There are some chapters in life which, when open, you never want to end, and when they end you never want to revisit ever again. One can begin to analyze it from different angles but it would never alleviate the uneasiness attached with the slightest reference to those events. But then one cannot avoid people and places altogether, some of whom, or which, might take one down memory lane. How do you tackle it then, one might ask, and let me tell you that it is not easy but it gets easier … easier with practice.
I was tired and slept through the two and a half hour flight from Bangalore (it wasn’t Bengaluru then) to Delhi. It was a national party-meet I had flown down to attend and was returning to Lucknow via Delhi. As soon as I landed in Delhi I was informed that I had to go attend the inaugural party of a new hotel of an existing luxury hotel chain. I called up the party president.
“Sir, isn’t there anyone else who can go? I am really tired and I don’t like these high society types.”
“Take your PA with you, he’ll keep you company. And be good.”
That was the end of that.
Rajan, my PA, meanwhile, was busy cancelling the next flight’s tickets. How he knew I would not be able to convince the president was beyond me. I was waiting for my bag at the baggage claim belt and there I saw her for the first time. She was looking directly at me. I cannot forget that scene; in that rush of people trying to claim their luggage and get the hell out of the airport was this beautiful girl staring at me as if she knew me. I could only see the green tee shirt she was wearing because she was leaning on the trolley. I remember the eyes, the stare; it wasn’t the stare of a girl in awe of someone, not that I looked bad, it was as if she was talking with her eyes. Somehow it felt that she knew me, though I was sure I did not know her, for I usually didn’t forget a face I met in life, and I definitely would not have forgotten hers. It was the face of a girl who knew what she wanted in life, confident expressions, a no non-sense look about her, an understated smile and the eyes which would have won her many compliments. Time stood still, and you can understand it by the way I am trying to describe those thirty odd seconds when we both stood gazing at each other. And then Rajan came with the bag, I had to leave.
To be continued …