleep on the births over our heads. The uncle and aunty were busy discussing some family issues among themselves. I noticed that I was somewhat unchecked if I had to stare at the girl seated in front of me. She had now kept the book on her lap which perfectly exposed her beautiful face to me. I used my book as a shield and threw some short glances at her without her noticing.

There are two kinds of pretty girls in this world. One is the modern type, girls who cut their hair short, wear jeans or skirts, and tiny earrings. The second is the traditional type who wears Salwar Kameez, multi-colored bindi and large earrings.

Malvika was a cross between the two types. Her dressing sense was kind of a hybrid. She wore knee length jeans which I noticed immediately (as half her legs were visible!!!) and the upper part of her body had something which I first thought was a loose t-shirt. But now when I look more carefully have started to believe is more like a Kurta which is mysteriously short in length and made to look like a loose t-shirt. Well I am not into female dresses much so the best I can call her attire is a camouflaged Kurta with a knee length jeans. She paired it up with matching earrings .She was not one of those forced traditional type fat girls who have no choice but to wear Indian clothes. Malvika was just fine, and actually way out of my league. She had brownish black or blackish brown or whatever hair, which she had left open, a curl falling mischievously on her forehead. She had a somewhat round face, but not because she was fat or anything, just a natural endearing face. I just kept looking at her as the novel in front of my face waited patiently for my glance.

Amidst all this peeping stuff, the next station arrived. By now some two or three stations had already passed but there were not that big. This one was an exception as I saw a lot of movement both inside the compartment and on the platform. We no longer had the luxury of our own individual births now, as another uncle and aunty with a small kid arrived to accompany us. This station was kind of this eating station as everyone in the compartment started eating. It was 9:00 PM.I guess this was the station where you had to eat and as the train leaves you had to go to sleep. I thought an opportunity had slipped through my fingers as Malvika would also go to sleep and the story which had such a thrilling beginning would have to end quietly.

Just when I was recollecting these thoughts, Malvika broke the silence by saying… “Rahul, could you just keep a watch on my luggage. I’ll just be back in a minute. I have to wash my hands and stuff so that we can begin having our dinner once I come back……”

The words WE really rung some bells in my mind.

“Yeah, sure just don’t take too much time……., I think the train is about to leave….”I said like a responsible person.

“Don’t, worry you won’t have to pull me up this time……”she said with a smile and left…..

Through the window I could see her going to the nearest tap on the platform and wash her face. She filled her bottle and even mine. I didn’t even realize when she took my bottle. She was a damn nice girl I felt. She was so comfortable with me as if we knew each other from a long time. How could I let this girl just pass by? She’s just the kind of girl I would like to be with. I mean besides all this good looks stuff, her taking my bottle without me telling her was really special. It showed she liked me as well and was comfortable with me.

I just began to hope this journey never ends………………

To be continued………