"THERE IS ALWAYS A NEXT TIME"
‘Screech….!’ The tyres of a 1992 model red bus came to a halt near a remote village bus stop untraceable by the advanced GPRS systems.
‘Screech….!’ The tyres of a 1992 model red bus came to a halt near a remote village bus stop untraceable by the advanced GPRS systems.
“Pichapaadu, Pichapaadu” the conductor howled. There was a bustle in the whole bus as if it was the doomsday and everybody was about to die but it was the final destination of the bus.
“Keep moving on you stupid man!” scolded an angry old man.
“How dare you call me that, you slot” sloth the other.
“Shut up you two and move on!” Scolded the conductor Ravi.
Ravi was a young man around 26 years strongly built who could easily get into the army but he dreamt of becoming a driver of a bus as he did not know about aeroplanes as they did not fly above his village near a reserve forest. But, Ravi could not understand how to use a steering wheel and how to apply the gears so ended up becoming a conductor of this bus which solely connected Pichapaadu village and another unpronounceable village 35 kilometres away.
“Stupid people!” cursed Ravi seeing the argument between those men and checked all the money and the tickets once again as he got down for tea. He hated his job and thought of resigning but until he saw Latha. The thought of her made him blush.
“Your blushing again. Tell me who is it ra?” questioned the driver Vijay who was not around his age but behaved like one.
“What blushing? Drink your tea it’s getting late” shoot back Ravi giving his colleague a brisk look. He did not want the bus to be late as he knew Latha would have already boarded the bus by then.
“Does everybody have a ticket? Or if it is a bus pass show it to me” shouted Ravi as he got into the already packed bus. His eyes searching for Latha who already raised her hand showing her pass. She was with her family. Ravi was happy to see her. Latha was a my fair lady kind of a girl who had a long hair with little curls and a spotless face and a glowing skin unlike the others sitting in the bus, he considered her to be Venus who came down to the earth just for him.
“She looks stunning” murmured Ravi under his breath as he checked her pass for the nth time. Latha and Ravi were kind of long distant relatives. He renewed her bus pass from time to time and even gave concession to her family whenever they travelled in the bus saying that his mother were relatives to her sister-in-laws father’s uncle’s second son. They never questioned the relation as it was impossible to trace the connection which was more difficult to solve than a math problem.
“Right, Right..!” yelled Ravi sitting in his conductor seat which from which he had a good view of Latha.
The bus began its sojourn to the unpronounceable village at 20kmph and Ravi was only concentrating on Latha ignoring the talk which a random passenger tried. After an hour the bus journey came to an end and Latha along with the others got down the packed bus and in no time it became unpacked. It, was afternoon and the lunch time began. Ravi went to the canteen which found itself place in the bus stand and ordered a plate of meals and sat down along with his colleague Vijay.
“I am saying you don’t fall in these love matters man they will ruin you” came a free advice from Vijay. Vijay loved giving advices to Ravi who he considered his brother.
“Look Vijay! I am not in love and I know how to deal with rejections so chill! I am not the devdas type” said Ravi.
“I know you are not the devdas type I am only warning you brother.” Vijay said trying to pacify Ravi. Ravi hated talking about love matters with Vijay as he never understood him and Ravi thought that it was because of his marriage which was a failure.
After lunch Ravi and Vijay took a break and around 2:00 pm they went to the bus which was already packed ready for the next sojourn. But, Ravi did not see Latha that afternoon in the bus unlike he did the other days. Latha usually came to the other village for shopping or other purposes and would usually go back around 2:00pm but today she did not board the bus. He made the bus wait till 2:30 but she still was out of sight after a series of protests from the passengers the bus started to Pichapaadu. Around 6:30 the bus came back to the village other than Pichapaadu Ravi was waiting to see Latha “What took her this long?” ,“Is she all right?”, “Maybe she met with an accident?” a series of questions were going on in his brain and he knew he would feel alright only after seeing Latha. But she did not board the bus in the evening too. He sniffed something unusual and delayed the bus this time his colleague protested and the bus went to finish its last trip that day.
Ravi met the same fate the coming next two days too and he felt something fishy. In his lunch break he went around the unpronounceable village touring it’s even more unpronounceable streets so that he could see Latha but met with hard luck always. He almost gave up all hopes but after a moth he saw Latha along with her family board the bus at the same unpronounceable village bus stand. His face lit like a 1000 volts bulb he was madly happy and adding to this was Latha’s beauty he noticed that her face shone more and her dressing style changed she now wore a sari. “She looks even more beautiful in the sari! Dude you are lucky” he complimented himself.
“Does everyone have a ticket? Or a pass if it is a pass show it to me” he shouted the usual question and was going near Latha’s seat where he saw another man sitting beside her. He was a heavy built man around his age. He was accompanied by another women probably his mother along with Latha’s family. Ravi smiled at Latha’s parents and they gave him their usual we know you smiles.
“Our son-in-law” Latha’s mother just blew the bomb in the ears of Ravi. He was shocked. “What ? When?” came out Ravi’s series of questions, everybody stared at him. Understanding the damage he had just done controlling all his emotions he tried his best to give a diplomatic smile and questioned “I mean wow! Congratulations when were they married?”, “Just yesterday my son-in-law works in the army” said Latha’s mother smiling.
“You will have to pay for the extra baggage’s madam and you will have to pay 300 rupees extra for that itself !” said Ravi writing something on a some paper in a book in his pocket. Everybody gave him a confused look Ravi never charged Latha’s family extra instead gave them concessions.
“You have to pay 500 rupees overall now pay or get down” commanded Ravi in a frightening voice. “Sure, here take this” Latha’s husband gave Ravi a new 500 rupees note. “Hmm… ! hope it is not a duplicate note.” Murmured Ravi in a voice which was heard by Latha’s mother. She gave him a stay away from my daughter look and Ravi gave her an agreeing look.
Shattered completely he made his way back to the conductor’s seat he did not know what to do now. He felt bad about himself and he cursed his way of approach maybe he should have proposed her before itself. He thought of becoming a devdas and was thinking of its merits and demerits until the bus reached Pichapaadu. The bus unpacked in no time and Ravi to come out until decided to head towards the bar.
“Congratulations Latha what a pleasant surprise?” The voice which just spoke distracted him. He saw a beautiful young girl around his age talking to Latha and her husband.
“There is always a next time I can be lucky!” Ravi comforted himself winking to the bar’s name board.
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SOURCE BY-KARTEEK
PUBLISHED BY-OURHELLO.COM
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