The night of the Bus

Ravi a 48-year-old man living in Krishna apartment, Shalimar Bagh New Delhi was going back home from his office. He was on a crowded bus and thinking about what he would do after reaching home. He will lie on his bed and sleep peacefully. He was sitting near a 25-year-old woman. Who was chatting on her phone? May be with his boyfriend or husband he does not know. She was beautiful and really attractive. She was wearing a green kurta with white lagging, her hair was tied into a ponytail and her eyes had just the perfect amount of mascara, which bring out eyes. He couldn’t stare at her much, he felt that would make her uncomfortable so he stopped looking and deported the bus. He reached home and lay in his bed. He couldn't sleep because the face of that attractive woman didn’t leave his subconsciousness. He turned to the other side of the bed and saw his middle-aged wife, lying there sleeping and snoring loudly. He thought back to the day he met her, it was not on any date or anything, in those days there was no Tinder or Shadi.com their marriage was arranged and they met on the wedding day. He was young and a very shy person and very much submitted to the wish of his parents, without looking at the photo of the girl he said “ YES” as his father wanted him to marry her. On the wedding night he saw her she was not that beautiful but was fair and she also brought a huge dowry, which was compensation for her lack of education because he himself was a post-graduate. So his parents agreed and joint the knot for a 10 lakh dowry. He was happy in his life, he had 3 children. An elder daughter who was 20 years old and doing her degree from Delhi University. Then her another daughter of 13 years of age who was studying in a prestigious school and finally his son an 11-year-old in the same school. The next morning he was at the breakfast table and was reading the news of a sexual assault on the bus by a man with19-year-old college girl. It took place in Noida, he looked up and asked his wife where is Tamanna. She said she went to college. He thought of something for some time and then took his lunch and started for the office. The whole day he was worried about her daughter and tried calling her but she didn't pick up. He called his wife and she said she didn't reach, yet. He took a cab and went home as fast as he could and found her daughter eating at the table. He was relieved and asked her daughter to carry pepper spray from tomorrow onwards.

The next day when he was coming back from his office, he took the bus. The same girl was standing clutching to the rod of the bus and her whole body dangling side by side as the bus moved. She was wearing a backless dress and her hair was untied and a little bit tangled, she was holding a black leather purse and chatting on her phone constantly. He looked at her back which was flawless and young, he thought of the time he was a 21 year old and traveling on a bus in Mumbai once where he saw a backless dress, he was very shy so he turned and sat in the back of the bus and did not have the courage to go sit near her. He doesn’t know what happened this time but he just could not take his eyes off her back and complimenting her body with his eyes, he sat behind her and kept staring at her back. She took off at Kamala Nagar and he went on looking out of the bus, trying to catch a glimpse of her. He went home and had his dinner, her wife sitting beside him staring at him while he was lost in the thoughts of that beautiful girl, she was wearing a new saree and had a new haircut suggested by her daughter but Ravi didn’t notice and told her he was really tired and will rest. That night he had a dream about her. They were all alone on the bus and she was wearing that same dress. There was only the bus driver who was driving the bus, he was sitting very close to her and her deep neck was revealing her bosom, which was very erotic for him. He woke up at the sound of his alarm clock and was ashamed of his dream. That morning he was at the breakfast table and read about a gang-rape of a school girl who was kidnapped by a cab driver. He put down that newspaper and asked his wife where is Kirti? She told him, she must be outside waiting for her school cab. He ran to the door and called her daughter back and told her that he will take her to school that today. She tried avoiding it but he took her anyway. He called the cab driver and asked him to cancel the subscription of the cab. He went inside the school and asked the authority for the school bus. It was double the cost of a cab, but he said he'll manage. He went late to the office so he also left late. He took the same bus. The bus was all empty. Only one woman was sitting in the back seat. She was the same woman he had dreamed about, the same woman with that backless dress. He couldn’t help himself but be drawn toward her, it was like a moth drawn to the flame. His youth calling out to him to seize this moment and he could look at this girl eternally sucking in her beauty forever. He acted like he has something to ask the conductor and sat beside her, in a very casual tone controlling his nervousness he asked the conductor. "Bhaiya yeh bus Shalimar Bagh rukegi naa".

The girl was not noticing him as she was listening to music on her headphones. He was now sitting beside her and his heart was beating like a train’s engine at 1000 kilometers per hour. He thought of different scenarios like he will ask her name and she’ll chat with him for a while, may she was into old guys like him. He was 48 years old but still very strongly built and handsome for his age, keeping his head straight he tried looking at the women's face by rolling his eyes towards her. Her face was beautiful like the moon but the only difference was her face was spotless unlike the moon then he looked further down, she was wearing a golden pendent which was in the shape of a heart, further down he could see that she was wearing big neck dress and her cleavage was visible, he then looked further down and his eyes fell on her phone screen. She was typing something to someone. He could see that message clearly. It read

An old pervert is sitting next to me and staring at my chest, please come to pick me up at Kamala Nagar stop

His mind was overturned his heart ached and then he got up and as the bus arrived at the ghanta ghar stop he came out of the bus and didn't even look back towards the bus.

He ran and ran and ran like a mad man and finally when he was breathless he stopped. Went into a park and sat down there. He was guilty, he sat there for about 20 mins and then he checked his phone. There were 45 missed calls from her wife. He called back and found that his elder daughter is not yet home. He looked at the time it was 11 pm already. He called her many times but she didn't pick up. He kept praying for her well-being, but deep down he knows something is wrong. He reached home her wife was sitting at the door. As he went in she asked him did he got any information on her and what the police said. He said nothing and as he picked up his phone again to call the police her daughter came inside the house. Her mother screamed at her about where she was till now. She said there was a man on the bus who kept staring at me, I didn't feel good about it so I avoided the bus and asked one of my friends to drop me off. Ravi was listening to the whole scenario and he felt very ashamed he didn't say anything and went into the room and slept. The next morning he was at the morning table, he picked up the newspaper. There was a headline on the top sheet. A girl in Delhi was gang-raped inside a bus and was brutally injured on 16 Dec 2012.