In love with a stranger...(part 4)

                      The train started moving, and I sat near the window trying to figure out which way my life is leading me to. A girl from Delhi came to Hyderabad through Karnataka and messed up my feelings so much that today I'm sitting in this train to go to a completely alien place!
I wondered what made me go out that day. I confronted myself but couldn't get any answer.
'Is she my destiny?' I asked myself.
'No!' screamed Varun, startling me. I turned to him; he was playing some car racing game in his cell and had lost a race. I gave him a dirty look.
'What? were you saying something?' he asked innocently. I shook my head and turned to my thoughts.
                      Suddenly the weather turned windy. Changes are so fascinating I thought Though we witness slow transitions, we still feel that they were sudden. We watch sun tardily fading away, clouds drifting allover, wind roaming around like a loafer; but still we feel that all these changes occurred without our notice. A gush of air smooched my face as I sat watching the sky changing its colour. Changes are so fascinating I said to myself again.


                    'Tanu,'called Varun,'its our stop.' I looked at my watch, it was 1:43 am. 'No doubt its so dark,' I said picking my bags up. We stepped out of train and looked around; an eerie silence greeted us with a chilled hug. Wrapping ourselves with our arms, we found the way out. We walked for about ten minutes in search of a taxi, but all we could see was deserted cabs on the empty streets. We trekked for some more time and saw the similar sight.
'I couldn't walk any more,' I said dropping myself on the road. Varun sat beside me, hopelessly  , and looked around.
'Hey, look at that,' he pointed to my left. I followed his index finger. It was a cross symbol mounted on an old church-like structure.                                                                                                             

'I think that's a church,' said Varun,'let's go there.' He walked excitedly, pulling me up. It was indeed a church. We walked to the door and I began knocking. Varun gave me a serious look. 'Are you expecting God to open the door?' he asked, criticism dripping from his words. He gently pushed the door open and peeped inside. 'God is watching you're actions, son,' I laughed.
'There's no one in here,' he said stepping inside.
'Wait!' I held him, ' I think we should remove our shoes first.'
Really? I never noticed that in movies.'
'Even I didn't. But why take risk?'
                      As I stepped on the cement floor with my naked foot, a chilled shiver passed through my spine. 'Its so cold,' I said. We lit a candle, that we found on a table and prayed-the way we knew.
'Its not that bad,' I said stretching my legs along the bench, using my bag as pillow.
'You know, when Shah Rukh Khan went to Mumbai in search of Gauri, he had to sleep on the footpath bench,' I recalled, 'we are lucky to have got church bench.' I added.

Varun remained silent.
'Thanks for coming with me,' I said.
'Don't insult our friendship with that word,' he said.
'Sorry.'
'Shut that hole of your face,' he said calmly.
'Good night,' I wanted to say, but dropped the idea.


                      I rubbed my face against the pillow, my eyes still closed.  I felt a soft bed below me and warmth around.  An image of a church flashed in my mind and in a reflex, my eyes opened.  The wall against me had pictures of Jesus Christ and framed quotations from Bible.  I looked around and saw Varun sleeping on the adjacent bed.

     'Varun,' I shook him.  He inflated his body saying, ' I had a great sleep.'

     'Where the hell are we?' I shook him again.  'How did we come here?'

     He looked at me puzzled.  'You didn't remember anything?' he asked.

     'What?' I was bewildered.

     'About what happened last night,' he said.

     I began recollecting the last night's incident.

     'Oh, yes,' I said excitedly. The church father brought us here last night when we were trembling with cold.  I was half-sleep and so father and Varun helped me here.  He wrapped us both in warm blankets before leaving.

  

     'Good morning, Father,' Varun and I said in unison.

     'Good morning sons,' he said with a pleasing smile.  'Did you sleep well?' he asked.

     We both nodded.  'Have breakfast,' he said, 'I'll be in the church.'

     After having breakfast, we walked out of the house.  It was a small cottage beside the church; a calm and serene place.  We walked inside the church; it was more brighter and colourful.  There was a large portrait of Jesus on one side of the pedestal and a one look at it soothed my exxagerating feelings.

     We walked inside the church waiting for the Father to finish his prayers.

     'So, you both touring here?' he asked after returning to us.

     'Something like that,' said Varun.

     'Acutally, it was pretty late yesterday and so we couldn't find any place to stay,' I said.

     'You can stay here, if you wish,' he suggested.

     'We don't want to bother you, Father,' I said.

