Monsoon romances: An eventful bus journey

Here is my story.

It was her birthday in the last week of July, 2006. She was studying in another city, about a five hour journey from our hometown. I managed to get leave for one day from the office, but the problem was that the commute would eat into my time with her, as I was to return the same day and she was on a curfew courtesy her hostel.

So we decided to meet in the city of Baroda, which falls between our town and her college. I started early in the morning to reach as early as possible. It was 8:30 am in the morning when we finally met at Baroda Station and it was raining heavily, so we waited at the station for it to subside a little. The rain god, however, was in no mood to let us start out from there. So we decided to go out in the rain and have fun all day.

We started walking hand-in-hand and soon we were both completely wet. We got cold, so we decided to go to a nearby cafe for a hot coffee. When we reached there it was empty -- we were alone. I stood up, held her hand and loudly wished her a happy birthday. When I finished singing the birthday song, I realised that we were not alone anymore and many young people like us had walked in. All of them started clapping and wishing my love a happy birthday. She was so happy to receive all the wishes and I was so happy to see her smiling and enjoying the moment. Then she gave me a good long kiss on my lips and I still remember the warmth of that kiss, because she never kissed me like she did that day. One more surprise was waiting for us -- soon, the cafe manager brought out a cake for her and we celebrated her birthday in the cafe.

It was a wonderful birthday, an unforgettable day for both of us. It all happened because of rain. I am sure today, although we are no longer together, she still must be remembering that day and must be missing me. It's a hard reality of life that she got married to another person and I am still waiting for her to return to me.

-- Sagar

I still remember the day -- it was a Saturday evening. I went to Rabindra Sarovar to spend some time with my soul mate. I wanted to go somewhere else, but she told me about this place and we took a taxi there. We walked together to find a private spot and it took us nearly 20 minutes, but eventually we found a half-vacant bench, with two couples sitting there besides us.

We were so tired due to the long walk, we took a deep gulp of air. The park was surrounded by a lot of large trees, but all the leaves were silent. She was expecting a mild breeze. Unfortunately, the sky became darker and after a few minutes the rain started. She became annoyed and asked, "When will the rain stop?" I didn't have the answer and I started to pray to God for it to stop.

A few couples had taken shelter in a nearby shed, but we were still on the bench. Fortunately, the rain stopped after a few minutes. She gave me a significant smile and grabbed my hand. She was dressed in a white-ish saree and suddenly I noticed how beautiful she looked. A few drops of rainwater adorned her hair. I was astonished for a moment. Then she gave me a hug -- I also grabbed her tightly -- and she whispered, "I love you." I was so delighted, because she often teased me, saying "I hate you" whenever I told her I loved her.

I was on top of the world and she easily understood my sensation -- she grabbed me tighter to her. It was a splendid moment -- then she took my face in her hands and gave me the deepest, sweetest kiss ever. I was even happier than I had been a short while ago. After kissing, she still held me in her arms and said, "I have given you all from my side, I must pray to God so we can love each other until my death."

It was a day to remember forever -- it was a day I knew my soul mate in a special way.

-- Sumit Bhattacharjee, Kolkata

I got married on December 3, 1998 and this was during the first monsoon after our marriage. My wife left after our wedding for the Bharatpur Girl's Hostel to complete her graduation. When she got 15 days off, I went to Bharatpur and from there we headed to Ghaziabad, where I was all set to start on my first job. It was the month of July and we had a bus to catch at 4 pm. That's when it started raining and the weather became romantic.

The bus was crowded and we couldn't find two vacant seats together -- we requested people in our adjoining seats to switch over, but they refused. The bus takes approximately 6 hours to reach Ghaziabad from Bharatpur. We thought of catching another one, but it was scheduled too late at night. So we took the separate seats and were on our way.

The bus stopped midway at Mathura and all the passengers got down for a 20-minute break. We decided that now we will sit together and ask our co-passengers to take the other seats. We got back into the bus earlier than the others and about five minutes later the man who had been occupying the seat next to my wife got back and asked me to vacate. I requested him once more to exchange with me, but he started shouting and said that he will not change seats. The matter was then referred to the conductor, who heard the whole story. We told him that we were a newly married couple and had requested the man politely to take my seat, but that he was flatly refusing and being unreasonable about the whole thing.

The conductor was very intelligent and he immediately asked the man why he didn't want to exchange -- he had no answer, but kept insisting that he had been allotted that seat number on his ticket. So the conductor just changed the number on his ticket to my seat number! Two three other passengers also told him not to be so adamant and to take my seat, which he finally did, after making such a scene.

So finally, we got to sit together and travelling in the rain turned out to be a lovely, romantic day for us.

-- Bharat Kumar, Khuskhera

Share your monsoon memories with us -- we want to hear all about your romantic rainy liasons and experiences. Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: 'Monsoon Romance') with your monsoon memories. Include your name, age and hometown (those who prefer to keep their identities private may do so) and tell us your love story -- the most interesting ones will be published right here on rediff.com.