That Dashing Girl

Those days I was living  in a semi town…That day morning  after completing a set of exercise I was taking rest and was about to start the next sets, that time she came into my view…a girl wearing a half sleeve t-shirt and a trouser with ear phones plugged into her ears was going to nearby shop…I realized it observing the bag in her hand, I could see her clearly through the window and I was stunned, the thought started to knock into my mind…why did not I have heard about her? She must be a matter of gossip…a girl with such a dress in a semi-town will surely attract the gossip makers.

When I did not listened any gossip about her for next few days I asked one my friends from that colony about her and came to know her name is Indu, my friend informed that Indu is new in our colony  may be this is the reason people has not noticed her much.

After few days my same friend informed me with a joyous tone

…you know Indu  is so courageous

Being curious I asked

…what happened?

…standing beside the main road during evening under the street light (temporary not working) closer to our colony she was talking with one of her friends (a boy), that time a middle aged woman from our colony shouted at her and ordered to stop talking with a boy during evening and to return back to home…you know some people are always there to put you down and to criticize your every activity.

…What happened then?

My friend smiled and said

…Indu replied with more loud voice…”hey Aunty. Mind your own business and don’t interfere in my life, just go to hell.”

I was so happy after such a reply I was almost speechless, the Aunty I am talking about has an old habit to criticize people, to make rumors about others (Specially girls) to interfere in others business, though she never interfered in my life but I never liked such mean activities but this time she has received what she actually deserves.

That time during winter the colony members started paying badminton in the wide lane of our colony and after their repeated request I joined them, being almost an undefeatable in this game I became less interested after the first day because of the weak competitors, I wondered so many young and fit boys are there but so weak they are in this game. Uncles and aunties also used to play with us; in the second day Indu joined us and gave me a tough competition….she was too good to explain. That time one day after returning from college (She was in the last year of college doing a diploma course) she joined us and informed that a badminton competition has been arranged by college authority and she is taking part and then looked at me and informed…now I will play much with you than others.

Gradually with time a good relation developed between us and the credit goes to her, though I will not call it ‘friendship”. She is not a shy type girl, she used talk with everyone very frankly and there was spontaneity in her behavior.

I have never seen her wearing traditional women dresses like Salwar or Saree etc, she used to wear jeans and shirts most of the time and used to carry the dresses perfectly and had a tom boy attitude always, she used to live in a rental house with her friends and used to handle all the household works single handedly whether buying veg. from the market or to buy materials from kirana shop or to give a call to electrician or plumber for repairing.

The best part in her was…like other girls who comes from village to a town/city and pretend to behave like a city girls and actually make others laugh for their peculiar appearance, behavior and specially the pronunciations and languages, Indu did not have any such habit, while talking she used to use the village languages mostly at the end of the sentence and it used to add an extra charm in her talking style…she neither used to pretend nor used to hide her originality.

Some of her behaviors still I can remember which reflects her simplicity and spontaneity…after completing a game that day we were taking rest and others were playing, that time we were, sorry better to say…she was talking with me(Those days I was too shy to start conversation with girls), were talking about our childhood days…our fav comics, games,TV serials etc, when I informed her that my fav Tv serial was Shaktimaan she immediately covered her head with the hood of her t-shirt then crossed the hands and covered the face and said…”Andhera Kayem rahein”(Long live darkness) and laughed out. Her activity surprised me a lot and yes, I was happy to see her, even I was not so much free to react like her.

Before Indu I never saw such a girl who is not shy, talks less with boys to prove so much cultured and traditional they are (Though hiding from others some of them play tricks very secretly to trap the boys one after another and play with their emotions).

Our badminton in the colony lane continued for four months, during the month of October just after two days of Durga Puja when we were playing that time a procession immersion entered in our lane, so we stopped playing and was waiting for the procession to cross the lane, huge size boxes with Dolby digital sound the song was playing which  became quite popular that time….”Reeba reeba” and listening the music standing beside the crowd Indu started to move her shoulders and head with full mood with the rhythm and synchronized her voice also…I looked at her and asked myself…can you do it?

She never hesitate to do works what she likes…when it’s not unethical, immoral and illegal then why hesitation?

What about the badminton tournament? Obviously she became the winner.

Those days I have seen her in roads while she was going or returning back from college or market…always ahead and always having a leadership attitude with caring nature for her friends and she always used to do cycling with high speed.

