A ROMANTIC EVENING

I saw this girl, in the bus stop waiting for a bus. I was standing at the other end of the road opposite to the bus stop.

I observed the girl.

She was wearing a salwar-kameez, pink colour with ribbon like decorations at the edge of her salwar. Her eyes were small with thin and long eyebrows. She had a elongated nose. Her lips were a bit thin and she had put lipstick. I could not figure out which colour. She wore a decorated sandal with all those silver colour attachments to it. In short- she was pretty.

It had just rained and the fragrance of the rainy aroma was filling the atmosphere. Behind the bus stop there is a building and top of it I could see the outline of a beautiful rainbow. Nearby, there was a bouquet shop with various colors of flower. I could observe the red colour roses where striking a lot with drops of rainy water dipping on it from the roof top.

The whole ambiance made it very romantic and everything just at place.

I have met the most beautiful girls in my life but after seeing her it was altogether a different..., I do not know what to say. May be I like her. May be I am in love. I wished that the bus would never come. I stood there looking at her.

Every now and then, she kept looking at her wristwatch. She is in hurry, I guess. However, I never wanted her bus to come.

I observed her long dark hair. She has combed it and pinned towards her side. I thought if she had not tied it up then it might keep falling from above her head to her eyes and she would have pushed it back turning her head or by her hand- like most of the girls. However, in her case she would have looked prettier.

I thought of crossing the road and talking to her. But she would not entertain a stranger. She was not at all a stranger for me. It was as if I have known her from ages. What if I try to talk? Just talk. There is no harm in it. I decided to go ahead. I lifted my leg to step on the road and cross it, but a bus came by. The girl stood up. I did not know there was a smile on my face, which I observed when it suddenly dropped on the arrival of the bus.

I could not see her now as the bus was standing. May be she has climbed the bus. I tried to look into it. I did not find her. The bus left. My body shivered. Nevertheless, there she was still sitting. I guess that was not her bus. I thought of resuming my talk. By now, she was looking at me. I looked at her. She smiled. Mt heart melted. Oh god! Thank you. Now that has made thing easy. I could talk to her now. I lifted my leg to put it on the road and cross over.

Another bus came. Then the bus left. The bus stop was empty. She has left in that bus.

I stood there watching the rainbow and the bouquet of flowers.

BY SREEKUMAR NAIR