What if ..... ?

In June 1993 I was visiting my grandma in Lucknow, India. I would always go there for my summer vacations when my family and I lived in Dehra Dun for a few years.

One day my grandma and I had to go to a relative’s house for dinner. It was a very hot day. We wanted to get there earlier so we could spend some time with our relatives. I was 15 years old those days.

I wore a nice long white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. I had new sports shoes. That day I was feeling very good. Much to the chagrin of my parents I had just started shaving. I had a clean shaven look and put on some after shave. It smelt so nice that I could feel it in the air.

My grandma and I walked to the tempo (taxi) stand near her house at around 4 pm. We would take a tempo (taxi) to our relative’s house that was about 50 minutes away.

We boarded this tempo. The driver started driving it. These taxis would also seat other passengers and drop them off at different stops. This taxi could seat up to 6 passengers. My grandma and I were sitting on one side. There was no one else but in a few minutes a young girl boarded at the next stop. No one else boarded the taxi.

She sat on the opposite side in front. She must have been 14 or 15 years old. She was very pretty. She was wearing a greenish-yellow salwar kameez (a type of Indian clothing that young women would wear). She had long black hair and small earrings.

I wanted to talk with her but did not have the courage to do so. I looked at her for a while and then smiled. She smiled back and started looking away. I started looking at her again. My grandma gently hit me on my hand and said, “Are (hey) Anshu, don’t do this. Don’t look at her.”

I was taken aback and understood that I should not be doing so. For the next 20 minutes or so I tried my best not to look at her but was able to glance a bit now and then. The tempo was slowly making its way to the last stops. We had to get down at the second last stop. It seems that the young girl was going to the last stop. Surprisingly no other passengers boarded the tempo on that ride that day.

The last stop was approaching. Before then the tempo had to stop at a traffic light. The red traffic light was on for an eternity that day. I kept wanting the green light to come on soon. After a long wait it did come on. I looked at the green traffic light and smiled to myself.

The tempo stopped at the second last stop and my grandma and I got off. We paid the tempo driver and started walking towards our relative’s house which was about an eight minute walk from the stop.

As the tempo was driving off I could not help but look in its direction. There was a little window on its backside. In a few seconds the young girl in the tempo turned her head towards me and looked at me as well. I smiled. So did she. This all happened so quickly. The tempo drove off.

As I was walking with grandma to my relative’s house I thought to myself, ‘What if I could meet this pretty girl again? What if she would be my friend and then my girlfriend?’ I was feeling elated and was on some sort of high. I thought about the young girl and the green traffic light that evening as well as for the next few days.

Needless to say I was not fortunate enough to meet that young girl ever again. I don’t even know what her name was and after so many years unfortunately I have forgotten how she looked so many years ago.

However, in my life and its varied journey, I will never forget that truly happy day. I felt very good that whole day and I did meet probably the most beautiful girl I had ever met in my life. Sometimes such special memories always remain with a person. This is one such memory. I hope that the young girl I met that day is very happy in her life now wherever she may be.