5 women in a man's life - The Second

Navneet jumped off bus no. 1 at Central. He crossed the road to pick up a packet of Lays. On other days, he would have started walking the long stretch on the side walk running along Sampige Road where Raja Mills once stood (Mantri Greens has taken over today). But tonight was different. He would wait for a blue bus that said 'Infosys' on it. He would wait for the bus to come to a halt.And then she would step outside and start walking on the same side of the road as he was on.

He followed her unassumingly for a couple of steps and then as he came nearer, he took a deep breath and said – “Excuse me”.

Her tired eyes turned around and looked at him. They looked just as beautiful as they had at 645 in the morning.

“My name is Navneet. I wanted to ask you, do you work in Infosys?”. I mean, how lamer could a starter question get? A gorgeous young lady getting off a bus that says 'Infosys' can by no length of imagination be an employee of Wipro. [For the record, this an IT joke. All geeks in the house, laugh.]

“Yeah. I'm a software engineer there. My name is Sumana.”

They talked for the next 3 minutes till she came to a crossing that took her home. She said - “Nice knowing you, Navneet.”

“Hey, same here! Want some chips?”, he said holding out the packet of Lays.

“Uh, no thanks. Good nite!” and she was gone.

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I followed a ritual each morning. As I bathed and stepped into the room to put on my uniform (these are still high school days, mind you), I played Metallica's Turn the page on Winamp. In a rebellious youth's lingo, the song pumped life into an otherwise dull morning. And I would step out into the cool early Bangalore morning that had been holding up a thin blanket of mist. The bus to school stopped 100 meters away from my house. Like any other day, I pondered on what was in store for the coming day. Classes, shitty as usual. Only perhaps Satya's grilled sandwiches to look forward to in Chari Maam's Physics class. And yes, Suchit was supposed to finalise Raceforge's logo that day.

My view of the road was blocked by a stationary auto. I made my way around the auto staring at the crest on my tie. And then I looked up. It was like one of those times when you pour a bucket full of cold water on your body and find yourself gasping for breath. I looked right into her eyes. And they were so attractive that I had to withdraw mine. I walked to my spot and took my place in the bus stop. I was smiling from ear to ear looking the other way. And I would turn towards her and size her up. And what I saw was mind blowing.

Later that day in class, I asked Jesu if he had seen her at the bus stop too. He hadn't. Neither had Satya. I spent 10 whole minutes explaining to Sridevi how this 'bus stop girl' looked.

“The way you're describing, it seems like she's an actress.” Sri said.

“No, she works in Infosys. I saw her getting into the bus.”, i said.

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2 months later, over the legendary coffee in Halli Manne I challenged Navneet to find out her name. And he won the bet. But I didn't lose it. I won it too. I won a memory; a memory of the longest crush I've had on a girl. A girl we called 'Infy'. And i wish her well from here, for only the Good Lord knows where,how and what she is today.

A man pins his first crush solidly to memory. And then for a while, girls come and and go out of his radar. Some catch his attention for a short while and he moves on. Few others stay longer giving him time to fantasise. But only one stays in memory long enough to qualify as a man's longest crush.

Hope you enjoyed meeting the 2nd girl in a man's life. Isn't she still the same as she was when you first saw her?