It was a regular Monday evening. Shaheen watched the evening sun itch towards the boundary of the Bay from the meeting room. Evening time - she had never been a fan. Right from the time when she used to visit her Maasi in Ludhiana, she would bury her head in-between the pillows to escape the call from nearby mosque for Namaaz in the evening. Or she would rush to her mom and would press her head against her tummy. Never understood why it gave her a sinking feeling, even though the home would soon after be buzzing with the clangs of utensils in kitchen. It never bothered her mom. She would find solace in her mom’s uninterrupted talk with Maasi and her laughter. She would let her caress her head without ever letting her know how much comfort she was bringing her.
A few minutes later she would tear herself away from her to be by herself among her books. Enid Blyton! - her eyes lit up. She became aware of the room that she was sitting in. In San Francisco, thousands of miles away from home that sometimes felt like a favorite dress that wouldn’t fit her anymore but still kept around. Some day.
The meeting ran over a bit and then she hurried to her desk, grabbed her chestnut colored shoulder bag and rushed towards the exit. On her way out, she tapped on Anu’s shoulder from behind who was wearing noise-canceling headphones.. She jumped out of her chair and looked reprimandingly at her. She giggled and signalled her wrist to indicate that it was time, even though she was not wearing any watch. Anu gathered her laptop and rushed along too.
In between their race to the Caltrain Station, Anu told her about her scuff with her new manager. Shaheen asked her if evenings seem eerie to her as well. She said, yeah - they are a bit monotonous, kind of wrapping up the day. Feels like an end to something. Shaheen was relieved. It is strange that any feeling can feel normal if others feel it too.
They tapped their train passes at the machine and paced along the train peeking into the coaches to find empty seats. The guard on the platform blew his whistle and yelled, “All onboard!” They rushed into the next door. It turned out to be a bike coach - people traveling with bikes boarded it. All the seats were occupied, so they stood near one of the poles near the entrance.
Anu and Shaheen had met on this train 3 months ago. Shaheen had noticed Anu’s backpack with their company name emboldened on it. She asked which division she worked in, and turned out that they lived pretty near to each other. Two months later Anu’s roommate wanted to move-in with her boyfriend at her place. She told Shaheen and she said, if you don’t want to move, just say no. Anu said, oh - but she owns the place. A two second grin later, they burst out laughing. So, Anu was going to be moving at Shaheen’s place next week. They had planned to call in a Punjabi aunty to cook dinner for them during weekdays. These days, most of their conversations centered around the house.
Anu complained, “I will need to change my address with the DMV. Don’t know where I will get the address proof from - it is so unreasonable for them to expect us to change address within 10 days.”
“Change address on your bank account and use the statement as address proof. Can be done online.”
“Yeah.”
They talked about work, Anu’s transient plans to find a new job, about the Columbus day long weekend, car parking. Then the train stopped at the California Avenue station and Shaheen’s eye flickered for a moment and focussed back on Anu. She stole a few glances. Anu turned on her back to see if there was something, but she continued to talk about a religious function at a friend’s place she was attending this weekend.
Anu noticed that she was a lot distracted, a bit distressed. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, yes. I am. It - umm - it’s nothing.”
Anu looked back again. Why did she kept looking at the same spot? Just as she was turning back again, she saw him looking in their direction just for a second, away from his phone. She smiled. She said it in a suppressed excited voice, “Girl, it is him, isn’t it? You are behaving like a teenager!”
“What? No - no, no. Just - ”
“Well, he is looking back at you in case you change your mind.”
“No, Anu. Please let it go.”
“Alright,” she said and started talking about the packing she has to do. She made up her mind that it was plain old flirting - she probably won’t do much about it. The discreet glances kept repeating and Shaheen looked a lot more out of the window. At times she saw a faint smile, at times her eyes looked a bit misty.
They got off the train at their stop, and they guy did too. He looked back at her and rode away on his bike.
Shaheen tapped her card on the machine, Anu followed. She teased again, “that stranger on the train again checked you out by the way.”
“That stranger was my ex. We were together for 8 years, and there I saw him for the first time since he married again. A perfect stranger.”