That girl with a Magic Wand - II

THE RENDEZVOUS

19 A. I stood staring at the name board for a while as my gaze slowly drifted through the various bus numbers and their corresponding routes. I searched for ‘Bidadi’ but could not locate it on the board. I turned and started looking for that not-so-familiar face among the many unknown faces passing by. No luck! ‘She may not have reached’, I told myself with a sigh. I stood there… waiting. 

...time crawled....

My uncomfortable wait was shortly interrupted by a light blow at the back of my head with a newspaper roll. A green kurti, a long cotton handbag, square glasses, bushy hair with a prominent forehead welcomed me with a big, wide beautiful smile. All those virtual images of her which I had in my mind started to swirl like a drop of ink in water. They were no longer necessary. Here she is…in front of me…smiling.

‘Finally, after the long wait, I see you’. I said looking into her eyes.

‘So do I’. She replied while we exchanged handshakes.

She had the perfect attire of a typical journalist, with her glasses hanging carelessly from the neck of her kurti. 

Perfumed cold air muzzled with the hot polluted air in my nostrils and the struggle continued till the diaphragm of the lungs. The conditioned air inside the mall was a relief from the wrath of the unforgiving sun outside. 

We dint have as much as a plan. We just had a mutual consent that we will meet at platform 19A at 1PM. Neither of us had actually given a real thought on what to do once we meet. While in the bus I had a flash of this thought and thankfully my eyes lingered a over a sign board ‘Mantri Square’ after a while. So I had this reserve plan if both of us run of alternative ideas. So it happened and we were inhaling the filtered air inside Mantri Square.

She never liked being in malls. She was uncomfortable with the expensive air which circulated inside these concrete retail structures. On the other hand, I always felt at home within these buildings. I had a natural taste for shopping and I guess that would be one trait of mine which my wife will adore!

We started to stroll…aimlessly.