GirLS! SteP OuT:

Sometimes I really wonder from where does my wicked mind get such creepy ideas??? Something that will almost chagrin parents and will make you a topic of gossip on canteen table. Hang on!!! It’s not like I losing my “V” or something like kissing a stranger in front of whole college. But what I did one need to be really crazy and I’m a self-confessing retard which is rare in the world.

Our college is about 20 kms (i.e 12 miles) from our house. We are provided with college-bus facility which really sucks most of time. This was also one day when the bus service drove us up the walls. That day we had only two classes as some teachers were absent due to their respective screwed life and we had nothing to do after break. As per iron-rules of college, to go by bus we had to wait for five long hours with nothing much to do in hand. And that particular day there was really nothing to eat in the canteen too. And our college so far from the town or almost on the outskirts of town that there isn’t even shop to buy a candy.Horrible!!!! I and my friend anita who catches from bus from the same bus were desperately ranting the administration for pissing us off in boredom. I had already finished listening to all songs on my mobile and wasn’t a bit interested in repeating those tracks again. Anita’s situation was something like that too. Doing nothing is really a difficult thing. So we decided to have a brisk walk around the campus.

It was end of winter days when we used to have shivering mornings, whooshing frigid air shuddering ears while devilishly hot afternoons with blue clear and endless sky. We jumped off the bus rubbing our hands and eyeing all around deciding exactly where to go to divert our hacked mind. We also searched for other option to reach home sooner like asking lift standing on sideways of highway. But travelling with a stranger on these lonely roads is no way less than tugging a sleeping lion’s moustache. Another option before us was to catch public bus. The moment we decided to catch some public buses to home, the sooner an overcrowded bus crossed the road whooshing dust shattered our ideas. Except the front side of the bus, from every place people were hooked like mangoes hanging down branches. And inside was so crammed that even an ant wouldn’t have enough space to barge through. It was the only bus in last hour to our fate. So we decided to walk along the same path the bus had rutted on. At least doing something will pass the time.

Sun was burning bright yellow blinding eyes. That was somehow hotter than past a few days. Ripe tamarinds were hanging from dusty green tree on side walk. Beside to the road, grey fields were widened beyond the extend human eyes can see. It was after-yielding season when all grains were yielded. Just a few vegetables like overgrown cabbages, pouted cauliflower and pot-belied egg plants were over some fields. All of sudden the evil part of my brain was lighted with some adventurous thoughts. “Why not to get home on foot. It’s just 20 kms. Not much. We are young bones in hot blood” I thought to myself estimating the hours we will take to be at home. With little hesitation I shared this stupid idea with anita too. Don’t know how but she also agreed on it. Perhaps her mind was also out of order in that time.

I was wearing my hoody woolen brown jacket which was wound around my waist and she was wearing a permeable knitted grey sweater which was still on her torso like this from the morning. I checked for water bottle and filled it thinking that it might be needed on way. There were a few candies that I had bought this morning. We started walking along with chattering about several hot topics and rumors of college and chewing candies. Without any exhaustion we walked through five to six kms until a small temple came to our sight. It was standing alone with a triangular red flag flying in twisting wind and the temple door was closed. We clicked a snap on mobile standing there with smile on face. Later,it became the memoir and proof of this dorky deed. In next half an hour we crossed a small bridge over a canal which was two kms away from the temple. By that time smile had vanished from our face and all the mirth and enthusiasm had turned into exhaustion. But our spirit was still alive. At least mine. I willed myself as there was no other way. If we did quite it there and decided to return to college, we would not be able to make it as our steps were tired. So we decided to walk till we get any bus on this way.

By next half an hour our step had lost its senses. Heels were soaring in pain. Sun seemed perching us searing with heat. All candies were finished by then and half of the water bottle was empty. It’s been continuous one and half an hour that we were walking. Our shoulders were also shagged. To our misfortune there wasn’t a single bus to our rescue. Both were standing in middle of lonely roads hopelessly and helplessly. The road never seemed so lonely and long when we used to go by bus or perhaps we never bothered to notice. Anita had already cursed me several times for accompanying me in such foolish idea and now even she was too tired to speak anything. She was about to cry by then. Her eyes were welled up with tear which made me ashamed of my stupidity. I was just praying God to send even a small vehicle to our relaxation. That’s when all of sudden a blurred box-like something shimmering in the bright day light came to sight on the road from the direction. After a while, it came to realization that it was an auto rickshaw. We waved our hand before it asking for lift. To our rescue, it stopped. There were four people inside including the driver and two goats. The only place available there was the open space behind the passenger seats for luggage. If it were anywhere in the town, I would rather wait for another hour than compromising to sit there. But our situation was far away from affording any kind of luxury. Closing our eyes we crammed ourselves in that small stinking place with our leg dangling outside.

That was enough for the day. The auto rickshaw reached us till the first crowded junction from where much other transportation was available as the passengers were heading to another direction. After half an hour of another auto rickshaw journey, we finally reached our homes. Finally being in home seemed like crossing Mount Everest. I heaved a sigh of relief. The day neither could I nor anita can ever forget when with a lots of attitude we had step out in the journey and ended being hacked off. Still now when we see the picture, we laugh till stomach starts aching. In real that crazy endeavor for such a eccentricity will always be in our memory.