Surry's Story No. 1 : When Gabbar Meets Basanti

The red Volvo bus came, even in that pouring rain, on time. I got on it. I could see two empty seats facing each other, at the entrance. I took one of them & hoped that the really hot girl behind me would take the other seat. She didn’t. “An hour of boring travel”, I sighed. That’s when she got on the bus. She looked at me & the empty seat, & took it.

She was wearing black figure hugging wet clothes, a black monkey cap, a red shawl & a stupid smile. She removed her wet monkey cap & repeatedly disturbed her hair till I was able to smell her shampoo’s flowery fragrance. From her wet hair, a drop of water had broken free & was grazing through her dimpled cheek, oh so slowly, to her neck & beyond. As I was enchanted by the hot scenic path of that cool, beautiful dew-like drop, I thought I heard her say, softly, “Kiss me!”

Wait, that couldn’t be right. “Snap out of it!” I thought & broke free from her charm- back to reality.

“Excuse me” she said.

“Oh! So that was what she said!” I thought sighing.

“Excuse me, I think you have dropped your hand kerchief, Miss Priya” she said with a naughty smile. On the hand kerchief was embroidered in red, the name of my idiotic sister, Priya.

“Priya… it’s Priya’s… ” I stammered, with a nervous smile. “She’s my sister” I said hiding the hand kerchief from her view.

I guess it sounded fishy to her. She didn’t believe me.

“Oh? & I am wearing pink jeans & a yellow tank top which says “I’m Gay!”!” she said laughing softly.

“Huh? Oh! That’s a good one!” I laughed. She had told an obvious lie & a funny joke. “I can play that game too!” I thought & said “I too am wearing a pink jeans & a yellow tee which says “But, I’m NOT!”!”

We both laughed heartily. The game was on!

“I’m Basanthi! I’m a talkative jolly girl & I have a short term memory!” she said. She really did look like Basanthi from the movie Sholay, only if you looked at her with a tilted head & closed eyes!

“Ba-sa-nn-thi! I’m Gabbar Singh, the most feared bandit, Huahahahaha!” I said, with a Gabbar-like look on me. I think I was drooling! I did look like Gabbar!

“Really? I love the name Gabbar Singh!” she said with a clap.

“I know! You married me- for my name. Not for love, not for my money, not for my brute strength, not for the fame too” I laughed, “You married me just because you loved my name!”

“Come on!” she exclaimed, “Are you sure you didn’t marry Dhanno, my horse?”

I laughed. “No I’m sure. You have forgotten because of your short term memory,” I explained, “Actually, you have married me six times already!”

She giggled. “Talk about History repeating itself! I must remember not to repeat my past mistakes!” she teased.

“It isn’t that bad being married to me!” I said, “You particularly liked the way we used to handshake.”

“Handshake?” she asked, “Was there a special way we shook our hands?”

“Yes & no.” I said mysteriously, “We used to shake our legs, literally. Instead of hands, we shook legs!”

“Now that’s really… something!” she giggled, “Even an insect with a short term memory can’t forget something that!”

“Not to mention our 7 daughters,” I continued, “You absolutely love them!”

“I have 7 daughters? I gave birth to 7 children? Wow!” she said looking at herself, “For a woman who gave birth to 7 children, I have a well maintained figure! Impressive, don’t you think?”

“Well I can’t complain!” I teased, “You were always worried that you’ll become fat after the next child, but I always knew that you’ll be prettier than any woman there ever was, or ever will be!”

She glowed even more radiantly. “Well, I love kids!” she said, “What are their names?”

“Kaalia”, I said, “All of them are named Kaalia”

She laughed hysterically. “You named all our kids, Kaalia? Why?” she asked trying to maintain her composure.

“I just love that name!” I said, “Nobody can blame me for loving one name, especially you. You even gifted me a mobile phone with a phonebook that had everybody’s name as Kaalia! I still have it…”

“Did I now? That was very sweet of me” she smiled, “Can I see it?”

“Why don’t you dial my number- 9844******, & see for yourself” I said.

“Is it a mental hospital’s help desk number?” she asked with a grin, & dialed that number from her mobile. My mobile phone rang. She looked surprised.

“You lost!” she said in a delighted tone, “You told a truth!”

“Well, I lost technically”, I replied with a mysterious smile.

“Technically?” she asked sounding puzzled.

“I lost this game” I said, “But I won your phone number!” I smiled like a lunatic. I felt like I was the smartest man in the world. & I knew- I might as well become the happiest man in the universe, soon!

“And I have to get down here!” I said, standing up. The bus had reached Town Hall.

She blushed for a few seconds. She was all smiles as she shook her head. She offered her hand to shake. I felt more like kissing it. But I took what I was offered.

“This time we are shaking hands,” I said shaking her hand, “but next time, hopefully we’ll be shaking legs. And if you are shy, we can do that under the dinner table!” I laughed naughtily. I was too happy to think about what I was saying.

“Thanks for the warning!” she said in a professional manner, “I will be wearing iron sandals for both defense &offense!” Once again, she burst into her soft merry laughter. As I got down, she decorated her face with her sweet soothing dimpled smile, which remains etched in my heart, for forever…

----- Surendra Singh (Editor's pick of the month)
The Author also blogs at http://surysingh.wordpress.com/