Mumbai
rains, I had heard about it many times over news and from friends that it
devastates a lot and suddenly the dream city doesn’t give any kind of dreams
anymore, except the havocking rains. And somewhere inside my crazy heart I
always wanted to witness the ongoing. God knows why! So guess what? God does listen
to any such wish and there I was, July 2009, I was in Mumbai for my summer
internship. I was staying at the IIT Mumbai hostel, my office in
Chhathrapati-Shivaji-Terminus was some 45 minutes travel in the local trains.
Local Trains, the other name for lifeline of Mumbai; because when it stops,
Mumbai stops. And I had heard that Mumbai never stops, even in those wee hours.
But I wasn’t aware that it does, on those occasions, one of which I was yet to
know.
It was a
Friday, the last working day of the week and since afternoon Rain God was
blessing the city with all his hands. Very much unaware of what mumbaikars do when it starts to rain
like this, I stayed late in the office, as usual, and expected the rain to go
milder. People had started to move out a lot early today and by the time, maybe
8:00 pm, the office was all empty, when the security guard came and asked me,
“Sir, aaj aap idharich rukoge?” (Sir,
will you stay here today?)
I looked at
him, completely clueless about what he was saying.
Sensing my
naive look he said, “Aise barish mein, sab band ho jata hai. Train, bus...
sabhi” (In times like these, everything
halts, train, bus, everything)
Still not
having made the cent-percent of it, I asked, “Kyu?” (Why?)
My question
brought a smile to his otherwise rigid face.
“Pani bhar
jata hai na saab” he said. (Water
clogging Sir)
Okay, so
this was one of those few occasions when Mumbai stops. And that night it had
not only stopped but had got lost amidst tiny rain droplets that had amassed
over relentless pouring for hours to bring this coastline beauty drowning under
its might.
“Kuch to
milega bhaiya?” I asked, expecting a positive reply. (Will I get something?)
He stayed
silent for a while, maybe thinking on what to say and then said, “train to band
hai, udhar koi bhi chance nahi, lekin aglee nakee mein bus ya fir auto mil
sakta hai. Lekin auto mat lena, risky hota hai aise time par…. Sab jagah pani
bhara hai na…. bus milne ka kuch-to chance hai….koi chala raha hoyega to”. (Train is closed, no chance there, but in
the next crossroad you may get a bus or an auto. But don’t take an auto, it
gets risky in these times, its water clogged everywhere...some chance of
getting a bus is there, if somebody is still riding one)
Then I
should be moving now, I said to myself. I quickly shut down my computer and
started to pack things inside my bag. Seeing me in action he left, switching
off the remaining lights.
I signed
off in the attendance register kept at the reception and left the building.
The road
that connected our building and the group of similar other buildings to the
main naaka, from where supposedly I was hoping to get a bus or an auto, was
never that silent and shy. It looked like a grown up girl all drenched in water
and trying to hide herself from the eyes of the world, the world of then was
only me. Trees which were lined up along the road were kind of happily swinging
in the wind, which was becoming harsher every minute. River like muddy water
gushed through the corners of the road. To avoid it, maybe flowing along with
it, I was walking in the middle of the road. There wasn’t any sign of humanity and
that ever lively and busy road had turned down to a silent rainforest path,
where the only sound you hear is the one you make. I wasn’t carrying any
umbrella and covering some 100 mts in that vociferous rain made me all wet. The
shower was falling inclined due to the wind and I saw that in the yellow hue of
the street lights, which looked brighter than other days. In one corner of the
road a street dog was teething onto a wet sack and was pulling it with all his
strength, fighting with the current of water which wanted the sack to flow with
it. A smile creased on my wet face. Even animals know, maybe better than us,
what they really need in hours of extremity. I covered some more distance in
the same spree and saw the nakaa where lights were glowing even brighter. I
speeded up my steps.
The naaka
looked no different, except it was some more lighted as well as water-clogged.
A few taxis and autos left haywire by their owners, randomly scattered in
leeways of roads, waited and faced the nature’s plight. The naaka was the
merger of three similar roads that came from three different directions. The
bus stop was on my right, on the other side of the road, over which a dense
shadow of the nearby tree made it look dark and gloomy. I thought of moving and
taking a shelter under it. While crossing the road I saw a pink umbrella
fluttering in the wind and behind it a gleaming blue duppatta, managed from not
getting wet. I came on the edge and climbed a step over to reach under the
shade. By that time I was totally wet.
