Saturday, May 3, 2008

My descent into hell - Pt. II

One day I walked out after work and I'd barely plugged in my ear phones when I heard a familiar voice asking, " Looking for a ride honey?" Needless to say I whirled round because :-
a) I wasn't used to cheesy pick up lines
b) I'm not that good looking that people mistake me for a Gigolo
c) I had this vague impression that I knew who that voice belonged to.
No prizes for guessing, It was loyana. After that day in the classroom I hadn't seen much of her. A glimpse of her hair as she walked by the library, a whiff of her scent in the corridors, her laughter ringing in the hallway, these were the only signs that showed that loyana existed apart from the jokes that she'd text out of the blue in the middle of the night.

And here she was in the flesh. in condescension to the weather she was wearing a lovely black shawl carelessly slung across her shoulders and vintage earrings. Seated in a sleek black jeep she looked beautiful but before I could say anything, she commanded,"Get in." Since it's severely impolite to not acquisce to a lady's demands, I did as i was told. My friends used to tell me that my chivalry would get me into trouble, And although I'd laughed at them often enough I didn't think that they'd ever be proved right. I was about to have my illusions cleared up.

I got in without any apprehensions, this was loyana after all. At best it would be an adventure into the unknown and at worst it would turn out to be a cheesy situation from a really bad B-grade novel. Either way it proved to be a noveau experience.
I tried asking her where she was coming from and where we were going, but then when i felt that my queries were dying under the wheels of the jeep having fallen on a wall of silence i decided to let her be. I settled back in the plush leather seat and let the cool night air wash over me. It was the beginning of winter and the nights weren't chilly yet. You could get by with wearing a light jacket and if you felt exceptionally brave you wouldn't need much more than a thick shirt.
I've always welcomed the winters. The first whiff of woodsmoke that takes me back to a bus ride on the winding road to Srinagar, the pushcart vendors hawking roasted peanuts and slabs of sticky jaggery based candy, fruit sellers with their trolleys loaded with apples and ofcourse the warm patches of sunshine that you can warm your fingers in, I enjoy winters much more than I'll ever enjoy summer.
That day was one of those treacherous intermittent days when autumn hasn't let go yet and winter is yet to take its rightful place on the seasonal throne. I wonder what was going through her mind and then I noticed that she was moving out of the city towards the forest.
Maybe she wanted to distract me or maybe she was bored. Whatever it was she said, " U never told me anything about yourself. There has to be soem thing interesting. Do tell."
And that was where I took my first step into hell.

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