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Just to clarify to all those expectant readers, I apologise for the delay, it was purely because I never had both the time and the mood simultaneously to write it until now. In the end, it just took a little more than 2 hrs. You see, the delay wasn’t intentional at all.
while( !read( this)) please_read(this);
“U1A”. I spluttered. I had meant to say it normally with a confident voice. But it came out all wrong. Jolted by the sudden interruption the girl gave me a bewildered look. “U1A, That is the bus you should catch”, I repeated. She understood now, smiled and said, “Thanks, so I am at the right place?”
“Yeah, the bus would come here. Even I am waiting for that bus”
“Lucky me!! I thought I should be at some other place!”
“Where exactly do you want to go in Swaythling?”, I probed.
“The Swaythling station” , she replied.
“Oh”. I didn’t have much of an idea where the station was, though I was pretty sure that my advice was correct.
“Aah, here it is .. this is the bus”, I said pointing to the beastly vehicle coming towards us. We then joined the multiple queues that was emerging from the random movements of the people at the entrance door of the bus. (There was an exit door also from which a few people disembarked) Everyone got in one by one, swiping their cards or showing their passes to the driver. She also got in and settled down on a seat next to the window and gestured me to take the one beside her. Obviously, I took it.
“So, you going to catch a train?”, I continued the conversation.
“Aah ..(little laughter) no, I am going to receive a friend.” Yet another girl with a boyfriend? I wondered.
The bus started and we both sat silently, she looking outside the window and I not looking at anything at all. “So, you study at the university?” I turned to find that she was now looking at me. I replied, “Yeah, computer science. You?“
“Well, Literature. Not here. At the
“Oh, then you aren’t new to
“Actually I am. I just joined the university. My classes haven’t started yet.”
“Oh”
“You been here a long time?” She asked.
“No, not really, I just came here a couple of weeks back. I too have just started now”
“So where are you from?” I continued. She replied with some name which I couldn’t grasp. I just let out a “Oh”, unsure of what to say.
“You know the place?” She wondered. “Never heard!” I grinned. She grinned back.
“I am guessing you are from
“Yeah .. is that so apparent?”
“No offence, but I gathered that from the way you speak” She replied. And I used to think that I had no accent. Well, maybe no accent means its an Indian accent?
“So, where in
“
“Never!”
“Well, I didn’t expect you to” I stated.
“Why? Is it a small town?”
I let out a laugh. “Small town!! Its population is at least around 60 to 70 lakh, I mean 6 to 7 million. So that’s like 30 times the population of this city?”
“Oh!! Must be a very big city then”
“It is, I think it is the 5th or 6th largest city in
“Indeed, So you an undergrad?” She continued the conversation.
“No, am starting my phd” I grinned.
“Phd!!” She seemed flabbergasted. “wow!” And then examining me closely she remarked “but you don’t look like that at all!!”
“Like what? Phd students are also just normal people you know” I replied grinning though I perfectly knew what she meant..
“I meant you look much younger, no offence again”
“Aah, I know” I shrugged.
“So you undergrad or postgrad?”
“Postgrad. I will be doing my masters.” She replied brightly.
“MA it would be right? So you would be reading and analysing Shakespeare stuff?”
“A little bit. But the focus would be on other authors too, even some modern ones. You read Shakespeare?”
“No. Never read. I do read fiction, but mostly modern kind.”
“Any favourite authors?” She continued the line of questioning.
“Not really. I do like Wodehouse though. What about you?”
“Me? I read all kinds.” And she rattled out a dozen author names which I had never heard before. Looking at my nonplussed face, she asked surprised, “you don’t know any of them?”
“No” I had to reply with a sheepish grin.
“Its fine. Many of my friends have never heard of these authors either” She remarked and continued “So what do you do with computers?” I always hate answering this question, but had to answer anyway.
“Well, I work in artificial intelligence.” Noticing the blank look on her face, I continued, “Its like developing some intelligent systems, like say developing the intelligence for robots. Though I don’t actually work on robots.” There was no better way of explaining autonomous agents in layman terms.
