As i Jumped My 1st Red Light of the Day ( with so many red lights in Delhi u need 2 learn this ) , 2 imposters like men dressed in white dress came from behind on their bike, (which obviously had more horse power than mine), and asked me stop... They looked at me like i was the prime suspect of 9/11 attacks. As i realized that they were so called protectors of the law (WTF.. what a bad start 2 the day ) i suddenly went motionless.. In no mood to argue, plead or plant a move i gave my license to them. They were going on with their law talks n i was somewhere else. I was talking to them but i was going back n back. Back in the memories which i always wanted to forget.
I still remember it was a beautiful morning.. Morning where everything seemed to be perfect.. cool air, light sunshine, proper sleep n specially no vendors shouting outside!!.... Everything perfect...
As it was a Sunday, and driving was my newly acquired trait so i decide to test my skills on my Dad's Car. The advantage on Sunday is that there are very few people on Lucknow roads who could prove dangerous 2 u and vice versa, if u r a new driver!!
I was on my merry way, chanting songs thinking that being a F1 driver was not far away... hitting every possible turn, speeding upto the moment my soul allowed. Everything was going fine until somebody banged me from behind ( WTF....aint,This was what i was supposed 2 do ..., who stole ma Idea. .... ?? ).. With many thoughts in my mind as to how much damage has been caused, my excuse at home ... N Who was the Culprit ??? i stepped out f my car... Only to find a Brand New Chevrolet Spark banged somewhat badly into my car. Both cars had somehow equal damages , but i was the one who had the right to claim it..As i was busy inspecting my car, i realized my shadow had a company.. Infact i had a company.... A Beautiful Company.....
Milky white complexion with the cutest face cut i had ever seen with ,Those heavy big Eyes laden with kohl, sparkling pink lip gloss , Yellow cotton suit with rich embroidery ,matching ear rings and bracelet...An Aroma that would never seem to leave you...In All a Company that would leave you Spellbound....
Woo...i guess i was suppose to talk about the accident, my damaged car, my loss..... But at that point , believe me , i just wanted to ask her , " r u all right".. ?? Before i could utter out any words she softly said - I m really sorry, Itz not been very log since i have learned driving ,I just couldn’t apply the brakes on time...
....( Thank God she couldn’t do so ).......
"May i Have Your Number".... She repeated twice, putting more effort the 2nd time, expecting me to respond. I was heavily under the Spell.. Senses not functioning properly,, I didn’t knew what to speak, I was so so nervous ,reacting as i was the culprit and not her...
"C u give me your number, i will make sure i pay u for your damages"- she put in her best effort....By this time i was a lil normal , knowing that taking my number was just a silly excuse to run from the current situation..
But tell me, who the hell in this world will not give his number, when a angel like her asks for it( even when u know she will never call back )... i gave her my number, n after that she said i will call u as soon as possible as with a formal bye , she was away.... Away from ma eyes leaving her angel like image in ma mind..
Days passed by, her memory started to fade away. I always knew she will never call back, but had a wish that she should call once...Often when i passed by that road , that accident would freshen up in my mind. More days passed by, n by now she was just a small memory in my mind. For few days every Chevrolet spark on the road use to catch my attention, but not anymore..
I was engrossed with my graduation 2nd Year Classes, MBA Coaching, Project works, busy schedule hardly left any spare time.. Friendz also started complaining...Life was becoming monotonous.... UNTIL.............
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One day in mid of an important class, an unknown number started flashing on my mobile screen, i cut the call ...and then that happened repeatedly 5 times.. i was always frustrated by the fact that why dont people understand that if they r free doesn mean other is also free.... n i m not an insane to keep cutting calls like that/...
i was about to message some nice words to that number, when this time a new message beeped-
" I KNOW ITZ VERY LATE NOW, BUT I THOUGHT TO PAY U BACK AS I PROMISED TO - NEW DRIVER"...
Was this some kind of joke or a prank, n if it was it was a very poor 1......That time i didnt paid much attention to it, but later in the night the curiosity aroused again.. what if , she was really the one ? I messaged back - " Nice that u still remember it , but my car has already been repaired ,so thankz but no thankz.."
An instant reply came back - " Itz nice that ur car is alright, may b u didn find a driver like me again on the road ? But i will like to meet up , may b 2 say sorry again, i hope u have no issues with that "
I was confused, what to do. It appeared to be a prank, but somewhere deep withen my heart was hoping against the hope ,,Itz her , its her was the only voice coming..
I decided to take chance so i replied back - Costa Coffee, Wave, Tomorrow,7 PM...n reply to it was as fast as it could be - 'Done, C Ya There'..
