Southern Girl

SAIKAH is a town beloved not just because it's a beautiful place to settle down when all is said and done, which it is, not because it's a peaceful and sunny environment where bent and broken people came in stack with bandages around their heart and soul. Nor is it beloved because of its bustling neighborhood where hills rolls down to meet the shrouded sea; and pubs and tavern where men quote Sallinger and Kerouac. 

It's beloved because of its autonomy from the ungrateful bastard that is society, from glaring eyes and false heart. Anyone who has ever pass through this town would approve of that. Most of 'em here are beatniks and junksick boys and gals who at one point played crucial role in the revolution of gender politics and sexual liberation. It's got a place for anyone with a dream. That's why it's a hub for people like us. And that's where I was headed. 

t u r n. the. p a g e

I had slipped my ticket inside my coat and was waiting in the long red pavement infront of Sunrise b'lding for a sumo in the wee hours of a Friday winter morning. The night before the weatherman warned the barometer's mercury reading would be low. Stubborn hard hearted, I let it pass. I reaped the price heavily. I sat by the pavement on this little stool besides the fire and was watching the morning strollers and joggers go about their morning ritual. I finished my second cup of tea and kept on waiting. 

A day earlier I had just got back from 'The Scotland of the East' or at least it was claimed. My hairs were rough, my feet lack vitality and my back's all sore. 'til that day I had avoided travelling in winter time. "Summer's more fun", so the old fella in the neighborhood used to say. And I ain't the type who would shit on other people's shit like those old croons you'd find down every corner. I keep my distance and I like being alone. I revelled in it. But, sometimes luck gives you the middle finger to deal with, for that day turned out to be a never ending series of soaps. If that long drive between Shillong and Aizawl be made a Tv. It'd make one helluva a great Hollywood episode.

Oh, I meant Bollywood like when the legendary Mithun used bicycle as a shield from a firing squad  and where 0.5 calibre pistol spill bullets like a machine gun. It was that dramatic. Everything's mixed up. Ugly ole bairn who wouldn't stop crying the whole darn way and old croon who wouldn't stop babbling about the time when he once served in the regiment. I know, pretty big deal. With a loaded gun pointed right onto my forehead. The city of aizawl reached out to me or at least it was the other way 'round. The faint lights of aizawl city never in a million years did shine so bright. And this is a city I don't love that much. I'd climb up the hills and watch the busiest city of Southern NE state gone dead. It was all quiet but it wasn't peaceful. I've never felt sadder in my life. Aizawl city is brutal for the lonely soul. With its mournful little ever raindrops and those little city sidewalk under the night light. It assured the lonesome soul the plight of being all alone. 

A driver, who couldn't be more than thirty, ducked out from the counter and shouted "Amelia chuang tur lut ang aw". His voice was softer than his visage would suggest. He had this weather-beaten face. A small scar was scarcely etched below his left cheekbone. "He got that from a knife fight when he once was a young fool", I mused. He wore an old Iron maiden black T-shirt whose animated prints were vaguely faded and a vai bandanna wrapped around his short neck. And his moustache or whatever left of it was lazily shaved. One could easily conclude by his looks that he didn't get much time off, and by his heavy beaten eyes that he didn't opt the job he's working now. He's a loser in this life and I felt a kinship immediately. But, I didn't let him know. Because somewhere along the line every loser felt sorry for the choices they've made and the gone -by opportunities that they let it pass without a care in the whole wide world. We drove on and time went on.

The journey's half done and just outside a town south of Lunglei, we hit a bump. It ain't a new issue here in this southern most nowhere how awful the condition of the roads are in.Or it actually even have condition left to mooned about. Some said it's actually larger than religion itself.Holier than all the 'thou's and thee's. And, in this part of hell religion is everything. From the gaudy prude to daily laborer they all whined about it. But, none raised a hand or stomp a foot. Everyone's blaming everyone. What a life! It killed me. 

Everyone got off the sumo trying to get a glimpse of the scene. The road had been shoved off completely. There's no more road. We just stood there utterly mad and hungry. I could see in their tired faces and the cold realization that I and those people on the other side were stuck in some sort of hell curved out of heaven by the corrupt officials. 

We shared the same feeling. Helpless and lost. We just waived at each other. 

I had gone back from the cliff and somewhere along the bend of the road i felt a crack in my soul for I saw an angel upon a familiar face in the most unfamiliar way. What a breath of fresh air it's been in this God forsaken nowhere. She sat there childishly in the shade and fanned herself with her little hands. Her skin was mongoloid fair and her hair was medium short and lustrous black. Her rounded breast looks delicious; and her little thighs were ever graced by only the luckiest of men.

