Radhika woke up from her slumber in the middle of the night. Her bus had halted due to some engine failure issues. She opened her eyes and saw the clamor inside the bus. All the travellers were anxious and worried as the bus had come to a spot on a lonely, secluded spot in the middle of a forest. Radhika, 19 years old was travelling all by herself to Nagaland from her hometown in Gonda. She was going back to her university and even while driving back she was constantly worried about the exams which were just round the corner. She hadn't studied but her subject- Agriculture, she loved and hence she was quite confident that she'll manage scoring decent marks.
Radhika was merely a teenager belonging to a lower-middle class family. Studies were very important, so much that of she didn't score well enough she might be married off to some worthless fool for a husband. Her parents, although liberal had some strict restrictions on her lifestyle. She wasn't allowed to date a boy and was to only focus on her studies.
Radhika felt uneasy sitting on her seat. She had to go pee urgently. 'Where the hell must I go now. Bloody forest everywhere', she thought to herself. This uneasiness fueled by the constant shouting and cursing of her fellow passengers forced her to get off the bus and into the forest. She ventured a few metres inside until she found a well hidden isolated spot to pee. She sat down and looked around her, it was beginning to get dark. The sun had already set, and the blue in the sky was the only thing that partitioned the twillight. She looked up and saw the crescent moon, which had now become the main source of light. 'Light', she thought, 'where's my phone. Are yaar, I must have left it on the bus. Anyway I'll get it soon. I need to text back the details of this drama to mum.' She said to herself.
After cleaning up with a tissue paper she headed back towards her bus. The creeping darkness was making it difficult to tread through the thick bushes and horny branches. She pricked her feet as she hurried back towards the road.
The bus was gone, without a trace. She looked around but saw nothing. It was clear for miles. 'Oh my god! Where the hell did it go. I didn't even hear it leave! Fuck, fuck, fuck', she started checking her pockets but she was hearing only a thin Salwaar-Kurta and her purse and all her belongings were on the bus. She gulped, she knew that she was stranded. Her mind racing faster than her heartbeat. Her family, the exams, her career and her life were flashing in front of her eyes like a black and white projector film. Surely this was the last straw for her parents too. They'd had enough of her now. But first she had to be found.
Alone she walked in the dark night. Feeling cold, she wrapped her hands around her chest. She walked. A few minutes passed, she looked at her watch, still no sign of the bus or any other human being. There was still a small beacon of hope in her mind that the bus which she forgot to board might come from behind any second. But it did not happen. She continued walking, looking around frantically for signs of human life. She had nothing on her that could help her. The road led straight for miles surrounded by thick jungle on both sides. She soon knew she was stranded. But she didn't stop walking, surely there will come someone through this route. But when an hour passed, she started to question this hopeful reverie of hers.
Almost three hours had passed, no sign of any human. She started to have queer thoughts of being abducted by regional 'dakus' or bandits who were known to frequent these routes. 'What if I'm kidnapped and held for ransom or worse, assaulted?' Thoughts such as these had crept into her conscience as she continued walking alongside the straight path. She heard a crow cawing in a distance accompanied by the houls of a monkey tribe. She truly was stuck right in the middle of a jungle.
Bribed by these dangerous thoughts, her mind started to wander off towards home and the reaction of her parents when they shall find out what had happened to their daughter. She brought her hand in front of her face so that she could see the time with the help of moonlight. Suddenly she saw in her watch, a possible reflection of a light beam. She turned around and saw a truck coming straight towards her. She was ecstatic 'finally rescued', she thought. She placed her hand above her eyes to look closely and indeed it was a vehicle coming towards her, a truck possibly.
As it neared her, she raised her hand. The truck stopped beside her. An almost fifty year old man, wearing nothing but a vest and boxers peeked down at her.
"Why are you here all alone?" He asked.
"Oh I got off my bus for a minute and they left without me. Could you please drive me to the nearest railway station? I really need a lift right now."
"That's okay but for how long have you been walking in this cold? And where's your luggage", he quizzed her further.
"I've been walking alongside this road for over three hours. My luggage is still on the bus. I need to get back to my university in Lumami, Nagaland. Could you give me a ride, please." She begged. Radhika looked at the interior of the truck. It was all colorful like Indian trucks are. The driver seemed to be travelling alone as their was no passenger beside him.
"Of course bitiya. Come in." He said. "I myself am driving towards Kohima, I've got furniture to deliver. I can give you a ride, but it will take us four days to reach there."
"I know. But could you please drop me to the nearest bus station, I'll catch a bus myself." Radhika stated with some nervousness. It was really cold outside, she just wanted to get inside the vehicle as soon as possible.
"Beti, you've been walking for three hours, all the buses have left by now. Also, you don't seem to have a purse, how will you get the money to buy a ticket. You don't even have a phone."
He was right. She had no money with her and her phone was on the bus. She couldn't do anything but travel with him. Four days was a long time to be with a stranger but given the circumstances she had no other option, she had to get on the truck.
She accepted his offer and got on the truck, not by herself, obviously. The driver held her hand and made her climb to the seat beside his. "Thank you!" She said. Radhika noted that he was quite old, possibly fifty or even older. 'Definitely old enough to be my father', she thought. He had a white vest and blue checked boxers on him. He was of a dark complexion, contrary to her wheatish tone. He had a clumsy beard but a well kept moustache. The most defining feature of his face was his big nose and sunken eyes, which made him look like a criminal but he had a very sweet voice which contradicted his appearance.
"So how did you get stranded in the middle of this forest", he asked. She narrated the entire incident to him and received a sympathetic gesture. "Nobody cares for anyone these days." He replied to which she agreed. Nobody truly cared for anyone these days. She stared in front of the road and got comfortable in her seat. The moon was the only thing lighting up the surroundings. She realized that she was really stuck in a bad place there. There was nothing but jungle for miles on both sides of the road, inhabited by all types of creatures, from leopards and tigers to Cobras and deadly scorpions. This man had truly saved her life, she thought.