That night i had one of the most restless sleeps ever, Many Dreams were being created and destroyed at once ..Many things such as, what i will say, what she will speak, is it really her or is it some kind of a joke, even what i will wear, how long will our meeting last, were striking my mind at once. With all these thoughts fighting against each other , my mind finally gave up and i was off to sleep.
Next Morning being a Sunday, I was Supposed to Sleep late afternoon, but the anxiety of meeting her up didn allowed me to do so. Whole day i had butterflies in my stomach. Somehow the day passed!! I Clearly remember i was there at the venue , a good half an hour before the schedule time which was an every sense an achievement for Me. Everynow and then the thought of me being a BAKRA was creeping up in ma mind.
Suddenly she appeared out of the Thin Air...... Looking More Beautiful than before, Making me more nervous than the previous time and Striking again...BANG... this time straight at the heart. It was not that i had not seen more beautiful faces, but the spell that she brought along made all other f appear dull.
HII... came out a loud enthusiastic voice.. Her presence there certainly made some faces turn around. HII- I replied back and pulled out a chair for her imagining since when i had become so full of etiquettes.
Neha…. She said after a short pause, Mohit – I replied back (Well all you readers, Hii My name is Mohit )
. Her bubbly face was making me smile for no reason what so ever. It seems like you are not happy to meet me, she said ( That was one of the worst conclusions I had ever came across in my life), .................and why will You be – after all I was the reason for your car’s damage, she fired another one.
I didn knew from where to start, trying to maintain a balance between being friendly and flirtious, I said- well that’s a long forgone thing, and don’t worry I got paid by my insurance company as I blamed it on a rash irresponsible driver. I winked at her………… “Me Too- She winked back”
Well here was a girl who had a sense as well as respect for humour, and which for me was a unusual trait in this creation of God which we all called WOMEN and we all desired for. Then followed our conversation in which I thought I had everything in my favour. She too was in last semester of graduation and preparing for MBA, she was in the same coaching as mine only the batch timings were different, (Though I Didn told her about my Part Time Job and Never Asked Her about the BF Part). As expected she insisted on paying the bill and I formally resisted then allowed her to do so, and then the normal filmy statement- Only this time, Next time onwards bill is on Me.
Judging by her looks and appearance I could make out that she was a sort of on the richer class of society, as we were about to part for the day she asked me- Did u ever expected me to call u back ( I Don’t know about my expectations, but yeah my heart always wanted her to return back). I replied back that I always thought it was just an excuse to take my number to run away from the situation, but yes thanks that u did. I guess we were supposed to be friends ( Woo that was quite a heavy statement, when did she confirmed about our friendship. I was cursing myself from within for speaking this dialogue).
Hmm… Quite an Expensive Friendship for u, she winked.. Her wittiness always seemed to accompany her.
Friendships are always expensive, infact they r Priceless.. I Winked and left for the bike stand while she left for the Car Stand….. I Told u na , A Bit on the Richer Side..
( I had this unique habit with Girls, To end the Conversation with a Dialogue laden with heavy words. As I thought this would force them to think about me for some time and could initiate future conversations also. This Concept had backfired in some cases, But mostly…………… IT WORKED….. ;))
It was 2 days since I met her and everytime my cell beeped I was expecting her. That day I was in college and as usual was having a gala time with my group of 7 ( 2-M , 5-F …. that made many jealous , I know ) , when my cell rang. Her name flashed on my mobile screen, I Instantly picked Up forgetting the fact that the network coverage in our college was always quite low. All what I could hear was , Hello…. Moh… Hel… Hell…Hello…. And line got cut. Bad Luck…. The Cell rang again, again the same story. I Went to the open area to call her back, Just as I pressed the dial button I heard a very familier voice ..
( Sorry, your balance is insufficient for the call. Please recharge to be able to make the call)
WTF – No balance …. There was a time, not very long back, when it was a compulsion to recharge your phone every month to continue with the services, but with the lifelong validity schemes hitting the market, I hardly found it necessary to recharge my phone,, Often landing into troubles but doing nothing to improve upon that. That was me, laidback, hardly ever planned, thinking for me was a waste of time, lived my life to maximum, friendz meant life to me, studies were just an excuse to kill time, was a bit flirtious in nature but only to increase my circle of glam dolls( as I called them) and had the gifted humour .
And I hardly ever felt wrong about my persona except for this occasion when I was short of balance to call to some1 whom I wanted to talk the most at that very moment…………. Suddenly I remembered the small PCO box in the corner of our Canteen, which, for me, till that very moment was a small tacky box and I always thought why don’t people call from their mobile instead of staying in that box and sweating like floods… Now I Understood… WHY!!
As I approached the PCO box, and my group of 7 seven present there too I felt all eyes were on me. (Till that point, I had not told any1 about Neha, except for the accident part. With 5 girls in my group I tried not to converse with them about my connections with the glam dolls of the outside world as u never know with girls when the jealousy parts creeps in.)
