"Acha…so you go by bus daily?" I don't remember who asked me this question.
"Yup," I replied, "...Me, Kirti, and many other students of B2 travel by bus."
I was further told that even Sanjana J from Batch 1 took the bus to travel, which surprised me.
"Huh? I never saw her."Where does she stay?" I continued to ask.
"Belapur.", was the reply I got.
Belapur was in the opposite direction, so she must be waiting at the bus stop on the other side of the road. That explained why I never noticed her before, even though her bus stop was right in front of ours.
One day, as I waited at my usual bus stop when I finally saw her.
"Acha, There she is." After scanning the people waiting and sitting there, I finally found her. She had open black hair and wore a black mask up to her nose. Her eyes stayed glued to her phone screen as bus number 52 pulled in. Once it rolled away, she was gone—confirming she'd boarded and that she really did stay in Belapur.
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I distinctly remember seeing Sanjana J with Achintya toward the end of the year. They were playing something outside the Kamdhenu building during the break between lectures. Observing them, my first thought was,
"Acha toh ye janaab inke saath ghumte hai."
("So, these two hang out together.")
Then one day after physics class, as I approached the bus stop, I saw both of them at Sanjana's bus stop. She leaned against the pole, and Achintya did the talking.
"Aur bhai, sab badhiya?" I asked him, shaking hands. We used to be part of the same gang in ninth and tenth grade, so we were somewhat close and it was a nice coincidence that we both joined the same JEE coaching centre. He was in batch 1, and I was in batch 2, so we hardly ever met during breaks. I had invited him to my birthday party, but he couldn't make it, which made me feel quite bad.
"Yup, all good here." He always shook hands firmly, and then things got awkward. Out of curiosity, I turned to the masked girl.
"Hey, uh,Sanjana, have you finished all the tutorials?"
Given that she was from the elite batch, which was nearly eight steps ahead of ours in studies and everything else, I expected her to have completed all the assignments diligently. Our batch, on the other hand, wasn't far behind in making sure we lagged behind batch 1. Students paid others to complete their tutorials.
Still leaning on the pole, she glanced toward the road, then met my eyes for a split second before looking away and shaking her head silently.
"Acha," I nodded, silently agreeing. The situation became even more embarrassing for me! Quickly bidding Achintya goodbye, I hurried to my bus stop.
It was an awkward encounter.
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Some day of December
One day in December, after class, we walked to our usual bus stop. Mia asked Wadhul a question that had always intrigued her.
"What type of girl do you like?"
"I just need one... anyone is fine," he declared.
"How about Sanjana?" she asked. As we approached the bus stop, I saw Sanjana J on the other side, as usual engrossed in her phone, which prompted Mia's question to Wadhul.
"Nah, she's not my type. She'd reject me outright," he stated.
On one of those rare days in 2022, I let bus number 54 go and waited for 55, which dropped me directly in front of my building. Wadhul had already left, leaving just Mia and me waiting.
"She has a boyfriend," Mia stated. I turned to her and asked, "How do you know?"
"I can tell just by looking at her." It was merely a prediction.
Funny thing was, it wasn't the first time I'd heard someone mention she had a boyfriend. I just couldn't remember who'd said it first—or why I cared so much to remember.
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