That Girl That Night
I was coming home after a long time and was in a hurry as I had only 2 days to be there with my family and friends. I wanted to make the best of the time that was available to me. As I came out of the metro station I looked for an auto but there wasn’t any so I took an E-Rickshaw to head back home. I asked the driver how long he is going to wait for other passengers and the driver replied that if he gets someone on the way only then he is going to take else he won’t wait as his family was also waiting for him at home.
A boy sat down along with me in that rickshaw, we passed by a girl who was standing alone over there. He stopped his rickshaw and asked:
‘Madam, kahaan jaana hai?
She reluctantly replied Suraksha Nursing Home, and rickshaw walla started moving as he was not aware where her destination was and assumed that it was not on our way. But I knew that we were going on the same way. So I tried to convince him that it is the near to the place where I will get down and asked him to call her as well.
She must be somewhere around 20 years old, small height, black t-shirt and black jeans, but what caught my eyes were her blue Panasonic headphones. I could feel her reluctance from the beginning when she didn’t stop the rickshaw and afterwards as well when she was hesitant in getting along with us. I tried to comfort her by confirming her destination. She sat down in front of me. She kept looking away into the dark lonely streets. 2230 is not that late but may be late enough for her, I could feel her fear and thoughts. We came at a four way from where rickshaw was supposed to go straight and she was supposed to go left. I asked her if she wanted to get down, and she told that yes but she will still have to walk a lot to reach home. I got down along with her and before I could offer her my company rickshaw vala told her to sit down and said he will drop her first. I was moved by his gesture, I realised while she and I were thinking about the darkness around us we were unaware of the light that we were taking along with us. Don’t we just always assume everyone to be bad, why are we always warned about strangers. But I felt a bit strange with this gesture, I felt as if even though while I was trying to be good I assumed others to be bad. But his gesture brought me back to light.
We both sat down and she said: Thank You So Much,
That again forced me to contemplate about the world we are living in, I just did what was right and wondered what was the need of A Thank You… I am not sure what was going on in my mind at that time but all I could feel was the fact that it bothered me in a strange way.
She asked him to stop and got down, there were no street lights and no shop was open as well. That was a day of Holi as well and I was a bit concerned about her. And as she was paying him she thanked me again and I asked if I should walk her home and she thanked again and convinced me that she would manage. I could feel she still wasn’t comfortable, only home could make her feel better. I could feel how she must have spent her last 10 minutes with complete strangers in a dark night. I could see her rushing fast towards her home, running fast away from us. As rickshaw turned I kept on looking at her and kept on looking till the time she hadn’t entered her street. What if I would have went along with her, would that made her feel safer or she would have felt more afraid. Do we really need good people with a tag along their neck? Even though I was satisfied that I did the best I could as venturing more along with her would have only bothered her but I kept on wondering if she would have made home safely ? Till the time I will be able to recall this memory I will be haunted by this one thought whether or not she would have made it home That Night, That Girl ?
mukul Raisinghani
