The Lady And The Man

By Kumar Shaurya Singh

Once upon a time, there was a man who had a great desire to master the skill of driving cars.

It was not a personal cause or anything, at least in the beginning, for he just had a strong urge to help other people.

He wanted to help them all, and he got irritated and angry whenever he heard that someone had to cancel a trip just because they lacked a car or could not find a driver.

Thus he decided to become a car driver. He decided to become someone who'd be always ready to help people.

He purchased a simple four-seater car and decorated it not with anything. White coloured and simple looking, it failed to attract the looks of many. However, the noble desires of the aforementioned driver had been declared by the advertisers of the town in which all this was happening, and thus, by and by, people began to approach the vehicle and its master. Thus, in such wise, many availed the benefits provided by the aforesaid driver of the car.

The first month was quite lovely for everyone, but the very first day of the second month proved to be disastrous for the driver.

While he was driving, going to the bank to drop his ride, he, while looking at his rearview mirror, spotted a woman in a red saree, and she looked more gorgeous than anything that the man had ever laid his eyes on.

Immediately, his head began to swoon with pleasant desires and all day long, he could think not about anything else save her. He could not recall her face or even her beautiful figure, yet the desire to be around her ceased not in him and thus from that night, in his heart a fire was kindled which burnt his body in passions the flames of which consumed all his other desires and time.

He ceased paying attention to any other affair at all, and mattered not how many riders tried to contact him or book his car for a ride, he would not heed to any appointment and would simply take his four-seater white car out on the town road and would search fervently for the aforesaid lady in red saree.

Days passed into weeks, and weeks became months. 1 month passed, then 2, and then, when finally 3 months came to pass, the well-wishers of the aforementioned man began to advice him with great concern in their hearts.

'You are wasting away the prime of your youth.' one gentleman had said.

'Opportunities are rare, and distractions are many, so take heed of my council and abandon this folly.' Another had provided his gentle opinion.

But mattered not how many gentlemen gave their gentle opinion, his mind could not become free of his desire.

He wanted her, he yearned to meet her, he wished to talk to her, and he desired greatly that she may appreciate his aforesaid vehicle and ride it with great pleasure.

Yet for another month, all these fantasies could not come to life, and thus they remained stuck and caged inside this man, whom we have come to know because of this little discourse.

The man gave up not, though, by the 5th month, his income had begun to dwindle greatly, and great misfortunes he had encountered in his financial health.

His savings had deteriorated, and his loans had not been paid. He had stopped taking care of even his own vehicle, and thus the ‘oh-so-dear’ possession of this aforementioned man had begun to witness the drastic consequence of ignorance and neglect: Even his beloved vehicle suffered.

'Why do you not come out of this stupid dream of yours?', one well-wisher lady confronted him once, speaking with a raised voice and angry tone, but secretly bearing a gentle love in her heart, 'Why do you run after the one who seeks you not, knows nothing about, and would probably reject you the moment you'd encounter her? Why do you waste your time and neglect your duties? Do you have any answer to my questions?'

'I have no words for the queries that you have designed for me, dear lady,' said the aforementioned man, 'but I shall tell you this, so that your disquieted heart may find peace and rest: As long as I possess this vehicle of mine, I shall never stop seeking for the lady in the red, for she is greatly loved by me and I desire to have her in my car. I wish to obtain her love, and I will not stop seeking until she has become mine.'

Thus, the quest of our vehicle owning man continued, and with each day, the fever of his passion burnt ever the more greatly, and the fire of his desire grew hot and dangerous in his body.

For the last two months of his quest, last because after these two months, he would run totally out of money and would have to literally resort to begging and the likes to continue his existence, he took not even a single customer for ride. He spent day, noon, evening, and night searching for this mysterious lady in the red, and even though, many a time he fancied that he had spotted her indeed, but after searching, he realised that it had simply been a trick of his own visions and in reality, the beautiful face of the aforementioned lady was never glimpsed by our vehicle owning man.

He struggled and suffered and lost all his hope and money. In the end, he became bankrupt. He just had a small amount of cash left with him, and he knew that the meagre amount was just enough to fill his car petrol tank one last time.

Thus, he resigned to the cruel deeds of fate and, after having made up his mind, and after having consoled his heart, he went to the petrol pump and got his vehicle pumped up and ready to go.

Immediately after, he found a man who wanted to avail the gentle service that he was now willing to provide and, thus, the two of them drove happily towards a destination that had popped up inside the mind of this other man, whom our vehicle owning man had met at the petrol pump station.

At the end of the ride, one paid the other, and being satisfied with the service, added some tips as well.

