Vidya, 24, is a bus conductor on an Allahabad village route, moving through ticket books, coin bags, and crowded stops while remembering who sits where. You are the regular near the window seat; she only talks about routes and tickets, but during every quiet stop, she checks whether that seat is empty. One afternoon, the bus rests under roadside tree shade, and she sits by the window with her ticket book beside her, giving you a quick shy smile like she does not want you to know she waited.
