3years ago, I was in Chennai for a few months to be with my brother. One fine afternoon, I was on my way back, strolling to the bus-stop, after visiting few of my cousins who were staying in and around Adayar. The Adayar road was busy and occupied as usual, basking in the scorching sun. All of a sudden, as if out of the blue, a guy came panicking, in front of me. He appeared to be scared of something (not something, it was "me" only which I realized later),shocked, flabbergasted- all at the same time. The rest of the conversation goes like this..
He(with trembling voice): This is unbelievable..I mean how is this possible..
Me: Excuse me?? Are you sure you are talking to the right person?
He: I don't know..but are you from Kerala?
Me: But how will that bother you?
He: I don't know how to make you understand, but you'll have to believe me if I say that I had a friend Priya, who met with a train accident 6 months ago and passed away and...
Me: And she looked exactly like me, is it?
He( with wide-eyes): Yeah but how do you know. Do you have any sister/relative by this name?She was from Cochin and was my batch mate in Cochin University .
It sounded so silly and insensible to me that I could hardly hold in giggling, but felt embarrassed when I again looked at his face. He was still staring at me, startled, as if in a reverie. I couldn't withstand this anymore and told him that I do not have any sister or even distant relative by this name and started moving. I could hear him faltering words which I couldn't make out becoz of the vroom of the automobiles. I kept walking speedily until I reached the bus-stop. When I turned back, he wasn't there anywhere.
I have not seen him before or after that incident and may not be able to recognize even if we meet face-to-face. The only thing I noticed about him amidst all that chaos was that he was wearing a Wipro ID card. I was sheepish enough to not even notice the name on it. The whole incident jolted my mind for the next few days, though I tried to perceive it as a made-up story. But if so, then what baffles me is that there were many other people on the road and why did he have to choose me particularly? Even now when I think about it, that guy's terrified and spiky looks haunt me, leaving me dubious and curious about a girl with my face whom I've never known or met.
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