Now that winter is almost done with its job, I am obsessed to get out on my own and explore. As a first step, I planned to visit my college senior, Terry, who lives in Alexandria, which is like 15 mins from my place. So I called up Terry and noted down her address. Then looked up on the net for the Metro bus time schedule and headed to the bus stop, which is right in front of my apartment, and voila, there was the bus, just on time as scheduled for the stop. I was amazed at the punctuality of these city buses. Back in India, I sometimes used to wait hours together for buses. I really dont know if we even had a site to check out the bus schedules. All we could do is to go to the bus stop or bus stand and check with the information booth there. But later, I started calling JustDial and ask them for the bus depot's telephone number and check for the bus schedule. How I wish we had a well updated website to look up for any bus' schedule and how I wish they were on time at every stop. Hmm...
Coming back to my story. My bus came exactly as mentioned in the time schedule and I hopped on happily. I spotted a little coin machine just next to the driver and asked him for the fare. He said it was 1.45 USD. So I took out a 2 dollar bill and inserted in that machine's mouth and was waiting for it to give me back my balance 55 cents. I waited for a couple of minutes and inquired the driver about it. He coolly replied it wont give me back my change and that I had to insert the exact amount. I "Aahh"ed to myself and thought I learnt something and headed to a seat as close to the stop strings as possible. So after around 10 to 12 mins my stop arrived and there was Terry waiting for me in the bus stop.
Aahhh... It was so good to see her after such a long time. The last time I saw her was in my college hostel four years back. I remembered her as this short-thin-bespectacled senior with cropped hair who is always spotted with a couple of books. But now, look at her. Gained some weight, well grown hair, and for the first time in my life I saw her without her books. But she is still sweet :). We exchanged hugs and the usual "How are you?", "How is life?" pleasantries and started talking which went on for hours together. We had four long years of stories to be exchanged. A couple of hours are definitely not enough. So we've decided to meet again and this time in my place. Waiting to meet her soon to continue our chat. Of course we both have phones, but nothing like meeting in person. Right ??