Chapter 1:
"Do I know you"
She said as i choked out on my grinning smile. She turned away by giving me a look which took the very soul out of me.I tried not to look at her again but you know i had to and then I noticed her ID card and it suddenly struck me ...
I was awestruck seeing the organisation see was working for as much as I did seeing her.
She was not just another person that you come across everyday......
I wonder why was she traveling in a rustling metro when she could have easily got all the luxuries of the world at her disposal.
My inquisitiveness was sky high that day. The more I saw her the more I wanted to know about her.
As usual, I had my daily scrum call that day ..... Had some pending assignments from the week before for which I had to think of some excuses
The appraisal was round the corner and I didn't want waste it like last year......
But that day I did something that not many would recommend....
“Why don’t you carry the umbrella…. Why do you skip lunch everyday….Look at you…..why don’t you shave”….. I wish I had listened to my mom that day. It was raining cats and dogs…. The city was under water, making the headlines for all dailies. But not even the rain God could stop me that day…..
“Doors will open on the right…….please mind the gap”….. a known voice cautioned everyone on board. Usually, I don’t get perturbed by that voice. In fact I have heard and known this automated voice so much over the last couple of years that it has started haunting me in my dreams .
But I was alerted by the voice on that instance….No I didn’t reach my destination but I saw my mystery girl approaching the door on the right …. She unplugged her ear phone and put it inside that massive back pack. I knew she was about to get down. She took out a pink hair band from that bag and made a pony tail. That was the first time I could see her face properly. She had put on a long pair of earrings. She organized her pink ‘dupatta’ with her supple fingers and moved forward. I was so mesmerized by her looks that the word beautiful would be an understatement.
Finally, the train stopped and she got down. Gradually, she was disappearing away from the vicinity but I was still able to see her while seating on the seats reserved for the elderly. I thought …. “Ok! That’s it. This is how it’s going to end”. My logical mind reminded me of the three critical bugs assigned to me and the ever assertive manager. It was also the last day for investment declaration. So, I decided to sit back and proceed with the rest of the ride……. Or did I …….
Chapter 2:
"Do I know you"
She said as i choked out on my grinning smile. She turned away by giving me a look which took the very soul out of me.I tried not to look at her again but you know i had to and then I noticed her ID card and it suddenly struck me ...
I was awestruck seeing the organisation see was working for as much as I did seeing her.
She was not just another person that you come across everyday......
I wonder why was she traveling in a rustling metro when she could have easily got all the luxuries of the world at her disposal.
My inquisitiveness was sky high that day. The more I saw her the more I wanted to know about her.
As usual, I had my daily scrum call that day ..... Had some pending assignments from the week before for which I had to think of some excuses
The appraisal was round the corner and I didn't want waste it like last year......
But that day I did something that not many would recommend....
“Why don’t you carry the umbrella…. Why do you skip lunch everyday….Look at you…..why don’t you shave”….. I wish I had listened to my mom that day. It was raining cats and dogs…. The city was under water, making the headlines for all dailies. But not even the rain God could stop me that day…..
“Doors will open on the right…….please mind the gap”….. a known voice cautioned everyone on board. Usually, I don’t get perturbed by that voice. In fact I have heard and known this automated voice so much over the last couple of years that it has started haunting me in my dreams .
But I was alerted by the voice on that instance….No I didn’t reach my destination but I saw my mystery girl approaching the door on the right …. She unplugged her ear phone and put it inside that massive back pack. I knew she was about to get down. She took out a pink hair band from that bag and made a pony tail. That was the first time I could see her face properly. She had put on a long pair of earrings. She organized her pink ‘dupatta’ with her supple fingers and moved forward. I was so mesmerized by her looks that the word beautiful would be an understatement.
Finally, the train stopped and she got down. Gradually, she was disappearing away from the vicinity but I was still able to see her while seating on the seats reserved for the elderly. I thought …. “Ok! That’s it. This is how it’s going to end”. My logical mind reminded me of the three critical bugs assigned to me and the ever assertive manager. It was also the last day for investment declaration. So, I decided to sit back and proceed with the rest of the ride……. Or did I …….
Chapter 2:
I was standing in foot high water. With a hustle I folded my trousers up to my knees. I was feeling so wet. In a desperate attempt to keep myself dry I hurriedly took out my handkerchief from my pocket and put it on top of my head. But all in vain! The heavy down pour had completely drenched me. I knew the investment proofs in my back pack were long gone. So were my newly bought shoes. Once again my logical mind came to my rescue and I took cover under a metro pillar. But I didn’t let her go off my sight. Yes, I did get down at that station with all my curiosities, in search of some unfurled answers to the mystery……
Before I could take a breather under the pillar, the phone rang. I took it out from my soaked pocket and saw a known but unsaved number. Oh! It was from the conference room from office….someone from the scrum call had called me. Reluctantly, I picked it up. It was Ravi, my buddy, the geek, the ‘follow the rule book’ guy and my all time savior. He asked me my ETA to which I gave an arbitrary figure. He briefed me about the MOM of the call. So, instead of three, I had four critical bugs to solve today. QA had reopened a bug which I closed last week citing environmental issue. Before I could explain him about my case he hanged up the phone…….
