Push

A Short Story

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“Aaji* tumhi basa ithe” (Grandma, you sit here) Ankush got up giving his seat to the elderly woman who had just got in the bus. The old woman with her gold plated glasses thanked him before taking the seat next to Megha. Ankush walked toward the driver cabin in the crowded bus. He looked back to see Megha’s angry face. He managed a weak smile.

Megha was really angry. First he comes to Pune just to pick her up making her heart beat faster and when she wants him to talk, he gives up his seat to an old lady.

“Kalji nako! mee faqt Lonavlya paryant aahe” (Don’t worry, I am till lonavla only) The old woman commented with a twinkle in her eye

“Tasa nahi aaji. Tumhi basa. Kahi problem nahi” (Oh! not at all. You can seat. No problems) Megha appeared flushed. She was caught. Ankush always said that he could read her emotions on her face. Now when he gave his seat for an old woman and she looks angrily at him clearly not pleased by him standing far away. Ankush meanwhile was leaning against the drivers door. The afternoon bus from Pune to Mumbai was crowded. He started reading the magazine he had bought while waiting for Megha. It was best to avoid her eyes when she was angry. He smiled at himself.

Her eyes, her beautiful eyes.

“You have a nice husband and a kind one giving his seat to an old lady like me” The old lady said smiling at Megha

“Oh No! Ankush is not my husband! We are just friends” Megha explained trying to put up a smile

“Ohhhhh!” Aaji looked at her with doubts in her eyes. The reaction seemed more sarcastic than surprise.

The old lady became quite concentrating on her book. Megha gave a big smile at the long oh. She looked amusingly at the old woman. She did not look like the typical old woman who would poke her nose in anyone’s affair. The old lady’s “Oh” was troubling her. She still thought that the lady was not convinced. She looked out of the window. Why was she worried that the lady was not convinced. She is stranger and it really did not matter what she thinks about Ankush and her. But then one day they could be just more than friends. Who is this old lady to judge her. She started looking outside again.

One moment she was happy just because Ankush had come specially for her and the next moment she is disturbed by a comment from a complete stranger. She felt uneasy. Throwing her inhibitions, she turned to the lady;

“Really! We are just friends” Megha tried to be as convincing as possible.

“Yes! Yes!” Aaji tried to look convinced by her answer, reading into the book she held.

“You don’t believe me?” It was Megha now who was starting a converstaion which was so not her. She was the silent one keeping quite in a group. She would rarely talk to anybody unless completely comfortable with them. There were very few people in the world, for whom she could open her heart to and Ankush was one of them.

Aaji looked at her, her eyes peircing from the gold plated spectacles. She smiled at her

“Well! Young lady! Actually your eyes tell a different story”

Megha smiled, looked at Ankush at the far end of the bus and then looked at Aaji again. The old lady was not judging her after all.

“No! we are friends and we will be just friends” she sighed.

“You never know dear!” Aaji closed the book. Clearly she was not going to read it. The talk was turning into quite interesting

“With Ankush. I can be sure” Megha gave her a nod trying to put more emphasis on her words.

Megha was finding it interesting and amusing talking to a complete stranger about something she felt deeply about.

“Well! Lets just say this dear, The more you think he will never do, the more you will make him never do”

“Huh?” Megha tried to understand what the old woman just said.

The old woman laughed. “You see him” They both looked at Ankush busy reading the already read magazine “He needs hints, some assurance, otherwise he is not going to make a fool of himself”

“But I give him hints”

“Oh! So he is a fool?”

Megha looked annoyingly at Aaji. She certainly did not fancy her comments. Whatever the problems with him, it was her problem. Nobody even an old woman probably twice her age and wise enough to comment had the rights to point the problem to her.

“Ok! Ok! peace!” Aaji smiled at her “But then he would need more assurance, a more solid structure to stand on. He would wait to make his moves but then he has to be absolutely sure”

“There is no fun in that”

“You want him to keep him guessing?” Aaji looked at Megha quite surprised. Megha smiles sheepishly

“But can’t he take risk? Like others” Megha was adamant

“But he has seen others. Others getting turned down”

“Hummmm” Megha replied.

Aaji looked at Megha trying to grasp what went in her mind

“So?”

“So what?”

“Do you like him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I do!”

“Don’t know? And you expect the world from him”

“He should make me decide, help me out”

“No! The decision has to be yours and purely yours”

“hummmmm”

“You are thinking or merely nodding to a boring old lady?”

“Nooooooo! Oh no” Megha laughed “I was just thinking”

“Good! Think and take a decision. Its not good to keep someone waiting you know”

Megha smiled. Her face showed that she had made her decision. Aaji went back to her reading

The bus entered the Lonavla Bus stand. Ankush helped the old lady get down. Megha also got down chatting happily with Ankush and the old lady. She looked around and saw the Lonavla Chikki shops outside the depot.

“Hey Ankush! Lonavla! Chikkis!” She said excitedly “I just have to buy the chikki. You wait here and don’t let the bus go till I come” She told Ankush.

Before he could say ‘wait’, she was already sprinting to the shop. Ankush looked at her, smiled and shook his head in defeat.

“Don’t let the bus go? Is it my father’s property? She is mad” He looked at Aaji

“I know! You need to pop the question as early as possible” Aaji replied

He looked surprised at her, and then smiled “She would never say yes to me. Look at her and look at me”

“You never know. After all she is worth the risk” She said winking at him

Ankush smiled. Megha was sprinting back to the bus. Yes! She was worth the risk. In spite of her a little clumsiness, a little dumbness and whatever little insignificant problem she had, she was worth the risk. She was worth the risk for a thousand other things he adored in her.

It was time for the bus to leave. As Megha and Ankush got into the bus, they saw an old man standing beside the old woman, probably her husband. They smiled at her. She smiled back

“Did you do something here? Or do I sense trouble?” The old man asked his wife

“Nothing dear! You just are very worried sometimes. Do you remember how you learnt swimming?” The old woman asked

“Yes! I remember. You, you pushed me into the water” The old man replied accusingly

“Yes! But then you learned to swim faster. Now look at you. How you swim”

“I sense trouble here. So what did you do this time?” He asked looking at Megha and Ankush waving at them from the bus

“A push dear, just a little push, that’s all.” she said as they both walked toward the exit with one of them confused and other mischievously smiling to one’s self.

Megha and Ankush looked at them walking toward the exit. They were both smiling at the departing couple, both had made a decision.

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Note: Its was appraisal time and the one word from my Manager said, started me thinking even when the appraisal was going on. The word was “Push”. One needs to be pushed sometimes for the search of excellence. Tried weaving a story around the word “Push”. Had the start and end in mind. What I couldn’t get was the middle part. I would need to work on the middle more. Although I do not like to name my lead characters unless very necessary, the names have been borrowed from “Ahista Ahista“

* - Aaji - Grandmother in Marathi