'Shoe'Napped - Part 01

My typical day-to-day routine (when this incident happened):

• Wake up early
  
• Jogging
• Get ready for work
  
• Workplace (till 7PM)
  
• Basketball (till 9:30PM)
• Get back home and sleep

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED ON ONE FINE DAY:

After an excellent session of basketball, I and my friend Rakesh headed back towards home and had to take a public transport bus. We both get to accompany each other till half way, and, after that, depart towards our respective localities. Ideally, one of us need to hop into two buses to get back home each day. It was my turn to hop that fine day (which later turned out to become not just fine).

Back to our screenplay. Rakesh and I had an usual light talk, as we traveled together in a bus which was only half occupied by passengers. I keep my formal clothes (that i wear to my workplace) in a bag, and a pair of black, formal shoes (which is rightly to be acclaimed the hero of this story) on a plastic bag. The way I am dressed at this time of the day is a little weird, I should say. Dirt patched T Shirt, sport shorts, and sport shoes. But even after realizing this, I got no regrets. All that you think of, at that time, is to reach home ASAP, take a shower, have dinner, and reach your dream world in the 600th second after you gulp your glass of water, post dinner.

I think it was me who got tickets for the both of us, and the time came when I had to get down on one particular junction to catch another bus. While I was supposed to jump off from the footpath, the Bus Conductor politely asked me

"You are the one who purchased the tickets for the both of you. Have you given the other ticket to your friend?"

I had to reply to him with a smile saying,

"Oh yes. I have given him, his ticket."

Waved a smile back again at Rakesh and happily got down from the bus (I liked the responsible behavior of the bus conductor).

Soon as I hopped out, I saw another attractive looking bus with the route number "B18" (Is this bus the villain of the story?), which must have been occupied by around 10 to 15 passengers, maximum. Got into it with a little bit of an excited expression on my face (I prefer to board a bus on that time of the night where I would not want to give trouble to my co-passengers by standing or sitting next to them, after a rough and tough game of basketball, that too in humid cities like Chennai. I am happy to have avoided using words like sweat, dirt, odour, etc)

Like many screenplay oriented Hollywood movies, I would like to give u with a flash, the time of the incidents, so that we are on the right track. No popcorn or telephone call should distract us, right?

LOCATION : ABCD XYZ
TIME : 9:50PM

Back inside our bus ("B18". Yeah. The camera just zoomed in from an angle in which it showed the route name with a flash and then it took a mighty swing on the sides to show me from the windows. This is where I realize I should get into movies, even though the idea might sound extremely familiar), I just got to sit comfortably (even though it is just a 15-20 minutes journey), and commute after I stepped a few seats towards the front, where the conductor was sitting, to get my ticket. And then, I got a call from a friend of mine, and I picked it up to know that it was a conference call comprising 4 of my friends. As usual, all of us bitched about our work and working routine (even though I completely enjoy the freedom I had) and there was this particular point of time where my friends insisted me to include another friend of mine on the call. I had to put that call on HOLD mode, and dialled a number, when I realized I had to step out of the bus immediately, as I have reached my locality. I UNHOLDED the call and told my friends to hold on for a second, and got down from the bus immediately.

Just imagine this in a filmy style, in slow motion. When I was leaping to take the last step to get down from the bus, something flashed on my mind.

I also had a plastic bag on my hand which had my black formal shoes in it.

By the time this realization happened in ultra slow motion, I was out of the bus. :-( . Heart started beating a little faster (Ofcourse). Had to confirm the fact that I have definitely become a loser right now (acknowledgement, you see), took a few more fractions of a second. While these fractions of the second were happening, something else flashed on my mind.

Did I leave the shoe bag on the other bus in which I came with Rakesh?

The answer is definitely a Yes or a No and both of them had equal weightage, according to my tensed mind, at that time.

Quickly picked up my mobile to tell my friends what happend and I insisted them that I would call them back later. Call disconnected even faster. Now, my mind started to swing again. Had to think really fast. The fact that the answer could be a mighty Yes made me walk towards my home. Even your common sense would suggest you to do that. Why would you wanna follow that bus when you can only walk, and you haven't confirmed that the answer is a No?

While I was walking back a few steps away from the bus stop, I called up Rakesh to find out if he had gotten out of the bus in which we came. Just to check under the seats or somewhere, If I had missed it there itself. I would have been nice if it happened that way. Told him what had happened. He said he had gotten down from the bus and told me that he would go back to the bus to see if I had left it inside there(He gets down on a bus depot. So this is logically possible). Call disconnected, and this was the time I had to scold and abuse myself for what I'd done, until something evident flashed on my mind.

When the bus conductor asked me in person if I had given my friend his ticket, I recognized I had the shoe bag on my hand when I answered him.

This was clearly evident. I was pretty sure that I had not misplaced my shoes on the first bus and my shoes must be happily traveling now on that "B18" bus. And this time, I scolded myself even more. Again in a dilemma.

What am I supposed to do right now? Should I get another bus following this to go to the bus depot and give a good try? Or, think reality and get back home? (abusing myself more)

This time, I took a decision as fast as I took the other decisions.

LOCATION : AAAA XYZ
TIME : 10:10PM

Yeah I have decided. I am going to give it a try. I am going to follow this bus, no matter how late it is. Just an effort. Why not?

Imagine all your reconcilation BGMs (BackGround Music Scores), or your Slumdog Millionaire BGMs. Time to fight back. Pulling up my socks. More than the fact that the possibility factor for getting back those shoes is at its all time low, I liked the fact that I took a decision. I am a person who can even kill myself in situations like these where dilemma plays the role of a super hero.

And here i walk strong (with a little bit of sadness, ofcourse) towards the same bus stop to catch the next bus heading towards the bus depot of our infamous "B18".

(To be continued.....)