Love blossoms in OLA

It was a bright and comfortable morning. Rahul felt happy when the gentle breeze caressed his face and waved his freshly shampooed hairs. Today he was ready for office a bit early and made up his mind to enjoy a leisurely drive to the office.  Humming a song and swirling the car key ring on his finger he got into his car, he looked admirably at his new car while putting on the ignition. But, the machine whirred and fell dead. Alarmed at this unexpected behavior of his car he tried twisting the key several times but the machine did not budge. He looked at his watch, he was getting late. The shift from the thought of leisurely drive to rushing for office was abrupt and annoying. Angrily he pulled out his mobile phone and hurriedly started booking a cab through OLA. “No cab” displayed prominently above Micro, Mini and Prime. But, like every cloud has a silver lining, the Ola App flashed “1 Min” above “Share”.  He booked a cab under “Share” and waited restlessly for the cab to arrive.

In his late 20s, Rahul had made a steady progress in his career by sheer hard work and determination. He had shifted to Kolkata recently from Delhi where his parents lived. He missed his mother’s cooked food but felt respite from her nagging question of marriage. She was not only concerned but was worried and sometimes got anxious on his unwillingness to tie the nuptial knot. However, Rahul remained unaffected by such niggling as he wanted to give undivided attention to his career only.

Not very far away, Ananya got into an Ola cab, shared her OSN with the driver and settled comfortably in the rear seat. The seat beside the driver was occupied by another co passenger. She plugged in her ear phones and immersed herself in some melodious song.

Ananya, in her mid 20s had started her career recently after finishing her studies. She was hard working and ambitious. While her friends partied she indulged in activities like reading or participating in some seminar. She had great dreams and marriage was definitely not one of them. Her mother at times breached the subject of marriage but she had full advocacy from her father to look at life beyond marriage.

Rahul sighed in relief when he saw the cab arriving, he checked the cab number with the text message he had received in his phone and signaled the car. He hurriedly opened the front door but finding it occupied, he reluctantly got into the back seat. He wasn’t very pleased to see the car with already two passengers; he had been into the habit of commuting in a big car all by himself.  He made a quick mental calculation that he would make it to the office on time but was aghast when the cab turned the other way to pick yet another passenger.

“What is this, how many people you take, is this a local bus or what,” vented out Rahul.

“Sir, you have booked in share option, so you will have to accommodate other passengers,” answered the driver with politeness.

Rahul hated going to office late and that to travelling with shoulders rubbing. When the fourth passenger got into the cab he had to shift towards Ananya to make place for him. It was then that he realized that he had a lady co passenger. The fourth passenger was quite fat and Rahul felt squeezed in between.   Rahul grumbled silently at his predicament but his facial animation was well read by Ananya and she couldn’t help but laugh.

A whip of anger crossed him on seeing someone laughing at his quandary but his anger transformed into a state of awed admiration when he saw the beautiful child like laughter.  He also could not help but laugh.

“I am sorry, I did not mean to mock you, but I think you are new to travelling in ‘Share’ in Ola.” Words flowed like pearls as Ananya spoke realizing her demeaning reaction.

“Oh….Yes, first time,” stammered Rahul.

“It is comfortable, affordable and reliable to travel in Ola share,” added Ananya delightfully.

“Must be, and that makes it so popular and demanding, no cabs were available in the other options.”

“See, more and more people are using Ola hence the shortage.”

Their chitter-chatter was interrupted by the noise of snoring by the fat passenger. They turned towards him in a reflex act; looking at him sleeping unperturbed and his huge tummy going up and down in rhythm with his loud snore made them look at each other in wonderment . Then they clasped their hands and started an uncontrolled giggling.

“Excuse me sir, your destination has arrived,” spoke the driver meekly.

 He was addressing to the peacefully sleeping passenger. It was after Rahul shook him by the shoulder that he woke up and suddenly uttered in exasperation “What happened, where he is, where he is…”

So, he just wasn’t sleeping but was also dreaming, this made all of them giggle like cartoon mice. The fat passenger got down and soon after it was the turn of Rahul to alight. He bid a quick bye by waving his hand towards Ananya and strode towards his office.

“You can book two seats in Share option, it would cost slightly more, but you would have less co passengers and less travelling time,” suggested a colleague to Rahul during the day when he shared his ordeal of the morning.

 Throughout the day the image of the girl with a graceful laughter kept flashing in front of his eyes. He was surprised that he could behave child like that too in front of an unknown girl. Rahul had a serious demeanor and had a no-nonsense approach towards life; however this personality was acquired once he began his career. Handling a big team and immense responsibilities on his shoulders had made him gruffly but today the child in him got kindled.

In the evening on his way back home he booked a cab, again in Ola share despite cabs being readily available in the other options. He couldn’t believe that he was actually looking forward to meet the girl again. The cab arrived but the damsel was not to be seen.

“I am enjoying the comfort of a good car, spending less money and saving the efforts of driving,” he justified to his colleague when being prodded by his colleagues as to what made him take Ola regularly. Rahul had been using Ola cab for several days now in the morning and evening but luck seemed to be playing hide and seek with him. The girl was not to be seen.

On the other hand Ananya had also hoped to find the charming boy in the many rides she had been taking all these days, but even she had no such luck.

As days went by Rahul was getting more and more desperate to see that girl and often repeated the entire sequence of events in his mind and wished if he could have gathered more information about her so that he could have traced her.

Ananya in the meantime had once loitered around the spot where Rahul had alighted with the faint hope of coming across him. So many faces but not the one she was looking for.

Days turned into months and hope was giving way to despair.

After a lot of brooding Rahul was stuck with an idea. He wrote in several pieces of paper, “Once upon a time in an Ola I met a girl with the most beautiful smile and laughter I have even seen. I am still looking for her,” and signed his name with his mobile number. He left a piece of this missive in all the cabs that he took.

More months went by, the missive perhaps didn’t reach the intended recipient and even if received perhaps it wasn’t taken well by that girl.

Rahul was still exploring ways and means and was now even more determined that this girl was sent to this world for him and he must find her.

One day while making a presentation to his client his phone beeped. Normally under such circumstances he would have never paid any attention to his phone but these days his heart pounded every time his phone showed any action. He picked up his phone and read the text, “Once upon a time in an Ola I met a fine gentleman and I think I found him again- Ananya.”

Rahul could not believe his eyes. “Am I dreaming or is it actually happening with me?” he thought while literally pinching himself.

“Gentleman I have something very urgent thing to address and I have to take leave, my colleague would take the presentation ahead.” Rahul announced and sprinted towards the exit.

“Hello, is it Ananya?”

“Yes, and you Rahul?”

“Thank god I found you!”

“Me too, so happy to find you.”

“Can we meet?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Now.”

“Hmmm...yes, at Coffee Café Day Sector V.”

“Okay I’m just starting.”

Rahul hurriedly booked an Ola cab, again in share mode though it was no more required now.

Once into the cab, he was getting restless and asked the driver to drive straight to Sector V.

“Sir, I have to pick another passenger en route,” stated the driver much to the annoyance of Rahul but Share is a Share afterall.

The cab stopped somewhere; the door opened and entered a girl. It was Ananya. They looked at each other dumbstruck.

“Last four digits of OSN please?” the driver asked but his voice never reached them….