I dialed her number with my heartbeats increasing every moment, and one of my fav number played back, ‘Chookar mere Mann ko Kia tune kya ishara’..and my over optimistic heart thought Is It For Me ? She Picked Up,
Hello….
Hii..Neha.. Mohit this side...
Ohh, Hii Mohit … n whose number is this…
Well, its my College PCO…
What happened to your Mobile…
Hmm … Network Problems… I Ignored the Balance Issue ( I had this habit of speaking the half truth, as I thought its always a safe option then speaking a Lie, and u r not guilty too)
Ok.. So howz your Preparation for CAT going on.. …She Said
Hmm.. Not Much.. they r still quite far away.. Only the coaching classes nothing else.. U Tell..
Yaar… ( Yaar, … woo I was referred as a yar) ….. the college is fine but the coaching is very boring.. I find it very Boring, I’m planning to leave it.
( what, no way, u cant leave the coaching like this … u have to stay .. YAAR…) I thought to shout it back to her but held myself back.. … a Deep Silence… I didn knew what to say…
Hello…she said..
Ya ya.. just a second Neha.. I was blank at that time, gathering ideas ..
Why do you get bored, Don’t u have friends there.. I quoted a safe statement…
I have, but they all are from my girls college, and are busy bitching and I don’t like that at all..
Hmm… ohh so u r a friend short in the coaching, Bang someone’s Car .. Simple….
Why Don’t u bring your car again.. she said retaliating most probably…
Ohh.. Your bad luck ,, Car is with Dad now….
No.. Your Good Luck, or this time I would have given you a serious hit.. She Laughed and she won the Battle…. Or rather I lost it myself… as the saying goes –
“ To Win In Love, U need to be a Good Looser. “…
Before she start getting bored and tell me to keep the phone down, I tried to hit the logout button.. ‘ Ok then Best Of Luck for your Coaching, May be you can find a friend there’.. I said casually and dropped down the phone.
The machine showed full 24 minutes and 35 seconds and canteen had some eyeballs staring at me. I Didn’t realized how so much time flew by. As I Joined by Group back no one not seemed to care much as they knew about my flings with the glam dolls of the outside world, but still my presence in that rotten box for close to half an hour raised some questions…. But Nothing Serious.. I was still hiding the latest development of my life from them.
While on my way back to home from college, my mobile rang… As I was driving that time I thought not to answer the call without looking as to whom the caller was, but after few seconds the cell ranged again. Out of curiosity I took the mobile out of the pocket, inserted it in the space between helmet and my face and pressed the answer button…
Hey… where are You…. Came the voice….
(It was her… It was her again… Only 4 hours we had talked, n she was here again…. Was she missing me?? Did she wanted to talk about something important?? A Set of Questions hit my Mind at once)
I stopped my bike immediately and answered –
Ya… I am on my way back to home, Tell what happened…
Nothing Important, Just had set a new caller tune, please listen n tell how is it?
( Woo… she wished to involve me in her decisions.. This was in no sense less than an achievement for me…… I was being the over optimistic as always)
Well Neha, I am on my way back to home. Will listen to it as I reach home. I hid the fact that my mobile had not seen any balance since ages.
Ok, I will wait.. Bye n she cut the call.
On my way back to home I purchased a Full Rs 10 recharge voucher and called neha as soon as I reached home… I was too eager to listen to the new caller tune.. (As this gave me a chance to talk to her again )
Mere Haath mei .. Tera Haath ho, Saari jannaten tere saath ho…. The tune played back..
It was a new number from a latest flick.. The tune played twice before the call got cut.
I was busy wondering why she didn’t pick the call when my cell rang. ‘ Neha’ it flashed…
How is It..?? She questioned immediately..
Though I liked the tone quite a bit, but I didn’t showed it . Its Ok ok, the previous one was better.. I replied back…
Ohh. .. Should I change it.. She said with a tone on a little sad side..
Well, if u like it then let it be.. I said in a sarcastic manner….
Hmm…Okk.. talk to you later, I need to rush. She said winding up the conversation…
‘Bye’…
‘Bye’.. I Said with a pain in my heart..
( ohh.. why she had to leave every time – though we had met only once. Why she had to end the conversation…. Why she had to say Bye every time… n yes.. By the way where she had to rush … Did she had a BF ? Was she hiding something from me. ? As she never discussed this topic so I also chose to stay away from it.. Now we had talked for exactly 4 times, I Counted the accident part also, n there were already small sets of sweet memories which formed the schedule of my dreams. )
Close to 10P.M, I was over with my dinner, and according to my dad was as usual killing time on internet, I always saw social networking as an Investment n wondered why elderly called it a time killing machine. I had an opinion may be that they don’t have their friends on facebook, orkut, twitter or linkedin that’s why they feel jealous and don’t understand the fun of reuniting the childhood friendship. Anyways a Controversial Issue !!
