“I told you, I’m not from these parts. I was here for some work. Was supposed to meet a friend,” she took out her phone and checked something,“Guess she’s too busy to even reply. I’ll probably rent a room in some hotel for the nonce.”
Ranjit raised his eyebrow but she didn’t notice. Was she an escort or something? He wasn’t very sure if she was telling that on purpose. He definitely wasn’t looking for such gratification. He was more of the emotional kind who preferred romance to lust. He’d once harbored dreams of marrying the girl of his dreams but it had ended in heartbreak.
“You seem lost. Thinking of someone?” the woman prompted him, flashing another smile.
Ranjit shook his head, coming out of his woolgathering. He met her gaze and studied her. She’d removed the scarf to reveal silken black hair falling to her waist. Round earrings danced on either side of her cheeks.
“I don’t have someone to think of,” he said, surprised at his sudden forthrightness.
“No family—girlfriend? You sure don’t look old enough to be married.”
“Family lives in Shimla. I work here as a sales-manager for an FMCG company. No girlfriend.” He made sure it didn’t seem like he was blabbering so he decided to address the elephant in the room. “What do you do if I may ask?”
“I’m studying fashion-designing, in Delhi. Was here to see an old relative of mine,” she replied.
Brief silence ensued. The television was louder without the wind and the barking dog. Even the whirring trucks weren’t audible. Ranjit gave a quick glance for the bus then turned back to her. She was looking intently at the moon.
He believed her. There was a book peeping out of her bag—some novel. He tried to guess her age—twenty-five, twenty-six. It didn’t occur to him that she seemed hardly bothered for the bus now, or that she was getting late. She was at ease in his company, she wasn’t a hooker and that’s all Ranjit could care for.
But just then his phone buzzed and somehow he knew it would be a problem. It was from work, informing him of a sales-visit he had to make the next day. The visit was scheduled pretty early in another far-flung corner of the city—which meant he had to rush home to make necessary preparations and get a good night’s sleep.
Nonetheless he was ready to spend some more time in the woman’s company—and he precisely knew how to do that and leave a good impression. Who knew he might get to see her again one day?
“Err, I think I saw an auto-rickshaw stand half-a-kilometer that way,” Ranjit said, pointing toward the flyover visible above the ramshackle settlements and government-quarters to their right. “It’s getting late and we can’t keep waiting for the bus forever. Maybe I can see you off to an auto. I know where you can find a good hotel, too. You can Google the directions then.”
The girl looked mildly surprised by the offer. She hesitated for a moment then got up. “Good idea, too bad I didn’t think of it before.” Her smile was piercing, her steps eager. With the heels she was as tall as Ranjit.
They left the bus-shelter and started walking, crossing to the other, cleaner side of the road. An auto passed them, a retro song dripping love playing on its loudspeakers. Ranjit glimpsed a couple snuggling close on the back-seat and smiled. Even the lady walking by his side was beaming and shaking her head.
For the very first time in years, Ranjit felt there was a life beyond his past heartbreak and ever-looming sales targets. There was hope in his future—even if it wasn’t the girl by his side that was his destiny, he knew he would remember the night. His dreams had been stirred.
