622 - Part 4

As I go to the telephone exchange to get the landline connection sorted and working again, I find a guy who was following me from a distance come upfront-  

" D'Costa.... You're Rianne D'Costa right ? " 

Preplexed,  "Yeah, but do I know you ?" 

 " Jiggy... Oh well Jigar Paliwal class 10th ? Nomads ? ? "

 " Oh yes yes... Jiggy now I remember.. Hehe .. its been quite sometime actually!"

 "But you haven't changed much , that's why it took a while to recognise you from a distance but then here we are..." 

"What are you doing nowadays?" 

" Well, I just shifted to the joint family setup of the Paliwals here at Palm Road from our Delhi base" " So that means we're neighbours now"

 " New neighbours indeed"

 "By the way, are you still in touch with our classmates and batchmates?", I ask intuitively. 

" Yeah , a bunch of them" .

I see my token number being flashed on the LED screen  ,"Its my turn now..  I got to go". 

" Yeah , will catch you up later at home.. Here's my card. " Trying to put up a smile , I accept it and put it inside my bag.  

Going straight to the counter  I see a familiar face but unable to place her, I shoot a quizzical look. 

"Hello dear! Remember me? Mrs. Brown .. "

"Oh yes.. sorry!! I was actually thinking of something else and then I suddenly got  blank perhaps.. " All this while my sheepish smile remained stuck at my face, which either made her uncomfortable or endeared me to her because she was staring at me for a while before she resumed back. 

"You want to revive the old connection? Are you sure about this? "

With a questioning look, "sure??I didn't get you."  Well is there something that she knows but I don't?  As if reading my mind, she continues in soft whispers , "There really are many questions to which you don't have the answers. Meet me at nine in the night at my place."