It was the morning of 25th December. The Christmas sun had just begun to shine in its full grandeur. I woke up in my hotel room. I had a long dream-less sleep for the past 8 hours, after I reached my hotel at Upparpet, Bangalore. The past week was frantic and fun as my friends and I were on the “Mysore-Ooty -Conoor” trip. Our South India tour was coming to an end and I was not feeling good about it. I wanted to be in a holiday here forever. It was a vacation that I had taken after a long time. I had expected a lot from it. I had foreseen something majestic to take place. Though the entire trip was good nothing magical happened. Well, being a realist I dismissed the thought . Magic is the most uncommon thing in a person’s life.
I had planned to go meet my cousin who was staying in the city. It was Christmas time and I was looking forward to enjoy the day with his family. I got out of bed, took a quick shower and braced myself for the day. As I got out of my hotel, I remembered that I got to buy a cake. It would seem so gauche to turn up at his doorstep without anything on this day of the year. So I started searching for good bakery stores around. But I was completely out of luck. All the Christmas cakes were already sold out in all the stores. But I kept on searching and finally got a store with stocks left. I bought a nice looking cake and was on my way to the Majestic bus stand. It was a huge bus stand just like its name “Majestic”. I was confused at first as to which buses went where. But then I saw that everything was organized and finally found the Volvo that would take me near Christ College, the place where my cousin stayed.
I went and sat inside the bus waiting for it to start. There was a person selling Bengaluru city maps inside the bus. I got a copy for ten bucks. I got immersed in the grid of roads in the map trying hard to locate my current position on it that I completely ignored the fact that a girl in a black salwar kameez was sitting right next to me. I suddenly heard a very hushed soft voice near my ear “May I help?”. I looked around to find one of the most beautiful eyes staring at me with naughtiness playing on her lips. I realized that I had stared at her for too long as she cleared her throat to break the spell that she had cast on me. I replied with a “Yes???”. She repeated “May I help you find your current location on the map?”. I thought “How the hell did she know what I was trying to do?” She said as if she could read my mind “Well, that’s what sane people do first before finding their destination. They try to know where they actually are!!”. I wondered that were we still talking about maps?? She leaned on to get a closer look as I slid the map towards her. There was an otherworldly feeling that I had near her. She was so simple, yet so beautiful. “Well here you are” she said pointing at a dot in the map “And where are you headed??”. “Christ’s College” I said. She had this strange sparkle in her eyes. “That’s where I am headed too” she said. I was glad.
So there I was sitting beside this wonderful girl, hoping that the bus would go very slow so that I could spend a little more time talking to her. I saw her clutching on to a fat book “Tripwire” by Lee Child. I had already read that book. “So, you a Jack Reacher fan?” I asked. She glanced at me and then to the book and then back at me and gave this wide smile “Yup. Love Lee Child thrillers. Have you read him?”. “Yeah” I said “I am into thrillers big time, but you don’t look like someone who would read thrillers”. “Why? Because I am a girl?” she asked. I said “Not only because you are a girl but you know, you look like those delicate pretty girls who would hold on to literary books like “Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre!”. She looked at me with intensity for a while and said “I am an English literature student and my favorite book happens to be Wuthering heights but….”.She stopped. For the first time I saw a tiny bit of ambiguity in her eyes. I asked “But what?”. “Well, I like taking temporary asylum in these action books sometimes” she announced. I had understood but wanted to confirm so I asked “You mean asylum from all these emotional stuffs that you keep reading in literature?”. She paused for a while and replied “Exactly, Mr. Sherlock Holmes” and then her million dollar smile was back on her face.
After that the discussion was mainly on books and authors. It was strange how we talked as if we knew each other for ages. I had never felt so comfortable with any girl before. Whereas I had met her only a few minutes back. In due time we reached our destination and we both got down from the bus together. We stood there for a while in the December sun without speaking a word. Both of us had felt a connection there in the bus. But there was no way that I was going to ask for her number. It was a good moment we shared and I had no plans for ruining it by sounding too desperate. “So, Mr. Stanger” she started “why don’t you come say hi to my friends?”. I was taken aback and said “Your friends?”. “Yes” she replied “They are at bookstore nearby. They stay there inside the store. Come, you would love them!!”. I wondered what kinds of friends stayed inside a book store, but I was not going to let an opportunity, of spending a little time with her, go wasted. “Sure” I heard myself saying “Lets go meet them”. So there we were crossing the streets and heading over to an underground fancy bookstore.
