the memory still remains...

13...
The number that has been convicted & pushed into the darkest corners of history for being the most unfortunate for mankind... The figure forecasting the shades of impending bad luck and misfortune... I have nothing personally against this poor thing, rather than the fact that I was 13 when this happened...yet another note in the repository of unfortunate events...

The first time I noticed her, she was in pink and white, waiting for her turn to board the school bus # 13... Her smile was like a thousand blossoms.... An angel pure delight.... There was a sweet fragrance in the wind, love was in the air..

I couldn't stop staring, but then before things got worse I regained consciousness...I boarded the bus#4..
Her smile, so blissful... and that fragrance... I had never felt anything like that before...
The whole night I was thinking about her.. For the first time in my life I waited for the break of dawn to go to school....

I crossed the gates of " The spiritless hell".. That was how we baptized our school... The place that seemed to be the burning hell till yesterday seemed like pure bliss.... I could feel that same fragrance in the air...

6 hours consist of a bloody 21600 seconds... oh yea.. I know it..! cuz I counted each one of em...And finally that moment arrived... There she was, talking [i don't remember who she was talking to. But then what the heck..!who cares!!!]

Time passed by.. hours to days... days to weeks... And finally there came a moment when I decided that staring at her was not enough.... what next?? How do I get to know her? Where is she from? Too many questions.....

I had a brilliant plan... And i was taking the first step into knowing the girl of my dreams..
I realized that I was mature enough to have a girlfriend like they show in movies...

Hmm... I should learn to sing and dance now... Every hero does that....Okay.. so wake up early in the mornings, off I go into a tub of water and "sing" ....
And what about Karate classes? Every hero should know to fight....save her from the bad guys who try to harass her...

The days that followed were quite tough for me and quite amusing to my parents, I believe... The guy who never watched TV was in front of Mtv, 24X7..Trying to dance like Mithun Chakraborty...And those long "musical" showers... I still remember the look on my sister's face each time i made a move...

The journey to perfection is very tough.... the sacrifices, the sufferings, the pain.........
Those long showers were followed by weeks of skyrocketing fever, a wagon full of antibiotics, getting beaten up for nodding off in the class, not answering chemistry questions, not being able to write maths exams due to a broken knuckle which I got while trying to save her from my study room door who was the bad guy trying to harass her [Damn!! why do they make these doors so strong..!!!], being grounded for breaking the mirror & the double cot bed while perfecting my finishing move......

Luckily I couldn't figure out a good use for the fridge and my dad's car in my routine...Well, I practically put to use every other thing at home excluding the living beings [yes, that included my DOG also]....

And after weeks of rigorous sufferings and pain [inflicted mostly by the after-effects of my rigorous routine] I was ready...

And the fateful day arrived. I boarded bus # 13. She was sitting in the front row. I sat two rows behind her

"what are you doing in this bus?" I turned to face the source of that irritating question, which fatefully happened to belong to my classmate.
"I am going to my Aunt's house" I replied
"Where is it?" he shot again..
"In town" I replied
"But this bus doesn't go that way"...he shot again

Oh yeah Einstein???? Should I finish you with a knee kick, bruce lee style? I repeated that dialogue 5 times in my mind and then... "Just kidding.. I am getting down at the 13th stop"

"Hey thats great... thats where i get down" he spoke again...

Should I really kill him????One more word and he would wish he was never born..
"Hmm... so where is your aunt's house" his last words arrived

HUH!! Okay.... I will be a little more merciful.... I ll give him another chance..
Soon enough I realized that I was the kindest person alive.... Cuz i ended up giving him another 9 extensions to his life term.

And then came a providence. She got up... I panicked... what should I do. The bus stopped
As soon as she got out of the bus, I ran to the door
"Hey this is the wrong stop" my friend yelled..The doors had closed already..

I looked around... GULP!!!! Where is this place??I sudden chill ran over my spine when I saw a guy staring at me..
"Does he know?"I thought... "Damn!!Which move???The knee kick... Uh! he is too tall"

Soon I realized that she had vanished into the oblivion by the time I was deciding my finishing move!

GULP!!!!...I looked around….
I started feeling cold... Well that should explain why my legs where shivering..I guess it was Winter...
I think i drank too much water that day, I started sweating...

It was a long walk and my heart was beating fast...
"Nothing other than exertion" I told myself.... Well, that is a hero’s way of saying "I AM SCARED!!!!!!"

The guy was still staring.....
I walked... forward... Damn!! He is following....I walked as fast as I could. There….
I saw a STD booth… I ran to it… took the phone.. Dialled 2684. Like they have 911, I have 2684. My dad’s office landline..

A familiar voice answered the phone.
“Puppa, I got lost” I said..
“Where? Where are you? What happened?” He asked in anxiety….
Well…. I didn’t know the answer to the first two questions and I certainly didn’t want to answer the third…As I mentioned before, I was too hydrated that day and hence my body was getting rid of that excess water by all means possible…. A little too much through the eyes…..He knew it..
“ Is there someone around?” he asked..
“Yes, the shopkeeper?” I answered.
“Give the phone to him” He said…
I was his most obedient kid…Many instructions were exchanged between him and the shopkeeper.
Within a few minutes a familiar vehicle appeared from beyond the horizon..
I was so glad that I didn’t find any good use to that car in my rigorous routine…
It stopped near me and the door opened.. I jumped in and closed the door, my head held low….


Me and my Dad had an open conversation on the way home…
For reasons unexplainable I never saw her again… But her memory still remains...

...... another note in the repository of unfortunate events…