The Terminal: Part II

This is the Fourth Chapter of Part II. If you are new here please go through the previous chapters first.

Chapter III

Young Kabir had started closely following her through the grapevine, even his friends had sniffed his increasing interests in her. As time passed, he realized it was affecting his studies, so he tried to control his infatuation. Slowly and steadily, he stopped waiting up on the stop, and noticing her on the football ground. He never intentionally walked past her, he knew his studies were at a crucial moment of his life, and either he could make it or break it.

The first pre-boards were in the month of December, and as he looked on his study desk calendar, it was a matter of just 15 days. He got to his books, and studies really hard, he knew that a failure was not acceptable to his parents. They had been gold medalists in their University and thus he not scoring good marks was not a matter of life and death but a military punishment. Dad being in Indian Air Force, had strict rules regarding studies. Things were really lenient regarding most other things but studies was a segment there could not have been a mistake. So he took to his books and made a commitment that he would score well in the first pre-boards.

Days passed by, and he had nothing else on his mind other than school, studies, pre-boards and his football games. A major game was due the very next week post the exams, he was very excited about the same. It would be the first time he would play as a right winger, where he always wanted to play. He had played almost all the positions, but the one he preferred the most was wing. Even during his studies, if he would sit in front of the TV and watch football games, his dad would never say anything. Even he was an active sportsperson.

On the eve of his first exam, as he was waiting for his bus which had got delayed due to fog, he saw her standing on the opposite side of the road. With books in her hand, and her long braided tail, she looked just like a studious bookworm. For a moment, she looked up, as if she knew he was looking right at her from across the road. Their eyes met, they both nodded at each other wording “Best of Luck” to each other, and that was it. That was it, his heart started racing and hands went numb. The notes in his hand were about to fly with the wind, but the bus swooshed in and stopped right in front of him. He got inside the bus, his eyes still on the opposite end of the road, but her school bus had stopped too. The bus started and for that moment he forgot he had his first exam. For that moment, he had no worries, he was feeling light.

As soon as the bell rang, he ran out of the exam center, the exam had gone really well, he felt lucky. The paper was set exactly according to what he had studied, he had attempted the full set of questions, for the first time in his life. Kabir felt really light after the first exam, and things kept in line. On each paper the bus kept getting late and aligning with her bus, and they wished each other and the exams were pretty good.

The last exam, his bus reached on time, but she had yet not reached the stop, he didn’t want to get onto the bus without wishing her. The conductor asked him to get on the bus, but he denied. The conductor said the bus will leave, but Kabir denied getting on the bus. The bus left without him, and he was standing in the fog with chilled out wind all alone. After a five minute wait, she came walking with books in her hand. She looked up at him, he could see that she was puzzled. He looked at her and wished her, then turned and stopped an auto and got on it. That day he was late for his exam by fifteen minutes, and he was already tense because of the time which he had lost. 

To Be Continued

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The Terminal: Part II

This is the Third Chapter of Part II. If you are new here please go through the previous chapters first.

Chapter II

“Dad wake up! You need to go to the office, and I need to go to my college.”

With that he woke up, even though he was just 50 years of age, it felt like he had grown old from the inside. He opened his eyes to see that his daughter had already got ready and was waiting for him to get up and get ready. He shrugged himself out of sleep, kissed his daughter on her forehead and said “Good Morning! I was thinking about a presentation yesterday night and lost track of time and…..”
“Dad I don’t know what you keep on thinking sitting on this arm chair, I think I need to get rid of this. It’s become a habit for you, to sleep on this arm chair.”
“Do not say like that, I was actually doing brain storming of some business plans when …”
“We should get rid of your bed then, if you are not interested in using it. Now, get ready, you need to drop me at my college. Get ready now. And tell me what do you want to have for breakfast? Eggs or Eggs?”
“Hmm, I will have the best dish that you make, eggs”

Kabir always loved to be woken up by those big brown eyes, which he was still in love with. It was the best feeling he could have right in the morning. He got ready and looked himself up in the mirror, he had tried to keep himself fit. He loved to wear formals, with tightly tucked & creased shirt and trousers. His dad used to say, the shoes should be shining enough so that you are able to see yourself in them. He polished his shoes himself, never liked to get his work done by anybody else.

As they both sat on the table, he thought where had she disappeared in the morning? It was a Saturday, she used to go to Gurudwara in the morning. Cashew was new to cooking, but she was learning fast. She was learning by herself, she always loved to learn things herself. I drove her to the college, where she got off as soon as the car parked. Almost starting pacing towards the college gates, but then suddenly stopped, looked back and waved her hand with a smile on her face. Sitting in his car, he mouthed the words “Bye! Take Care.” His office was not too far from her college, he reached his office, and parked his car, even though he had valets in his office. He loved to drive his car, he used to go for long drives, and somehow the frequency had decreased with time. As he came out of the car, a team of smartly suited individuals came towards him. They were all reps from different segments of his company. With the daily updates in their hands, they started to give him updates about different developments which had been there since last night. He had made it clear that not one second should be wasted of the people who were working with him in the organization. Work right from the beginning of the office, till the working hours end. Then get back to your families and spend time with them. That is what he preached, rarely followed till few years back.

