A CHANCED ENCOUNTER

“ Baba I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. And ask Ma not to worry too. I have grown up. I can take care of myself.” This was maybe the tenth time in an hour that I was repeating this to my father. But still the more sincerely I said it, the more he doubted. Actually I was a bit skeptical myself too. I know that I am 18 now, I can atleast travel alone in a train. I was’nt going to travel through the proverbial Seven Seas, just a 5 hour journey to jethu’s place in lucknow. And that too in Shatabdi. But I was traveling alone for the first time, and their worries were understandable as well as justified. Truthfully I was feeling scared myself, but what the heck I was’nt going to express it.

As I settled comfortably in my seat, my luggage securely placed on the overhead rack, I noticed that the seat adjacent to mine was still empty. Thankfully I had brought Readers Digest along, otherwise I would have died of boredom. I started noticing the other people in the compartment – a young couple with an infant {Oh God! Now he’s going to cry all the way. Why do people have to bring their tiny tots along?}, a middle- aged uncle with his neice and nephew in tow, people on business or personal trips, two burqa- clad aunties {maybe they’ll disembark at Aligarh or Kanpur}… but not a interesting soul caught my attention { I have such a bad luck that no interesting person travels in the same compartment as mine, I am going to sue Bollywood directors for propagating the myth of fairy tale romances!} Anyways having nothing better to do at that moment, I started recollecting the events that propelled such a courageous act on my part – di n mine’s brilliant plans & their careful execution, mom’s fervent protests, refusals of other relatives, mitu and bomma’s pleadings, jethu’s insistence, baba’s final yet reluctant yes, oh hurried packings and plannings… I still cant believe I am in the train alone. “ Hi! I am Zulfia”. Waking me out of my reverie, I realized the seat next to mine was occupied by the lady who was holding out her hand for me to shake. It took me a moment to come back to my senses and all I could murmur was an embarrased hello. I noticed she was slightly on the bulkier side, aged between 25-30, had curly black hair and a vivacious smile. After I finished my breakfast, I saw she was busy on her laptop. So I got back to my book and after finishing it in 2 hours flat, I again turned towards her. She was still busy with her work. So I toyed with the idea of making her my muse and write a story about her. The plan was to create a fictional character and then spin a story about her, authenticate it with details and voila! u are a fiction writer. As I was working on her life story, her parentage and upbringing, I again realized she was intently observing me. Dunno how long it had been like that. But she did not say anything but smiled, and that gave me courage to strike up a conversation with her. Very soon I was teling her all the anecdotes of my school and college life. That’s the best part of talking to a stranger, they don’t perceive you with pre- conceived notions and it becomes easier to talk to them. Soon she started about her work too. Said she had been schooled and graduated in Mumbai and was also working as a Creative Director in a reality show in Mumbai. I listened to her in utter disbelief because her office did not sound a conventional one to me. I decided she was lying to spice it up. Decidedly an office is located in a confined space, or at the most in a studio, but on the roads? With a bunch of youngsters to accompany? How can people enjoy working? No complaints, nothing bad to say about bosses?

Time flew by and I did not even realize when the journey got over. After I said my good- byes, I never looked back upon her until after I saw her on the TV after three long years. Maybe chanced encounters are meant to be like that only, u meet a person, spend some time and then never look back as if they never existed in the first place. But there she was before my eyes, giving interviews on MTV in the capacity of the Producer of Roadies. Yups guys she’s the same Zulfia of Roadies fame, and at that time she was working on Roadies 2.0. Thank you Zulfia you made me believe that your office isn’t a conventional one, because the show isn’t conventional either.






P.S. 1) Baba in Bengali means father, Ma mother, di elder sister ( here my cousin), Jethu means paternal uncle, Bomma ( boro- ma) paternal aunt and Mitu is my little cousin.

2) I hope I have been able to successfully create a fictional character in Zulfia.
Enjoy reading!!!!