The conversation part 1

I woke up in the morning at 5 because my bus was going to arrive from the highway at 7. I realized how badly I needed a break from my routine. Thus, I decided to go the hills with a bunch of few unknown people. This was going to be one hell of a trip.

I reached the highway around 6:50 and saw some buses lined together on the side of the road. I loaded my bus and saw all of the people chirping and singing Bollywood songs. All of them looked my age. The fun was just going to be doubled. I saw a girl with her ear-phones on. She was sitting alone and staring out of the window. She looked in her mid-20s, her jawbone clearly visible from the side. I always had something for the square face and so, I can say I was instantly attracted to her.

She wore a black t-shirt and leggings. I went towards her and asked “Excuse me?” to which she replied nothing.

“Excuse me?” I said. She now took out her ear-phones.

“Sorry?” she asked.

“Is this seat reserved?” I asked rather stupidly.

“Umm…no. It isn’t!”

“So, can I sit here?”

“ONLY IF YOU WANT” she smiled as she spoke and rolled her eyes. I sat beside her.

“Mohit” I said. “Arya” she replied as we shook hands.

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The bus started on time as the people cheered. After a while, she once again took out her ear-phones and asked me “So, are you travelling alone?”

“Yeah. I was kinda bored of the routine and stuff…so decided to go.”

“Ahaan.”

“And what about you?”

“Ya…same here. Travelling alone with unknown people and to different places.”

“Yup. I’m excited” I said.

“So where are you from?”

“I’m originally from Ahmedabad and doing a job here at Surat, Reliance Industries.”

“Great!”

“What about you?” I asked.

“Well, I originally belong to Surat only. I pursued my BBA here and then went to Pune for MBA” she replied.

“So, you returned here after MBA?”

“Yes. I couldn’t get a decent job.”

“So, then what are your future plans?”

“I don’t know. I’m just going with the flow. Let’s see what happens” she said as she turned her head towards the window.

“Ya. Everybody is going with the flow in life. Nobody has their life all sorted out.”

She didn’t reply. I asked “Is everything okay?”

She turned towards me and said “Ya. It’s nothing.” She gave an indication that she was about to listen to music once again. I noticed she had strange marks all over her left hand. I wondered if she had tried to harm herself. I stopped myself from asking further questions to her.  

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After a while as I was asleep, I felt a repeated tapping on my legs. She whispered “Are you awake?”

“Yeah.” I said rather clumsily. I added “What happened?”

“It’s nothing. I was just bored.”

Once again, I noticed her hand. She saw me noticing her hand and quickly backed away.

“Listen, are you in some pain? Do you need some help?” I asked.

“Why do you feel that?”

“Because I think you tried to harm yourself, Isn’t it?” I interrogated.

“You don’t have any right to comment on that.”

“Don’t be harsh. You can tell me. I won’t judge you.” I added “ONLY IF YOU WANT.”

“Okay. Promise me you won’t judge me.”

I shook my head.

“Okay.” She added “I recently went through a bad break up. My boyfriend and I were in a relationship for 3 years before we broke up. We could have worked out. But we decided to move on. We both wanted different things from life. My family would never accept him so he wanted me to run away with him. I didn’t want to leave my parents. I wanted him or rather both of us to convince my parents but he couldn’t gather enough courage to face up to my family. It wasn’t entirely his fault too. I had become possessive about him. We shared an apartment together for a year in Pune before the day came when he said he wanted to break up. I had been planning to do the same for a week or so. Having nowhere to go, I returned to Surat as he was going to get a job in Bangalore soon.” She broke down and turned her head towards the window.

“Hmm…sometimes things just don’t work out the way you want them to. You have just got to move on, I guess.” I patted her back to empathize with her.

She added “I don’t know why I am telling you all this. I’m sorry. I’ve had a 

terrible few months.”

“It’s okay. It’s completely fine. I get you. Everybody’s got their problems. This is YOURS.”

She replied nothing. We became silent for a while.

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After our lunch had been taken, we once again started to talk.

She said “Mohit, enough about me. What about you? Tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

“Tell me about your family, your life and general stuff.”

“Well, I can only say that I’ve had a rough childhood.” I added “I had low self-esteem. My friends used to make fun of me, call me by embarrassing names, swear at me and all. I would always come along as a down-to-earth easily-manipulated kind of nerdy guy.”

I added “But then tragedy struck. I was 14 then. We are a joint family. My mom, dad, and my grandparents. I was at school. So, as I reached my home from school, I saw a few bunch of people gathered in white clothes outside my house. I quickly went into the house to see if all was okay. I saw people crying their heart out. I searched for my mom and dad and there she was. She was weeping too. I couldn’t control my tears. I went near her as she whispered ‘Your dad. He’s gone. He’s no more.’ I am afraid that’s my story.”

“You lost your dad” she sighed. “Ohh. I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to…” she said as she held my shoulder.

I said “It’s okay. Things have been better lately. I have moved on from that episode. Sometimes I do get reminded of him but then it’s something you can’t control.” I added “My mom has never been better and keeps herself engaged. She takes care of my grandparents and they take care of her. They were so happy for me when they got to know that I got a job.”

“Great. I’m happy you have moved on” she said with a faint smile. She added 

“Must have been tough without a parent. I can’t imagine what it’s like without a father.”

“I told you. Everybody has problems. This is MINE” I said and shook my head. We both kept silent after that. I noticed that she had been moved by my genuineness. She clearly empathized with me.

Read the second part of the story, here.