For Kabir, things changed a few years back, till then it was all work and no play, as he had goals which had to achieve. He worked day and night, and made sure that no stone was left unturned, took up every opportunity and land maximum deals that was his only goal. Well the whole idea behind his madness was that he wanted to establish stability in his life. He wanted to achieve heights which had not been seen by anybody in his family. He wanted to prove to his family, that his decision about his life was the final decision. After all, he was doing everything for her. He wanted her to be comfortable, that was his motive. He aspired to become the person who was respected by his parents as well as her, but things were not this clear since the beginning. Things were different back then. He had come a long way, a lot of things had changed about him.

To be Continued
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The Terminal: Part II

This is the Second Chapter of Part II. If you are new here please go through the previous chapters first.

Chapter I.I

She had not noticed it, but her friends had. Her friends had started pointing out to a boy, who had suddenly become more prominent in the vicinity lately. She had noticed him standing at the bus stop once or twice but with the busy schedule that she had, with tuitions, guitar classes, school, etc. she rarely had time for anything else. To let off the steam, she used to go for a walk with her friends after the guitar class. It had become really tough managing all the things, as in her last year of schooling studies were really important, her parents a lot of expectations from her which she had to meet. She had to study a lot to keep up with her classmates as well, with every month they were getting closer to the board examinations.

Her guitar was the only thing, which let her be. Whenever she would be in a tough position or feel the pressure getting onto her, she would just pick the guitar pick and start playing. She would sometimes play through the night, till the sunset. It was as if it transformed the world around her. She would know her parents are listening to her, sleeping in the next room, and would play their favorite songs.

She had a friend’s party to go to, and was standing in the gift shop selecting cards. She had selected a few cards and kept on the counter to be shortlisted to a final one. A boy entered the shop and before she could realize what was happening, picked up one of the cards she had selected, opened and read what was printed, paid and left the shop. She stood there, feeling irritated, but didn’t say anything. After some more selection she bought the perfect card for the birthday.

As she entered the party, she was early to the place, started meeting her friends and were discussing about the new movie which had recently been released. It had been a long time since she had last seen a movie in theatre, she used to miss watching movies in theatre. As the party warmed up, she saw the same guy in the party, the guy who had bought the card she had selected in the gift shop. He was standing at the opposite end of the room, she had a sudden urge of shouting on the guy and give him a lecture on his etiquettes. Before she could realize she was walking towards him, and she could feel her heart suddenly pounding inside of her. She was filling up with rage.

From what felt like an hour, she could feel her friends calming her down, trying to pacify her. She was feeling lethargic, after almost shouting on the boy, she had not lost her calm even though she was enraged at his act. He had just stood there as if he was not listening to anything she was saying, even though he was looking right into her eyes. In the end standing in front of her, all he did was shrug his shoulders as if he didn’t realize what he had done.

Since that day, her friends had started noticing the same boy, on the bus stand, in the ground, or just walking past. She was still too angry on him, to notice him.

To be Continued
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The Terminal: Part II

This is the Second Part and Continuation of "The Terminal".

Chapter I

As Kabir walked towards the room he was wondering about the path which had lead him to this particular moment. He walked towards the mini-bar, it had an assortment of different liquors. He stood with a rock glass in his hand, and put a few ice cubes in it. He looked back towards the fireplace and she was not there anymore. He shook his head and looked down at the glass still empty, and kept it aside. She never liked him drinking frequently, as such she never had an issue with him drinking, and it was the frequency of days which troubled her. He had always followed what she liked, so he decided not to drink. He slowly walked towards the same armchair where she was sitting a while back, sat in the warmth of the same armchair.

Reminiscing was one of his favorite things, he always loved to sit by the fireplace and think of his past. He must have been a few years elder to his daughter he had first seen her, back in his school days.

The first time he saw her, it was not the love at first sight kind of a thing, rather he felt a little dislike towards her. She was a geek, and looked like one with glasses and a long braid of hair following her. She always had long hair braided into a tail, length of which was till her waist. She would always be seen with at least two thick books in her hand, which magnified the whole bookworm aura. But her eyes, they were the only living beauty, every time he saw her big brown eyes, he used to feel weak at the knees. He did not like studious people, as he himself always wanted to fly, wanted to live free. She wasn't in his school, they had met at a birthday party at one of his friends. She was studying in an all-girls school, one of the most prominent in the Delhi. Since that day, even though she was like just any other girl, he started noticing her. He started noticing that her school bus used to reach the same stop they both got off, five minutes after his. He started noticing her at his football games, walking with her friends around the football ground. Even though she never looked at the games, he started to feel that she used to intentionally come to the matches to watch him play.

