Late night. Old Delhi Railway station. I was going home for Diwali. I entered the station. I heard the announcement: Train is 2 hours late.

“It’s okay,” I thought.

Two hours is not much of a time, especially when you have McDonald’s right in front of your sight and a stomach demanding for burgers and sodas.

I quickly rushed inside Mc’D and started ordering the usual stuff. I realized that my bag was too heavy, so I turned around to keep it on the table. While doing so, I noticed that a couple with a baby girl was sitting at a table next to mine. I smiled at the baby. She gave a weird look in return. I turned back, collected my order and sat facing the family.

I started eating. Meanwhile, the baby watched me eat curiously. I smiled at her again. And again, she gave me that weird look. I almost finished my burger but she hadn’t stop looking at me. I asked “Hi, what’s her name?,” looking towards her parents. They didn’t respond. “Awesome Parents!,” I thought in my mind. Anyway, the baby kept looking and I kept enjoying my meal. As a few more minutes passed, even her parents realized that she won’t eat unless they divert her attention. So, her mother moved her into her lap, and from there she couldn’t see me anymore

I got up to take some ketchup. That’s when I saw another girl sitting alone, with 2-3 bag packs on her table. She was wearing spectacles and had a book in her hand. She looked cute. I returned to my seat, moved and aligned my chair a little so that I could see her properly. As I started eating, I noticed that she stopped reading her book and started staring at me intently.

“Oh. Is she looking at me or someone else?” I thought. I checked, no one was sitting behind me. I became somewhat conscious. She kept looking at me every few seconds. For some time, I pretended that I was not paying attention, but the staring didn’t stop. So, as the next eye contact happened, I smiled at her. She did smile back yet continued staring.

I decided to get a cup of coffee, go to her table and strike a conversation. I was about to get up when a guy came in, said something to her, lifted her bag packs and both decided to move out of the restaurant in a hurry. But yes, there was this last tiny eye contact while she moved out.

I came back to my table, started enjoying my coffee. The baby girl and her parents also moved after a while. I sat there, thinking, listening to music, waiting, before my train finally came too.