Lets say, this story is about X and Y. Before I begin with this story, let me give you a short introduction.
The year was 2004. X was a 3rd yr student of engineering in the Town. He was an average student, not the kinds who would make a great first impression. Always seen loitering around with friends in college or outside of it, nowhere far from a cigarette shop. Ogling at girls, sneering on comments passed on the young female human species by his friends was among his favorite pastimes. Proud of the fact that he was just 18 while his friends were 20 and above, and armed with the belief that "Abhi toh zindagi baaki hai.." X lived a reckless life. Bikes, games, and girls fascinated him.
Y, while, had just joined the rival engineering college in Town. The students of these two engineering colleges would be at loggerheads at each other. She was this docile, cute, next-door girl, who could charm anyone with her smile. Oblivious to the harsh realities of the world, while out there alone, she completely followed her parents instruction to the hilt. Armed with a small, white back-light, Nokia cellphone, she would take instructions from her adorable parents, on how to survive on her own "feeble" self. Her routine for the day involved, getting up lazily in the mornings, just enough to reach college on time, study hard, for that was why she was enrolled there, eat her lunch, go to RPD (the famous hangout place then in Town) with her girlie friends, study a bit after getting back to her room, and sleep off, so that she could get lazy again in the mornings. Her sweetness was such that she would attract friends effortlessly. But she would be choosy when it came to people around her. Who wouldn't be a little snobbish if one is 16 and charming.
So, it so happened, an afternoon that X sent a text message to a wrong number. The recipient of that message, called back to check. But what X heard was a female voice on the other end. After apologizing for the mistake, X disconnected the call, but his fancied mind had come up with a way to get to connect to girls - A call to any number, and then pretend it to be a wrong number, and then chat the girl up - because in engineering, those days, talking to be a female, be it on the phone or in person, would be a great fantasy.
So this also kept X's idle mind busy, while it also let him grin in mischief. Either ways he was enjoying himself.
Soon he realized, that he wasn't the only one doing it. Many other guys, he knew in the Town, did it. X, as always, was late to join the trend. He was always one step behind the latest happenings, but he looked at it, as an opportunity to learn from the mistakes made by others, already in, and "doing it".
23rd March 2004, was a day X's face beamed, as his cellphone vibrated in silent mode. There was an unusual message sender. Few days prior to this day, X had messaged a number vigorously, being quite sure, that it was a girl's number, which he had verified from his trusted sources, but every-time disappointed, because the person wont reply ever. But today, after days of relentless messaging, and wiggling thumbs, here was a response. It was like earth-lings made alien contact. It was Y.
Initial hiccups ahead, where X had to convince Y that it genuinely was a wrong number, and that he had no intentions otherwise whatsoever, the introductions began. Soon X and Y were talking about their hobbies, their favorite pastimes, their families, the climate, the beauty of the moon, the sweetness of the crow's kaw kaw, global warming, world politics.. almost everything they could talk about, and that made little or no sense at all to others, but as if it concerned them strongly. Soon a day without a message was a night mare, an hour without it, would be living hell.
One young night (jawaan raat) X thought to himself, that maybe its time to take the next step. He was quite bored with how the discussions about the moon, didn't make it look any better. He could even see the moon on a No Moon's Day. So he decided that its time to try the impossible, and proposed marriage to Y. By then both of them had seen each others pictures, thanks to Orkut, which, then, was a donut so big, that everybody could take a bite. So armed with what he thought were not-bad looks and pretty decent vocabulary, X thought, that if he proposed marriage to Y, atleast he would be able to take her out on a date. Abhi toh zindagi baaki thi shaadi ke liye.
But Y, armed with advices from her producers, was extra vary. She liked X, no doubt, he had impressed her with sweet talk by then, but she wanted to ensure that he would mean what he said, or so X felt. So 3 hours later, X was smiling again. Those were the days, that had nights when X would smile quite often.
So they decided to meet some day. The evening they met, was hilarious. Because Y got a friend along, and so did X. So the conversation that ensued was:
X: Hi, this is my friend.
Y: Hi, (smiles) This is my friend.
X: How are you
Y: Good.
X: Ok then. Bye
After an conversation of such detail, X had another reason to smile.
In days that followed, X took Y out on many dates, every one of them unique from one another. By now X had grown into Y, and Y too loved X immensely. They had decided for themselves that this match was made in heaven and no one can stop their union, not even the end of engineering for X.
After his engineering, with promises to not let distance come in their way, X left for his house in the City. Once in the City, the calls kept coming and going, but it began to get increasingly difficult for X every passing day, to talk to Y, while his family sat watching TV in the same part of the house. The distance was seeping in. The promise was getting infested.
Y always yearned to hear X's voice, for she missed him truly. X on the other hand, would get aggressive, if Y pestered him too much. He never tried to understand what she was going through. In heart of hearts, he missed her too, but he used to get frustrated with his inability to handle the situation.
Finally X realized that to help strained relations, he had to move out of his house. X decided to join MBA in another city, for that would also help him get a decent job somewhere, also get him close to Y. When he told about this decision to Y, she was elated herself. Things were finally seeming to move on the right track.
X was never very vocal about his emotions, for he was a person, who would try and smile, even through pain, just so that no one would understand how much it hurt him.
So even when he said those 3 magical words (I Love You), to Y, they wouldn't sound too convincing over the phone to Y, who however believed X, for she had known him.
Once in to the bigger City, X knew that an year down the line, Y would finish her engineering and she would also be in the City for her MBA. And then, there would be no looking behind.
But that first year of his MBA, X was lost in a world of his own. He started getting busy, studying, for then he started realizing that good jobs come through good grades. The City got him engrossed in activities, that were not absolutely important, but leisurely in nature. Every time Y called X, X only gave half an ear to her. Y couldn't stand it always. And she took her stand. X knew that this was not what he was in the City for. He was here to re-unite with Y, and he saw his efforts failing. As usual, he started to get frustrated about his inability to cope up with multiple ambitions, and he started doing miserably in whatever he did. The days hardly ended with smiling nights for him.
End of that year, 2009 it was, it was time for Y to join her MBA, and she did, in the same city. However again, being in the same city wasn't helping much, because X could give her much time always. An occasional coffee, or a quick burger once every week, wasn't helping. Plus few days down the her MBA, Y had to visit her parents, on separate occasions, snatching those precious weekends away from them. With X nowhere in sight, with only his voice over the cellphone being X's representative, while in the same city, Y started feeling lonely. She longed for companionship, some1 who could share her sorrows, laugh with her, she started being a normal human, from an human in love. Soon its Diwali..
3 months later, X and Y broke up..
No comments:
Post a Comment