With time, he started to laze around at the stop even after all his friends used to walk to their respective homes, he started playing with more intensity. He did not realize what was happening to him, and why he had the urge to be at his best when she was in the vicinity. Slowly, she grew on him, he still thought it was just an infatuation, and with time it will pass. So he never approached her, or tried to talk to her, it was just another crush for him. She was a top grader, the best student in her school, used to participate in all kinds of inter-school debates, declamations, impromptu speeches, etc. and thus was not the kind of girl he would ever be interested in.

Sitting on the arm chair, he was smiling in his sleep. The warmth of the fireplace had put him to sleep. He smiled sitting there.

The Terminal: Chapter V

Chapter V

She was traveling with another person, and they both got into the same taxi before I could actually even move my feet to approach her. I had lost my moment, I had frozen. My heartbeat was beating the charts, and I was frantic. I wanted to go running towards her or call out her name or at least wanted her to see me waiting for her. 

But nothing happened, she got into the taxi and the taxi exited the parking. Even before I could react. I wanted to shout but I could not utter a sound from my mouth, I was shouting from within but was no sound came out.

Suddenly, I woke up, lying in a bed, I was covered in sweat, was breathing heavily. Because of the jolt of waking up, I had woken up the person who was sleeping beside me. I wore my glasses and stared at the person beside me, she was a young girl woken up with an abrupt jolt. She was looking at me with her big brown eyes, worried. I calmed her down, told her everything was alright and asked to sleep calmly. I stood up from the bed, realizing it was her room. Walked towards the door, she called out with her sweet voice, “Dad! Please leave the door a little open!” I looked back as I left the room and smiled, and said “Don’t Worry Cashew! I am just in the next room.” I walked towards the drawing room, where she was sitting, it felt like from the dream she had appeared right in front of me. By the fireplace, even though she was still with me, I still used to get nightmares about the days from my past. She was reading a book, sitting in the warmth of crackling wood. Who is she I thought, is she the person I met in my college, or is she the person who got into that taxi that day or is she somebody else altogether. Is it fate or is it some supernatural power that decides for us, or we are here all by ourselves. Did I end up here because of the way I took decisions, or was it all already decided for me?

If fate has everything written, then emotions like fear, should have no space in our psyche. Everything is playing its part. Why fear when what you are fearing is going to happen no matter how you feel, if it is written. All the happy moments as well as moments of sorrow are already lined up, all we can do is just wait for them to happen. Somehow it gives me a very robotic feeling. All we are in existence for is playing our part, according to what fate has decided for us. Isn't that really anti-climax, cause everything is already decided for us, all we are going to do is play the role of an actor? On the contrary if there is a supernatural being, everybody calls him/her by different names, hasn't he or she made this world really cruel. Why does the being with the power to control almost everything, allow so many catastrophes, tragedies, natural calamities to occur. If you answer this as karma, then with the amount of tragedies surrounding us, there is a lot of bad karma being done. Why doesn't the being control that? Or are we all alone.

Note: This is the memoir of a brain, which thinks and imagines a lot of things. It is memoir wherein a lot of it is the truth of what really happened mixed with imagination. Now how much of it is reality, you will have to read between the lines for yourself. A human brain interprets each word exactly the way it would want it to mean. Sometimes it becomes difficult to actually understand what the words mean, so we attach our own meanings with these symbols. This is a memoir of a brain, which has connected meanings with things, which happened over time, and will cover a man’s dream, reality and imagination.

The Terminal: Chapter IV

Chapter IV

Two more flights had arrived, and my wait has yet not got over. The last flight before eleven just landed and the passengers have got out of the airport. I guess, I am going to wait for the full day here. Not an issue, just I need to inform at office. As I turned and took my phone out to call Rohan, I saw ten missed calls from him. I had forgot to remove the phone from silent.

I instantly called him back, he picked up on the first ring itself “Sorry! Sorry bro, had forgot I had put the phone on Silent! What happened?”
Rohan sounded a bit worried, “Kabir, you need to reach the décor people, they are really frantic something happened on the website yesterday. They sound really worried.”
“But what happened? I will call my team they will handle, I cannot come today, have some… some task today”
“What work you have? All of a sudden? Where are you by the way?”
And just like that the work got tossed out of the window, Rohan was like that. He was actually interested in where I was, and why I wasn’t picking up the calls, he and I both knew he could handle whatever had happened at the décor front. He wanted to know where was I? He knew the amount of hard work I had put in setting up this new company with him. We had grown together with the firm, from a small team of 3 people to a modest organization of 18 people. We had built everything on our own shoulders with almost no external help of any sort. We had worked hard and worked day and night to make things possible, to accommodate the growth.

