Traffic Jam

Another one of those sultry afternnoons in Mumbai. It was sometime in May and the city was, like it almost always is, bustling with people who were or atleast seemed to be in a hurry. The Metropolises' new jewel, the Rajiv Gandhi Sea-link, globally televised as Bandra-Worli Sea-link was teeming with vehicles driven by seat-belted drivers at unbelievably high speeds of 60 - 80 kmph (yes, pretty high by Mumbai standards) while absorbing eternity displayed in full beauty outside the windows.

In a moment of madness, a rashly driven car rammed into the one in front of it bang in the middle of the 5.6 km long stretch causing, first a fist fight between the angry drivers and then a traffic jam. Long queqe's of vehicles formed on both sides of the scene of the accident.

In the jam was also caught a young girl riding pillion with her father. Wearing a delightful pink salwar kameez, beautiful flowing tresses and just enough make-up, she looked a stunning princess from a fairytale. While her father put his efforts in over hearing the abusive confrontation of the involved drivers, the girl gazed off abstractly into the blue sky. Her day dream was broken when a bike entered her line of vision and halted right next to her with a screech. Her annoyance at being brought back to reality took a backseat when she stole a look at the rider. He was a handsome dude in a plain white shirt and blue jeans. The boy, who was now aware of this gorgeous girl next to him instinctively moved his hands to adjust his hairstyle. This prompted a giggle from her, which made the boy smile embarassingly. Confirming that her father did not notice the giggle, which he did not, the girl, who was a romantic at heart and believed in love at first sight thought this was the moment when it was happening to her. She kept blushing while the boy looked straight, pretending to over hear the confrontation. She noticed his gleaming skin in the sunlight; soft, curly pitch black hair, robust arms and she knew she was falling for him. His hairy, sun burnt forearms, she thought, were one of a man and not a boy. She had always wanted such a man for herself. And suddenly, there was a buzz and like bees moving out of a beehive, the vehicles eased out and started moving as the issue between the warring drivers seemed to be resolved. The boy took a glance at her, gave a smile and zoomed off and out of sight within seconds, leaving the girl with a smile of her own. She felt a jerk, finally noticing her father again who kick started the scooter and she sighed along imagining what could have been.

Reaching their destination, a grocery store, she got off the scooter and was walking towards the entrance of the shop when she saw the same boy holding a rose in his hand standing at the corner of the street. Her heart skipped a beat and she felt excited and scared at the same time. She knew that any moment now, he would start walking towards her to give her that rose. What would she do ? Will she accept the rose ? Worse still, what would her father do to the boy ? He will definitely create a scene.

With a hundred scary exciting thoughts running parallel in her head, she noticed she had started to sweat. She tried to take out a handkerchief from her purse but her stuttering hands failed her. Picking it up, she looked towards the boy from the corner of her eye and saw him still standing there. Worse, he was not even looking in her direction. Puzzled, she slyly continued to look at the boy and her uneasiness gave way to shock when she saw another girl enter the frame. Accepting the rose, the girl hopped on to his bike and they left. She used the handkerchief to wipe off the one tear that had trickled and hearing her father's voice at the counter, she turned around and didn't look back again.