How often is it that we come across a cute stranger during the course of our day? – Almost every day.

How often do we manage to make a connection with said cute stranger? – Almost never.

How often does the connection with a random cute stranger be reciprocated? – Never.

15^th February, 2013-It was like any other day for me with the exception being the absence of my bike. This meant that I was dependent on the various forms of public transport – autos if I could afford the fare or buses. As usual I was already running late for college therefore I hailed an auto and set off. Unfortunately I couldn’t do the same after college as I had to meet a friend who stayed too far away for me to even contemplate taking an auto. Hence I found myself waiting for a near-empty bus to arrive and swiftly manoeuvering through a throng of people in an attempt to grab a grimy seat.

I can be quite optimistic when I wish to be and this was one of those days. So instead of cribbing about how sorely I was missing my bike I found myself enjoying the pleasant weather and taking in all the sounds, sights and people- grateful for this day that broke the monotony of my every day routine. I tried to recall the last time I had travelled by bus and realized I hadn’t done so in a really long time.  All in all it wasn’t a harrowing experience as bus rides generally tend to be during peak hours.

After having successfully reached my destination, met and spent time with my friend it was time to make the last bus ride home. Luckily for me, a direct bus to the bus stop near my place was available but since it was infrequent it tended to be very crowded. In the bid to catch a seat I let quite a few buses pass and finally my patient waiting paid off – joyfully I hopped on and parked myself on a window seat.  What was to follow next was probably a rip off from a b-grade regional film and my wildest ludicrous dreams, certainly a novel experience for me.

Now as most of you are familiar with, peak hours are when everybody is heading back home after a tiring day at work. The consequence of this is jam packed roads where crossing a stretch of two kilometres which would normally take around five minutes now takes around half an hour. But never in my life have I ever been so grateful for bottleneck traffic jams. As the bus was crawling on I happened to glance out of the window and spot a group of guys in a white Maruti Swift. Nothing uncommon about a white swift, but what did catch my eye instantly was the TN registration number plate (TN 8356 – at least that what I think it was) and the drop dead gorgeous cutie in the passenger seat. Okay okay nothing uncommon about that either, I agree, but what happened next is certainly no everyday occurrence. He looked up and caught my eye and believe me when I say this- I’m pretty sure there was some connection there, like a mutual understanding of having checked the other person out. I distinctly remember, he was wearing a plain white shirt (ah the understated elegance of a plain white shirt) and I was wearing a dark blue shirt. So well, the question on your mind is, what happened next??? Sadly, nothing much – they did try to match pace with the bus and we did play peek-a-boo, I suppose the mutual interest was pretty obvious to both parties concerned. What makes me so sure that he was interested? – Well, I caught him rolling up his window, blowing on the glass and trying to trace digits (of maybe his phone number). And I seriously contemplated getting off the bus and trying to hitch a ride with them, just to see if this attraction was worth anything or it was just a figment of my over active imagination.

I’m sorry to disappoint you dear reader, you read so much and come to the end only to be let down…what happened next was that we lost each other in a traffic signal and needless to say I’ve never seen him since then. After returning home that night I tried hard to trace the car/owner details by the registration number but to no avail. The memory of his cute face diminishes each day and that is why I write this post, in the hope that he or one of his friends in that car, happen to come across this post and fate is generous enough to unite us, even if it is for a brief moment – just enough for me to answer my what if? A question I ponder over in my moments of brief, extreme solitude…