And we parted for the first time….
Finally the day came. From last few days she was not talking to me properly. She was not happy that I am leaving Bangalore. Last evening when I called her to request if she can come to meet me for the last time before I leave then-
[She]: sorry, I will not able to come as I have to go office early tomorrow.
[He]: its ok. No problem. I just asked. Bye
Next morning, it was 8 am in the morning. I put my luggage to the auto. Sat in the auto. Still hoping that she might come to meet me one last time. But she didn’t. Auto started. We moved out of the block in which I used to live. Suddenly my mobile rang. I picked up
[He]: Hi !
[She]: Where are you ? you left from the house ?
[He]: yes I am in auto.
[She]: how can leave without meeting me? I don’t know anything, I need to see you. Where are you ? come back.
[He]: I just passed Sony signal. Where are you ?
[She]: I am outside your house. Come back. How can you think of going without meeting me ?
[He]: but you only told me that you will not able to come
(In very angry tone and at the same time her voice was shaking a bit as if she was about to cry)
[She]: so what. You know me right? You should have called me again. You should have come to my place. I don’t know anything. Just come back. I need to see you before you go. You can’t go without meeting me. Not possible. Ask Auto Driver to come back.
[He]: ok..ok.., I am coming back
[She]: let’s meet at sony signal. I am coming there
[He]: ok
I asked my Auto Driver to take u turn. I stopped at sony signal. We met there. She came to my auto and the auto started again. She was sitting next to me, holding my hand but not at all looking at me. She was looking the other direction.
[He]: Hey! you will not speak to me? We only have few minutes…
[She]: chittar khoge ( will you get a slap) ? mere se bina mile ja rahe the na fir baat kyu karni hai tumhe? (you were leaving without meeting me right then why there is a need to talk?) You are leaving me. Did you ever think, how I will live without you ? You are my only friend here.
[He]: Ishan is here, your love of live. You will not feel my absence in his presence. And any way you don’t have time for me. Your work is there and then Ishan.
[She]: but Ishan will go to USA in 5–6 months then what.
[He]: Then in another 6–7 months you will also go USA right ? what will happen to me then. Also I have to complete my MBA and then I have to any way go right?
[She]: But you can wait till then. Why you are going now. I will never forgive you.
I can see her face, she was crying from inside but at the same time she didn’t know why she is feeling that way. it was a mixed feeling on her face. I just wanted to hug her right there and some how I know that this is exactly what she wanted but may be she her self about this feeling that point of time. Hence I braced my self and turned her face towards me. Her face turned red as she cried a bit and also she was angry and she was frustrated. She was wearing the same yellow Patiala suit which was my favorite suit of her. Her brownish curly hair were not properly combed. It was tied up with a hair rubber band but few hair sticks were coming to her face from both the side. She looked at me. I had tears in my eyes as well. For a second I also started thinking if I am not taking the right decision of leaving Bangalore. I got tempted to tell her that may be I am in love with her but in all this suddenly my attention got forcefully dragged to her lips. OMG… for the first time in my life, I realized how beautiful her lips are. Pair of small pink lips. Because she was crying and she was nervous, her lips were shaking a bit. Her lips were not dry but soft and shiny (may be the effect of lip balm). I so wanted to kiss her that point of time. (Ya ya .. I know what you all reader must be thinking now “Men will be Men”. But I am only telling truth. this is what i felt that point of time :) )
From the other side of auto, morning rays of sun was just falling on her brownish curly hair ( near her right ear ). The site was unforgettable. Look at the irony of the situation:
She was a very simple Punjabi girl. Living in Bangalore where every other girl is well dressed. Neither her hair was properly combed not she generally make any effort to look attractive. She was just wearing a normal suit which she wear every week. She is crying in an auto but still she was looking the most beautiful girl I ever met and on top of that she is crying for a lean and thin Bihari guy (who is not her lover just a friend) who is leaving her to go to get into MBA college to impress another girl who has made it clear that if he don’t get into Tier 1 MBA college she will not marry him.
Suddenly auto applied the break and I got out from my thoughts. So after turning her face towards me, I came near her and hugged her. She hugged me back and she cried a little more and said, why are you going. Don’t go. I will miss you a lot.
[He]: hey, do you think I will ever able to forget you. But I think this is the right thing to do now. You have things going on in your life. I have thinks going on in my life. This will give time to both of us to sort things out. Also its not that we are breaking up :). we will keep talking the way we do now. And I promise, I will meet you before I go to MBA college.
I suddenly realized that we were hugging each other for last 4–5 minutes and our auto was stuck in traffic signal from last 2 mins and from both end people were looking at us.
[He]: Hey?
[She]: hmm
[He]: people are watching us
[She]: so ? what can I do ? let it be. My Idiot will go away from me in next few minutes. At least let me hug him properly.
In 5 mins, we got into another Traffic signal where she had to get down as she had to take bus from there to the office, and I have to go to the other way for railway station
She got down. I hugged her again, she walked down to the other side of the road. My auto was still standing at the traffic signal, she was looking at me from the footpath. No emotion, no smile. She was just looking at me and I was just looking at her. I requested her to go but she was not going. I could see couple of drops going down to her cheek but her face was emotion less. Auto started, she was still looking at me , I tried to look at her as much as I can. And then now I could not see her any more. And that’s how we parted.
(Hardly I knew that point of time that we had to face similar situation again in future. the only difference will be — next time she will be leaving me and i will be standing emotionless and helpless just staring at her)
