A Road Mate

I see her everyday on my way to work. We cross each others way at the vegetable vendor’s cart. So in a sense she is my ‘time-check’ also. If I happen to meet her at a point before the vegetable vendor’s then I am late, I’ll probably miss the bus. If I meet her at a point after crossing the vegetable vendor’s then probably I am before time and will have to await the bus. It is only now when I sit back and write about it that I wonder, well it can even be vice-versa, me being on time and she being early or late. But maybe I have never had that kind of right confidence about myself. So then I quicken or slacken my pace depending on where we meet.
There are thousands of faces I cross everyday and maybe the same ones considering I walk the same routine path more or less at the same timing and the others would be doing a similar thing, but her face remains in my memory. I can close my eyes and see her face in my mind. She wears a bored and exhausted look for having been woken up from sleep. Maybe she does not like to get up early. She slouches with the burden of the bag she carries on one shoulder. Maybe she is not happy with whatever classes she is taking early morning. She seems lost in thought and unaware of the world around. Maybe she is making a mental list of the million to-do things for the day. She drags her feet with an effort and has ear phones plugged always. Maybe she hates walking and loves to shut the world out with music. She stops and makes her pick of vegetables by pointing only never uttering a word. The vendor also seems to have gotten used to her techniques. Maybe she is a very confident person who can make others work by her rules and then she simply moves on. This has been happening for the past 18 days since I have taken up a new job and need to walk all the way to the bus station. It’s the same everyday with the only change in the color and pattern of the clothes we wear. In spite of this I try to take a close look at her, without letting her know. There is something intriguing about this young lady who seems to have taken the world in her stride and still cares a damn about it. She probably does not belong here. Her self-worth seems creditable; there is no trace of being a snob or being egoistic.
Wow! I have made quite a few conclusions about her without even having exchanged so much as a smile. I am no face reader or any aura specialist, wonder then what is it that makes me not only look at her but also think about her and the sense of mystery she holds. I don’t know if some day we will cross this barrier of being strangers and talk to each other having the ‘common path we cross’ as a starting point. And will she read this write-up some day and burst out laughing saying, not a word of what I concluded is true or will she start wondering if I have been spying on her since I have so much information about her? That will happen the day it does, till then maybe I’ll have to rest my case and ensure that curiosity does not kill the cat!