On The Banks Of The Neckar

July 1^st, 2011. It was my last day of deputation in Germany. I stayed in a place called Heilbronn, which was about 40 minutes drive from Stuttgart. I had come from office early that day. My room was in utter mess. Half of my packing was yet to be done. I came to realize the bitter fact that I had procrastinated too much in this regard. And trust me, packing your baggage for a first-time-return-from-deputation-journey is a colossal task. By the time I was finished, it was 1.30AM in the morning!!! My flight was at 7.30AM and I had called the cab to be present at 4.00AM. So, I had around 2.5 hours at my disposal. My idea of a 4-5 hours sleep was long dead and buried. And, I was in no mood to sleep, anyways. So, I decided to take a night walk along the banks of the Neckar [a river which flows along the city of Heilbronn] for one last time. It was 1.40AM when I left my apartment. I planned to come back by 2.30AM.

            The Neckar Bridge is just a 10 minute walk from my apartment. It was quite a warm night. The weather widget on my cell was showing 16° Celsius [Yes!!! When you stay in Germany for sometime, 16° C feels warm… ;-)].  Hmm… You must be wondering when the woman will make an appearance in this article. After all, this article is about a woman, right??? But, if you have had any prior experience dealing with women, you will appreciate the fact that waiting is indeed a virtue with them…;-)

            So, let us come back to the Neckar Bridge. At right angles to the bridge, there is a long walkway, lined with wooden benches, which runs parallel to the river. There is a bench, on the back of which I have marked a very small ‘K’. This bench is very special to me. I went up to it and sat on it, contemplating the occasion which made it so special…

--- 2 weeks ago ---

I was sitting on the banks of the Neckar when, I saw her. She was exceptionally beautiful, dark and vivacious. She had a tropical flavor to her complexion. I guessed she must be from Brazil. I don’t know what it is with me, I keep thinking about Brazilian beauties all the time…;-) Anyway, she came and sat on the same bench on which I was sitting. Well, I won’t bore you people with all the details of my conversation with her. It started off with mere exchanging of formalities, as it happens in most cases. But, surprisingly, it went on an on and on. It lasted for the whole of 4 hours, 45 minutes [I measured the time later. During the conversation, time just flew by on rosy wings…:-)]. Mostly, she talked about her life. I was very cautious. I had learnt never to let a girl know too much about your life, and I had learnt this the hard way…:-( So, I thought, let her do all the talking, and I would be content with listening. And, it was a great sight to see her talking so freely and openly. Then, we talked about relationships. Well, at that point in my life, I had never considered relationships very seriously. My life was pretty much screwed up, and I didn’t want any girl to come into my life and aggravate matters further. So, I had stayed safely out of any kind of relationships. But, with her being at my side, my perception of a relationship was undergoing a drastic paradigm shift. I was beginning to feel very comfortable in her company. Since, I was a newbie as far as relationships are concerned, I put up a naïve face and listened to what she had to say about it. She gave me a girl’s perspective about what they expect from a relationship. Then, we discussed some philosophy. My guess was right. She was a Brazilian and a huge fan of Paulo Coelho. She almost gave me an instant summary of ‘The Alchemist’. I loved the way she looked. I loved the way she talked. Even though I was putting up a calm demeanor in front of her, inside, my emotions were tearing me apart. My heart and my mind were fighting a world war. I was at my breaking point.

Before I could say or do something stupid, her cell phone rang. Her friend was calling her to get back to the railway station. She was supposed to go back to Paris that night. I didn’t want this conversation to end. She had taken me to a whole new world. But, suddenly, I landed back to earth with a jerk. She had got up to leave. Something inside me prevented me from asking her cell number. She just looked at me for sometime. I could not decipher what those eyes were conveying. I too simply stared at her. The fact that I can never meet her again was very hard to digest for me. I still remember the last words she said to me, “I spent such a wonderful time with you. I hope that I will meet you again. Goodbye.” With that, she turned and walked away. I kept watching her graceful movements until she disappeared around the bend. I just closed my eyes and sat down on the bench. I still could not believe what had happened. But, life had thrown a lot of curves before and it didn’t take long for me to recover from this one. I just smiled to myself when I reflected on what had happened for the past few hours. It was time for me to go back to my apartment. Before leaving, I made a small ‘K’ mark behind the bench, so that whenever I came to that spot, I will always be reminded of the beautiful moments which I spent with her [You can still find that ‘K’ mark on the bench. If any of you happen to visit Heilbronn, don’t forget to visit the ‘K’ spot… ;-)]

--- Back to the present ---

            Tringgg… Tringgg… Tringgg… My cell phone alarm shook me up from my reverie. It was 2.30 AM. The time had come to say a final goodbye to the Neckar. I saw the ‘K’ for one final time, turned and walked back to my apartment. I checked my mailbox, since I had forgotten to check it for the past one week. There were a couple of letters addressed to me. But, I didn’t have time to read them. I put them in my pocket and walked towards my room.

--- Nine hours later ---

I was seated comfortably in my window seat of my Paris-Bangalore flight. Everything had been smooth. There was a small scare during the security check at the Paris airport, since I was carrying two kgs more in my cabin bag [which included some things which were not allowed according to the rules, but rules are meant to be broken anyways, aren’t they…;-)]. But, no harm was done. All was well and I was on my way back to our ‘Incredible India’.  I remembered the letters which I had picked up from the mailbox. I thought of going through them. The first one was from the town municipal office regarding the confirmation of de-registration. The second one was from… Guess who??? No, no no… Not the Brazilian girl…:-P In fact, I don’t even remember whose letter it was. Oh... How I wished it was hers!!! But the fact is, I don’t have anything now to remember her by. Only her aura of elegance and beauty remains. And, as John Keats magnificently puts it, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’…

PS: 
I wrote this article for the Essay Writing competition organized at our company, Robert Bosch as a part of the Women's Day celebrations in March, 2012. The topic was 'Woman- An experience which changed my life'. My article won the first prize...:-)