Intentions
can never be explained in times of monotone. Yes, that was one such time. Rain
was the monotone and my intentions were unclear. But I wanted to see and
explore my surroundings. So while shoving hands over my wet hair, I tried to
catch a view of the one behind the umbrella. I saw curls and locks of waist
length hair, mostly drenched. Of course it was a girl, I said to myself.
I turned my
head and started looking on the other side of the road. But it wasn’t long I
could keep looking that way. I turned my head again and this time I tried to
see her face.
And it
seems she also was interested to look at her hapless counterpart. Our eyes met
and there was a massive thunderbolt. I had seen such things in movies but never
knew it happened in real life too. And suddenly the havocking rain and the bad
climate started to look something different. Maybe it was one of those times
when things happen and you just have to be there, witnessing each of it. It was
she who first unlocked the sight. I followed. For the next couple of minutes I
didn’t see in that direction and knew she wasn’t either. Some moments passed and
times returned to the normal. The rain again started feeling cold and the wind
got harsher, and till now there wasn’t any sign of a bus.
“Is there
any bus expected?” I heard a faint voice, so faint that it could have been my
flirting ears, and it almost got mixed with the sound of the rain drops. A
moment later I heard it again, “Excuse me!” but it was louder this time. I
turned.
“Yes? Are
you saying something to me?” I sounded like those perfect gentlemen who never
unknowingly jumps on remarks that are thrown near them. And the next moment I
realized I have goofed up myself.
In
response, she looked around, as if saying, do you see any other living creature
around to whom I can ask about a bus. Without making it look obvious I quickly
jumped on the reply and said, “Yeah, I hope so” and returned a smile in spite
of being proven the silly one. She smiled back in a very natural way.
Ok, wait,
that wasn’t something natural, it was different, generally girls, and specially
the beautiful ones, makes faces after making a point on something and then
almost with a jerk turn their heads off. I wonder why they never get a sprain
in their neck. I tried it once and for the next 3 days my neck was aching like
anything. I needed to see her closely; maybe I got interested to know whether
she really smiled back or made some face. But how, was the question. Should I
approach her with the half eaten biscuit packet lying inside my bag? Well I
would have done that if I was some years younger. Generally boys take time to attain
maturity. Growing up is like a bonus package that many a times don’t arrive for
some unlucky ones.
I kept thinking
and looking on the falling rain drops on the street and suddenly a genius idea
struck me. Just when I was about to turn my head I heard the same voice again,
“Excuse me!” this time very clearly and distinctively.
I turned
back. She was standing a foot next to me. It almost startled me and I shifted a
step backwards.
“Yes” I
replied with full curiosity in my voice.
“Where are
you up to?” she asked. And for a moment it felt I heard ‘what’ instead of ‘where’?
Correcting myself on what my ears really heard and not what my stray machinery
of thought process prompted me to, I replied, “Vikhroli”.
“Ohh, I am
also going that way only” she replied with a timid sparkle in her eyes.
And for the
first time I saw her closely.
In the
halogen hue of the street lamp her oval face shone like a stone amidst dusty
rocks, not dusty but wet, few strands of her hair disengaged and dangled over
her forehead in a magical way, thanks to the harsh weather, and those pair of
brown eyes in the yellow light looked browner.
I wished
the moment could have stopped, really, not in some literal way, but much like
the ‘statue’ game which kids play and saying a word ‘statue’, everybody goes
statue!
Anyway,
staring further could have really sent some weird signals and so to break the
jinx I said, “Ohh really!”
She kept
looking towards me expecting I would continue with something but then hearing
nothing she said, “Not very often you see Mumbai like this, isn’t it, even in
the heavy rains people are still out there?”
“Yes, it’s
always like some battlefield” I jumped on the reply like a monkey over a banana
and then thought, what did I actually say? Battlefield? From where did that
come, and why?
“So… how do
we plan to go?” she inquired.
Wait! What
did she say? I actually didn’t hear anything after the word ‘we’. And that was
enough for me; I could have stood there for rest of the night just to hear that
word. Oh! It sounded so delicate. But then I suddenly realized I shouldn’t be
overwhelmed because it shows from your eyes. I had heard my friends say that
girls generally repel from guys who easily give signals that they are falling
for them. And here I was not only falling but was toppling over at the same
time.
Suddenly in
that pause I realized that she had asked something and to which I haven’t
replied yet.
