Misha climbed into the bus to Amritsar, which was already brimming over with people. She heaved a sigh of relief even though there was barely any room to stand because she was finally away from the man who had attached himself to her like a leech, since the rest stop on the way to Chandigarh.
On the bus from Dehradun to Chandigarh, the man who was sitting across the aisle from Misha happened to meet her gaze and smiled, so she smiled back. He then approached her table at the rest-stop and said, “May I sit here?”
Even though there were other empty tables, Misha nodded because the man was well-dressed, seemed well-spoken and looked mostly harmless. She figured it would be nice to make a friend, so she extended her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Misha.”
“Hi, Misha, I’m Vinay”, he said as he shook her hand.
Just then a server came to take their order. Misha asked for a cup of tea but when the server turned to Vinay, he shook his head. When the server left, Vinay took out a flask from his pocket and showed it to Misha, “I carry my drink with me.”
Misha smiled and said politely, “Ahh, nice.”
He offered the flask to her, “Do you want some?”
Misha shook her head to which Vinay responded with, “Arre have some na, tea is the wrong drink for this journey and this weather, don’t you think?”
Misha just shook her head again and said politely, “Thanks, but I think I will stick to tea.”
Vinay shrugged as he took a sip, “Okay, more for me, I guess. So are you from Chandigarh?”
“No, I am from Mumbai, just travelling in these parts.”
“Ohh, umm, you’re travelling by yourself?”
Misha nodded, not surprised at all by the look of amazement on Vinay’s face or the next question out of his mouth, “How come?”
Misha shrugged and decided to be honest instead of making up some outlandish story, like she had done the last 100 times she’d been asked this question, “I just wanted to experience travelling on my own.”
“Hmm, yeah, so I’m guessing you're not married?” he asked.
“What does marriage have to do with anything?”
“Well, if you were married, you wouldn’t be travelling by yourself na.”
“And why not?”
“Arre you know, like my wife would never be okay with me going on some solo trip.”
“Really? I don’t know, I would want my spouse to get that I need some space from time to time.” Misha reflected.
“Hmm, yeah. You know I wish I had someone understanding like you in my life but my wife is totally possessive.”
“And what about you? Would you be okay if she wanted to travel by herself?”
“Ohh yeah, I wouldn’t mind. She can have her fun so that I can have my fun, you know.” Vinay said with a sly half-smile.
Misha was getting uncomfortable with the way this conversation was going. So she looked around for the server and when she got his attention, gestured to him to bring the bill, “It is getting late, I think I should get back on the bus.”
“Nah, there is no need to hurry, the bus won’t be leaving for a while.”
“Yeah but I think I’ll go, I’d rather not get stranded here.”
“Ohh, okay, then. Chalo, I’ll come too. I don’t want to get stranded by myself either though it might be an adventure if we both got stranded, you know, like DDLJ?”
Misha didn’t know how to respond and luckily she didn’t have to because just then, the server came with the bill. She took it and immediately headed to the counter to pay. All the while wondering how she was going to avoid Vinay for the next 6 hours. His clumsy attempts at flirting and whatever he was trying to imply with his comments had made Misha deeply uncomfortable. She quickly paid the bill and got on the bus ahead of Vinay. She put her earphones in and closed her eyes before Vinay had settled enough to strike up another conversation with her. “Thank god, he was across the aisle and not next to her.” Misha thought.
When the bus finally pulled into the bus station in Chandigarh, Vinay once again approached Misha, “Do you need help with your bags?”
“Umm, no thanks, I got it,” Misha said as she adjusted both the backpacks on her shoulders, the smaller one in front and the larger one on the back. Misha had managed to avoid conversation with Vinay throughout the remaining bus journey. At first, by pretending to sleep and when that became tiresome, by asking the man next to her to switch seats with her and moving to the window seat. But now it seemed her luck had run out.
Vinay followed her as she disembarked the bus, “So where are you staying in Chandigarh? If you don’t have a place booked, I can take you to my friend’s hotel. I’ll make sure you get a good room at a discounted rate.”
“Umm, actually, I am not staying in Chandigarh. I am heading to Amritsar from here.” Misha said as she made her way through the crowd to the ticket window and joined the long queue in front of it.
“Are you sure? I don’t think there are any buses to Amritsar at this time. And anyway a bus to Amritsar will reach there at like 1 or 2 in the night. It may not be safe for you, by yourself. Why not stay the night here in Chandigarh and go to Amritsar in the morning. I promise you won’t have to worry about a thing! I will even give you a ride back here tomorrow morning. C’mon, what do you say?”
