Chapter 4 : 5th May 2017

5th May 2017

I got few more congratulation mails and message from others. My roommate, Ramesh called me on my mobile.

“Hi buddy, how are you? Can you do a favor for me?”

“What?”

“I forgot to take our flat key, can you come and give the key to me?”

“Okay, I will be there in 15 to 20 minutes”

I reached my flat in 15 minutes. I saw my friend was wearing a branded Polo shirt, Denim jeans and Reebok shoes. His eyes were covered by Ray-ban sunglass and Lee cap on his head. He had American Tourister bag on his back and a travel trolley bag in his left hand. Rolex watch covered his wrist and there was a cover in his hand.

“Are you going to the US today?”

He excitedly said “Yes”.

“Now the time is 11:30 am and the flight take off is around midnight. Why did you get ready now itself?”

“Now I am planning to go to my uncle’s house, so I thought of packing all the stuff from here. I will go to airport from there directly. We also have a plan to go for a movie in noon and after that dinner with my family.”

“That sounds great.”

He packed all the clothes in the bags. We kept all the bags in his car. He took his wallet from his pocket and took 2 new five hundred rupees note from it.

“Did you buy a new wallet as well?”

“Yes buddy. This 1000 rupees is for Rajesh’s wedding gift. I already called him. Convey my wishes to him as well.”

“Sure. I already bought a gift card worth Rs.4000.”

“Ok. Are your train tickets confirmed?”

“No buddy. It is not confirmed. So, I booked ticket in Redbus. It will start from Kazhakuttom around 9:40 pm. Time to go to office now. Have a safe journey. Message me as soon as you reach there.”

“Thanks. Sure, I will call you once I reach there. Hope we will meet there.”

We hugged each other. He got into the car and I kick-started my bike towards office. I managed to complete all my work before 8 pm. I took an auto and reached Kazhakuttom around 8:15 pm. I had two dosas with sambar as dinner at Hotel Annapoorna which is located near to the boarding point. After that I bought a packet of biscuit from the nearby bakery and entered the Travel office around 9:20 pm. They told me that bus would be arriving late around 10:15 pm due to rain and asked me to sit in the waiting hall. I found two vacant seats in the third row of the waiting hall. I took the earphone from my pocket and started watching few short films so that I would kill some time.

A few minutes later, I heard a voice of a girl “Excuse Me”. I turned back and saw a girl of age around 22 to 26 requesting me with pleasant smile on her face, “If you don’t mind, can I use your mobile for a call? It’s really urgent.”

“Sure.”

I paused the video and gave the mobile to her. While she dialed the number, a thought hit me “Why did she ask mobile from me not from the people who is seated near to her? Do I look like a genuine person or an idiotic person who can be fooled easily?”

She gave the phone back and thanked me as well. I checked my phone and found the message “Last call cost Rs.7.56. Your current balance is Rs.3.67. Please recharge your mobile number at the earliest.”

Suddenly I noticed an offering hand with 20 rupees in front of my eyes. She was trying to offer the money to me for the call.

“It’s ok. You can keep the money.” I said with a smile.

“Are you from Tamilnadu?”

I was shocked how she guessed it correctly. I had not uttered a single word in Tamil. I reluctantly thought even after joining Toastmasters club, my English communication has not improved.

“How did you guess it?”

She smiled “I saw half Thalaivar photo as screensaver in your mobile.”

Ah! I smiled too. Thalaivar means Superstar Rajinikanth, A mononymous person/actor in Tamilnadu. Just a year back, his movie Kabali was released. Lots of his fan celebrated by watching the movie on the first day 3 am show. As his diehard fans, few of my friends and I celebrated in a different way. My friends colored my hair, moustache and beard in white and asked me to wear blazer like him. It made me look like him. I went to the movie theatre in that gesture. Lot of his fans took selfies with me. It was one of the most memorable day in my life.

Bus reached around 10 pm. The receptionist announced to all of us “The 9:40 pm bus to Kannur has reached. Please carry your luggage along with your tickets towards the bus.”