“Where Are You?” He almost shouted.
“I have come to meet somebody. Will reach back only in the evening I guess. Handle things at the office will you, for the day?”
“I will do that! But please tell me , you haven’t again gone to meet her!”
“Bye Rohan” I cut the call.

As I turned back towards the terminals arrival board, I saw her exiting the terminal.

She had not changed a lot, had become a little healthier I could see, and also that she had once again gone into the gothic look. All black. It was her habit, even during college, she used to invariably turn into black once in a while for weeks at a go. And as I stood there looking at her coming towards the exit, I realized that her parents must be somewhere nearby. I pulled my pullover over my face, and started looking around for her parents, but I did not find anybody I could recognize in the direction she was headed. As she stood in the line for taxi and that is the moment I realized she had somebody with her.

To Be Continued...

The Terminal: Chapter III

Chapter III

The more I thought about her, the more psychotic I became. I guess I still am addicted to her, she still overpowers me from the inside. The focus as they say, lies external to me. Sipping coffee from costa, in the lukewarm sun which was tempting all of us from behind the clouds, was heavenly feeling. Slowly the mufflers, hoods, monkey caps, ear canopies, etc. were coming off of people. All of us wanted to feel the lukewarm rays of Sun on our skin. I could not remove my pullover, I could not afford to be spotted here. I didn’t want anybody who would come to pick her up to spot me there, there would unnecessary repercussions on her. And as I was thinking about this, I think I spotted her Dad.

After a couple of minutes and few steps towards the person who was looking like her Dad, I confirmed that it was her dad. It was ten minutes to her flights arrival then. She must be flying in in the 9:30 flight. Suddenly, I was feeling all sweaty and hot, my heart started pumping furiously, had started to feel goose bumps underneath the three layers that I was wearing. I so wanted to go and meet her Dad and touch his feet and talk to him. But I could not, I didn’t want any trouble for her. And that is the moment I realized my flaw in the plan, how could I meet her if her Dad was here. I could not have met him. I cannot meet her in front of her parents. She would get in real trouble if that happened. I could not let that happen. What should I do now?

As suddenly as the signs appeared, they disappeared. Her Dad suddenly turned and was looking straight at me. And then I realized, it wasn’t him. It was somebody who resembled him a lot, but it wasn’t him. And right at that moment, the people from this particular flight started to disembark. They were a mixed lot, with families coming for holidays, ill prepared clearly for the North winters as the kids were already shivering. Then a few South Indians covered in so many layers as if they were going to climb the Himalayas. But my eyes were trying to spot one particular person, and I could not find her. There were only two more flights which matched her travel patterns. Or could it be that her travel habits had changed. She could be travelling on any of the total 161 flights that day. She could be travelling in any of them, after all it had been sometime since I was in contact with her. People Change. I removed my pullover, I could be here for the full day now. I headed towards the snacks stall, better get re-charged.



What do these MNC snack vendors know about “lassi”. The actual taste is present in the long lost cities in Punjab, where the buttermilk is as thick and is topped with a handful of clotted cream or malai. The size of a glass is almost as big as a forearm and mind you it can give you such a kick of energy that you feel sleepy afterwards. The buttermilk you get at these kiosks is nothing but a cheap comedy stunt on the original version of the same. We, with our friends used to haunt this Ramu Halwai all the time, for the quality of lassi and jalebi he had to offer. Come to think of it, every city with some historical past will have a shop like his. His shop used to be so busy, for the standards of the outlying city of Ferozepur. Ferozepur being a city on the border of India-Pakistan and was still in almost as pristine state as the British had left it in 1947. It had those pre-independence remnants in the architecture of the city as well as the buildings itself. As it was a border area, only a small amount of development had been invested upon by the state government. Our college was a Govt. Engg. College on the outskirts of this city. Very few places were actually present in the city, which college students could call a haunt. For the girls, the number of places were even lesser. Ramu halwai was right in the middle of the cantonment market, and used to be really busy right through the day. Usually his world-class buttermilk would be finished before lunch and he would start making aloo curry with poori. He always used to be happy when he would see college students in his modest shop. He would start making jalebi’s only after 4 in the evening and they would sell as fast as he could make them. Whenever I used to come towards the city, which was 6 kms from the college, I always used to get her some samosa and jalebi packed. She used to love jalebi. 

I feel like having something sweet now, what does Costa have?

To Be Continued....