The Window Seat

He always loved a window seat. Even if it meant sitting right behind in the bus. The jerks and bumps would be more he knew but he didn’t mind as long as he got to sit by the window. He loved gazing out in the open on a speeding bus. Meadows, fields, cottages, hillocks passing by in a blur of green and brown. Those images made him happy. He usually hummed to himself on such journeys. One song after another.

Today he had a mixed compilation playing on his headphone. It was a “‘my favourite love songs” mix he’d done a while ago. Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Judee Sills, Van Morrison and a host of others. He hadn’t heard this in a while now. He was looking forward to listening to it as it’s playtime was almost similar to his journey time. A little under an hour.

As Charlie Rich’s soothing vocals sang “The Most Beautiful Girl” his mind started wandering. Going back to happier times he spent with her. SHE was the “most beautiful girl” to him. She meant everything to him. They had so many plans together. His thoughts took him back to the time when they were both struggling newbies in a new town. A chance meeting at a local supermarket had started it all. A love affair that was way too deep, intense and fulfilling to be called that. In a matter of a short time they were living together in a cramped studio which they shared. Life had looked promising ahead.

Meanwhile in the same bus

Joni Mitchell’s Clouds was playing on her earphones. She was happy that the old gentleman by the window side had exchanged his seat with her. She hated aisle seats anyways. People always would bump into her, sometimes unwittingly and sometimes otherwise. Hence she jumped when the old man offered her his window seat. It’s easier for me to use the loo you see, he explained. Not that she needed any explanation.

Her mind was filled with all that was happening in her life at that moment. She had to sort out all the mess that her work and personal life had been in. A trip back home to her mom always revitalised her and now she was heading back to town, ready to face her struggles.

She was surprised Joni Mitchell was on her playlist. She was never much of a fan of “HIS” type of music. HE loved Joni, Van, and so many of those singer-songwriter types. She on the other hand preferred good old 80s pop. Madonna and Culture Club could seldom be topped in her books. She however didn’t skip the Joni song but heard on as she sang

“I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now,
from up and down, 
and still somehow it’s clouds illusions I recall, 
I really don’t know clouds at all”.

The song seemed to reflect her present state of mind.

She remembered those times shared with him. In that tiny studio apartment. It was cosy but they had so much of love filled in that space. They dreamed of making it big in the city together. For each other. With each other. How they naively believed all they’d ever need was love. Her mind got agitated when she remembered all those times when things went horribly wrong. The same cosy studio felt cramped and choking at the times when love flew out of the window. She couldn’t deal with his moods his tantrums his questions. She felt the need to move out. And breathe…

…………….

The bus carried on its journey towards its destination. Stops came and went. People got in and out. Kids were singing, men and women talking, discussing arguing. Everything was like always. Routine. Regular. Usual. And in the same bus sat two people, who lived in the same city but in different worlds. Moving on with time but still carrying an old memory, an old smile, an old love tucked somewhere deep in their heart. At times those memories would be stirred up by something like a song or a movie or even a line uttered by someone somewhere. Those memories made their hearts a little warmer in their cold world. The world is full of inexplicable coincidences. Sometimes we get to see and experience them. Most of the times we don’t.

They both got off at the same stop. The final stop and made their way to their respective directions to their respective worlds. They hadn’t seen each other in the bus. Both unaware that they occupied each other’s thoughts throughout the journey.

Copyright (c) Pratik Majumdar