The Girl Next Door

I moved ever so slightly, casting a seemingly oblivious glance at my surroundings. For a fraction of second, our eyes met; and I immediately retracted them to admire the beauty of my fading shoe polish. But resisting all my attempts my eyeballs again moved towards the corner of my eyes and I caught a glimpse of her. “Oh my God! She’s coming towards me?” All kinds of scary thoughts crept into my mind. I could feel her coming towards me with an angry look asking “Hey mister! Who do you think you are staring at?” and then…

“Excuse me!” said a soft voice from behind, “Do you know which bus to take for Chandni Chowk?” I did not know! But I was desperately searching for words. All those witty remarks so carefully scrutinized and crafted into my vocabulary during my formative years suddenly seemed to evaporate.
“N...no! I do not know.” I stammered back.

I immediately regretted the statement; for, she turned with an “Oh!” and started; perhaps in search of a wittier person. But even as a halfwit I couldn’t let her go. I had fantasized myself in such a situation. I could not let this dream turn into a nightmare. I just had to do…

“You do sing really well!” The words came out of my mouth but the voice was definitely not mine. As if my throat had grown a mind of its own. “Do you take music classes?” I could not believe I was asking her that. “Shut up! Just shut up” I was telling myself. She turned with an amused look on her face.

“I don’t think you ever heard me singing? Did you?”

Ok. No more speech. I’m dumb.

“Didn’t you sing at Sheila auntie’s party?”

I really am dumb.

I imagined my face turning redder than a tomato. I wanted to run, to hide behind one of those buses; get lost in the labyrinths of shops. Why was I talking? I could just shut up let her go. And perhaps I would confront her some other day with better dialogues; and better nerves.

“You didn’t attend Sheila auntie’s kitty party?” She had an amused look. But she had turned fully towards me again. I felt stupid.

“You know…I kind of…. I was just passing by and heard it by chance.”

“And how much of it?” I was unsure of the look.

“Well! Sort of… You know…Full.” I replied meekly.

Both of us started laughing aloud. She had a deep sounding laughter somehow sedimented all my fears. We laughed for a long time I guess. At least it appeared so. When we stopped, she asked smiling “So did you really like it?”

“Yes! It was lovely.”

“What was lovely?” she asked mischievously.

“Well! The song of course!” I felt stupid again.

“Thanks!” She said softly.

A deep rumble indicated the arrival of another bus. “Oh! My bus is here. Can we talk sometime later?”

“Sure!” I said.

“Call me! Byeee!” she said rushing to her bus. I kept staring till the bus disappeared round the corner. It was then it struck me.

She knew which bus to take after all.