     He laughed, 'There cannot be any trouble in serving His sons,' he said pointing at the portrait of Christ.

     'Thank you for everything, Father,' I said.

      'Now?' asked Varun.  We were standing outside the church.

      'Sharada Girls Hostel,' I said.

    

In love with a stranger...(part 3)

'Are you sure, that this girl is that girl?' asked Varun, over the phone.

'I'm damn sure. I can't forget that face,' I said sounding eager.

'Hmm, okay,' he said. 'And the way that they both posed, it seems that they are in a relationship,'he added looking at his monitor(I guess).

'But he said he was single,' I reminded him.

'Ya, they must have broken-up,' he said thoughtfully.

'But why?' I quickly asked.

'How would I know that?' he said a little irritated.

'But you can ask him,' I suggested which sounded more like an order.

'Okay, I'll talk to him.'

'We'll go together.'

'No!' he snapped,'I'll ask him my way.'

I remained silent for a couple of seconds. 'Fine,' I said slowly.

'I think you should forget about her,' said varun rushing into my room. It was some fifty minutes ago that I talked to him on phone. I was waiting for him, holding my urge to call him again. To be honest, I wasn't really holding my urge but it was that picture of hers that prevented my eyes to look away from her. The more I looked at her the deeper my love grew.

Startled by his sudden appearence in the room, I closed the Facebook tab. But unfortunately my last stunt couldn't escape his eyes. He moved towards my computer, clicked on the Mozilla Firefox icon; it exposed the picture of her that I was watching. He looked at me and heaved a sigh.

'There's no way you can get her, Tanu,' he said closing the picture.      

'Are they still together?' I asked, but couldn't hide the falling pitch of my voice.

'No. They broke-up long back,' he said making himself comfortable on the bean bag ,'It feels so good on this,' he added pressing himself against the bean bag. I glared at him.

'What?' he threw his hands in the air.

I shook my head,'What else did he say?' I asked,'What else did you ask?' I added quickly.

He again looked at me and computer in quick succession - it was viewing her picture again.

'Did you ask him if she has come here to meet him?' I asked to detrack him from the screen.
'I hinted about it. I asked him when was the last time he met her and he said nearly a month ago - the day when they broke-up.'

'No way. He's lying,' I shouted,'screw him!'
'Whatever. He also said that she stays at Sharada girls hostel at Gulbarga; doing her MBA, she's actually from Delhi.'
'Delhi? She has come all the way from Delhi to do her MBA?'
'Not really. She wanted to be close to Vikas, he was in Gulbarga then.'
I turned to her picture again. What a girl she must be! I thought So full of love. I smiled to myself.
'Don't tell me that you are planning to go there,' Varun interrupted my thoughts.
'You're a genius,' I said.

'But you're crazy,' he said roughly,'Don't expect me to come.'
'Did I ask you?'
'Thank you for not asking.'


The next day I sat on a bench at the Kachiguda railway station, waiting for the train. I dropped my head on my hands, bent forward and eyes closed.
                    

'You're such an asshole,' said a voice; I also heard him sitting beside me. There wasn't a bit of doubt that it was Varun!
'I knew you would come,' I said my eyes still closed.
'Yeah right.'
I showed him the extra ticket that I bought for him. 'Wait. Did you buy any ticket?' I asked.
He shook his head. 'I knew you would buy,' he said smiling.

'What did you say to your mom?'he asked as I passed him coffee.
'Friend's sister's marriage.'
'Was she okay with it?'
'Pretty much. I assured her that I'll be back in two days.'
'So, what's the plan now?' asked Varun taking in his last sip.
'Searching for our seats,' I said, loading my bags on my shoulder.
'Not that,' he said following me,'what will you say to her?'
'Don't know,' I said plainly.
As I sat near a window, his questions rang in my ears. What will I do after I find her? What will I say?

In love with a stranger...(part 2)

     As soon as my eyes opened, I picked my cell and ringed my friend, Varun (the one who brought me home yesterday).

     'Who's this?' he asked, slumber clouded over his voice.

     'It's me, Shantanu,' I said.

     'What?' he said, there was no sound from his side.  He was checking if it was me, perhaps.  'What happened?' he said in a concerned tone.

     'Varun, I want to find that girl,' I said.

     'You asshole, its three in the morning,' he shouted,'Just shut up and let me sleep now.'

     'But, listen - '  the call was disconnected from the other side.  I toiled on the bed, trying to sleep; but as I closed my eyes, her wet eyes appeared and when I opened my eyes, her face flashed in my eyes.

