Girl on Platform 10

“50 Rupees Sir”
“No! Its only 40”
“Sir we agreed for 50”
“Don’t lie! Why cant you autowallah’s speak truth?”
“Sir Petrol prices have increased sir, 40 Rupees is too little sir”
“I am not giving anything more than 40 bucks, just take it”
Anand thrust the money in the hands of autowallah and headed towards the Railway station entrance. This has been a routine fight he has been facing during his weekly trips to and from Chennai. He is not a “Yet-another-Bangalore-techie” who splurges money on anything and everything.

Anand never liked Chennai, especially because of the hot weather. Whenever he visited the city, he used to make sure that he stayed indoors. Places like these make him think that fan and Air conditioner are the man’s greatest inventions yet!

After picking a cup of iced tea, he walked into the Higginbothams book stall to stay in the air conditioned environment and kill time. The book store owner gave him a stare; he can very well judge who is going to buy and who is going to do window shopping, just from their looks and appearance.

“The same old stuff, why aren’t there any new books?” murmured Anand.
“If you come here every week, you won’t find much change in the collection. Come here after 6 months, you will find new books” The store owner replied back with a rough voice.

As he walked towards Platform 10, he noticed a pretty girl walking past him, carrying a sports bag. She must be about 20 years old, wearing jeans and red tops, thick frame glasses and a mild fragrant perfume. She must be an angel, thought Anand.

As he reached Platform 10, he started looking for a place under a fan. His train would take another forty five minutes to get to the Platform and he couldn’t imagine standing somewhere in that hot weather. He soon spotted a place that was right under a fan and as he sat down, he could hear heavy gasps from others who missed that place just because they were 2 seconds behind Anand. This is perhaps the best place in this platform, thought Anand. He soon settled comfortably in his place, with his ipod and a Salman Rushdie novel. While he was reading, he could smell the same fragrance and as he looked up, he saw the same lavishing beauty crossing him. He also noticed that she gave a quick glance at him as she crossed by. Wow, that almost pierced my heart, thought Anand.

After couple of minutes, as the girl crossed him again, the same thing happened, but this time, the duration of her glance was slightly longer. She also passed on a casual smile at him and he was completely blown off! Oh my god, she is really watching me, thought Anand. He had always had a reputation of being a big flirt, right through his school and college years. This was yet another chance to further his reputation.

As the girl crossed his place once more, she stared at him again and also flashed a cool smile at him. Wow, she is really seeing me, thought Anand. He waited for her to cross him again. Anand waited for several minutes, but she didn’t come back. Enough waiting; let me go ahead and look for her, thought Anand.

Anand picked up his stuff and started walking in the direction in which she was headed earlier. He almost reached the end of Platform 10 but he didn’t spot her. He also looked for her in the book store and the hotel but he couldn’t spot her. He searched for nearly 15 minutes and finally gave up the search. Hard luck this time as well, Anand consoled himself. As he headed back to Platform 10, he remembered that he had squandered his comfortable seat. He rushed back to see if it was still available. As he walked towards the place, he could see a young lady, wearing a red top and thick frame glasses, sitting comfortably in the “most wanted” place. What a loser, Anand cursed himself as he reached out for his hand kerchief to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

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(Dedicated to S - This is my B'day gift to you :) )