Part 2
Sam was delighted with the thought of having the knowledge of what his co-passenger's name was, it was a feeling similar to that of getting intrigued by a complete stranger and then understanding that you know that person well. They say, what's in a name. In today's world you might be in the same firm, working on the same floor, travelling on the same commute mechanism, seeing each other daily, knowing a third of each other's days schedules, even going to the same pantry or canteens, same functions, get togethers but still be unaware who those familiar faces are. You see a face one day, you know they are there, they become a part of your life and before you realise it, they vanish. Well, that is how this industry works. This industry, wherein Sam was placed, travel was the basic need but when it happens is a question few knew the answer to. Other than that, there might be other factors which might come into play making people move and find new groups. So it is very difficult to imagine how much time you have got before you finally need to move on to another assignment, another set of people or group. The good part of all this was that, what had started as a part of a worthless frenzied effort was finally shaping up into something of essense and value. Although, off late, Sam had turned into a workaholic and his social circle was limited to a set of corporate people. With his previous assignment, he had been associated with a set of people who made each minute of their day count. What he found after coming back, was in stark contrast to his developed defaults. In general, he was still coping with the changes. A lot many have tried to define happiness but its not that easy. Some say it is that feeling of contentment which knocks you out but keeps you going at the same time. Others, believe it to be a mark of achievement of your set goals. While still others just associate it with a feeling of seeing their close ones achieve what they want. To Sam, it was this particular series of events which basically made him feel happy and eager to work.
Days went by, things changed. The commute time, mechanism and people were the same but their was an element of acquaintance now attached to the whole set of events which sort of made it a bit of a difficult situation for both Sam and Stacy. The snooping quite gazes we're replaced by a careful discerning look. There had been times when Stacy wouldn't have cared enough before giving a glance back, but now the process was in itself searching for the right opportunity to which the feeling of acquaintance was guarding the door, which it hardly allowed to pass through. Previously, there had been moments when Sam would have looked at Stacy at the same time she did and then both would have realised and turned back, more like a game wherein you try to tag each other at the same time but then manage to escape altogether. Now, the things were different though, the feeling of acquaintance was just not the right one for this occasion.
Sam, realised this and understood that something had to be done in order for this to continue to the next level although he wasn't so sure how it was possible. One fine day, he was surfing a social website on the internet and was viewing the updates of his friends when he suddenly realised that one of his common friend's name had Stacy in their friend's list. Stacy is a very common name and this would not be the same Stacy, Sam was sure about it, but still he couldn't have spared the opportunity to have a look at the profile. He opened up the profile and had a look at the image to find to his amazement that this was the same Stacy who he had just known. Sam just realised how small the world can be but that was it, he couldn't have done anything more about it.
Days passed, Sam saw Stacy a few times but wasn't able to talk to her. One day, Sam was returning from his busy day at work and was standing in a queue for catching the train back to his place of stay. The day being one of those days in the middle of the week, the queue was unusually long. Further to this, the trains were delayed but the queue was growing. Sam was bored out and was counting the minutes for the train to arrive, when he suddenly saw Stacy rushing towards the queue. Just then, the train arrived and before anybody could know it Sam saw Stacy standing right in front of the door before him. It was a huddle and before Sam could say anything she rushed in to get her favourite spot. Sam, was delighted to see Stacy but at the same time a bit apprehensive by the fact what had just happened. If given the time, he would have wanted to say hello to Stacy and assure her that her spot wouldn't be filled in. He tried to glance back but the train was packed up to limit visibility to the next person only. On the top of this, Sam was accompanied by an overly sized cop, who had a disgruntled look on his face while he talked out loudly to someone on his phone and kept on pushing and squeezing Sam to adjust his overly sized attire to the comfort of this seat. Sam realised he was compressed and his thoughts were zipped by a sudden numbness which built around him during the journey. Definitely, this left Sam with no time for further thoughts and it is at this moment, he decided to take the matters over at another point of time. On reaching home, waiting for the dinner to be ready, Sam had again started thinking about the whole incident and thought perhaps he should convey the message out, but how was the question. At that point of time, he remembered the social website. At first, the idea did not blend in with his comfort factor of the site and messaging anonymously but later he felt he established that connection to allow a few messages through. He thought he would scribble down something there just to let the message pass through.
He penned down the below words - 'Many say it's not fair to by pass the queue in order to fetch a seat' and clicked on send. Although, he was worried as to how Stacy would receive this. A few days passed, Stacy's was not to be seen, may be she had very busy days and her work timings did not match or she was out of town. Then one day, there was a long queue and Sam was waiting with people for the train to come through when he saw Stacy coming out towards the queue. He tried to look at her but she didn't respond, Sam was worried about the comment and thought this wasn't a good idea. The train came and Sam boarded it, after a while Stacy boarded it too. Her favourite seat was still not taken. She sat down on her seat. Sam, looked at her, the moment she took a seat. She glanced back at him and smiled, Sam smiled too affirmingly. He was happy that she had taken his words in the right sense. It was a moment of knowing someone whom you start to respect because of their actions.
The next day wasn't fair to Stacy. This time somehow she managed to get a seat but then the overly sized person found a spot just beside her. She tried to concentrate on reading her book but found it hard to do so, because the person sitting next to her was always pushing in to adjust his comfort thereby destroying the balance of seating equation. Sam wasn't liking this a bit, but there was little he could do. He felt maybe he shouldn't have had that messaging thing going on, maybe she would have got a corner seat which would have reduced a bit of discomfort. He decided to message her when he went back that it was okay to bend the rules a few times.
From then on, days passed, many a times Stacy would show up, but didn't seem to notice Sam or say hello. Sam felt as if there was something which wasn't right- may be she was too tied up in thoughts to notice, maybe she did not want to - although he did not want to rush to conclusions. One day, she boarded the train on the way back from work and started to notice Sam's presence like the early days. Sam was astounded. There was a sudden suite of mixed feelings he was going through. He wanted to know more about this girl, her likes and dislikes. At that point of time, he was convinced, that maybe this level of acquaintance was definitely not working and a step further needs to be taken immediately!!
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