Red: A DREAM ride on the Metro

The story continues from @ The girl with the Yellow Bag (click)

It was one of those typically hot and humid monsoon evenings. Decked in formals, I felt suffocated and tired after a long day at work. Wondering when will I ever get that chauffeur driven Sarkari (Government) Ambassador (Indian car, symbolic of power in post-independence India) with a Red beacon.
For most, Audis, BMWs, Jaguars, Range Rovers were the benchmark and the list doesn’t end there. As for me, it was not all about money or material desires. It was about the power, the prestige and to some extent the self derived pride of using these to help those in need. For, it gives you a sense of satisfaction which can never be substituted by anything else. After all, there is no limit to keeping yourself happy by chasing money. The more you get, the more you desire. Although, I agree, money is important yet, it is not everything in life.


But in reality, here I was stuck in the so called  ‘software job’, swanky office, many young people of around my age, everyone getting paid decently for the enormous work we do yet, everyone frustrated with the work while the company rakes in millions if not billions at our expense.We are all software drones, much like the drones of a bee hive. Work our arse off all week long and at the end of the week enjoy a bit of honey (booze for most of us) and again back to life on Monday.
I am sorry, got carried away!
Anyway, back to the story. So this day, too tired to drive back on my scooty (yeah, you got it right not a bike, gears are painful in the city traffic) I hit the metro.
Yet again, more crowd, more people, more drones…. All of them getting back to their hives (one thing about India, there is no dearth of people at any place. You can literally find a small crowd overflowing, everywhere.)
Somehow, I made it inside the crowded metro with a herculean effort. One good thing about metros is, well, unlike the buses you have some pretty, beautiful and young section of the population, travelling along in the first compartment with their fragrance drifting on to the second one, where you can just relax, close your eyes and take a deep breath without worrying about sweaty smelly uncles. It at least lifts your spirits.

 After a few stations the crowd started to wane.I found the ever elusive seat! Any young, physically able guy getting a seat on the metro at the peak hours, is a rare divine blessing of sorts! I lost no time in conquering it. Now, I was rejoicing on my throne, like a newly crowned monarch. Now seated, I looked around.
Bang opposite me, was seated a girl with her long, beautiful, black tresses covering her face, they had copper streaks in between the dense black. Her head bent forward to peer into her phone, as she typed something frantically on the screen. For a moment, I thought it was her, that beautiful manifestation of my most memorable dreams. But, I knew my eyes were playing with me. This must be like those mirages I read about in school. As “she” was thousands of miles from here, I concluded my mind was playing tricks on me again. I noticed her red dress, ah my favourite colour. And since no other girl actually interested me, I didn't see a point in further checking this one out. So, I looked around for a while, observing everyone else as I normally do.


The problem was everyone was in their own world frantically if not fanatically, texting or listening or watching something on their mobile phones. Whatever happened to the real world? I really miss the 1990s, the pre-mobile invasion years.
Most people thought I had a relic of a phone because I was a baniya (Indian term for an Ebenezer Scrooge  kind of guy, no disrespect intended for the community !)  Well the reason was, I didn't want a phone to be my wife. Smart people have dumb phones. Dumb people have smart phones. (That is my perspective!)
I moved my gaze back to the girl in front of me, I could see her face now. A shiver went down my spine, I was stunned for a moment, it was her!
Those long black tresses, those expressive dark eyes and that exquisitely sculpted nose (perhaps a masterpiece by the great Pygmalion of yore, himself)
My heart skipped a beat. But, how??
She noticed my gaze upon her (somehow all girls have this sixth sense when someone is looking at them from any corner of their Line of Sight) she smiled faintly and got back to her mobile. For a moment I thought it was someone else judging by her reaction and what had come to pass, but I couldn’t be wrong in recognizing her. I kept looking at her trying to make eye contact. She again lifted her gaze, but didn't show any signs of recognizing me. 
I wondered why. I tried to be sure again, this girl had the same physique looked to be around the same height, although she had heels on. The short red dress with some frilly design made her stand out from the rest of the crowd(remember Schindler’s list? The girl in the red coat?) Not that I noticed anyone or anything else since my eyes met her. I had the same feeling of my senses getting numbed, as it always happens in her presence.

For what seemed like hours (but turned out actually a few minutes, going by my watch) we kept looking into each other’s eyes. Then a big smile emerged on her face and she got up and walked towards me. Almost as a reflex, I followed protocol and got up. She came close and hugged me. I didn't expect it ( boy this felt better than having a free blue label with unlimited snacks and some Cuban handmade cigars on a beach at the white sand beaches of a coral atoll)
“Stupid, didn't you recognize me? She said in a mocking tone.
To which I could just say, “Can I never, not recognize you? Why didn't you speak earlier?”
In her usual playful tone she responded "aise he mera mann kara" (Just like that, felt so.)
Suddenly she turned around to check the window "Oh ho, my station is here I need to go! Will see you later"
I happened to receive a brief hug (okay, this felt great, could we not just keep doing this all day long?) Disoriented by all these sudden turn of events I barely managed to blurt out, "When will that be? I mean, when are we meeting then?"                                             
                                         
She stepped out of the door, smiled " soon, very soon" the doors, then started sliding close to obstruct my view of her, yet, I could still see her through the glass panel on the door. And as the train made a move, she faded away from my vision till all around me was just darkness. The dream had come to an end.

Hey! It was not an ordinary dream. It came true, a few weeks later. She happened to visit me. She was in red and I didn’t want it to end the way the dream did, so, managed to get a bouquet of red roses and a car (which was slightly expensive. Yeah, I am a born baniya, not by caste!). I had the best weekend of my working career till date. Although, it was just a couple of hours and a brief dinner.
Oh, and got that good bye “Hug”. ;)

The story continues @ A Dream within a dream, Inception? (Click)