“Umm, I don’t know much about computers. I only use Internet explorer and for writing documents”, She confessed.
She kept the conversation going, thankfully, “So, this is your first time in
“Good. Its fine.” I nodded again. Then, I looked at her and remarked “you know, everyone keeps asking this, and you give the same answer to everyone irrespective of how you actually feel.”
She laughed and said, “It is customary I think. You know, the kind of ways in which to get conversations going. So what is your real answer then?”
“Well, I think it would be I-don’t-know. Because it is too early to say. Though I am pretty sure I shall like it. New experiences are good.”
“I wont be too sure about that. I have had some real bad new experiences”
“Oh! In what way?”, I was doing the questioning now.
But, I saw her glancing at her watch, “You getting late or something?” I enquired.
“Sorry?”
“I mean at what time is the train? Are you getting late for it” I rephrased.
“Oh, I don’t think so. Anyway, she would wait. How far is it?”
“Actually, I don’t know” I confessed. “I do know that we will be in Swaythling in the next couple of minutes. That’s where my halls of residence is. I guess the station would be another few minutes from there”
“Oh, Would this bus actually go to the station? You sure this is the right bus?” she looked alarmed.
“Well, this is the only bus that comes here.” I stated matter-of-factly. Now the bus turned from the main road and the buildings of the campus residence halls came into view.
“Umm. So you would be getting down now?” She asked intently.
“Yeah” I replied and then added slowly “unless you want me to accompany you to the station” and smiled. As I had told you readers earlier, I had nothing to do that day.
“Ah no, that would be wasting your time. Its ok, thanks” She replied.
“Its fine actually, I have never been to the station either, I would get to see some more of
“That would be nice” She smiled.
So instead of getting down at the stop, I continued the conversation with her.
“So, who, you going to meet?”
"Chris, my friend. She is also going to start her studies here with me.”
“Ahan.”
Once again, she took the onus upon herself to restart the conversation, “What do you do other than tinkering with computers?”
I contemplated protesting that I don’t tinker with them at all, that I am not a hardware person, I just use them to develop new stuff and so on, but instead replied with the lame answer, “Mostly spend time on the net, reading stuff, chatting with friends and so on.”
“But that’s still computers” She exclaimed.
“But its not work.” I smugly informed her.
“So, you are a geek eh?” She quickly added “Sorry! It wasn’t meant to be offensive or anything.”
“Ah. that depends on how you define geek. But yeah, I am addicted to pc, I mean computers.” I continued “and is being called a ‘geek’ offensive or anything?”
“I don’t think it should be. But you never know. Some people take offence to anything.”
“Yeah, it depends upon the person. Don’t worry, I don’t take much offence. I don’t like offence very much to actually take it.”
She stared at me totally confused, vainly trying to make sense of what I had said. Evidently my ‘joke’ was completely lost on her. After all, not everyone is used to them ;)).
“Sorry. I didn’t get you.” She said finally.
“It’s okay, it wasn’t anything.” I couldn’t go on explaining the humour aspect in that statement, could I?
I turned to the other side just in time to notice the board on the road announcing the railway station name and I informed her, “Hey, It looks like we are there.” So we get up from our seats and get down the bus.
Once outside, with the chilly wind blowing, I asked her, “So, where do we go now?”
“Into the station obviously.” She replied with amused look.
“Where exactly in the station?” I persisted. We started walking into the station.
“What do you mean?” She looked at me. I realised that she couldn’t figure out what I was asking.
“I mean, where did you tell your friend to wait” I hoped it would clarify matters.
“In the station! I think I told you that” She gave me a weird look. Suddenly, I realised my folly. Being used to those milling crowds in huge stations, I had presumed that I would be difficult to locate a person. But there she was, a girl standing, waiting. The only one in the station. I presumed it was her friend. And it was.
“Hey Chris! Hi!!” She exclaimed and waved at her.
Chris spotted us and walked towards us letting out a “Hii!!”
