“Mom
please stop it. Don’t start all this early morning. I am getting late for
collage” I hung up the call and boarded the bus to Lal chauk.
As
usual morning bus was over crowded. I saw a guy sitting on ladies seat and
asked him to leave the seat for me. But you know, some days are just not your
day. The champ gave me a look as if I have asked him to give his power of
attorney on my name. He did not move an inch, I asked him again and his reply
was enough for me to show him the other side of my personality. He said if you
can wear pants like man then why you can’t stand like one. I shouted as loud as
I can and asked that guy to leave the seat as else it won’t be good for him. By
now I have created a good scene there, and after the bus conductor’s intervene that
guy moved from there and finally my bum got a seat. Lady seating next to me
gave me a look top to bottom and when I stared her back she looked away.
I took out a book to read but I had no mood to
read it. I was feeling bad for creating a scene in bus and fighting with my mom
early morning, I felt ashamed. This is not who I want to be, this is not how I
was all this time in my life. I just closed my eye and rested my head back.
I
have always been a decent, well behaved, shy kid. Following what my mom asked
and scoring good marks in school made me the ideal kid for all uncles and
aunties in my colony. Everyone wanted their kid to be like me, and I just
wanted my mom to feel proud on me. She has single handedly raised me and my
sister, and being a trouble for her was the last thing I wanted to be. My life
was going smooth till I fell in love.
“Excuse
me” a female voice brought me back to reality. I opened my eyes and saw a thin
girl in red Kurta and jeans standing in front of me. She smiled and said “Hello
Mam, I am Prabha. I go to the same college as you, I am your junior.”
I
tried hard recognizing her and smiled just to make her feel welcoming. “Mam, I
really admire your courage. The way you handled that idiot man, he deserved
that only. You are very strong mam; I wish I have the same courage as yours.”
Prabha said while bending towards me. I was taken aback that someone felt what
I did was right, I felt good but I was not fully convinced with my act.
“It’s
nothing heroic Prabha. It’s just that for our right we have to speak because
silence is mostly taken as our weakness.” I spoke like some psychologist.
Prabha was still standing next to my seat, she looked mesmerized by the line I
just said, and not talking to her will feel rude so I tried changing the topic.
“So which course you are in Prabha?”
We
talked about college and some general stuffs and finally reached college. “Okay
Mam, It was nice talking to you. Have a good day” Prabha greeted me before
leaving for her class. I smiled and asked her not to call me Mam “You can call
me Shikha” and we parted our ways.
*****************************
After first lecture we got a break of 5 minutes I
took out my phone and saw an SMS from Aakash. He wanted me to meet him at the
coffee shop in evening. We had only 4 lectures remaining so I agreed for the
meeting. I was replying to his SMS only when I got a pat on my back, it was
Richa my best friend “what’s up Shiks? Oh busy SMSing Aakash. Where are the
lovebirds meeting today” she winked at me.To be continued ..... here
