Misinterpreted Truth

Commuting through bus is not only fun but also provides an opportunity to meet people from different age groups and backgrounds.  I travel nearly 60 kms daily from my home to work place.  It takes nearly two hours to reach the office.  My job requires me to start as early as six thirty in the morning to be able to reach office by eight.    Thankfully, I’ve a direct bus around seven.  So I make a point everyday to reach the bus stop five to ten minutes early.  Being a book lover I always carry a book and waiting for the buses provide enough time to read.



One day I missed the direct bus and was waiting for another bus.  The crowd at the bus stop was increasing making me restless.  The book in my hand no more interested me.  Waiting for the bus I realised someone was staring at me continuously.  I looked at him and he smiled back.  I wasn’t sure that I knew him by any chance even going by my short memory. 



The same thing happened each time I missed the regular bus.  His presence made me conscious.  Finding him was the first thing I did reaching the bus stop.  My sole aim was to stay away from him.  Still I felt as if his eyes followed me everywhere. 





The summer heat and the frequent power cuts late into the night have had its toll on me.  If the sweltering heat in the afternoon left me drained then the lack of sleep made me mentally exhausted.  During this time, I got up sweating profusely in the middle of the night.  The reason was not power cut.  I saw the guy at the bus stop in my dreams.  He tried to intimidate me and I slapped him.  On realizing the situation, all the other people waiting there beat him to pulp.  He fell to ground and was bleeding badly.  I looked at him worriedly but he was smiling.



The next day I saw him at the bus stop.  And what do I see?  He was staring at a guy and smiled back when that guy saw him.  ‘I hope he’s not that type’, I said to myself. In the few days to come, I noticed him staring at each and every person waiting at the bus stop. 



I stopped worrying about him and buried myself into books while waiting at the bus stop.  Moreover, I tried my best to leave home early to catch the direct bus. 



One day I reached the bus stop on time.  Few others who take the same bus were not to be seen in the stop.  The only person in the stop was him.  He didn’t notice me.  Finding no one to enquire, I went up to him and asked, ‘Excuse me, XXX number bus gaya kya?’  There was no response from him.  He didn’t even turn to look at me.  ‘Indecent rogue’, I cursed.  For the first time I felt bad that he ignored me.



I moved away from him and decided to wait for the bus.  From the corner of the eye I noticed him shaking hands with a middle aged man.  A bus halted at the stop I boarded into it and took the first seat at the window.  I looked out of the window and saw the two men talking to each other making gestures with their hands. 



On that day, I realised the reason why he stared at everyone especially people who were talking.  He stared at them to read their lips.  He didn’t respond to me because he couldn’t hear what I asked.



My heart pinched for all the days I misunderstood him.  I wanted to apologise to him and I was presented with the opportunity one day.  I saw him staring at a girl who was talking on phone.  She noticed him and her face turned serious.  I instantly knew what was going through her mind.  She ended the call and gave him a disgusting look.  It hurt me.  I felt like running up to the girl and aprise her of the fact that he was deaf and dumb.  He means no harm to anyone.  Something within stopped me from doing it.  Still determined to ward off the negative impression of the girl, I went upto him and gestured him about my bus.  He gestured back that the bus hasn’t left.  I thanked him with a smile and moved back to see if the girl has noticed this.  To my relief she noticed it.



Everytime someone found him staring and I felt that they mistook him to be a roadside Romeo, I tried the same trick.  I made it a habit to smile at him every time I met him at the bus stop.  He smiles back as usual.