CHAPTER 1 :
"How did you guys meet each other, mommy?"
You know my son, you never know how was the magic performed. You never know the tricks that happened. In the end. it will leave you with smiles, wows, surprises and even shocks too. It was like that dear. A magical moment.
"Wow!. What a girl"
"Where?. Where?".
"Look near the main gate, dumbass"
"Yeah Yeah. Short and hot".
Yeah. Short and hot. The first comment I heard when I entered the main gate of my college on the first day. I was the girl from Bangalore, came to Chennai for my college studies. School topper. Intelligent girl. Gold medalist and of course short and hot too. These are the things on how the society and my family looks at me but according to me I am the one who doesn't know how to make decisions. Everyone I know had or having some dreams and they are running towards it or atleast they have failed in it. But your mother had no dreams, just an introvert girl, never had close friends, even never talked that much to my fellow mates from school. The school I have to study, the group I have to study, the college I have to study and the stream I have to set my career on were all decided by your grand parents. I cannot complain on them because even if my parents let me decide on that, I won't be. Yeah I lack decision capability. I never know whether I was brought up like that or it was my inborn trait. It's just me.
"Hey there. Come here", a senior guy called me.
I pointed at me and signaled whether they were calling me.
"Yeah. It's you only. Come here"
I got really afraid when they called me. I approached with turtle walk. There was a guy, seems like a fresher, standing along with the senior guys. You know son, ragging in my ages is a common thing and I got to know that seniors were ragging that fresher.
"Alright Mr. teetotaller. Here's you girl. Propose her", the senior said.
I really got afraid, heart beats at it's maximum, sweating like water falls. But the fresher guy said something interesting or confusing if you will.
"No bro. I can't say I love you to her. She's my best friend", he said and turned to me and said, "Hey Cheeku, Where were you?. I was searching for you".
What?. Cheeku?. What was that?. I really don't know. I took time to understand his play. Even though I know what was he trying to do after few seconds, I stumbled with words. Yeah your mother was a worst actor then.
"I . . . .I was just just . . . standing there", I said.
"Hey guys. Principal is coming. Let's just go. Hey you two. Now just leave", he said and signaled us to go.
" Just come along with me for quite a distance for them to believe that we are really friends. Alright?",he said while we were walking.
I just nodded.
"Don't just walk. Talk something. They might be seeing us", he said really softly.
I wanted to say, "Why Cheeku?. Don't you had something nice nick name to call?" but I didn't. Yeah, your mom had no such guts to ask that to a stranger.
"I . . . . just don't don't know". Yup, again I stumbled with words.
He looked behind and then said, "It seems that they left already. Thank you for your wonderful acting", he said and went.
I don't know whether it was sarcastic or he said truly then. But later, I came to know it was sarcastic.
I then went to the auditorium for the freshers' day. I was the only one who wasn't with anyone. Everybody had already met and made friends and made a gang. I was sitting alone in the corner with two seats left empty beside me. The function was not that good but went okay. Then we were asked to have lunch. It was to be served by the seniors to the freshers. And here again, I was sitting alone again with two empty seats. Even though I was sitting in the corner, I got lot of attention from the seniors, serving me a lot of food. Yeah. Again, it was because that I am short and hot.
I finished eating fast and went to the class. Again I was alone in the class for a while. Sitting and looking at the same class for several times as though I was looking at a museum. Then the two girls came inside, laughing at each other. Yeah it was your aunt Mahima and Pallavi. I never knew we would be so close friends like now when I saw them for the first time.
"Hello. I am Mahima and you are?"
I smiled and said "I am Ritu".
"And your full name?" said your aunt Pallavi.
"It was Ritu only", I said.
" Your name is short and you are hot", said your aunt Pallavi. Again, for the second time in a single day.
Then the two laughed and I was just blinking at them, as though Mahima and Pallavi were long as Ganga river.
"By the way, I am Pallavi".
We then shook hands and sat on the second bench. For the next few minutes, we were talking about ourselves. The usual first time meet talks. Where are you from?. What is your father doing?. How many siblings you have?. Is it a brother or sister?. Bla bla bla. All those things which I am not going to bore you with that.
Then the class were getting filled with people of students. I seriously cannot understand the concept till now. They just met and now they were like long time brothers and sisters. Seriously, I cannot get it.
And you know, your aunt Pallavi were the naughtiest girl. She finds it so much easy to talk to new people. It was like 'Hi' and now they were best buddies of life. At first, I thought I should distance her first. But life has different ideas. She and Mahi are the closest sisters I could get in my life.
"Hey look at that tall and handsome guy, Mahi", Pallavi said.
