I was lying on bed; my eyes partly open giving perfect example of late night sleep. I had no intension of getting out of bed, after all it was Saturday. Suddenly my phone started vibrating. Oh god! Whenever I want to sleep some or other is going to disturb. It was “Bloody Kiran”. Kiran was my high school friend who had shifted to Bangalore recently. He had curly hairs and dimple on his left cheek which made him attractive. Though he was short, it’s because of his perfectly build body and fair complexion, girls used to fall for him. His shoulders were broad and in slim-fit T-shirt, one could see the packs of his body. In simple words he was “Mr. Handsome” and I envied him.
I had to receive the call; else he would keep on calling. I asked him, “What in world was so important that made you to call me in the early morning that too on SATURDAY!”
“I have two tickets for Simpleag ond Love Story”, said Kiran and asked me get ready ASAP and reach Mantri Mall.
I was happy as I was waiting for the movie since six months. I had watched the trailers and decided what so ever, I have to watch this movie.
It was around 11:20 am and I reached the mall. The movie was at 12:00 noon. We thought we could have some breakfast before entering the cinema hall. We had burger in Mac Donald’s and headed towards cinema hall. Kiran and I had a habit of rating pretty girls around. Kiran saw a blond foreigner and tilted my head towards her. She was fair, tall and wearing pink mini skirt with white sleeveless T-Shirt. She was having high heels which made her walk so elegant that not just me and Kiran, but all the guys around were staring at her. She was approaching towards us. My jaws dropped. Kiran and I could not take our eyes from her. Our Head was rotating at the same pace of her walk. I muttered “Eight”. Kiran was astonished and said no way! Not less than 9.5. The foreigner turned around. She overheard Kiran and smiled at him.
What the HELL!! , I said to myself. I punched him on his right shoulders showing my jealousy. Anyways it was usual to him. We still had 15 minutes left for the show, so decided to stay near entrance.
An average height, fair complexion girl was entering cinema hall. My eyes caught her. She was slim and trim. Her black hairs were perfectly combed into different carved strands. She had also covered her fore head with a front cut. She had wide lips and small black mole on her left corner chin. Small golden colored stud added up her prettiness. She was wearing a white Salwar and saffron colored dupatta with flowers designed on it. Her walk was perfect with matching footwear. Her appearance was simple with innocence on her face. Totally she looked gorgeous.
I was stunned by her simplicity!
“Perfect 10 Dude!” I said to Kiran and directed him towards her.
I was expecting him to agree with me. I prayed to god that even she should head towards the same hall as we were, so that I can see her again.
I saw a tall guy with Indian complexion headed towards the cinema hall. He had tickets in his hand. Oh GOD! My dreams were crushed; my eyes denied what I saw next. The girl was accompanied by this guy. He was not as handsome as me. At least that’s what I felt.
I turned towards Kiran. He was staring at her. All of sudden he got upset. I wasn’t sure for what he was grieving about. In fact I was shocked to see him like that. I always seen him happy and he love to make people around him to happy.
“What happen?” I asked him. He turned to me and covered his eyes with his hands to wash out the tears.
Kiran said, “Let’s go back”. I was puzzled. I argued regarding the movie plan. He put his head down in thoughts. Looking at that, I figured, this wasn’t the proper time to fight but to do according to his wish. He was depressed about something after all.
I took him to food court, we sat facing each other.
For next ten minutes, we both had not discussed a word. I was trying to make my thoughts clear. I had too many question in mind. I wanted to ask him but didn’t know in what context. Finally Kiran broke the silence and started speaking.
“The girl you just saw is Priya and guy name is Amit”, said Kiran. I had guessed it. Priya was the girl whom Kiran loved. I did not know the story as he always used to divert the topic and never used to talk about her. I knew it would hurt him so never bothered to ask either. I and he had completed our engineering in different cities.
It was my 5th day in college, said Kiran. Kiran started narrating.
~~~~~~FLASH BLACK~~~~~~
I was sitting at the last seat in college bus. As I was a fresher, I was not supposed to accommodate any front seat. I was looking towards students stepping into bus. I saw Priya, she was wearing a pink salwar. She was simple and her hair was tied with a ponytail. She was carrying a note book in her left hand and was struggling to climb the bus entrance steps as there was mire in between. I stood up to see her properly. I saw Amit extending his hands to help her. Amit was my roommate. He was from Bombay and he came to Bangalore to do his engineering. I felt jealous of Amit, as he was more handsome then.
The days passed by!
After few days I came to know that Priya was our immediate senior. As it was just attraction I was not much bothered to dig into her details. I moved on with my own life.
