UNKNOWN WORLD AND KNOWN IDENTITIES

 

Sometimes the stranger next to us has some connection with us but we are totally unaware of it. We could see millions of people in one day roaming here and there. Some of them might have connection with us and some might not. We could see an identical face far from us and also a stranger face near to us. Similarly, we might observe the neighbor near us as well as very old friend in the chaos of people. These meeting processes continue every time at everybody’s life. I have also faced many such situations. Sometimes I encounter my old friends while sometimes my relatives. At different places, different people encounter identical faces at different time intervals.

The month of Kartik, where almost all the institutions and organizations remain closed. Students as well as employees get the long days’ vacation just exactly at the middle of the year. This month contains different kind of vibes. This is the time where the major festivals of our nation fall. The climate during this time is also very pleasant and peaceful. Majority of people leave the city areas to celebrate dashain, tihar and chhath. I also left the city to celebrate the beauty of the village.

After celebrating the vacation at village, I was on my way to maternal uncle’s house to Sindhuli. It was quite warm climate and the sun was remaining as bright as always. After almost 4 years, I took the local bus from Lalbandi to Bardibas. Actually, it is really an unforgettable moment while listening to the 90s hindi songs in the local bus and travel in that plain Mahendra highway watching forests and monkeys. After arriving at Bardibas, I got out from the bus and started walking to next bus station as the previous bus was going to Janakpur. While walking during that sunny afternoon at Bardibas’s sandy path, I was remembering my friend from previous school who lives there. I was wondering if I had stumbled across that friend, then how I would have reacted. While thinking these kind of things, I reached the next bus station. There was a bus almost advancing to Kathmandu. During the time of dashain, it is almost difficult to find a bus that contain vacant seat otherwise, we have to travel by standing. Fortunately, the bus had sufficient vacant seats and I sat at the last seat of the bus near right window corner. It was really a different kind of moment since I was experiencing the same vibes of travelling on the same road in a local bus almost after four years.

After ten minutes the bus reached Patu, a place of Mahottari district. There were some passengers waiting for the bus to arrive. I gave a short glance to outside passengers and saw an identical face. I was analyzing about exactly where this person I had seen earlier. I gave next glance to those passengers and realized that one of the passenger was my friend from current class. I remembered similar situation where I had encountered my friend from my class just like this a few years ago. It was also the time of dashain and I was waiting for the vehicle to arrive to go to Sindhuli. In that jeep, I met my class friend. I was really excited to see my class friend at that jeep. It was a great coincidence to meet my friend without any expectation of meeting him at that time. We both started talking throughout the whole way just like how students in the class talk every time. So, at present, I saw my friend outside the bus unexpectedly at an unknown corner of the world. They entered inside the bus and I was looking at the village outside of the window. Then my friend saw me at the last seat. For a few seconds, he was shocked to see me and also was unable to make sure whether it was exactly me or someone else who looks similar to me. Nearly after a minute I looked at them and they were standing at front and my friend was looking at me over and over again. When I gave a shocked glance at him, then he recognized me and came at the last seat. He was very excited to see me unexpectedly. Actually, I had no idea that I would meet my friend from my current class at that bus. We both are from different places of Nepal. He is from Hilly region and I am from Terai region. Since we were going to the same place, we got to meet each other at zero expectation. His greeting clearly depicted that how excited he was to see me unexpectedly outside the Kathmandu valley. So, we both talked about the small earth and unexpected meeting of friends from two unknown places. We praised the beauty of the nature and the beautiful B.P. highway. So, I exited from the bus after reaching Bhiman. It was a short time where we met unexpectedly.

After reaching my maternal uncle’s house, I wondered how people meet unexpectedly. Isn’t it mind blowing to see known people at unknown place? There used to be thousands of students at my previous school. Every day, I could see all of them at a single glance. At the single glance, I could see the people form East Mechi i.e. form Jhapa, Ilam, Taplejung to West Mahakali i.e. from Darchula, Dadeldhura, Bajhang, Kailali, Kanchanpur, etc. in that school. There were students from East to West of Nepal at my class. I had met some of them unexpectedly. I could meet many of them at different places of Nepal at different time intervals. Similarly, at the current school too, I met my friend unexpectedly. Everyone might have faced this kind of situation and these kind of situations will surely make people exciting and compel to think about the coincidence.