"Hey shut up. They were looking at us", said Mahi and turned her face. You may say it was stupid but I had a strange feeling that the tall and handsome guy was looking at me but I didn't turned to saw those boys.
"That was the exact thing I am waiting for. You just wait and watch", said Pallavi and smiled at them.
Then the three boys who were looking at us waved hi and immediately Pallavi waved back. Even Mahi smiled at them. But I didn't even peeked at them. Yeah. Your mom was a tough girl then.
After sharing those waves, those boys approached at us half way. Pallavi, stupid as hell, went to talk to them even before they reach us. I really don't know what she really talked but all of a sudden they were the bestest friends like the characters in the 'Friends' series. They even laughed hilariously. I didn't see but I could hear those laughs. I was like 'What the hell'. After few minutes, Pallavi waved Mahi to join. I thought she won't go but she went. Damn you Mahi. Then Mahi seemed to have shared some words of introduction and the same usual first time meet talks. Later, even Mahi signaled me to join. I didn't even see them and was looking at the bench forever.
"Hey Cheeku", a voice called. Out of nowhere, my heads were up.
"What?. I was calling her for so many times and she didn't even turned but you called her with some strange name and her heads are up", said Mahi.
"Yeah. We are best friends", he said and smiled at me. He signaled to come and I don't know why but I joined them
"Do you guys know each other before?", said Pallavi.
"No. I don't even know her name but I must say she is my best friend" he said and laughed. I smiled back.
He then explained what happened. "You guys seems to have a special bond", said Pallavi. I glared at her and he shrugged. " A special bond of friendship I mean", she said back.
"Alright Pallavi. Let her talk. She's so silent. Come on Cheeku. You got to tell me your name or else you would be Cheeku forever", he said.
I smiled and said "I am Ritu"
"Short and ", I was like 'Oh again' but in contrast he said, "sweet name". For the first time, short has been paired to something sweet.
"I am Rahul", he said and smiled.
Other two also introduced their names as 'Chandran' and 'Jeeva'
We were then talking about the regular stuffs. Some humors here and there. Alright, only they talked and I am just answering to their questions. All of a sudden, those five became so close friends but me. Yeah I am not good with the people then. While we were talking, okay, they were talking and I am answering, Rahul noticed me often.
"Stop a minute guys. Someone is standing out of the group I guess", he said and looked at me. Then everyone looked at me.
"What?", I said.
"I should ask that Ritu. What happened?. Why aren't you mingling with us?. Don't you like us?", Rahul said. Everyone was silent, waiting for my response. I didn't know how to react then. I was just looking at everyone and blinking.
"Are you still disturbed by that ragging?", he said.
"No . . .". Before I could finish, he started his philosophy.
"See Ritu. Roses has thorns. Before rainbow, there will be a furious storms. Every good things are accompanied by small bad things. Ignore the thorns, come out of the storms and dwell in the bigger picture", he said.
"No. That wasn't the problem. I am not that good with people. That's why.", I said.
"Have any body seen that great philosophical line?. Fuuuuussssshhhhhh. Oops. Oops. Your philosophical line was flushed", Chandran commented.
Everyone was burst into laughter. Yeah even me. I hadn't laughed like this in years. His expression while saying this comment was chanceless.
"Alright alright. At least we have some laughs from some one who are just replying to our questions and not talking", he said and looked at me.
Then, the Professor came and we all just went back to our places. He just asked us to introduce ourselves and gave some rules and regulations talks.
After the first day was over, we six, went out of the class and walked together. I got a feeling that these guys will be with me forever as friends of my life. I was right then. Pallavi, Mahi and I took the same room in hostel and Chandran, Jeeva and Rahul took the same room in their hostel. Yeah I took one to two months to well mingle with them. They understood me and gave me some time. It turned out to be so well and I was like one among them, breaking all the barriers. Yeah, finally, I came to know how it means to have such a great friendship. From here on you will see the four years of happiness, sharing, care, our trips to places, some little misunderstandings and most importantly - Friendship and yeah some magic.
CHAPTER 2 :
"How did you guys meet each other, daddy?"
You know little Cheeku, life is like a typical kollywood movie. Just like a movie has two halves, life also has it's own two halves - Childhood and Adulthood. And there's a beautiful song in between these two halves, a wonderful and pleasant song where maturity spurts, getting rid of those shyness and exposing, getting adapted to life changing changes and that song was music directed by 'God', composed in a studio called 'College', sung by 'College Friends' and that song is titled by 'College Life'
"Hey there, come here"
You know my baby, in my ages, ragging was very common and ragging on the very first day - the freshers' day was a tradition.