Two years passed!! I and Amit had become close friends; meanwhile Priya had become good friend of Amit. Amit has good fame in our college. Being an all-rounder, he had advantage of knowing girls. He was friendly with all people around. He had loved a girl and was also in relation with her during his high school days.
One day Amit came to me and asked me about a mini-project. I was good in computers stuff. In other words I was a GEEK. We were in third year of engineering and Priya was in her final year. Amit asked me to help Priya. I had never mentioned the first incident about Priya with Amit. He might laugh at me. Amit always used to share his daily activities with me. So I knew about Priya. I had done the same project as internship so forwarded the details to her through Amit.
About a week later I got a call from an unknown number, it was Priya and she wanted some clarification. That is how I got her contact number. We started chatting. Months passed and we became good friends.
Priya was simple girl with bubbly character. She was a day dreaming girl. Always lost in her dreams but never had courage to fulfill them. Though she was in different grade, she treated me as her close buddy and sometimes also invited me for lunch at her home. She was a great cook and wanted to be a chef.
DIWALI!
It was October, We had some four days holidays and most of the hostelites had planned to visit their native places. Even I had plans as exams were scheduled next month. I was going home and had booked a seat in a normal bus as the price was doubled during festival. It was 12:30 am and the bus had pick up point from Tumkur. I was youngest in the bus; each passenger was either a corporate employee or some married couple.
The co-driver of bus came to me and said a lady had missed the bus. As it was the last bus and also had one vacancy in last row, He asked whether I could shift to last seat so that the lady can have my seat. I saw the lady standing near the door. The lady was around 28 years of age and was tensed since it was late night. Like a gentleman I agreed and switched to other seat.
It was around 3am and due to the horrible road, I didn’t get sleep. I was prompted by the people sitting in last row to fight against the lady and get back my original seat so that at least I can have good sleep. I got tempted and argued with lady. As the seat was booked for me, even the co-driver could not help her. I got my seat back and with pleasure of victory I slept off.
BACK TO COLLEGE!
It was 9am, and I was already late to the exam hall. I had lab exam that day. I rushed towards department. I had forgotten my lab coat and on the way, my friend warned me about our HOD (Head of Department) kicking us out of LAB if in case we don’t have lab coat. I got worried and grabbed one dirty lab coat from a junior class. This was my usual routine.
I was 15 minutes late and stood at hall entrance. Our HOD and external examiner was facing their back towards me. I asked permission to get inside. HOD turned towards and gave a sarcastic smile. He cracked a joke “Ba pa raja ba, nin manne ne iddu!” (You can come inside, as you are a celebrity). Everyone in hall started laughing at me. I put my head down with embarrassment and stepped inside. What else can go wrong now! That’s what I was thinking. With giggling sound the external examiner turned towards me and gave a devil smile! OH SHIT! I stood like a statue. I could not think anything else other than cursing GOD for bringing out such situation. The external examiner was none other than the lady with whom I had fought in bus.
I crossed my fingers for good luck. I made up my mind and started doing my practical exam.
I still wonder how I passed the exam.
THE DAY I REALIZED!
It was 8 in the morning and had final theory exam at 9. I was sitting in my room alone recalling what all I had studied. I got a message from Amit stating “Priya had an accident”. Some unknown feeling occupied me. I was shivering. I stood up from my chair and started dialing numbers. Priya’s cell phone was ringing but no one was receiving the call. My tension rose. I felt in such a way that I have lost everything in my life. I was getting negative thoughts about the situation. “What if Priya was injured seriously? What if something happens to her? Will I ever be able to meet her again?” My thoughts were haunting me. I called to her number many times, but did not get any response. Now I was horrified.
I called Amit to clarify. The news he shared relieved me. It was not the Priya whom I was assuming to be, but our batch mate. She had a minor injury and was fine. I thanked god! Though I should be sad about my classmate, I had a strange happy feeling for Priya being safe. That evening, I got a message from Priya asking what the matter was. I called her back and yelled at her. She was shocked and was trying to calm me down. I don’t know the reason of why I reacted so.
It was that day I realized, I was in “LOVE” with her. It was surprising for me. I never had wished this, but it was too late now. I could not write my other exams properly. But anyways I wasn’t worried about my exam. I was worried about Priya. I spent many nights and days thinking about it. I came up with a brilliant idea at last “IGNORE HER”. She was my senior after all. Sometimes what we assume to be an escape route, turns out be a dead end.
One day she called me and asked the reason behind ignoring her. I tried to give some random excuses but she insisted me to tell the truth. I gathered my courage and told her that I have feelings for her. She handled the situation carefully. She said ignoring her won’t help and requested me to be the same close friend as I was before.
That day was my happiest day in life. Priya wasn’t angry knowing I love her, which meant she also have some feelings for me. Priya was smart enough that she had neither accepted nor denied my proposal.