Those days some people tried to defame her saying “a dangerous girl” or “you don’t know what a “cheez” she is” but when I asked the reason they were unable to explain properly, I have never received any news of her wrong or mean activity.

Re-Meet :-

After completing her course she left that semi town and after four months I also left that place and returned back home and in the next day evening of my arrival I found Indu in my house, we both were surprised seeing each other, later I came to know from my family member that Indu is doing a job in our town and presently lives in a rental house in our colony. A very good relationship of Indu already developed with my family members; my family members liked her for her straight forward talking habit and her frank nature. My mother liked her so much that almost every day evening she used to take Indu in our house…those days my mother had the habit of evening walk and when my mother used to return home that was the time when Indu used to return from office…so mom used to bring her home and used to order me to bring sweets and samomsas for her…truth is, sometime it irritated me a lot.

That time one day evening around 7:30PM she visited our house with four girls and instructed my sister

…they are doing a diploma course and there is English literature as one of the subjects in this semester and you have to teach them.

The way she spoke out the sentence…it can’t be called a request, so I have used the word “Instructed”. Those days my sister was in college pursuing English honors and in her free time (Not regular basis) she used to guide some students.

The way she approached made me surprised (Though not much) and my sister was very happy for such approach, later my sister expressed very happily…

Indu’s attitude is so cool, just entered our house instructed me and the girls then went in to talk with mom, it’s like she is my elder sister and whatever she is doing is good for me.

That time during Saraswati Puja for the first time I saw her in traditional Indian dress, that is Saree, after offering Puja she took her cycle to visit different idols and pandals in the town, she placed her feet in the paddles and then what she did…I was about to say…”kamal hai yeh ladki bhi”…because girls does not perform such activity while cycling, it’s the habit of boys, when boys need to increased the speed they lift their bumps from the seat and start padding rapidly…That’s what Indu did, lifting her bump she started cycling and continued until she took the turn after the long lane….a girl wearing a saree and doing cycling this way…very uncommon.

But the truth is….I have a settlement to complete with her… when we used to play badminton that time she defeated me four times back to back, then we continued playing for two more days but I was unable to defeat her… hisaab to chukta karna hi padHega.

My parents loved her so much that they wanted to fix my marriage with her, asking her and her family members but my sister did not support it, parents were surprised what wrong my sister has found in Indu, the explanations my sister gave was so much true, she said

…Don’t bind Indu in so called relation like marriage, let her fly, she is a free soul and the sky is her limit, she has lots of responsibilities to perform, she has lots of dreams regarding her carrier and her life.

How do you know all these...being surprised my parents asked my sister.

…She has shared lots of things about her and her family, her family is from below middle class, they don’t even have a good concrete house and her first dream is to construct a beautiful house for her parents and then she wants to study more for better jobs.

I have never shared my thoughts and feelings about Indu before this with anyone except my family member coz people have the habit to find a “Chakkar” in every issues…Indu ke saath tera koi chakkar chal raha hai ka? Pyaar-vyaar ho gaya ka?

But the truth is… it’s always much better if you  fall in love with such dashing girls…these are the girls who possess a don’t care mentality for the society, they are straight forward, truthful, possess a strong mentality and can fight for their dreams, they are almost unbeatable and unstoppable, they have good ethics and moral values and they are not pretenders…if you fall in love with such a girl no one can interfere in your love life, no one can make you separate, no one will be able to create any problem and if anything wrong happens…these girls are enough to tackle the situation single handedly.

These are the girls who do not make excuses…they fight.

They don’t become depressed…they bounce back.

They don’t gossip about others...they work hard.

They don’t make rumors…they become examples for others.

They don’t live with the grace of others…they are self dependent…enough not only for themselves but also for their family.

Last year when me and my sister visited Indu’s home town (Actually a big village) for the probable bride for our cousin brother that time we saw Indu, she crossed our car almost with 70km/hr speed in her scooty…don’t be surprised with the speed…I know it’s quite uncommon while a girl is driving in the town…but you can do nothing….this is what Indu is.

Indu is a very good looking girl with fair complexion,slim figure and physically very much fit with graceful attitude and always absorbed in her own world.

Recent updates about her is…the house she dreamt for her parents is complete, now they have a very well decorated big house.