They spotted each other instantly, as they arrived at the Stand to board the bus to Medikeri. Tall, very fair with a thick beard, he walked towards the waiting Volvo bus. A denim shirt, unbuttoned at the top exposed a broad chest. His hair, combed backward and cut short was thick and coffee brown. Faded blue jeans, a bit torn at the bottom, unwashed for what she guessed to be at least three weeks, spoke out about who he was. He reeked of attitude Ratna was familiar with - Care free!

Ratna knew she was standing on soft sinking mud. She was going to be sucked in. Her first reaction was to resist. However, just like trying to avoid a stone on the street in order that one may not trip and fall over it, but invariable doing just so, the same predicament was hers now. No sooner they boarded the bus, Ratna knew that for the next two hours or so, they were going to be sitting next to each other.

Lesson # 1: What you most avoid follows you like your shadow. There was no need to resist any more. The truth was emerging in Ratna’s mind. As a last resort, she hoped at least he was not attracted to her.

Lesson # 2: Attraction is followed by equal and opposite force of reaction. They were pitched together not only for the next two hours or so, but longer.

“Are you going all the way to Medikeri?” he asked clearing his voice. His voice was thick.

 “ No,” Ratna said simply.

 “I bet you are getting off at Chilligiri Estate, then”. Ratna was surprised. How did he know? She began to feel a bit uneasy.

“Roger Shroff” he introduced himself.

“Pleased to meet you,” Ratna began gently shaking his hand, “ Ratna Arora. ”

“Haven’t I heard that name before? You seem familiar to me”.

C’mon, Ratna thought, even the girl with the least wit, knew that male want-to-get-closer opening line. She chose to remain silent.

The bus was moving smoothly, heading towards Medikeri. The seats were comfortable but with the present attraction – repulsion syndrome passing through Ratna’s mind, she would have liked to keep away from the warm feeling of his elbow touching gently on my forearm. As if he had caught the thought in her mind, he shifted his elbow.

“ I hope you are comfortable. It’s a bit congested, I am afraid,” he said apologetically.

“Oh it’s okay,” Ratna said feeling a bit ashamed of herself, “that’s the way it is”. She pulled out the book she had recently bought in Bangalore, Parallel Journeys.

“ Oh, interesting! What’s it about?”

“It’s about two people who are on their own individual spiritual journeys, meeting up somewhere along the way…”

“I used to love such stories until I became a beach bum in Goa”, he laughed. “Of course, I am now a mountain rat!”

Ratne began to laugh. She just could not help it, and with that she realized that the last bit of resistance she had in her head had quickly slipped away. She was falling in love, with this stranger; she had met not twenty minutes ago. It was not one of those funny statements he had made. Just a normal one but Ratna’s mind just tripped. She recognized it - it was the built up pressure created by mutual attraction, the cat and mouse game she had played with her own emotions, trying to field herself from his, causing her to slip into the final release mode. She dug her face into the book and laughed uncontrollably.

“What’s so funny?” he asked giggling himself.

Ratna looked up at him. The tears of laughter hung at the corner of both her eyes and at that moment she realized that she had made the worst mistake, looking up directly into his eyes – a current of emotions passed through their eyes towards each other, holding the moment. Her heart did the last resistance game – and failed! Ratna gave in.

She had fallen in love. Men like Roger attracted her. They were laid back and not so prim and proper like her nor so reserved. They let their personalities hang out loosely, they were not afraid of their attitude which they wore like Musk on their collar. It made a strong statement. Most of them had no fixed plans in their lives; one day they may be in Goa, the next in the Himalayas, doing different things, dumping projects if they got bored with it, just spending time reading or sunbathing till the money ran out in their pockets. They were like a touch of fresh air – all over the place and yet nowhere really. And of course they had a beard on, about which they were obsessed. They stroked their beard every now and then, combing it with their thumb and index finger stretched right across their faces, and then followed it up with straightening their moustache many times over. So there was Ratna on her way to Chilligiri Estate, for a month’s break and looking forward to days of no activity, but already she knew, she was in possession of a mind whose activity had just become very hectic.

The rest of the journey was a replay of emotions she had experienced many times before. Yet each time it grew stronger. And every time, she realized that as soon as she acknowledged the love, it burst out like a flood within her. Once the resistance was gone, there were no holds at all. Naturally, when that turning came on the road, which was where she was to get off the bus to take the walk out through the meadow to the beautiful Home Stay in the middle of a coffee estate, she found herself falling prey to his gentle persuasion – “Do you really want to go?”

No! Of course not! She could not bear to leave the moment. It tied her like she was tied to a tree. Bound rigidly to this man as she knew he was to her, only in these few couple of hours. She looked at him and their eyes spoke the truth. They both got off the bus together. He was supposed to go further, but he couldn’t. Ratna was supposed to get off here but without him she wouldn’t. They were two individuals, on their own road, yet their paths had crossed. It had become impossible to move further without a stopover.

The grass on the open meadow was so green stretching over such a long distance; it looked like a carpet laid out for them. They walked hand in hand towards the Home stay, off the main road, deep in the coffee estate. In the middle of the meadow Roger dropped his leather bag on the grass and turned to her. They did not have to speak. It was noon, the sun strong in mid sky, hot, but the breeze blowing over them was cool. The burning heat inside them suddenly came to the fore. His arms circled around her waist, drawing Ratna passionately close to him. Placing her arms around his neck, Ratna drew his face close to hers. She looked at him through a mist of tears, her lips parted, the hunger of their bodies now met at the mouth. Ratna flew, her spirit soaring high over earth. Only if she did not feel the demand of his body against hers, she would not have been in anyway aware of the tearing hunger in hers. Yet, it was only their mouths which were in a give and take, while the rest of their bodies merged in a dance of energies, too strong to quench even if they were to fall on the floor of the meadow to come together as one body.

“We can’t go any further”, he said suddenly and wisely, “we won’t be able to live without each other if we do”.

Ratna knew instantly what he meant. Just another step and they would have entered each other’s world of joyous addiction. A journey that had began at Vijapet, would have taken them to a different destination. They had to stop it at the touch of their mouths on each others. Going all theway, would only distract them from their own individual journeys. Yet, it was so difficult to let go, they both struggled, separating from each other, then going back again with added fervour…..separating again, then clinging to each other unable to let go….

 “ Chai, Ma’am,” said the young girl at the Homestay called Chilligiri Estate, where she had booked in a week ago, “Whom are you calling out for? There is no one called Roger here”.

Ratna gathered herself. Who was this Roger she had been dreaming about? She had never met him ever.