“Yes….maybe
some bus… or we may also take some auto…if you like…”, very skillfully I
included the word ‘we’ into my reply giving a hint that I have accepted the
‘we’ thing.
“Hmm…..but
don’t you think there’s a bit shortage of that today” she mocked and a quirk
but remarkable smile formed across the corner of her lips.
Yeah,
becoming dumb before the damsels on this earth is the most fulfilling thing
that can be done because the rewards you get in return has no comparisons. Some
of us do it intentionally but then the magic is lost and just then I had the
fortune of some natural bliss.
“Yes true.
So do we have any options other than waiting?” I said in a bit firm and manly
voice and sounding kind of confident for the first time. To this she went
silent and returned a smile. Girls know this very well, whenever in double
minds or with no answer they use this as a tool to grant them some time to
think upon. A man when does this, looks nothing but a freak!
By that
time rain was falling stronger and chances of any bus coming got fainter, and
so I did wished. For the next couple of minutes we stood silently, side by
side, waiting and hearing the rain drops clatter on the mortar asbestos roof of
the bus stop.
“Don’t you
think it would be a good idea if we go and sit inside one of those
auto-rickshaws?” I asked. She stared at me for a while, maybe telling through
her eyes, I know why you are asking that, you pervert! Sensing this I made a face
like I didn’t say anything.
“Yes, let’s
go” she replied.
“What” I
said almost in a surprising tone.
“Are you
asking me or are you saying that” she said with again that same grin. Well,
enough, it wasn’t funny anymore. Enough of being the stupid one!
I took few
seconds and then replied, “Whatever, but what matters now is we should go and
take shelter in one of those auto-rickshaws”.
I stamped back
and said the rest in my thoughts, I am going even if you are not coming.
To this she
got a bit repelled, as her eyes told. Maybe the dumb one she was expecting me
to be, I turned out to be something else. She didn’t say a word back and
started to walk with me towards one of those stranded auto-rickshaws, which
maybe were waiting for us only.
We figured
out one which was a bit less drowned under the flowing river like water. She first
got inside it. I followed. It was definitely more cozy than standing at the bus
stop getting continuously wet and also maybe because the distance between us reduced.
I could feel and smell the soft aroma of lavender through her wet clothes,
which she was pressing to squeeze out the extra water. She released her
hair-clip and the locks of wet hair dropped loose on her shoulder. Some of
those droplets landed on my face as well. She got busy doing something or the
other with her clothes and hair and I got busy doing just one thing. It wasn’t
long before she understood that I was ogling her.
“Excuse
me!” she said and I knew why she said that.
I replied
“What?” like the five year old when asked about nuclear fusion.
“What are
you looking at?” her voice a bit stronger this time.
“Nothing” I
gave the usual answer in the usual tone.
To this it
looked as if she got the answer. She turned some degrees away from me to hide
from my eyes and started the process again.
Well, these
are the unsaid moments which say a lot and the best thing about it is you know
why you are enjoying that.
After some
time when she got settled she said, “This is one of the worst nights I could
ever have.”
“Why? What’s
wrong with the night?” I asked.
“Can’t you
see what’s wrong? It’s 10 in the night, it’s raining like crazy and we are
sitting inside a damp auto-rickshaw with almost no hope of getting back to our
home.”
“Oh yes,
that’s very much wrong, yes”
“So what were
you thinking?”
“Nothing”
“See let me
tell you one thing. I know when you boys say that word-nothing. It actually
means a lot which probably you are not saying because you think she might not
understand or maybe because you are afraid”
“Afraid? Of
what?”
“Of us
definitely”
“Why?”
“Maybe
because you think that she may hit you back”
“Hit me
back? Sorry, for what?”
“For saying
the thing which you shouldn’t say”
“So that’s
why we don’t say”
She got
silent, thought for a moment and then muttered, “hmmm…yes, maybe”
“So what’s
your point”, I asked.
“Nothing,
just leave it”
“Now see,
who’s saying the word?”
She laughed
and for the first time it felt that girls really become more beautiful when
they laugh. Something else felt too, but I didn’t pay much attention to that.
“So what is
that you do, I mean, apart from saving beautiful girls from the havocking
rains?” she asked and giggled.
I thought
for a moment as to why she said that ‘saving’ thing, but then couldn’t make out
more.
“I am doing
my mba internship. What about you?”
“I am an
interaction designer.”
“Interact
what?”
“A designer
to be precise”
“Yes but
what is that interaction about?”
