Munni's LIA - A Serial Fiction - Episode 9

Munni's Plain Girl - Shanti Naidu

An Irrelevant Interlude
Travel in a Public Conveyance

Note: In writing the Munni blog, I write some paragraphs now and then and eventually put them together and then fix the problems. This following material hadn't been used in any of the episodes; it is a POV from a new character soon to be introduced into Munni's LIA - the serial blog, although she had already been talked about in the earlier episodes While it is better to have read the previous episodes, especially Episode 4, before reading this, this interlude could and does stand on its own. 

The first day Shanti was saved from molesting paws from behind, she didn't understand what happened behind her. She usually stiffens up to fight her way into the bus and hope whoever paws her does not tear anything.

The next morning as well, she was able to get into the bus with no hands from behind touching her hips, back, or breasts. However, that time, she climbed all three steps quickly and turned around and looked. Then she noticed the lanky one who stands a little behind and to the left of her at the bus stand. He was in the first step and seems to struggle to get up into the bus; she thought he may have some bone problems in the legs.

She decided to check what the lanky boy with the problem legs does on the third morning; she was very surprised at the speed with which he actually moved when the bus arrived. She is not as fast and managed to move behind him, but that time she noticed that as he got closer to the bus, he veered to one side to let her pass by to go in front. She thought such sudden rapid moves was what made his legs assume a strange twist as he got stuck in the first step of the bus. As they both rushed to the bus she found that even though he started first, eventually she was faster and he could only get behind her. And then when she looked back, he was stuck again in the first step and struggling to get up into the second step.
(Aiyo...Paavam = the poor dear)
She thought "Aiyo…Paavam ". He usually got off the bus in an earlier stop than her college. As the young man was very tall, his head was easy to spot within the bus, no matter how crowded. She had noticed that when he got out, he could walk very easily without any problems with his legs. She was puzzled about this trouble he had climbing into a bus. May be, she thought, he has the same problem at home or office, climbing any stairs. She felt so sorry for him, and wondered if he would get more disabled as he gets older.

When she occasionally thought about that young man's problem, she thought her eyes teared up. Shanti was sensitive to the suffering of others. She decided that she will google and try to find out more about that young man's illness. She giggled to herself thinking that if she finds some useful information and may be even discovers a cure, she would talk to him one morning and tell him about it. Then she imagined that he will be cured and be able to board a bus without getting stuck on the first step; he will also be able to climb stairs and even go to hill stations with her on vacations and together they will climb stairs all day. She had also imagined the alternate future where she would never find the cure and his legs will get worse and she would sacrifice her life, support him by getting a job and push his wheel chair in the park every evening. He will sit in his chair, she will sit in front of him in the park bench, they will eat ice cream and feed bird seeds to the sparrows. When this happens, invariably the student sitting next to her in class would nudge her strongly and wake her up.

However, she never remembered to google that. The few times she remembered to google the phrase "stair climbing problem", she got some very interesting results back: from math algorithms to arthritis and problems of old people, nothing about young males who are apparently fit and have this problem only when climbing stairs. She gave up the googling efforts.

One day, when she was standing next to him at the bus stop. She moved her head in his direction and sneaked a look. He had also looked in her direction at the same time. All this googling of his problem and thinking "Aiyo..paavam" had made her go ahead and acknowledge that meeting by an ever so slight nodding of her head. He returned a faint smile to her. She felt like having done a kind deed to an unfortunate young man. A veritable Florence Nightingale.

Once again, that morning too, he was stuck, but not as badly as the times before that. He was able to get up quickly enough to be near her. Practice makes perfect, she thought; even though from the way he was still behaving, perfection seemed a world away. She was never grabbed from behind by anyone, because this young man always somehow managed to struggle behind her and got stuck at the first step of the bus. She felt sorry for him every day as the bus wheezed and started to move after he and others behind him managed to get up eventually.

One day, this struggling lanky happened to get behind her a little faster and got stuck torso-to-torso with her in the crush of the bus. Normally, Shanti would manage to get her bookbag between herself and the most annoying body that is touching her. On that day, she allowed the poor young man's body to touch her without any book bag in between. They were torso-to-torso "facing each other", so to speak. As the young man was tall, her head was under his chin. She couldn't see his face although she was in front of him. She imagined they were in a dance floor in a foreign movie and holding each other gracefully gliding away. In reality, instead of the dancing pairs moving around the floor, the floor (of the bus) was moving them along while they stood still. She wished they had a less noisy dance floor. She also wished that her partner held her with his hands around her waist, instead of being stock still, instead of just being the puzzle piece, just one among many all around her that held that crowd together.

When the bus lurched violently in one turn, she went into him; but he didn't budge a lot, because he had a strong hold on the metal rod hand holder. She couldn't hold that metal rod, as it might expose more of her chest, potential for that pseudo-accidental fondling by some lout. She slowly shifted and arranged her feet as to be completely in front of him; the next lurch of the bus in the same direction will surely get her to feel his ribs with her breasts. On a tangent, she wondered if Eve was really an ex-rib from adam and if E&A travelled on a bus and Eve lurched into Adam would she fit in perfectly at the hole where she used to be; something to ponder while zonked out in a boring class during the day.

She twisted her head to one side like a finch and looked up in a side glance; she giggled with lips held tight, so the noise didn't come out. She could see the hair inside his big nostrils. She didn't realize that her giggle may have taken her body vibrations to him, because they were attached to each other all along her vibrating torso. She noticed that he didn't ever look down. She turned her head to one side again, and whispered,"sorry". He said "you're welcome" also in a hushed tone. His shirt smelt very clean and there was also a faint aftershave smell. She wondered what this "you're welcome", meant ? Did he hear wrong ? Was my "sorry" heard as a "thank you"? Or…he liked me lurching into him and wants me to do it again by saying "you're welcome". There is one way to find out, she thought. She readied herself to launch at the next lurch of the bus.