The girl asked, “Are you travelling in the bus?”

“Yes. Till Thalasseri stop”

We took our respective belongings and entered the bus. She sat on the third row, left window seat in the bus. She waved a bye to me. I smiled at her and moved towards my seat. I took my mobile from my pocket, informed my friend that the bus got started. I recharged my mobile for Rs. 100 and started reading few old WhatsApp messages. I got a call from an unknown number.

“Hello”

“Hi, Is Meena there. Could you please give the phone to her?”

Oh! So, her name is Meena! I thought. “Sure, Wait a minute.”

I went to her seat. I inquired her whether she was Meena, gave the mobile to her. She signaled me to sit next to her seat which was vacant. I sat. After few minutes, she disconnected the call and gave mobile back to me.

“Sorry, my mobile got damaged today. Due to this, I asked your mobile earlier. It would be great if you could sit here because I will get one more call. “

“No problem, till then I would be here”

The bus conductor started verifying the tickets. He asked me to sit on my respective seat. Later he allowed me to sit there when she told him that we were friends.

She smiled “I hope you know my name. Let me introduce once again to you. I am Meena Raman working as a software engineer in SJS Technology, Technopark for the past 4 years. Tell me about you Mr. Half Kabali.”

I smiled and started proceeding my introduction. After that, we formally shook hands with a pleasant smile. Though we were in nearby buildings for the past 5 years, we had not met each other. My mobile rang again. It was for her. She looked a little nervous.

“Is everything fine?”

“I am fine. Have a slight headache since I didn’t have dinner.”

As a man’s nature, I went to my seat and took the

packet of biscuit from my bag and gave her.

“Thanks.”

“No mention.”

“Are you the person who acted in short film named “The Envelope”?”

“Yes, did you watch the film in YouTube?” I asked with curiosity since only 297 people viewed the movie in YouTube. PS: I regularly check the number of views.

“Yes. My roommate Aswathy is working in your company. She told that she liked your movie but felt bad that you did not get any award for it.”

“Yeah. The results were out a week before. We did that movie based on the theme The Women’s empowerment – Be Bold for a change. Though we didn’t get any award, many people appreciated our film and our acting. Some of my friends who are short film directors appreciated the screenplay of the film.”

“It was a nice film. After watching it for the third time only I understood the story.”

I smiled.

“You portrayed three stories within 6 minutes, it is brilliant.”

“Thanks. Since the movie was based on women’s empowerment, we thought of telling audience that women can work after marriage if they are interested. They should learn self-defense and parents should give importance to the dreams of their daughters.”

She laughed “Congrats. Is there any special event in Thalasseri tomorrow?”

“Yes. Need to eat chicken biryani”

“What?”

“It’s my friend’s marriage there tomorrow. Meanwhile Thalasseri biryani is also famous. Going for that as well.”

She laughed. She started watching the short films in which I acted. When the small and big needles of my watch touched 12, she fell asleep. I had a nice time with her. I found her snoring in her sleep while the bus was nearing my stop. I just left a note saying “Nice meeting you. If possible, we will meet for sure.” I got down at my stop around 4:35 am.

I called my friend, he picked me up on his bike and I stayed in his room. After a small nap, I freshened up and attended my friend’s marriage. I conveyed my best wishes to him and his wife. It was followed by a delicious Sadhya (Veg Meals). I met few of my ex-colleagues, they enquired about my H1B Visa. I requested them not to talk about it. I wanted to leave the place at the earliest before anyone reminded me about it. I went to my friend’s room and spent time in watching movies on Television. Both of us had Thalasseri special chicken biryani as dinner, post which he dropped me to the railway station. I got into the Trivandrum Express train. As soon as the red signal changed to green signal, not only did the train start from the platform, I too started thinking about Meena and her conversations. I didn’t have the guts to ask for her number by redialing her uncle’s number. I searched some profile with her name and company name, but my plan did not work out. I closed my eyes and pushed myself to sleep mode.