The Chemistry that ...!

To understand the situation and to recall to mind, read the previous posts “Chemistry!” and “The Chemistry!”, in that order.

Bhaskar
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(cont.. )

Gathering my wits and realizing that if not anything, atleast I wouldn’t be facing any chappal slaps, I decided to speak to her. Well, it is not every other day that one gets to meet such a lovely girl and that too under such a circumstance, you see! Though I had absolutely no idea what I was going to talk, her captivating eyes and the dimpled chin gave me a sense of purpose like never before :)

I went to her side and said a simple ‘hi!’. She reciprocated the monosyllable with a grin and sat up thereby making space for me to sit. Easing into position, I asked her:
“why were you staring at me?!”

“staring? may be.. but, dont tell me that you haven’t seen me earlier!!”

I wasn’t sure of that, but then..

“well... i would never say to a girl your age that I haven’t seen you..
just that i dont remember where!” ;)

“oh comon... we work in the same office.”

“Duh! ... “
Oh.. that explains it...
Our group had moved in from Unit 4 to the new campus “Millennia” only that Monday. But then, how could I have missed noticing HER in the office? May be I was a bit too distracted by the settling-down issues and the urgent customer escalation that I had to handle as soon as we got the things working in the new building.

By now the guy in the adjacent berth (who was trying his Romeo antics earlier) was looking at us but we were beyond concern and didn’t bother with such insignificant things ;)

We were talking for quite sometime and during the conversation, found out that her name was Deepa and that she was with the tech support group. She hailed from Indore and she was of the living-with-friends-in-Bangalore-due-to-job kind. She was visiting a relative in Chennai and she was also returning back to Bangalore on the Sunday night but had planned to return by bus as she couldn’t get a reservation in the trains.

I also didn’t have any reservation but then, from my frequent visits, I had cultivated the friendship of some TTEs* and got to know that typically a few Tatkal** tickets are unused and can be purchased about an hour before the train’s departure from the TTE room at the Chennai Central Railway station. Now here was another chance to impress her and how can I miss that ?!! She did seem to be happy to travel by train but tried to give some excuse. Using a bit of my charm and after some convincing, she agreed. Even if we don’t get the train tickets, later we could always board one of the numerous tourist buses starting right in front of the railway station.

By then, it was already 12.30pm. We worked out the details of our rendezvous for the Sunday night, exchanged ‘good night’s and ‘sweet dream’s and parted. What with the excitement of meeting her again on Sunday, it was not until another hour that I could actually sleep.

(To be concluded)
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TTE* - Traveling Ticket Examiner

Tatkal** - Special railway reservation available one day prior to the date of travel at some extra cost