Our vehicle owning man became happy. Tears wet his cheeks. His heart heaved heavily, and he let out great sobs. There in the cab, that night, he cried his heart out and decided that he would never ever seek for women anymore, knowing that they are wont to hurt the heart, and thus, he resigned himself to the fate that had been written for him.

So it came to pass that he decided to dedicate all his time to his noble desire once again, and once again, his vehicle became the talk of the town, as, being very simple and nice-looking, it helped many a one reach their destination. Thus, by and by, our vehicle owning man regained the reputation that he had lost and in just one year's time, he acquired all the wealth that he had lost in the pursuit of the aforementioned lady and even managed to build a nice house for himself with the wealth that he had gathered.

Now, approximately one and a half years after the petrol pump incident, it happened that one day our well known driver man was driving his vehicle towards a nearby destination, when he glimpsed into the rear view mirror and immediately spotted the aforementioned lady!

His heart hammered in his chest, throbbing in his rib cage, and his foot slammed the brake pedals so quickly that the car actually skid on the road, leaving great tire marks and going helter-skelter. The vehicle went out of his control and collided terribly with a local tea stand thereby shattering all the glass objects and inflicting a great deal of injury to many a one who had stood their to enjoy their evening time by sipping nice and hot tea while enjoying the smoke of their well chosen and much beloved tobacco.

Many a curses were exchange, some fists were also given to many a skull and jaws, but by the end of the day, our vehicle owning man had once again found himself in the same situation.

The interminable fire of passion burned gloriously in his abdomen, and it was difficult for him to quench the maddening flames of his rekindled desire. He wanted her. He wanted the lady to ride his vehicle. He would never have anyone else enter his car.

Thus, he, once again, and despite already doing and failing it once, began to search for the aforementioned woman.

Once again, the same cycle was repeated and once again, he was unable to look for her.

One year later, dumbfounded, bewildered, and completely out of cash, he, once again, swore against pursuing any women and, thus, once again, he resigned himself to the paths that fate had written for him.

So after all such time, he returned to his noble cause again and began to spend a great deal of his time in helping other people by taking them to the destination that they wanted to reach.

As he did this, once again, it happened that as he was taking a customer to his destination, the face of the lady appeared in his rearview mirror and he glimpsed it quickly, but being now more wise from the mistakes that he had made in the past, he sought her not and glanced not at the pretty figure that swam in his rearview mirror. He continued to drive towards the destination.

Day after day, the same things happened, everywhere he went, the lady in red, though now dressed in blue, and now dressed in green, or yellow, or pink, appeared somewhere around him, and he caught sight of her daily. He saw her on the road, by the bank, near the tea stall, around the cinema house, and even by the river, walking under the starry skies, alone and forlorn.

Yet, he pursued her not and thought not about her at all. His mind was now under his control, and it thought only of his noble cause and his plan for the next day.

Thus, he continued to drive and help people.

One day, it happened. She herself called for his vehicle. As he was going towards some destination, alone in his vehicle, she signalled to him with her hands, and he stopped the car at her feet. She smiled at him and spoke sweetly the name of a destination that she might have wanted to go, and thus, she entered his vehicle and sat behind, as he put on the music that he thought would please her and thus, in such wise the two of them, now being seated in the car, began to move closer towards the destination that had appeared inside the mind of the aforementioned lady.

The ride was a long one, for the destination was quite far off from the place where they had begun. The journey took the entire noon and evening. In the end, the aforementioned lady paid him a great sum of money smiled at him and departed.

He too, being glad with that day's work returned to his home with a gentle feeling in his heart and thought about her not too much. Even then, his mind was still fixed to the noble cause that had first appeared in his head.

So, the next day when he took his vehicle out, he sought not for the lady but looked only for people whom he could help, but, strangely, that day too, nobody needed his help, except for the lady.

Once again, she signalled him to stop, and once again, she rode his vehicle and enjoyed greatly the music that he had opted to play in his car.

In such wise, the two of them began to ride every day and slowly, by and by, the lady began to talk to him, as he also began to talk to the lady.

Both of them shared moments from their lives and ended up laughing quite a lot as they found that they had much in common.

One night, after months had passed in such fashion, the aforementioned man finally confessed his feelings to the lady, and she decided to say yes to his advances. Thus they got married.

Yet, even after the marriage, the prime thought of the aforementioned man was to work for his noble cause, and thus, every day, he took out his vehicle and drove people to their destination while the young wife went on her own business. Thus, throughout the day, they saw each other not, but at night when both of them returned to their home, they listened to music and enjoyed each other's company and pursued all the nuances of love that are usually pursued by those who call one another husband and wife.

By Kumar Shaurya Singh