On one ordinary afternoon, I was at the Bus station waiting for my bus to arrive. The heat was punishing and so was the waiting for the bus. Amidst the exhaustive waiting session finally, the passengers breathed an air of relief with the sight of the Bus that made its way through the rush like a beast. For one last time, I wiped off the tiny droplets of sweat and followed the driver’s cue and finally made it to my respective seat. The AC was so relieving that I just lost in the moment and started getting comfortable on my window seat gulping down the water only to be interrupted by a girl who had her face completely covered with the scarf of a leopard skin design which only gave a little enough space for her lips to pronounce “Excuse Me, could you please help me with my luggage”. By the time I could locate her lips under that dense scarf, she was done requesting and had given up already and begun to help herself. Maybe in her mind, I was already a jerk. Before she could get convinced with her assumptions, I stepped forward and gave the duffle bag the required push to slide it in the luggage compartment. I sat back on my seat again accepting her thank you.
I badly wanted to request her to get rid of that scarf she was wearing. Having such a thought even in my mind would raise the temper of my neighbors, dejected, I continued my journey glancing out from the giant window. I must have fallen asleep because I was woken up by the sneezing and coughing sound only to see it had turned dark outside. Now let me tell you how sensitive I was to cold. Being a sinus patient, I could catch cold for anything & everything, resulting in a never-ending spree of sneezing, teary eyes and headache. With this condition, I had my co-passenger sneezing and coughing which went on worsening for her. I tried hard to hold my breath and not inhale the air when she coughed or sneezed, well you know, precaution is better than cure. I continued keeping it to myself till she made that weird sound which sounded like she was about to puke. I looked at her and she started apologizing saying she isn’t feeling well. I comforted her saying it was absolutely okay, I helped her with the water to which she resisted with an irk saying it would turn her more nauseatic. Trust me I could absolutely relate to her uneasiness. I asked her to switch the places and offered her the window seat and shut the AC plates, she thanked me for that. Finally, she un-scarfed her face, I could not see her properly in the dark and I didn’t try harder. She tied the scarf on her lower half of the face to cover up till the nose. She then pulled out her earphones and lost into her playlist. I adjusted myself on the new seat and tried dozing off, but, my elbow accidentally touched her hand and it was hot, I slowly slid my elbow again near her hand to brush against it and was confirmed that she had got a fever.
The bus came to a halt for dinner and the bus conductor announced that the bus shall halt for 25 mins for Dinner. After the announcement, the locomotion started inside the bus and I could hear the song playing in her earphone. She was still asleep, I once again checked on her fever and didn’t disturb her. I got off the bus and rushed to the vicinity areas and found a chemist shop. Purchased the medicines and a thermos flask and packed some fresh sandwiches. I went on the bus and saw her still asleep. It was ten more minutes for the bus to leave from the place. I decided to wake her up and informed her that the bus will be moving in 10 minutes and asked her if she wanted to use the restroom, she thanked and excused herself to get off the bus. The bus was all set to depart and all the passengers including her were back to their seats. She was about to plug in the earphones again, but, I interrupted asking if she was feeling hungry and informed her about the fever. She hesitantly denied for the former and accepted the later. For the very first time, she spoke up something apart from exchanging the pleasantries. She talked about how she had forgotten to carry the tablets and the food that her aunt had packed for the journey. With that again the silence prevailed between us. I slowly took out the sandwich and offered her again, this time she accepted it. I was impatiently waiting for her to uncover her face and finally saw her. I felt good inside, she was cute or maybe the numerous sneezing and the red nose was adding more to her cuteness. She had a wheatish complexion and a mole on the lower right of her chin. I took out the disposal glass with tea which now had turned lukewarm. She was surprised to see all this coming and before she could refuse this, I requested her to take it. She sipped in the first sip and blurted out, Its… and continued drinking it. She really thanked me a lot for all that I did. After she was done drinking the tea, I gave her the medicines which I had bought, she readily accepted them and uncapped her bottle which had cold water, I stopped her and offered her the water from the thermos which was lukewarm. She was taken aback by this gesture and questioned about the thermos and the lukewarm water, as she had noticed that I was not carrying this before. She was very much pleased by the doings. We spoke for some more time and I insisted her to doze off.
This was a really amazing feeling, I could care enough for a person to make them feel comfortable with an absolute selflessness. I took a deep breath and retired on my seat comfortably and did not care anymore about my sinus whenever she coughed. I was flying high with my playlist in the cruizing dream. I was awakened by her asking me to excuse, I unplugged the earphones and looked at her. She was standing to move out of the seat, I excused her, she bought down her bag from the luggage section and once again thanked me with a sweet smile on her face and greeted a good Bye!!
That’s how and how much I got to know Pooja, just her first name and nothing at all. But more than her second name or contact number, I got to know her as a person and trust me that weighs more than the other materialistic knowings. We never met after this, all I know is where she boarded off the bus, but, I am sure we both shall be holding the best threads of the time that we spent.
Forgot to mention, after she boarded off the bus, I saw she had left a dairy milk chocolate in the disposal glass on her seat. It was a sweet ending 🙂
4 Walls to Freedom 