TAXI No: 1212

Chapter 7 - The Firsts

Flashback Part-II

"She is safe! She is safe!" Sidharth muttered under his breath as he stopped the taxi at a secluded spot, far-far away from that school compound.

For the first time in many hours Sidharth felt he could breathe properly.

"Thank you God...thank you so much God!" Sidharth said as he took a deep breath and realised that for the first time in many years he had remembered the almighty.

Shehnaaz also caught on to the sentiment and broke down as she realised what the destiny had averted for them. Sidharth watched her helplessly. Her pain reflected in his eyes. She howled till she could howl no more and eventually dozed off in exhaustion after throwing herself in his arms

Sidharth was resting his back to the car door to make it more comfortable for Shehnaaz. They had met just a few hours before but the connect he was feeling was confusing him.

"What are you Shehnaaz? Why do I feel this pull towards you?" Sidharth asked himself for the nth time that day.

He was gently patting a sleeping Shehnaaz. She had fit into his arms perfectly...as if his arms had been made for her.

"I wish I could have saved you from the pain sweetheart! I feel responsible for you. Logically it makes no sense but I do. We don't know each other...have never met before...but my heart knows you. Do you feel this Shehnaaz? I am falling for your mesmerising smile....I am falling for your cute bunny teeth...I am falling for your kind heart...I am falling for your innocence! Can you feel it Shehnaaz? I am falling for you!"Sidharth looked at the innocent girl who had hugged him tightly as she slept.

He didn't realise when he dozed off.

They were woken up rudely by a Policeman.

"Teri aukaat se zyada paisa diya hai...chal phut![I have given you more than you deserve...now buzz off]" Sidharth wanted to tell him as he handed him a hundred rupee note. With utmost control he had kept a reign on his temper as the policeman had checked his girl.

As soon as the policeman was gone, Sidharth drove away.

They stopped at a road-side tea stall he frequented a lot. Shehnaaz was still stuck to him. Every passerby was eyeing them with curiosity but he didn't have the heart to ask Shehnaaz to maintain distance. Rather than feeling irritable in the humidity, Sidharth found peace in the physical proximity. He loved this newfound feeling.

"If only this could last forever!"Sidharth asked himself a rhetorical question, the answer to which he already knew.

Soon it was time to say goodbye.

He felt relieved when he saw Shehnaaz run towards her mother. That lady had to be her mother...the resemblance could not be missed.

Sidharth didn't know why, but he didn't want to come out to her family. He hid himself when she tried to look for him. She was quickly whisked away by her family. That was the last he had seen of Shehnaaz.

"Why did I not go and meet her family? Was I scared that they would see my feelings for her? Was I scared that I would not be able to say Goodbye to her? What held me back?"Sidharth asked himself on his way back home.

That night he thought about the new found feeling of peace he had experienced that day. All he wanted to do was to hug her. That night another first happened. For the first time in his life Sidharth, hugged a pillow and went off to sleep.

Next morning at seven, he parked his taxi outside the Nehru Chawl. Sidharth sat at a small kiryana shop manned by the old man who had a big scar on his left cheek.