There are certain pretty faces that you can never forget in your life. Shania Twain, Christina Aguilera and finally her. That was the first time and perhaps the last time I would be seeing her.
After a demanding day at work, I was driving back home at around 8:30PM. The roads are less congested at this hour. I was maintaining a modest 60KMPH speed when a Yamaha FZ whipped down the road, past me. The pillion rider was a girl and she clung to the guy in a position, too close for comfort.
That’s the reason for the rush, I thought as I drove along.
‘…I am gonna try for an uptown girl…’ I was sort of crooning Billy Joel’s classic, with the girl on the Yamaha FZ still on my mind.
I’d almost reached the Cyber towers signal when I saw her.Perhaps the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. A decent looking guy was driving her on his Bajaj Eliminator. She was holding onto the rear support.
At the signal, they stopped three cars away from me and mine being a car, I couldn’t maneuver close enough to them. I was trying to get a glimpse of her with my line of sight trying to peek through the gaps in between the cars. All I could manage to see was her nose and her hair.
The signal turned green when I tried to follow them closely, with the gear shifting between the first and the second and my gaze, between her and the road. I wished not to lose her in this traffic maze.
Minutes later, I caught up with them on the straight road almost a mile ahead of the signals. Shifting to one gear lower, I swerved to the right, revved up the engine and drove almost parallel to them.
What a girl, I thought, she’s got the look. She had an aquiline nose, her eyes were well-formed and lids were almond-shaped, betraying even the most crisply defined. A bindi on her forehead embellished her look. The apples of her cheeks were pink, literally, lovely dimples formed as she smiled and did I forget to mention those raised cheekbones which further accentuated her beauty; I couldn’t have given a better description.
A part of the ice-cream she was licking, adorned her perfect upturned nose. She looked all the more cute. I’ve never seen a girl with such mesmerizing features.
She glanced at me when I smiled back. She then put her hand over the guy’s shoulder and looked at me. Was she taunting me?The guy’s driving pretty slow and I was looking at her all the time. She knew it but pretended as if she never knew. She would keep her chin on his shoulder and steal furtive glances at me to see if I were looking. And then she would shy away.
She’s his girl. But I couldn’t stop admiring her. Then she removed her hands off his shoulder and held the guy by his waist leaning over his back. The guy in turn managed to steer his bike with one hand and with the other, started to rub her hand. I was growing jealous of this lucky guy.
Fetching a deep sigh from the bottom of my heart, I stepped up the gas and zoomed past them. All the while I was looking at her through the side rear view mirror, hoping that she would look back. Come on baby… come on…and yes, she bent aside and looked at my car.
There were two gaps in the median ahead of me. They were yet to cross the first median when I sped along and U-turned at the second median and drove in the opposite direction. By the time they crossed the first median, I was taking the U-turn at the same and was then driving behind them.
I slowly drove my car to their side when she was taken down by surprise. This time, she looked at me and smiled. Her smile triumphantly beamed between her blushing cheeks. Oh man, she’s so beautiful. I have fallen in love with her smile.
Noticing that there were further gaps in the median, I sped away, yet another time. Repeated the same, twice. All this, just for her smile. The guy never took his eyes off the road; so he probably hasn’t noticed. But I was enjoying the drive of my life time.
I knew this happiness is transient. I knew she’s a passing cloud. And I knew that my wife, Nisha would be waiting for me, back home. But I just couldn’t help.
I followed them for a certain distance before our paths finally diverged. I could see herlooking back at my car as they vanished from sight into the chaotic city traffic.
“She’s evanescence. A beautiful angel, whom I wish were mine,” I finished narrating the story to Nisha as I removed my spectacles with a sigh of discontentment.
“How is this different from your regular errand?” Nisha’s voice was getting a bit grumpy, “of following prettygirls...”
“This girl’s probably aged five… definitely not more!” I concluded the narration.