“Let me just check if there is a bus, cause really I would prefer to get to Amritsar tonight if possible, even if it is in the middle of the night.” Misha said as the queue advanced.
“Anyway, you don’t have to stay here with me. I’m sure your wife must be waiting for you at home, please feel free to carry on. It was so nice to meet you,” Misha said, hoping against hope that he would take the hint and leave.
“No, no, no, I am not going to leave you here by yourself. I don’t mind waiting, I just want to make sure you will be okay. What if there are no buses to Amritsar, what will you do?”
“Not go with you, that’s for sure”, Misha thought but she smiled and said, “I’ll manage, I have managed on my own so far, after all.”
“Yes, I’m sure you will but you are in my city now and I will make sure you are comfortable, actually more than comfortable,” Vinay smiled at her and patted her shoulder, leaving his hand there for a few moments.
Misha pursed her lips and hoped there was a bus to Amritsar tonight. All her prayers were answered when the woman at the ticket window informed her that the last bus to Amritsar for the day, was all set to leave in a few minutes and she should hurry. She gave the woman a huge smile as she paid for her ticket.
When she turned to Vinay, he looked crestfallen but followed Misha as she hurried to catch the bus. He finally extended his hand in goodbye when the bus came into view and there was no way Misha would miss it. Misha reluctantly shook his hand and hurried into the bus.
She looked around now, desperate to find a place to sit. The trip that had started from Lansdowne, at 6 that morning had drained her to the point that she was ready to fall asleep on her feet. So, the moment she saw some empty space on the very front seat between a Sardarji and an old man, she squeezed into it. They didn’t seem to notice her even as they shifted to make room for her.
Misha watched as even more people got into the bus and like her, squeezed in wherever they found a little space. The seats and the aisle were full, even the space up front, next to the bus driver, usually reserved for the conductor, was full with passengers. Misha wasn't surprised in the least to see this happen. By now she was a veteran of state transport in India and this is how it worked. Here, people made room, not just for themselves but also for each other. This was a shared space, there were no invisible personal boundaries. Here there was a certain openness and understanding amongst the various travellers that one would rarely find on a flight. Here, when Misha extended her legs to stretch them and accidentally hit the foot of the boy sitting on top of the luggage pile in front of her, before she could apologize and withdraw them, the kid had already moved his foot an inch to make room. It was this sense of camaraderie that Misha felt made all the discomfort and duration of these journeys worth it.
It was going to be another long drive to get to Amritsar. She leaned back, took a deep breath and despite the myriad voices around her, found herself drifting off. Slowly, almost as if by magic, the noise around her softened, the bus stopped, started, stopped, the crowd thinned, the outside became darker but her journey continued. Was she dreaming? Was she awake? Had she reached her destination? She couldn't tell through the thick fog of sleep and exhaustion that refused to lift.
Then all of a sudden, she was jerked awake. She looked around, her eyes still blurry with sleep but her brain, instantly alert. That is what it was like, travelling by yourself. You had to be prepared and alert at the most inconvenient of times. She saw the conductor towering over her, gesturing to her to move inside, closer to the window. The bus had emptied and there wasn't anyone around her anymore. There were some passengers making noise in the back but here in the front, it was just her, the conductor and the driver. Scared, unsure of what this man wanted, she did as she was told and moved towards the window. The conductor occupied the place where she had been sitting.
Misha was very afraid now. She wasn't sure what she would do if this conductor suddenly lunged at her. She didn't have anything that could be used as a weapon to defend herself. She wondered if the driver would do something if she screamed very loudly or if the passengers in the back would come to her rescue. How could she be so stupid? She berated herself for making such idiotic plans, for traveling by herself, for taking unnecessary risks. She would fight, no matter what happened, she would not give in easily, she vowed to herself. Then instantly doubted herself as she glanced at the tall, broad built man sitting at the edge of the long bench, blocking her exit. He sat staring straight ahead, he had not glanced at her once since he sat down. But Misha couldn’t shake off the fear she felt.
Then with a jerk, the bus stopped. She wondered if she should just get out even though her destination was a long way away and the conductor was in the way. Before she could do anything though, the passengers from the back of the bus came ahead to get off the bus. They were singing loudly and were clearly drunk. Many of them leered at her and passed what she assumed were lewd comments, though she didn’t understand the language they were speaking. She turned her face to look outside the window. She hadn't realized they had been singing and commenting this entire time. She had been half dreaming at first and then was too worried about the conductor’s intentions to notice the drunk men in the back.
The minute these men got out and the bus began to move, the conductor got up and went back to his seat up front, next to the driver.
👍👍👍keep going
Very well written and educative.