It was a very nice collection, glass walls and very neat rows. There was a different section for the respective genres of books. She told me to wait there and went away somewhere inside. After a minute or so, she came back holding a couple of cute little puppies in her arms. They were really beautiful dogs. She handed over one of them to me “This is Aldo and this is Alexia”. “Hi Aldo” I said and immediately regretted my statement. I must have sounded very stupid. But she was glad. That’s what mattered right then. So now I understood the concept of “friends living in the book-store”. We played a little with those doggies there and then looked around some books together. An hour passed right there. I couldn’t believe what I was doing there but I was feeling very happy. This girl not only looked different but she was indeed different. It was late afternoon and I realized that I had completely forgotten about my cousin whom I was supposed to meet, the plastic containing the cake still dangling from my hand. But I didn’t care. I was having the time of my life.
As we walked out of the bookstore, I didn’t waste a single second before asking “Why don’t we go have coffee somewhere? I have lots of things to talk with you, yet”. She looked at me with those mesmerizing eyes, smiled and nodded. “There’s a very nice coffee place at Brigade Road called Matteo” she said “Lets go there”. I was up for it. So we boarded a bus and started for Brigade Road.
Matteo was indeed a great place. It was like one of those French Cafes where the coffee tables ended till the road. She walked past me into the café and I followed “obediently”. We occupied a nice little table at the corner and sat facing each other. “So Mr. Stranger” she started “What’s your name?”. I suddenly realized that we didn’t know each other’s names even after so long. “I am Ambar” I said “And you would be?”. “Isha” she replied and we shook hands. We laughed at our stupidity for a while and just stared at each other. She looked nervous. I couldn’t believe how unique she looked in her different moods. “So” she started with her usual style “girlfriend?”. “No” I replied. “Ex-girlfriends?” she asked. “Ex-girlfriend. Yes” I replied. “Why ex??” she went on “Why do people break up if they got together in the first place”. It was such an innocent question. “Well” I said “We get together in the first place as we think we have the magic in our company and everything seems so romantic but gradually we tend to look at the other person’s shortcomings and negative traits. Either we become possessive or we start expecting a lot. These things screws and Ms. Isha, this is what happened with me” I ended with a smile. She gave this understanding nod as if she completely understood what I meant. “That’s the same thing that I faced” she confessed without me asking her anything. I could see the thought looming in her eyes long after she had completed and suddenly she takes up the menu and ordered us two cups of coffee. “Romance should be in the moments” she finally said “Not in promises and commitments”. I just nodded knowing that she had not completed yet. “When two people fall in love for the first time, they don’t have these promises and expectations” she went on “changing this attitude leads to all the problems. It should always be like it used to be. We should never change certain things. Romance lies in the moments” she finally concluded. It was indeed a great thought. I was astounded by her maturity and innocence. This girl was so getting into my head. We kept on talking there for a long time. A queue of empty coffee cups had formed on our table. I told her about my trip that I have been having here with my friends and how we decide to end it on 1st January at Pondicherry. She also told me that she was here at Bengaluru with her friend for a short while to give her exams. She was originally from Lucknow which I had guessed long before judging by her sexy Lucknowi nasal accent. We kept on talking for what felt like eternity when suddenly we saw the time. It was 8p.m. She had to go a long way home and I had to meet my cousin.
We rose up and walked out of the café silently. We were walking side by side without talking, towards the auto stand. We both were thinking the same thing. It was an end to a great day and we would never see each other again. I was stuck to my decision of not asking for her phone number and I knew she also would not ask. We stood there at the stand for a long time and then she gave me a hug. It was as if time had been frozen at that instant. She let go of me. I thought that I would ask for her number now when she said as if reading my mind “Lets not exchange any information. I don’t want it to be ordinary. Today was great”. I knew she was right but felt very sad, when suddenly she said “I’ll meet you at Pondicherry on 31st December”. I felt as if I was dreaming. I said “What?”. I just wanted to hear it again. She just replied “I’ll meet you at Pondicherry city beach. Be there on 31st”. Saying this, she was gone. She got inside an auto and took off. I must have stood there for a full fifteen minutes before turning back and boarding an auto for my cousin’s place, the cake still dangling in my hand.