That girl with a Magic Wand - I

PLATFORM 19A

The air was hot. There was nothing unusual about it as the spring has already paved its way to the baking summer. Moreover during the peak hour of the day, one can hardly expect otherwise. But somewhere around me, a cold breeze lingered. And the fact that I was travelling in a jam packed bus (which I hate) made it ever surprising!

Feeling the hot air on my face from the window seat, I looked at the people, silently nudging and pushing each other for space. No matter wherever you go it is very hard for a man to part with his comfort. He is always ready to wage a war for it, even in a crammed bus! 

Different people, different destinies, different destinations...all travelling in the same rickety bus. How interesting!!

Shifting my gaze over to the bustling streets, I continued my futile attempts to understand the entangled curves in the name boards written in Kannada. The hot air was unleashing its full fury by now.

I was on my way to meet a friend of mine. Hmm…I guess that’s not enough. Given that you are in the midst of people who identify you from a particular group, which is well sorted and comes with customized privacy settings, addressing someone as a mere friend falls quite short of a meaningful tag! 

Though we have known each other for quite a few years now, we were not ‘regular’ with each other. There were long gaps in between our conversations which were mostly in the form of mails, short-mails to be precise. Largely it was like timely acknowledgement of the fact that we were aware of each other’s existence. But still there was something special about our relationship. As she would rightly put it time and again, we shared a weird chemistry!

Ever since she came down to Bangalore, I have been trying to set up a meeting with her. But she was elusive. She kept running away from it for reasons known only to her. So when she agreed to this long awaited meeting, I was initially sceptical about its occurrence. Nevertheless, we agreed on the dates and here I was sitting in our crammed bus full of people craving for space.

The bus reached its destination and so did I. The bus station was our rendezvous point. It is from here the journey starts for the optimist and it is here where the journey ends for the pessimist. People from different walks of life gathering on a single platform, in between the journey to their destinations. Neither have they a common start nor have they a common finish. Still they all share a common ground even if that is only for a moment.

It was 1 PM. I would like to put it that way as I was 10 minutes late and I don’t like being late! Platform 19 A, our meeting spot, was at the other end of the bus station. I walked through the bustling crowd, staring at every face passing by. I was not pretty sure of her face. It also came with a privacy setting!!

The day which I looked forward to, since we talked for the first time, has arrived. A couple of minutes and she would come out of that virtual veil and reveal herself. Finally…after all these years I am going to see her, for the first time!!

Hoping that at least she would recognize me, I walked towards platform 19 A.