“Hmmm… It’s
like when you are designing a website you should know how to make it interactive
so that it is easily picked up as well as liked at the same time by its users”
“Yeah, I
get it, you are a web designer”
“No No,
web-designing is something else. It’s more on the non-technical side of
designing. I gave the example of a website because it’s easy to understand but
now that you are not getting it…” she giggled and continued, “it’s like
designing any product should have the pre-information of how it is going to be
used, in more technical terms you say that how it is interacting with the
users.”
“Okay, I
think I am getting it now” I said and almost convincingly nodded my head but
more over laden with the question that why did she giggle and that too twice.
“Okay can I
ask you something?” I said.
She went
silent as if I was going to propose her or something and I could see her eyes
getting a bit bigger.
“Don’t
worry”, I giggled, this was my turn, “I just want to ask why you giggled?”
The
question released her tensed eyebrows a bit and she said, “That’s like natural,
can’t help it.”
“Can’t help
what? Giggling on the person who saved you in a night like this”
“Saved me?
Hello Mr mba, what did you do to save me?”
“I mean, I
don’t know maybe you needed a company, or maybe like...” I was stretching my
words in search of a convincing answer, “okay, but this is only what you said some
moments ago right?”
To this she
again laughed and that same feeling returned, this time pretty strong. To avoid
it I turned my face on the other side.
By this
time the rain had got milder and our hopes of getting a bus again started to
rise.
“I am
feeling hungry. Aren’t you?” she asked.
I didn’t
know what to answer and then remembered I had half a packet biscuit lying in my
bag.
“I have
some biscuits with me if you like” I said.
“Well,
taking biscuits from a stranger is not wise but then it’s better to trust a
stranger than die with hunger” she replied with a prominent grin.
I laughed
and started searching the packet inside my bag. Just when I got hold of it I
heard a horn.
“Hey do you
hear that, I think some bus is coming. I knew it would, the rain has got
milder” she said like a chirping bird.
“Yes, I
hear that” I said in a somber mood.
We got out
of the auto-rickshaw and quickly made our way to the bus stop. The vehicle
horned again and now we could see the two headlights from a distance. It approached
some more and we saw it was not a bus but some private vehicle, much like a
suv.
“Hey. Not a
bus!” she exclaimed.
The car
stopped in front of us.
“Where”,
the driver yelled from the car.
We both
peeped inside. It was full of men and women of different age and different
backgrounds.
“Vikhroli”
she replied.
The driver
shouted dejectedly, “Get inside soon. I must be a fool that I am still driving
in this season. C’mmon get inside fast, I don’t have much time”
“But where,
there’s no place at all” I said.
“Make place
and get inside, otherwise I am leaving. One of them will get down at dadar” he
pointed to a half aged man who nodded in confirmation.
We again
peeped inside, there was definitely no place for two of us, if somehow managed
at most one could get in.
I looked at
her; she was desperately trying to find a place inside the car. I knew this was
hard for her to stay outside her house for a night and that too in a night like
this, unlike me, for whom the auto-rickshaw was enough.
“You go ahead.
I’ll wait for a bus or some other vehicle” I said.
“Not doing.
We both are going together” she replied.
“We both
cannot. See there’s no place at all. At the most you only can fit in. you go
ahead.”
“Are you
sure?” she asked and I saw in her eyes, maybe somewhere in them she wanted me
to say no, don’t go away, I’ll take care of you for the rest of the night.
“Yes. Sure”
I replied.
“What! Are you
people coming in or not?” the driver’s voice was becoming scratchy.
“Yes wait”
I said.
She got
inside and made place for her in the rear seat of the car. She looked at me, I
smiled but she didn’t smile back. The car started.
The car
moved away and I stood there watching it go. Suddenly I realized something. I
clinched my fist in desperation. Should I run and call her back and ask for her
mobile number. No it definitely wouldn’t look sane. So what should I do? Should
I just let her go like that? I saw the watch, the last one hour was definitely
something that wouldn’t come every day and in the end I really turned out to be
a fool. At-least I should have taken her e-mail id.
The rain
had again started back in its usual spree and so was it raining inside me.
I looked
back. The auto-rickshaw was still standing at its place but it didn’t look the
same as it was a few minutes before and moreover, now I didn’t feel like going
inside it. Now I also want to leave, maybe one more vehicle should come and
I’ll accommodate myself in it. Now I don’t have to make place for someone else.
