I remember back in the days, when we used to be little,
going to and coming back from School was an adventure on its own. Why? Because we
used to travel by bus. Imagine being this silly, jumpy, dirty kid and then
imagine fifty more just like him, confined in a space of 8 by 30 ft. imagine
windows open, with kids hanging out waiting for the conductor to turn around and
scream. Imagine girls sitting in the front barricaded from boys via couple of rows
of teachers. Imagine paper planes and loose shopping bags tied up with strings
chasing the sides of the bus. The “bolo pencil, Teri shadi cancel” and the
laughter that it used to spark. The “gud guddi” and the “chutkian”.
Each day. An adventure.
I remember this one car. Don’t remember the model or the
make but I remember it used to look really cool. It had the same route as us. Once
every few days it would meet us on the road. The driver would come honk from behind.
All of us who naturally sat at the end of the bus (because we were too rowdy to
sit in the front with the seniors) would plaster our faces to the rear window
and wave frantically. This guy you see was our James bond our Sharukh Khan and
our Superman all in one, driving this red supercar going on some insane cool
mission.
So where was I. he would come from behind and we would know.
We recognized the horn you see. Our heads used to go whoosh and someone would scream
”laal gaari wala banda aagaya”. We would wave. And he would wave back. We used
to stick our tongues out and he would do the same. Then he would switch lanes,
rev his engine and overtake us.
We used to wave at nearly everyone who dared to look at our
bus. I remember whenever someone would wave back at us, it used to make us all
go crazy and when this guy did it, it would feel like we were a part of this
secret mission that our James bond was about to attempt.
Today this little girl brought back these amazing memories. Was
driving in the G9 area. I was slowing down to halt at a turning and so was the
car next to me. In this car there was this little girl with the window rolled
down, hear head resting on her arms, looking outside and enjoying the amazing weather
that was there today. For some reason I looked at her and rolled my tongue. I do
this on and off, you see. I get mixed
reactions. Sometimes kids poke the elder sitting next to them and point at me
with their eyes saying “what is this creep doing mama”. But this little girl,
she didn’t duck, she didn’t turn away, she smiled this amazing smile for a good
few seconds and then she rolled her tongue back at me. I raised my hand and
waved at her. She raised hers and waved back. Her hand was now drifting away
and that made me realize that I too needed to move. She put her hand down and
smiled that priceless smile again as if saying goodbye and then she was gone.
Thank you for making my day today, little girl : ) may you always have a reason to smile and
may your smile continue to make others smile.
