SO,IT HAPPENED

As he entered the branch his glance automatically darted towards her counter. Yes, she was there. A pleasant smile spread on his face.  He felt that sweet sensation passing through his whole being. All his senses had their own individual response to her charisma. She as usual was busy with her work, oblivious of even his presence.

He was a cashier of a regional branch of a rural bank and frequently visited the main branch of the parent bank to lodge the excess cash. His father was a small farmer and he was the first person in his family to work outside the fields. He was a brilliant student. He completed his education with the help of various scholarships and completed his higher studies from a college in a nearby town. Confidence of the city youth, the speed with which they worked, talked and amused themselves, always fascinated him. He got ample opportunities to observe them leisurely waiting for his turn to lodge the cash. Sitting in a corner of the bank he used to seep in all their activities and imagined himself to be among them.

But a glance at her always filled his heart with an array of emotions. She was all that he could never have thought of being. He always felt tongue-tied among the people. She could state her point of view without mincing words anywhere, anytime. She was one of the most efficient workers of the branch and a smart one too. She dressed smartly and walked with confidant strides. Working on the counter while talking to customers or colleagues she looked so unapproachable to him. Yet he could not stop thinking of her.

He knew he could never muster enough courage to address her. Listening to her spontaneous rattles in English he was always filled with awe. He understood the language. In fact his vocabulary and knowledge of English quite easily surpassed that of the city-raised boys. But his rural background and surrounding environ never gave him the opportunity to converse in English.

She was different from other girls of the branch. In that confident, outspoken and bubbly girl was a kind of genuineness, a sincerity which you could never miss. She always had a sympathetic ear to the pension account holders and illiterate customers of the branch. Some times these attributes of hers gave him a hope. May be some day he could also talk to her, sit on the chair next to her. But her reputation of a no-nonsense girl loomed large before him and his hopes were always quashed.

That day, as usual, he informed the cashier-in-charge about his arrival and settled in a chair behind the pillar of the cash department waiting for his turn. A number of branches had turned up to lodge the cash in currency chest and his knew his turn would take time. Well, he always welcomed the delay here. Enough time to watch her! The pillar was his alley and provided him the required obscurity.  From that corner he could watch her, listen to her voice and observe the activities in that area of the branch, he himself being comparatively inconspicuous.

Post-lunch session had started. Customer hours being over, the staff was relaxed. A group of young boys who were preparing for competitive exams gathered around the table on the other side of pillar with their respective supplementries  and vouchers in hands. While doing their work they started discussing about topics and content of the general knowledge paper. Questions were asked, topics discussed. With her back towards them, she also participated on and off in the discussions while working on her counter.

From across the pillar he was engrossed in observing the activities on her side. She pushed her chair back, drew the drawer out, shuffled the papers, said something and even scratch  of her pen -- he was absorbing it all. Her side profile was charming. The long tresses flowing below her waist had loosened a bit – few strands flowed with vibration of the pedestal fan behind her. The curve of her waist, the wetness on the back of nape -- he could have easily drifted to the fantasy land but for the temptation of listening attentively to each and every syllable of hers. Though he felt a dull numbness in his heart he was aware of his surrounding too. The mind and heart were functioning on different level!

”Sabse gahra sagar kaun sa hai?” suddenly one of the boys asked loud.
Before any body could say anything came a voice from behind the pillar --- ”pyar ka sagar”.

Instantly he pressed his mouth with both hands. He wished to become invisible. He did not know how or when the words were out of his mouth.

Unintentionally, unexpectedly and instantly he became the center of attention. All the boys looked at him. She tuned back, titled her face and pushed her chair slightly to have a look at him and burst out laughing. He was perspiring profusely. Looking downward his face was all red.

She perhaps understood his discomfort. She got up from chair, walked a few steps and addressed him: ''Hey, witty one!” Looking at the box of cash she posed “which branch”?

The ice was broken.

[A bond was made almost immediately.

Those few steps of hers changed his world.

Those few words gave a new meaning to his existence. ]

It was the beginning of one of the most fulfilling and consistent relationships.

 The setting of the story is in the pre computerisation era of banking industry in India ,hence certain things might not look familiar to the younger lot here.


WRITTEN IN JAN.2009