Before I could take a breather under the pillar, the phone rang. I took it out from my soaked pocket and saw a known but unsaved number. Oh! It was from the conference room from office….someone from the scrum call had called me. Reluctantly, I picked it up. It was Ravi, my buddy, the geek, the ‘follow the rule book’ guy and my all time savior. He asked me my ETA to which I gave an arbitrary figure. He briefed me about the MOM of the call. So, instead of three, I had four critical bugs to solve today. QA had reopened a bug which I closed last week citing environmental issue. Before I could explain him about my case he hanged up the phone…….
I quickly put my phone back to my drenched pocket and started scanning around till my sight went. Where did she go ..where did she go .. Damn that call.
And suddenly i saw that bag pack .. Oh there she is .. Thank god .. But where is she going . I had to know . I had to follow her. I didn't care about the rain.. I started following her .
Seems she was drenched too even though she carried a yellow umbrella.
In my mind the same picture of her tying of hairs was played in loop. I think its a parallel for loop from 0 to infinity . Wait ..that's the solution to that bug ,there must be a loop which is causing that issue..god i am smart!!
She just entered Starbucks. Oh damn what should I do . Should I follow her... Maybe she is bit drenched and wants to have coffee.. No that cant be right ..why am i being so optimistic . I should bury my thoughts beneath my soul and go back.
Someone must be waiting for her. Yeah that should be it.
But then I thought let me at least look at the jumping jack black who she is sitting with which will make me hate myself . So I walked pass the door and from corner of my eyes saw she is sitting alone .....
And suddenly i saw that bag pack .. Oh there she is .. Thank god .. But where is she going . I had to know . I had to follow her. I didn't care about the rain.. I started following her .
Seems she was drenched too even though she carried a yellow umbrella.
In my mind the same picture of her tying of hairs was played in loop. I think its a parallel for loop from 0 to infinity . Wait ..that's the solution to that bug ,there must be a loop which is causing that issue..god i am smart!!
She just entered Starbucks. Oh damn what should I do . Should I follow her... Maybe she is bit drenched and wants to have coffee.. No that cant be right ..why am i being so optimistic . I should bury my thoughts beneath my soul and go back.
Someone must be waiting for her. Yeah that should be it.
But then I thought let me at least look at the jumping jack black who she is sitting with which will make me hate myself . So I walked pass the door and from corner of my eyes saw she is sitting alone .....
Chapter 3:
I went to the counter and look up at the menu. Oh Jesus! Everything was so overpriced. Three hundred bucks for a cup of coffee !!! They were looting the people. But it seemed nobody present there actually cared. I guess people come to places like this to hang out with friends or with that special someone and that is what matters to them. Then why she was sitting alone, I wondered!
I tried to do a quick bubble sort on the menu based on the price tags and found a name, a name I had never heard before. I went to the lady standing behind the monitor and asked for my item with a purposeful look as if I went there to have nothing but that. She asked me a serious of follow up Questions but never waited for me to answer and then asked me to step aside. Within a minute my order arrived. I took my cup, left the tray there and was looking for a vacant seat from where I could see my mystery girl. I saw a couple getting ready to leave. Both of them were good looking. They probably went there for a date. The guy was crying and had a teddy bear on his lap. This girl was ignoring him and had her ears phones on. I could see her playlist from a distance; she was listening to a Rabindra Sangeet. Oh, a Bong, I sighed. The whole episode was a bit confusing but I wasn't there to solve their problems.
So, once they cleared the table, I waited for the housekeeping to clean the table, gave him a courteous look once he was done and then finally took my seat. I had the best seat in the world now! I have fought a numerous battles for a seat ... Starting from the last bench in school to the seats in a metro but I was never happier before than I was on that occasion. She was so close to me that I could Even smell the perfume she was wearing and tell you what .... It was really exotic.
She took out a device from her bag and pointed it towards the items she had ordered for her. An intense beam of laser came out of the device and started scanning those items on the table. Within a few seconds a matrix popped up on her cell phone screen. The matrix had a number of details which were not legible to me from that distance but I could see the unique green vegetarian logo on top of the screen. The device certainly had something to do with food quality. Wow!! I have never seen such thing before. No wonder she was from the Immortals......the biggest and richest pharmaceutical company in the entire planet. More importantly, she was wearing a red tag, a tag given only to the top ten research scientists of that organization and she surely has to be the youngest of all. Very recently this company made the headlines when they claimed to find the cure to auto immune disorders and AIDS. The company had said that the initial trials on mice had shown promising results and they were planning to initiate human trails very soon. Buy why would someone of her capacity be in a place like this... A place amidst one of the largest slums of the continent...... Something that I had to know.....
TO BE CONTINUED.....
