14. 4th Sem : Yet Another Love Story PART 1

The semester was about to end and pracs were to start in about 2 days. The turn out was skeleton. But like is our habit, the whole group was present. Not to attend lectures but for a much more important cause. To persuade the lab assistants to be on our side during the external practicals. It was an easy job, to say the least. Their demands varied from bottles to cell-phones!!! But our expert negotiator Shis ensured that we never had to shell out more than 50bucks!! He truly is a magician with words. After finalising the deal, the rest of the time was always spent at the coffee joint, I am quite sure in the days leading to the practicals we are responsible for this Joint's 50% business!

The day was no different, after having sealed the agreement we were spending the time at the Joint. Appu suddenly felt the need to relieve himself, so had to rush to the hostel, yes it was the big thing not the usual stuff. And Babban was feeling lonely so off he went to a secluded spot where he could make his 'call'. That left Me, Shis and Doc staring at each other, actually Me and Doc at Shis while Shis was busy doing something with my cell.

"Who is this Arpita??"

"A friend, why??" Shit!! I should have guessed it before, the pig was reading my messages , "Gimme that", I wanted my cell back before it put me in any awkward situation.

"Wow, hold on beta, I am not through yet," Shis was enjoying this, " A friend? hmm, you hear that Doc, A FRIEND!!"

"Well, aren't we too your friends??"
"Hell ya, you are, what kind of a stupid question is that?"I shouldn't have given my cell to him, I was saying to myself trying to anticipate what lay ahead.

"Then why is that we don't recieve a single message or call from you in days??"
Shis was right I rarely called anyone.

"And this girl is all over your Inbox and call lists, but she is just a friend. right?" I could imagine Shis in a black robe, he would make a good lawyer.

"Its not what you think, she is just a good friend, plus I meet you guys everyday, don't I??"
"You can obviously meet her on the weekends, can't you??"Shis wasn't the quite one.

"I can't, Its not that easy as you think"
"She has a big brother, or brothers??" It was not hard to see from where he was drawing his inferences!! But seriously, I still can't understand why he does that, comparing things with his Rajnikant movies.

"NO you idiot, Because she is in VIT, in Vellore, not Delhi!!"
"Who is this by the way?? you never told us about her"Shis was actually right, I had never told them much about my school days.

"Well, we were classmates in school, till 11th, before I moved to Delhi"
"Ok, but there must have been others, whats so special about her that you only ring her up??"
He wasn't gonna settle for anything less but the full story I thought and decided to tell him, It was the only way to keep him quiet.

I began. I had to.

I first came across her during an intra-school drama competition. We were opponents.
She was playing the role of a mother, and as the role demanded, she was dressed up in a beautiful Saree and all the relevant stuff like jewelery and little bit of makeup. I really hadn't liked too many girls after Preeti, she always was my yardstick and frankly no one could measure up to her. But Arpita was different.

She was stunning. Her smile, beautiful round face, long hair and a childish voice, everything was just perfect. My yardstick had failed and how!!
I was in a dream sequence, again.
If the signs were anything to go by, I had lost my head again!!!
From that day on, whenever I saw her, my world went into slow-mo.

And, in class 9th, for the first time in my life, I thought God was backing me up on something. All the classes were reshuffled and thankfully she was put in the same section as me. I was elated!!
Some of my friends from the earlier sections were also in the same section. She was a good friend of one of them, Tanisha.
As the session progressed, we started talking and became what you can call friends!!
During classes, I used to stare at her and after stalk her. It was going well and I had reason to celebrate, she was in my sight most of the day and we were friends now, meaning I could try and move ahead.

What an idiot I was!!

I soon realised she was much more close to a boy named Sameer, who, thanks to the reshuffling, was in a different section now. He was light years ahead of me in terms of being close to her. Rumors of them being togther were ripe but I never gave an ear. I had no chance in hell but still I stayed on.

A year passed.

We were now in Class 10th, nothing had changed much. I was still just a friend and she was still THE ONE. Before the 10th boards, there was a trip to Sunderbans. School had organised it for us. I thought what better way to express your love than under the moon on a boat??
I made all the preps.
Card check
Walkman check
Smooth instrumental cassette check

Once on the boat, (well its hard to describe but it was much bigger than a boat but way smaller than a ship. but whatever it was, sure was fun to be on) everybody was enjoying the surroundings and soon it was dusk.

Just as I thought of spilling the beans, a friend of mine told me that Sameer had actually proposed her a few days back and she had reciprocated his feelings but didnt commit. I didn't know whether to believe him or not. But sense prevailed and I decided to stay quiet for some more time.

Second year passed.

We were now in Class 11th.
That Sameer happened to choose the same combination of subjects as me and consequently was in the same section. When he asked where will I be taking physics classes I just ignored him. A few days later I came to know he, Arpita, Tanisha and some other friends of mine were taking tuitions from the same guy. It sure wasn't sensible but I jumped onto the bandwagon as well.
So, now I had the privilege of meeting her after school once a week. It was her house that was the venue. So it was great fun having her around till the teacher came. It was the perfect thing I could have asked for.

Third year passed

We moved on to class 12th.
The tuition venue was now shifted to another girls house which was close to school. So I used to stay back at a friends place till the class as my home was too far for a to and fro journey in under an hour. By this time, I think we had become good friends. But still, I was too afraid to call her up even for a casual talk.

During the summer break my mom got transferred to Delhi and I knew I'll have to move with her. Before I left, I wanted to meet her for one last time, but really didn't have the courage to ask her so. Took the help of the physics tuition instead. Requested Sir to take the class on Tuesday, instead of Thursday, as I was to leave on Wednesday.

I still remember that class, not everyone had turned up. Tanisha was ill, Sameer was away.
That was the last time I had seen her, She was wearing a maroon-yellow salwar kameez. And as always, It was hard to look away.

After the class, I remember walking up to the bus-stand with her. Stood there for sometime, talking. Just couldn't catch a bus before she did. Figuring she might be getting late, I asked her to carry-on. That I'll be fine. She crossed the road, waved at me from the median and then from the window after boarding the bus and that was it. She was gone.

I took a bus myself and headed home.