We continued being close friends but now the frequency of meeting and spending over night calls had increased. She always asked me not to discuss about the proposal to any of my friends not even with Amit. I had assumed that she was being shy and avoid unnecessary rumors in college as she was a senior to me.
Her major project had won the best project award and she wanted this to be celebrated with me as that was my project basically.
It was 3 in the noon and she asked to come to cinema hall near her house. She said, she had planned everything and I just have to obey her. We watched a romantic movie; she had cooked my favorite dish. We were spending time together alone without any disturbances, as her parents were out of town. I was in a different world then.
It was 11pm and I asked her permission to go back to my hostel. She insisted me to stay for another half an hour. I had no problem staying the whole night with her. We were sitting on swing in her backyard garden along with the melody songs playing in her MP3 player. She played her favorite songs and asked me to listen to that enjoying the moment.
It was a full moon night. Moon was bright enough that we could see each other. The clouds were steadily covering the moon half. It formed a shadow on my face but moon resisted to do the same in Priya’s face. Even the moon did not wish to lose the sight of her. It was cold and the wind was also in the romantic mood I guess. Priya was wearing white dress. For a while I felt it wasn’t the moon light brightness but the brightness reflected from her face made the surrounding so beautiful that I had lost my self.
I stopped looking at the moon and started melting in the beauty of the moon which was sitting beside me. She looked at me and gave a stunning smile, which was more than enough to fall for her. I winked at her asking, “Is it a dream?” With a surprised look she asked me the reason behind my question. I replied, “I am seeing an angel beside me”. She blushed. I thought it was time for me to kiss her. My mind was playing a dual role. Good part was saying “Don’t do that” but the bad part insisting “don’t miss the golden chance man!!” My mind obeyed with the bad part. She was facing towards me. Our eyes were stick to each other’s and my eyes denied my mind’s order to look away from her. I was about to kiss her and she suddenly turned her face towards moon moving away from me. I realized I lost my control and tried to come back to normal. But I lose my control again, as she came close to me again. She took my hands and covered my palm with hers. She relaxed her head on my shoulder. It was more pleasing than a kiss. I felt I was in heaven.
The night passed and I could not get sleep for the next week thinking about the day we spent. Days passed and our final exams were approaching. I got busy in exams and couldn’t find time to talk properly with her. It took almost a month for my exams to complete. She had asked me not to call her as it would disturb my exam. My exams got over and I was waiting to hear her voice. I came to room and dialed her number first. It was switched off.
I tried to contact her again and again. I also tried to get in touch with her on Facebook, but she was inactive. I also had dropped thousand mails but got no reply.
I even tried to get information from Amit, even he was not in touch with her. I was frustrated with too many questions running on my mind, but always assumed there must be some valid reason behind my suffering. I was hurt. My heart was scattered but still was having a hope. I used to dial her number at least 50 times a day but all were in vain. I couldn’t control my feelings and started consuming alcohol. I had lost my focus on my studies and everything else.
Months passed. I didn’t get any reply from her. One day I came to know that she and her family had shifted to another city. I lost hopes.
DOOMSDAY!
I was in final year. One day I got a mail from Priya. I was on cloud nine to her name displaying on my inbox screen. I opened the mail expecting something good from her.
Hi,
I hope you are doing well. I am sorry that I left the city uninformed. I am doing great here. I need a favor from you. Please never tell Amit that you had feelings for me. I and Amit are in relationship since past 6 months. I am sorry about that night; hope it doesn’t spoil our FRIENDSHIP. I always treated you as my good friend and you are still the same. I didn’t contact you as Amit doesn’t want me to be in touch with any of our college guys since it might create some problem. That is also the reason why I left the city uninformed. Hope you understand.
Thanks & Goodbye.
That was the last time I heard from her. I still don’t know was it a love or just a friendship that I have for her. She is one person whom I can never forget.
I don’t blame her for anything just because she was more truthful to me.
“She is a beautiful pain in my life, which I always love to have”
~~~~~~~~
Kiran eyes were moist, so did mine. We both sat quite for a while. I stood up and took my wallet out. Wiping out his tears he told me “sorry!! We missed the movie” I ignored his statement and Searched for 500rs note and gave it to him. He was surprised and before he could fire a question,
I said, “I saw a much more beautiful and romantic love story than those inside theater!”
It was 4pm and people around us were waiting for us to empty the place, so that they can have their food. We stood up and headed towards the exit. Kiran told me to wait so that he can freshen up. I asked why?
He said, “DUDE! Girls might not look at you, but they do to me!!”
Both laughed and came out of mall.
“It’s hard to take a role in someone's life when you're not even the part of script”
