Intro
Wednesday, November 27th, started as a typical day at work. Post-pandemic, the hybrid work model has significantly reduced the notorious Bengaluru traffic for many of us. With flexible office hours, I usually leave by 3 PM to avoid the evening rush. However, this Wednesday was different. First, I got stuck in an extended office meeting, forcing me to leave later than usual. Then, I found myself stuck in the infamous Bengaluru traffic.
Usually, my commute home is a race against time, trying to get back before my next call. But today, I was stuck at the Marathahalli bridge, surrounded by a sea of vehicles moving at a snail’s pace. That’s when I saw “her”.
Traffic Jam with a twist
In a blue i20 car with the windows down, she was listening to music I couldn’t hear, but she seemed to be enjoying it immensely. She caught my attention when she folded her side mirrors to let bikers pass by. She turned back a couple of times, probably checking for more bikers to help. During those moments, I caught glimpses of her and couldn’t help but smile, thinking she might have noticed me. But perhaps she was just focused on the bikers.
Those fleeting moments brought a smile to my face. I found her incredibly cute and intriguing. Usually, my commute home leaves me feeling like a zombie, but she was full of life. It’s hard to put into words, but I definitely felt butterflies in my stomach. I was just behind her car, slightly to the side, observing everything. I overtook her once, hoping to get a better look, but the traffic pushed me ahead, leaving her behind. I slowed down, hoping she would catch up so I could see her again.
For me, that moment felt like a scene from “Main Hoon Na” – “Tumhe jo maine dekha, tumhe jo maine jaana. Jo hosh tha wo to gaya…”. As soon as the bridge ended, she took a left turn, while I usually go straight. But in the hope of seeing her again, I also took the left, knowing there was an alternate route from behind. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on my side. She entered her building, and my moments of joy vanished. The alternate route was jam-packed, forcing me to return to the main road, but now she was gone.
Detective Mode : On
Finding her name
As soon as I reached home I got busy with some office calls, however she was running in the back of my mind. I did finish my calls as soon as I could and then started to think on how can I find her, because ever since I had seen her only she was on my mind. But I knew nothing about her, after stressing a lot of my idle sitting neurons I could remember her car registration number. Recently I have been looking for 2nd hand cars to buy so I knew if you had the registration number you can find few basic details about registration on mParivahan app, it does have owner name also but is masked. I was not even sure that she is the owner of the car, there is a possibility the car could be registered under her parents name or any other relatives. I thought I anyways know nothing about her, lets start with a masked name and see where it goes. I quickly opened the mParivahan app on my phone but to my luck the app showed no results maybe the server was down. I googled to see if there is any alternate website which can help me find the name, I actually found one and the name was masked. The things I learned from that masked name was that her name had a single letter middle name (obviously the name would have been long but she must be using a short for it), her first name was easy to guess from that masked name, but the last name was too hard for me. After sometime me and my friend went for a short walk, I was telling him about my evening and I also told him about the masked name thing, he also got intriguied and asked me to show how it looks like so he can try to guess. mParivahan was again not working so I googled again and randomly clicked on a website, this time the website was different that the previous one and to my surprise the masked letters in this website were different than the previous one. Now I had two websites having different masked letters so I could join both and the first name was confirmed now also the middle names letter was confirmed, last name was also there in front of my eyes with just one letter missing and was still difficult for me to guess it because I had never heard her surname. However auto complete on google helped me complete her name.
Finding her social media profile
Now I had a name for that cute person in my mind, however I was still far from getting a chance to talk to her. I started searching her on instagram, tried searching her name along with a keyword i20 (assuming she must have posted something from her long drives), tried using the apartment name as locations but no luck, I couldn’t find her. Until now finding her name was also so much positive and I was no mood in leaving it here, I wanted to find her and speak to her atleast once. I don’t know what I will say or ask her once I get a chance to do so but I continued my search. I googled her name now and got a few links but then I realized I don’t know her face so well to indetify from those small profile pictures. So after a lot of struggle and mix match of names some other details I was able to finally narrow down on one link which was her website, that pic in orange top was something reminded me of her but on the website there was also a link to linkedin profile where the picture didn’t seem to match. But considering the link was on her website I assumed it will be her only.
Courage to send her a request
So now I had cute face in mind, full name and prospect linkedin profile (which I was almost sure about). Before I could send her a request I was thinking a lot, what will she think, the entire activity sounds like a stalking excercise and randomly messaging a girl like this might not be right and so on. On her website there were options to schedule sessions and all also which to be honest I considered opting for. But later I realized linkedin would be the right way to start because in all other modes she wont know who I’m however in linkedin she would atleast see the profile and understand it is not just a roadside creep and still have a chance to get accepted. So after weighing my options and gathering so much courage I finally sent her the request, with no real hope of getting accepted and finally speaking to her. But deep down I really wanted to speak to her once. After few hours the wait was over and she finally accepted the request.
First Conversation with her
After getting accepting the next step was again to gain some strength to message and to be honest I didn’t know what to say. So I went some like this:
Hey *****,I know it sounds a little bit weird and crazy at the same time, but are you the one who drives i20 with loaded cuteness ?
To my surprise I instantly got a reply, I was actually going out to see a flat for rent I stopped my bike on roadside and continued chatting with her. I told her I saw her on the road and I felt I need to find her so I did. On asking how did I find her I dodged the question but just terming it as digital stalking which to an extent is right also, I was dodging the question because the greed in my was now building and I thought I should meet her and tell her this story in-person. Anyways we spoke about that day a litlle bit and I also had to move from that road for visiting the new flat and then I couldn’t reply to her for few hours. But these few messages in itself felt an achievement seeing a person on road and then actually getting to talk to her was a story to tell. I did ping her upon returning but didnt get any response. It was friday evening, maybe she got busy, maybe she didn’t want to reply, I don’t know. But I was happy with what had just happened.
What’s Next ?
It started with finding her name, but looks like my zeal in finding her was too much that now I know her on every social media website, or maybe in the process I got better in digital stalking. I know what her company does, I understand what “auto immune” is . I’m sure she loves to dance and enjoy when is alone or her close friends group. All that I know about her is just a social media representation and a lot of assumptions. I don’t know anything about her personal life. I don’t know how she feels about me messaging her randomly like this. So basically a lot of unknowns, but I don’t want this to end, I want to know her more, maybe some coffee together, maybe a walk around the lake together or maybe some rides together. I don’t know what’s next but I will cherish every single moment of this entire thing.