It’s only me that I have to carry. So I can carry that. Now even the biscuit
packet doesn’t needs to be shared with anybody else nor do I have to sound
interesting all the times. I can be what I am.
But is this fun? No it isn’t.
The car was
appearing puny by now and was almost about to disappear round the bend. And why
doesn’t the car speed away, I asked myself? It was visible still and something
was hurting inside me. Seriously man, why isn’t the car moving. Hey wait! Is
the car moving at all? I squinted to see well. Yes, the car had stopped. But
there was no other passenger waiting to get inside. So what happened?
And then
what I saw I can definitely say as one of the happiest moments of my life. That
blue duppatta! Oh my God, she was getting down. But why? Never mind, it’s not a
time to question, I should rush, maybe run. Yes, No. The car speeded away just
after dropping her. She started proceeding towards me. I really don’t know
whether I was running or walking, just somehow I wanted to reach her quickly. I
guess the same was for her because I saw her steps speeding up in the last 50
yards.
“Hey, what
happened?” I asked from quite a distance before I actually reached her.
“Why are
you running?” naughtily she asked.
“Am I?
Forget it. Tell me what happened?” I asked.
“Just
thought that it won’t be a wise decision to miss those biscuits, as even if I
reach home, which is actually a PG where I stay, the dinner time is over now,
so I have to starve myself till the morning” she said in a breadth.
And then
stealing her eyes from me she said, “Do you mind that?”
I didn’t
know what to answer.
I said,
“Ok.”
“Just an
OK?” she asked.
I again
didn’t know what to answer; maybe my dumbness was at its peak.
“You are a
dumbo” she said. Her words felt like liquid chocolate dripping on a dark forest
chocolate cake and for the first time, which I never knew before, the word dumb
could also sound so good.
“Auto-rickshaw?”
I asked.
“Mmm..hmmm”
she replied.
“C’mmon
now! I really meant that thing about the biscuit” she said while we again
adjusted ourselves inside the auto-rickshaw.
“Ohh yes” I
said and opened the zip of my bag.
“There you
go” I offered her the half opened packet and she grabbed it immediately.
“Hmm…pineapple
and cream and Good-day, my favourite” she exclaimed while giving her first
bite. Seeing her relish the biscuit like some Italian pasta I too got somewhat
hungry.
“Can I have
one?” I asked.
“Let me
think” she said mockingly and then took out one and pushed it inside my half
open mouth.
“It’s
unusual but I still don’t know your name by now” I said while chewing my
biscuit. It tasted sweeter.
And just
when she was about to reply there was again a massive thunderbolt. This time it
startled her completely, the biscuit packed shook from her hand to pop one or
two out of it and she completely crawled near me. Her face was hardly some
centimeters away from mine. I looked into her eyes, she tried to smile but
something made her smile to become an untouched innocence, which through her
eyes she manifested like an unspoken feeling of relentless charm. The feeling
that I had been avoiding twice, then returned and then not paying attention to
it or turning my face away from it or doing anything else was just not possible.
Like a magical spell my lips neared hers and she closed her eyes. She tasted like
the pineapple and the cream and the dark forest chocolate cake and something
else too, something that I just cannot describe.
“Hello….Hello
bhaiya! Uthiyee bhaisahab” (Hello..Hello
brother. Get up bro..) a strange and unusual voice got me up from my dream.
I opened my eyes slowly and wishing that what I saw shouldn’t be a dream. I was
lying on the rear seat of an auto-rickshaw like a crippled child somehow
adjusting myself to fit my legs inside it. I looked up and saw a five foot
bearded man with the uniform of an auto-rickshaw driver standing outside and
with many a question in his eyes. I sprang up and got outside.
“Kya
bhaiya? Kaisi rahi raat?” (What Bro..how
was the night) he asked and without waiting for my answer he got inside on
the driver seat. I stood there speechless with disheveled hair, round eyes and
a muddled face to see the auto-rickshaw mix with the rest of similar others.
Minutes
later I was having a chai (tea) at
the nearby hotel and was still puzzled.
“Kitna
hua?” (How much) I asked after
finishing two cutting chai’s and feeling a bit fresh.
“dus”(ten) the tea vendor replied.
I placed my
fingers inside my shirt pocket to get a ten rupee note and along with it came
out a small note. I didn’t recognize the note. What was that?
Well, I saw
it and in a moment like one of those thunderbolts my eyes shone. On it was scribbled
a ten digit number and beneath it was written, “Give me a call dumbo.”
