The Journey ....(contd.)

I was waiting for her to say something after that. Where did she hear my name? How can she know me? Was she someone from my school or may be intermediate? That was the time when i hardly noticed girls. i waited for some 2-3 mins but she dint say anything. She had gone back to reading the book.

I said "So, where did you hear my name?"
She said "mmm .. i dont remember .."
I said "Do you know someone from my company?"
She said "no. i never heard ur company's name till u mentioned it"
i thought .. may be she was just playing around .. time pass ke liye ..
then she said "ohh ya .. i saw ur profile on orkut"..
i said "okk!" ORKUT .. the omnipresent .. i wondered what profile picture i had at that time .. anyways .. why would a girl i dont even know .. visit my profile.
As if she knew what i was thinking abt .. she said .. "i saw ur scrap in a friend's scrap book. I think you were having an argument with her about boys being the best. I was just trying to read the entire argument for which i had to see ur scrap book too"
i said "hmm ... " there were tooo many girls with whom i had that argument ...which one was she a friend of?
i said "who is this friend of urs?"
she said " deepika"
i said "ohh ok"
for a few seconds .. none of us spoke ..
then she said " so u really think that guys are better than girls?"

ahh .. that was a tricky question .. tricky because .. if i said "yes".. i'd probably end up having the endless argument of guys vs girls.. which was not a big problem .. but i was more worried i wud not leave a great impression on her .. and if i said "no" .. i'd be lying .. and might have to say something about girls being as good as guys etc ... which i am not good at .. :) .. probably .. the best way was to play safe and simply divert the topic ..

i said "mmm .. i dunno"
she said "thats like a typical guy"
"ha ha" i wanted to say something in my defense.. but decided to leave it there. Thankfully, the pantry guy came to take order for dinner. Both of us ordered dinner and started discussing about the food in the trains. Fortunately, we both had the same opinion here :).

When the train stopped at the next station, i decided to go and see the reservation chart. I told her i was going to get some water and rushed out. Number 56 was almost at the bottom of the list. i found the name Puja M and age was 22. Very much as expected.

After i went back to my seat, we just chatted for sometime .. about a lot of things ranging from favourite novels, movies, the software industry (this is one thing that any 2 strangers can talk abt :D ) etc ..

After having dinner, i got a call from home. I excused myself from there, went to the door and spoke for abt 5-10 mins and went back.
She asked "Girl friend?"
i said "ha ha. no .. it was my mom"
she said "another thing all guys say" and gave stupid smile which girls give when they think they have achieved something ..
i said "ohh yeah ... u seem to be knowing a lot abt guys huh? anyways .. it really was a call from my mom and i dont have any girl friend"
she said "hmm .. ok ok..dont get angry .. i was just joking" that great smile again .. :)
i said "no problem .. anyways .. do u have a boy friend?"
she seemed to be thinking a lot .. did i touch upon a wrong topic? may be she dint want to tell me.
She said "i'm not sure if i can call him my boy friend"
i dint ask her anything more abt that.

We continued to talk late into the night.. going back to the topics of software, movies and sports etc .. then we wished each other goodnight and she took the upper berth and i took the lower one. I couldn't sleep immediately. I wondered what she thought about me. There were so many topics about which we shared similar views. I thought i should have tried to find out more abt any guy she liked. Did i do the right thing by telling her that i did not have any girl friend? finally sleep took over :)

I was woken up by someguy shouting "chai chai .. coffee coffee" at the top of his voice. I noticed that the 2 guys were still fast alseep and another person had joined their snoring competition on the upper berth opposite me. I heard a good morning from above and saw that she was already awake. By the time i brushed and went back to my seat, we were almost there at chennai. She had combed her hair neatly, put her baggage together and was sitting there looking out of the window. She really was very beautiful. I thought i should definitely take her phone number or atleast mail id before we say good bye.

She turned to me and gave that magical smile once again. I said "So, how many days are you gonna be in chennai?"
she said " just 3 days. I dont have many leaves left and i need a few next .. i mean .. later" she dint complete ..
i realised she was not gonna say anything after that and said "ohh ok.. i am here only for one day. i am going back by today evening's train"
the train reached the station admist the usual noise of the coolies, some lady announcing the arrival of the train on platform no 6. People rushing out ..

As we got up to leave, she shook hands with me ... and said "it was great meeting you lalith. I thought i'd get bored in the train but i really enjoyed this journey"

I said "i enjoyed it too puja and i'd definitely like to keep in touch. you have my number on my card. Call me or send a mail when u find time"

She said "ya sure. i'll call you once i am in hyd" as she turned to leave. After going a little further, she came back and said .."i forgot to tell you. I am getting engaged on the 12th of next month. I'll definitely call you but just in case i am not able to, its at Greenpark at 7:30 pm on 12th. Make sure you are there. Ok na. Bye" She smiled and left. I had managed to say "sure" before she left.

I sat there as she left feeling strange. I dint know if i felt bad or not but i was surely feeling like an idiot. :) Now i knew why she said she needed leaves next month and why she said "i am not sure if i can call him my boy friend" ( may be it was an arranged marriage).

I had this strange feeling for a little while but then .. this is what life is about :), feeling sad one moment and happy immediately after. On my return journey i was again praying that i should be sitting beside some beautiful girl. But this time .. i decided, i would definitely find out if she had boy friend or was about to be engaged :D ....