I thought of sending some routine SMS to neha which could initiate some conversation but cancelled the Idea as previously in my life I had made the mistake of making my feelings too obvious due to actions which were borne out of sheer excitement. So I decided to curb my excitement and diverted my attention to my G-talks. I called up some friends to make sure the new found balance in my mobile was not lying idle. I talked till the customer care aunty allowed me to do so, n then it was the same routine dialogue again- ‘sorry your balance is insufficient for this call. Please recharge your phone’. I was thinking of her and wishing she should call once. But she was nowhere to be found. Sleep was also missing but I forced myself to bed as morning classes were a compulsion now.
(Compulsory Early morning classes had somehow disturbed my sleep schedule. Though I was good at my external exam results, but this time management had decided to divide the ratio in 60:40, a whooping 40 percent weightage for internal assessment. Some found it good, some not. But for me it was a disaster, that meant compulsory classes, compulsory assignments and to maintain cordial relations with your male teachers. As female teachers goes, I was a hit among them.)
I was about to enter my dream world when I felt something was vibrating below my pillow. I was irritated by the vibration. As I was already in sleep mode It took some efforts to find that mobile. With half open eyes I checked out as to who it was……..
Neha…. Neha,… It kept flashing….
I opened my eyes a little more to actually see and make sure I was not dreaming…
Neha…. It flashed again….
I gained all my senses to make sure I didn’t sounded sleepy.
Hello…. I picked Up….
Hey… Have I Disturbed… Were u already slept… she said with the same childishness as always.
I Wish I could tell her No Time was wrong for her to call or to talk or to meet, I wish I could.
No no… I was just busy in Some College Assignment. I guess I sounded a bit more serious than intended to.
Ohhkk… she exaggerated the word. Well nothing important, just had set a new caller tune.. Listen to it and tell how is it..
Caller tune again… I thought she did it because of me as I had said its ok ok and not that good. My over optimistic heart had a thought again. And so late in the night was she thinking of me. My optimism had no limits.
And suddenly my optimism came crashing down.. I had already finished my mobile balance an hour back. No excuse seemed to fit in the scenario. Why didn’t I left balance even for a miss call. While all these thoughts came in ma mind there was a dead silence on the call.
Hello, Mohit are you there… she said very softly….
Ya.. Neha, was just wondering how to listen to your caller tune as I need to recharge my phone, Zero Balance, You Know….. I blunted out the truth …
Ohhho… came her expression of disappointment….
Okk, No issues you can listen to it tomorrow. She tried to sound normal but disappointment was very clear from her voice….
I was cursing myself… Thought to kick myself but then thought it will be over exaggeration.
Then don’t know why she suddenly winded up the call and said good night and cut the call.
As soon as she dropped the call, I began to wonder what the reason behind the sudden exit was. I thought of sending a SMS asking as to what happened but then cancelled the idea as this would show my desperation of talking to her. It was about after 10 minutes when my cell beeped. My heart became overjoyed with the thought that it would be Neha’s Message. As I checked my Inbox to my much disappointment it was message from Vodafone. As I opened the message there was a sort of surprise.
The message read – “ Your Balance has been credited with Rs.90, Pay retailer Rs 100.”
What is this, I thought, checked the message twice checked my balance thrice, yeah the information was correct. I had a top-up of Rs 100 done on my phone, n I had no idea from where it came. One of my good friend was owner of a mobile shop, so I called him up to check whether he had done this act of charity. He simple refused to acknowledge the recharge, n this further increased my anxiety.
I was busy wondering when my mobile rang and I saw a name which was slowly becoming a regular feature on my mobile screen..
‘Neha’ it flashed…..
Hello.. I picked the call..
Hmm.. so has your recharge been done.. She fired a straight one…
Ya, but what was the need right now for it , ( n I was also wondering to whom she must have asked so late in the night to do a recharge for an unknown number, though I didn’t asked this one )
How come there was no need, U were not able to listen to my caller tune…
Ok, that’s fine but I could have listened to your caller tune by a Rs10 Top-up also.—I said in Generous tone..
Rs10 top-up, who recharges with Rs10 and my mobile recharge person would have felt awkward if I had asked him for a Rs10 top-up at this hour of time – she briefed up the reason behind Rs100 top-up.
( what…. she feels ashamed to ask for a Rs10 top-up, If that was the case with me I would have died by now due to shame.. And that further supported by belief and l as I wrote earlier she was turning out to be ‘ A BIT ON THE RICHER SIDE ‘ )
To Be Continued ………………
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