Mahie stared at the ticket on her phone, and then at the bus in front of her. Her feet felt sweaty inside her new Decathlon shoes. She looked around to see most people in a hurry to catch the transport to their respective destinations. She then wondered if she should buy another bottle of water but her eco-friendly conscience stopped her from doing so. Unable to take a step ahead her bubble of day dreams broke when the conductor asked – “Madame, Bir?”
She smiled nervously and placed her as heavy as a boulder bag in the trunk storage. Relieved of that burden she took a deep breath waiting to be relieved of her thoughts as well. As the driver started the engine, and a middle aged woman yelled from behind her to get in, Mahie took her first step towards her first solo trip to the land of the Dhauladhars.
After a lot of research for weeks she’d zeroed in on Bir as the safest place to embark on this adventure. For the first time in twenty four years she was all alone and that was truly her biggest fear. An extrovert who borderlines as a people pleaser was left to become her own best friend.
She sat on the window seat on the sixth row, her laptop bag placed under her seat. Mahie looked outside the window her view obscured by the railings to notice the city lights of the capital city. Her long, burgundy hair started to blow in the wind when she removed the black hair tie from her wrist and secured her locks into a loose bun. It had only been ten minutes and she was already craving for interaction.
HRTC has an array of buses plying to the various parts of Himachal on a daily basis. But because she wanted to do the trip on a budget, Mahie opted for the non A/C basic bus that was going to be on the road for twelve plus hours. The humid October air wasn’t exactly helping her situation. As soon as the bus left the city border, the driver dimmed the lights indicating an unsaid wave of silence. That lasted two minutes when a child on the far end of the vehicle decided to add some background noise. And that was Mahie’s cue to plug in her earphones and deep dive into the world of Lucky Ali.
She woke up with a back hurting jolt to realize the bus had stopped at a roadside dhaba for dinner. Procuring her wallet and ensuring that the laptop bag is well hidden from apparent miscreants she got down to grab a bit. That’s when she realized her limbs ached like they have never before. After a meal of plain, non buttered sandwich and half a cup of overtly sweet tea she came back to her sit to find someone sitting next to her. Now, that’s a twist.
Ronak she’d gathered his name to be from the many calls he got over the next fifteen minutes. He’d missed the bus in Delhi and had managed to catch up with it here and was headed to Dharamshala. Call it eavesdropping, call it entertainment or simply the inability to zone out, Mahie finally found someone to talk to. Or so she thought.
Turns out Ronak wasn’t much of a talker. He answered two-three measly questions that Mahie asked about where he’s headed but what could have been an epic love story turned into a very forgettable small talk moment.
Giving up, she put on her earphones again but to her utter dismay, her phone’s battery had died. She panicked a little but didn’t want to make a show of it. The power bank was in the bag that now lay in the trunk. She didn’t have the courage to wake up the conductor when the bus was zooming at the speed of lightening on the highway. Turning towards Ronak as a last resort she found him irritatingly sleeping. Flustered she closed her eyes too but in absolute vain. Without music as a lullaby, dreams often don’t find her address.
Tears rolled down her eyes as she truly found herself feeling lonely in the darkness that had now engulfed the bus.
Resting her head on the window she looked outside to witness smaller cities, lush green fields (or so she imagined), plain old roads passing by. And then she found herself looking at the sky that was remarkably starlit. It reminded Mahie of the time when she went camping with her friends on New Years and they saw 17 shooting stars, made 17 wishes. But something miraculous happened.
Mahie smiled keeping an eye on this one star that shined the brightest. Maybe it was Jupiter, she thought. But she smiled. For she realized that this was the first time she’d spent a moment with herself. And then minutes. And then hours. When those fearful thoughts and visions seeped away and when her big brown eyes stopped watering, she didn’t know. All she knew that the next time she saw the stars, she’d remember this night.
Slowly and surely she drifted into a peaceful slumber. Mahie had taken the first step towards a solo trip but she’d also taken the first leap towards being comfortable in her own skin, with her own company. As she slept that night in a bus on a highway moving towards the mountains, she had a treasure trove of adventures ahead of her.
Ones that would make her say – she was on the road, with love.
Written by Japleen Kaur
An old school Millennial living in the hills (for now) forever finding the little things to find joy in. I get excited about washi tapes, brown paper packages, a nicely scented candle and all things Christmas. Throwing confetti around is my profession which keeps company to my love affair with typewriting letters. I survive on coffee and weave stories from my ever flowing imagination.
Week 44, October ’20