Once Chris reached us, she said pointing to Chris, “This is Chris. And Chris, this is …”
We both realised it at the same instant. We didn’t know each other’s names!
Nice story eh? Well it didn’t happen like this at all. What actually happened was:
I opened my mouth but suddenly found my view blocked by the old lady. The old lady had stepped in between me and the girl. She asked her in her drawn out British accent “You want to go to Swaythling eh? Which part of Swaythling?”. The girl replied, “I need to go to the Swaythling station.” Hearing this, the lady provided the required enlightenment saying “Then you need to catch the U1A, aah, here it comes. Yeah this is the bus”. And then, they both board the bus. I follow them. I walk past them in the bus, and settle down at one of the back seats as usual. And forgot all about it. After a while, when my stop arrived and I was getting down, my eyes chanced upon her hair and then at her beautiful face and I got down the bus wistfully thinking what could have been.
It was around 4 pm. On a whim, I decided to go back to room from the lab. I hadn’t done any concrete work the whole day and didn’t feel like doing any either. So, I gather my coat and walk down the stairs (instead of taking the lift) and get out of the dept building. It was cloudy but the sun was indeed trying very hard to peek in. I walk to the bus stop and stand at the back near the display board waiting for the bus. The display board displays the maps of the various bus routes, the bus timings and so on. Relaxed, leaning back on a pole, I survey the rest of the crowd. A group of chinese girls chattering, an old lady impatiently waiting, a guy in a sweatshirt listening to his ipod with deep concentration presumably (as his eyes were closed), a suit wearing executive type person with a briefcase looking despondent, and a stout girl fiddling in her bag. There were a few others on the other bus stop too but I didn’t care to observe them. I had nothing particular to do in the room. I didn’t have a PC back then, had finished the novel that I was reading, I had just shopped the previous day and so even the kitchen was well stocked. So basically, I had nothing to do with my time for the rest of the day.
The sun seemed to have won a temporary battle with the clouds and came shining through casting a ray of warmth over us, poor souls, at the bus stop. With the sunlight, also came another bunch of people bus-hopefuls to the bus stop. However, only one captured my attention. Wearing a brown baggy jeans and a sleeveless white top, with a rucksack clinging onto her shoulders, she strode towards me. A white cotton belt around her thin waist accentuated her figure. With her wavy dark brown hair and a dimpled cheek complementing her beautiful face, she was more than just gorgeous. So, she finally came to a halt beside me facing the display board. While she was looking up at the maps, I continued staring at her. I was still leaning onto the pole beside the board. She gazes deeply into the map muttering something incomprehensible. She seemed to be trying to figure out something. I was standing to her left. Suddenly she turned right and asked the executive guy about some place. I couldn’t quite catch hold of the name of the place but only that it started with ‘S’. Now even the man started looking at the map, both of them trying to figure out something. I desperately tried to overhear their conversation, but they seemed to be mumbling something. The man seemed as clueless as she was. Suddenly, I heard a complete sentence from the girl. She said to him pointing at the map, “I know that’s Swaythling, but which bus goes from here?” Swaythling! That’s where I stay. I knew which bus to take. I was actually waiting for that particular bus! Being new to the country, I think twice about intruding to offer advice. However, I buried all my fears branding them baseless, and took a step forward towards her.
The rest of the 'encounter' shall follow shortly.
This was written approximately two years ago, when the then editor-in-chief aka Su had insisted vehemently that the MaG was almost ready and that he was waiting exclusively for my article. Ofcourse that MaG has never seen the light of the day or the artificial light of the night until now .. and since I dont expect it to see any either, I am reproducing it here. And it is quite suitable too, comes as it does at the begining of the new academic year and a new life for me and many of my friends....
Acknowledgement:
This piece of non-fiction was written on the sole insistence of the Editor-in-Chief of the Interface. It’s not his fault, just that there was nothing to fill up this place.
Disclaimer:
The author does not take any responsibility or liability if anything that is stated within turns out to be true.