     After struggling for some couple of hours, I called Varun again; hesitatingly though.

     'Who's this?' he asked again in the same sleepy voice.

     'Hmm, Tanu,' I said tentatively.  I heard him sitting up on his bed.

     'Yes, I'm listening,' he said.

     'I think, I love her,' I said.

     He fell silent for a minute.

     'Tanu, you're freaking me out,' he said.

     'I'm equally freaked out.'

     'You must be crazy,' he laughed, 'you're in love with a stranger?'

     'I think so,' I said.

     'What do you want to do now?' he asked.

     'Find her.'

     'You know her name?'

     'No.'

     'You know anything about her?'

     'No.'

     'Great!' he said, irritated, 'How do you think you'll find her now?'

     'That's why I called you,' I said.

     'Brother let me remind you,  I don't have any special powers to trace girls for you.'

     'I wish you had.  But you can suggest something,' I said.

     'The only thing I know about is FACEBOOK.  See if you can get something out of it,' he said.

     'Are you out of your mind?' I said.  'There are millions of people on FB, and I don't even know her name.'

     'That's the only choice you have now,' he said.

     I switched my computer ON, logged in into my account.  Not knowing what name to start with, I typed 'A' in the search tab and clicked 'ENTER' button.  It suggested some names but I choose the option  see all the results.

     Without counting for number of persons, I started scanning for the girls name and checked their profile pictures.

     It was past eight when my head started aching, I got up from the chair and tumbled over bed, into deep sleep.

     'Any luck with FB?' Varun asked in the evening when he came over my place.  I shook my head.

     'It didn't give any clue?'

     'It just gave me a headache,' I said holding my head with both the hands.

     'Tanu,' he said, his hand on my shoulder, 'Just forget about her.  You can never meet her again.'

     I sat, silently, closing my eyes.

     'She's gone; don't think about her.'

     She's gone I said to myself.

     We sat there for some fifteen minutes without speaking a word, looking away from each other.

     'Let's go out,' said Varun pulling me up, 'Come on.'

     'Where?' I asked lazily.

     'There's a friend of mine; he stays nearby,' he said.

     'Nearby? I know him?' I asked as we walked out of house.

     'I guess, no, he shifted here recently.'

     I nodded softly.

     We zoomed on Varun's bike to his friend's place.  There, he introduced us to each other.  His name was Vikas and was a student of Mass Communication at some unpronounceable college.  He was a decent looking. He had a well built body and was quite handsome.  His funky hairstyle was an added bonus.  As soon as I saw him, I wished if I had atleast one quality of his.  Atleast then, that girl would have noticed me.

     We three talked about all the things in the world, from IPL to EPL, from KFC to Dominos and about every unimportant matter.

     We sat there for a couple of hours before taking leave.

     'I'll drop you home,' said Varun as he accelerated his bike.

     'No, it's ok.  I'll walk home,' I said and started walking.

     'Bye,' came a shout from behind.  I waved my hand in response.  It was the same road, I followed her on.  Though it was just yesterday that I saw her, I felt it like years.  As I walked, the memories of the previous day followed.

     

     Vikas Tejwani.  I was going through Varun's profile when I saw this name.  I clicked on his friend's list, instinctively and seen the profile pics of all the girls in there (for that girl, of course).  But couldn't find anyone atleast close to her.  I went back to his wall and there saw Vikas standing on a rock and behind him was a river.  I moved to the next picture where he was holding a basketball with his shirt off, flaunting his muscles.  Feeling jealous, I changed the picture, after some fine pics, I saw him sitting near a huge tree, his arm around a girl, who was happily smiling.  I moved to next one and the next and the next.

     I think I know that girl I said to myself.  It was one in the right.  I again checked Vikas' pictures.  It's her! my heart jumped to my mouth.  She was the same girl, I saw the other day.  The only difference was that she was smiling in the picture.  Her name was Shruti Thakur. I barged into her profile, which showed that she was a student in Gulbarga University, Karnataka. But my heart sunk low when I saw her relationship status.  It showed committed.  My last meeting with Vikas hit my mind; he said he was single.

         Are they both in relationship?

         If he was her boyfriend then why did he say he was single,then?

         If he wasn't her boyfriend then why did they posed for such a cosy picture?

         Why did she come here?

     All these questions entangled my mind.  I thought of calling Varun to clarify it all; but not wanting to disturb his sleep, I allowed these questions to invade my thoughts while I sat on my bed waiting for sun to shine.