The air blew a bit and seeing how happy she was makes this ol' heart swell. I felt a familiar strangeness. But, I liked it. And in my confused mind, my heart had already reached a conclusion. I had to be near her. So, timidly I walked around and sat behind her. The angle was perfect. Gleefully, I watched her converse with her friends. Never in my sad little lonely life had I never been so happy watching someone else talk. I was smitten to my bones. I said to myself I like what I'm feeling now, it's ain't so bad.

Her friends got up and walked off. She was alone. We're in the middle of nowhere, lonely and beat. I gathered my courage to approach a strange girl in a strange place. But, within three footsteps, they wither away. Damn fool, I beat myself. "Talk to her, talk to her. Move your lousy butt or you'll regret it later". I waited a minute and with my effete army of nerves I got up and stood in front of her.

 " hey....."

A gentle " Hi", came the reply.

" may I sit with you?" (It was all mud and wild grass)

" If you wish "

I don't need to be told twice.

I ask her if she travels alone.(like i didn't know that)

"No, I'm with my friends. They went over there to see the waterfalls and all."

Oh, the way her fingers pointed at things.

Talking to her for a few minutes, I could make out that she's not the typical southern gal; who are mostly shy and child-like. Her posture was well established and spoke eloquently. And her voice: Boy, I was drooling just about right. If a girl you like looks at you the way a guy's supposed to look at a girl, you feel the polar shift in you. All you could do is fall. And this I did. 

We talked the whole mad thing.And, I poured my heart out to her. Even when her friends got back. We were still together. She made me laugh and I made her laugh, too. She said she was a college girl in the plains and was on semester break heading home. Her voice was soothing and it calmed my raunchy heart. I ached all over for her. I love, love, love the way she flirted with me. It's a gift, you know. You gotta know how to flirt, otherwise they're just plain silly words.

After being stuck in the middle of nowhere for about two hours, the self appointed authorities had come down to a decision that passengers exchange would be most beneficial. Damn losers. So bored with their pathetic life that always mooning a way to ruin someone else's life. Some politicians! If it were up to me, we'd be stuck there for eternity. Just me and my girl. We walked up the mountain and down the vineyard. It was a galling experience. But, the weather helped. And the girl - my sassy lass. And the wind, the slow and gentle breeze. The clear cool air, I gulped graciously and exhale. I did it again and thanked the heaven. We went down the hills like some ole band of gypsies. Contentment and love overflowing in the fountain of our hearts. For a brief moment there, I kinda understand when a poet says “ah, when in love, life's an endless garden. "

Disarray and out of order. It resemble a cut out scene from some Old West pictures in which the town sheriff had recently been killed by some outlaws. People hurried up and down the steep little sidewalk carrying their luggages on their head like some Indian porter on the railway platform. But she was so peaceful, move gracefully. And with each passing seconds my admiration of her grows stronger in my heart. Hell, I swear it's love. If it ain't, I want this feeling. Like all the fools before me I chose this over love. 

Green grass are greener, blue sky is bluer and country roads are home to muds and all the unwanted things. And here on the road where our fore forlorn lovers had walked, desperate eyes of a lonesome soul of men and women followed us. I'm glad, you know. I want 'em to see me beside her even if it lasted only for a second. And they'll say in that doomed mountain pass, "hey, who's that ugly fella beside her. That lucky old croon". "She could do better than him." But,  I sure as hell couldn't do better than her. She's my high score in this game of life. And that's what gladdened my heart.  

A short while later we've reached down the muddy NH-54. An hour or so with her is too short a time. We've exchanged numbers and says to keep in touch. And in the brief hour of an early Friday evening we bit one another adieu. It was kinda like in a movie. It was bittersweet. When you said goodbye to someone you really cared for, that moment is carved in your heart. You remember every little details. The weather, the lovely couple bickering somewhere, you see beautiful girls picking and powdering their noses. What a horrible sight. We turned away and went our separate ways. No two souls who are truly in love should ever have to turn their back on each other. And, with every of my footsteps going in the opposite direction, my fondness grew. Why, why, why? I wish I could be with her. But, the cards were stacked against us. The dices were thrown on the table and I whisper “dear heart, this is life" as I watched my little doll cruising down the bumpy highway.

— Gexg Lanuna