Preface:
This article has been written with the aim of dispiriting as many people as it can. The job would be well done if at least half the people who read this are turned into hardcore pessimists. We all are sick of reading the daily-weekly-monthly-yearly predictions that are dished out to us by the innumerable publications. The dose of astrology that many of us cannot do without is so 'crystal clear' that it can never be proved either right or wrong. "A problem has been occupying your mind for some time,"(Who the hell doesn’t have problems?) "Its solution may come nearer this week" (It was coming nearer last week too!). "Your romance may take on a new shape" (Its already invisible, who cares what new shape it takes? ). Or the all time favourite "You will settle in your life in the coming future."(As if I expected to get settled in the past!) Hence the author has taken onto himself the noble task of predicting the future as it should be, simple and straightforward. No frills or fuzziness.
Here comes a DisAmbiguated look into the Future !
Now lets begin from the beginning
All the people who were born in the month of January: (Yep, Sun-Signs have no place in this flavour of astrology)
You all were actually a born a bit after your time. That is to say, you are quite old-fashioned. You have no sense whatsoever of the changing times. You try to cling onto the past. Before the next issue of Echoes, you will be dealt with a severe blow, not emotionally or professionally but physically. The reason, uhm i am unable to cobble up any. Anyway, u better stay away from the heavy-weights, literally.
Unlike the Januarians, u people are actually before your time. So u always find yourselves to be the ones waiting for the other person to turn up, who most often doesn’t turn up at all. Basically you are loners, but always trying to maintain a large following, but in order to be among people, u tend to follow someone even if you are against them. Nothing interesting ever happens to you, So there is nothing much to predict about u.
Those who were born between 19th-26th of Jan :
You always think about the past whenever you are made to wait.
Those who celebrate the Date-of-Birth in Nov or Dec :
You are quite extravagant. You want to do everything in a grand fashion. Fortuantely of unfortunately u fail miserably in your attempts at grandeur. They are nothing but mediocre. But dont worry the future holds some promise for you. Your financial position is going to deteriorate to such a level that u will no longer be able to think or act lavishly. From Riches to Rags, thats your life-story.
You are quite opposite to the time when u were born. Instead of being bright and cheerful, you are always gloomy and depressed. A born pessimist that you are, you expect nothing but the worst. Dont worry, your expectation is gonna come true. The following weeks would be one of the worst in your life. And it will not get any better. So save your glum for the future too.
I am not going to predict anything for these people. They do not believe in such stuff. None of them is going to read this. If anyone belonging to this group has actually read till here, I suggest u better go and check your date of birth. You have been celebrating the wrong day all these years.
Those who fell onto this earth with the rains:
Simple and clear you appear on the outside,
but the gap with the fact is quite wide.
Cunning and scheming that you are,
there isn’t a day that u haven’t lied.
Your deeds are going to catch up with you in the next month. But you won't learn any lessons from this experience. You would still be as sly and wily as ever. It’s in your nature after all.
Those who were born either between the dates 3rd May-14th May or 17th June-23rd June:
You are quite a special group. Unlike others, you are quite similar to the time of the year that you were born. Always hot and fuming. If it were in your hands, everyone u didn’t love would be burned to ashes. Fortunately for us, your hands hold no powers. However there is the anger simmering within you. I advise all the others (esp Januarians) to stay away from them. Their volcanoes may burst sooner than later.
The Februarians:
You are quite a good people actually and always think of the benefit of others. But somehow your actions result otherwise. Forever the innocent culprit, you are the one who always end up with the brickbats. This month would be no different. You would be abused left, right and center.
All the rest:
Your future is too insignificant to even deserve one sentence.
Afterword: If anything predicted above turns out to be true, please do inform the author so that such errors aren’t repeated in the future.
ps: Incase you are wondering about the author’s birth date, it in February :D
For the future members of the MaG TeaM: You are allowed to publish this piece incase you want to and you are actually getting the 'Interface' published. You may find it as a file in your 200 account by the name 'Why.txt'. Now dont ask me 'why' it was named so.