"Have a puff", a senior guy said to me extending a cigar.
Yeah Yeah I know your father is a teetottler.
"I am sorry brother. I can't do it. Please forgive me", I said to the guy.
He stared at me, "Alright Mr. Tall and Handsome, I have a special task for you". He then looks around.
I don't know what was he up to and just that I told you life is like a movie, don't expect a some kind of stunt here. In fact, your dad's got little afraid. Yeah only little afraid though
"Hey there, come here", he called a girl.
I kind of guessed what was he trying to do. I quickly devised a plan and was quite ready for it.
"Alright Mr. teetotaller. Here's you girl. Propose her", he said.
You know dear, your daddy was so bold in making decisions and in actions and those actions was not only bold and risky but also clever. It wasn't a brag or a bluff. It's just your dad.
"No bro. I can't say I love you to her. She's my best friend", I said and turned to her and said, "Hey Cheeku, Where were you?. I was searching for you".
She was so afraid to know what was happening there. She took few seconds to really understand what I was trying to do.
"I . . . .I was just just . . . standing there", she said, stumbled with words. Yeah yeah she was a terrible actor.
"Hey guys. Principal is coming. Let's just go. Hey you two. Now just leave", the senior said and signaled us to go.
"Just come along with me for quite a distance for them to believe that we are really friends. Alright?",I said while we were walking.
She just nodded and walked along with me.
"Don't just walk. Talk something. They might be seeing us", I said really soft.
I knew by her look she wanted to ask 'Why Cheeku?. Don't you have something nicer to come up with a nick name' but she was so shy to ask that.
"I . . . . just don't don't know", she said as though she forget how to speak.
I looked behind and then said, "It seems that they left already. Thank you for your wonderful acting", I said and went.
She didn't know I was sarcastic but in later part she came to know that I was.
I then went to the auditorium for the freshers' day programme. When I entered, there were people who already found companions to sit with. I couldn't find any as I came to the hostel in that morning. I was searching for the seats to sit.
"Have a seat", a guy said.
Yeah Yeah, you guessed it right. It's time for your uncles' introduction.
I smiled and sat on the seat he offered.
"I am Rahul", I said extending my hand for a handshake.
"I am Chandran", your uncle Chandran said.
"I am Jeeva", he said on shaking my hands.
Then the usual talks, the talks like 'where are you're from?', 'What is your parents?', 'How many sibblings', 'Which department?' and so on. It was an absolute coincidence that they joined the same department as I am - Computer Science Engineering and were also from the same class I belonged. You know what, I dunno whether it was my extraordinary instinct or something, I thought your uncle Chandran could be a humor person, yeah, I was right. For everyone in the auditorium it was the most boring programme but us. It was because of your uncle Chandran's witty comments on the participants and the speakers of the programme. I guess we were the only guys enjoying in the auditorium. Those laughs were priceless. I didn't know I had forseen a greatest friendship of my life at that time, I took so much time to realize it and when I realized there were many changes in my life which was so important in life to lead a happy life. Let's save on the narration of what are all the changes for later.
After the programme was over, we went to dining hall to have a lunch, a lunch which was served by the seniors. To be more specific, it was well served to girls, especially to the cute girls.
"Seems like pretty girls get served pretty much by the seniors unless the senior who was serving liked the rid of section 377", Chandran said.
Yeah he was right. The seniors didn't even heard what we were asking for and even they did heard, they didn't respond to it. Poor boys.
We then ate what we could and roamed around the college. The college was exactly like I dreamt. The infrastructure, the environment, the computer labs were simply mind blowing. I was so much excited on the things that I might learn there. I might be called a fruit or stupid but I didn't care. All I cared about was that the things I should learn and utilize this college to push myself towards my dream, a dream of becoming an techie and a computer expert which I am now, a leading app developer in my company.
With lots of hope and excitements, I entered the class. The class was already with people of students. I was talking to the boys but struck well with Chandran and Jeeva. I had talked almost to all of the boys but with a single girl. That was where your uncle Jeeva plays and fits right in.
"Hey look there guys, a girl is checking us out", Jeeva said.
"Does the meaning of word 'girl' changed or it is really a girl?", Chandran said.
Jeeva was right, a girl was smiling at us. Beside her, was the girl which I named Cheeku. She was sitting along with other girl both not looking at us.
Within few seconds, Jeeva waved 'Hi' to her. Yeah without a little bit sigh, he did, did it with a flow. This might not work well with us but the girl waved back to Jeeva. Then Jeeva walked to her to talk. We followed his footsteps.
What really followed was unexpected. The girl by herself came up to us to talk.
"Hi, How you doing?", said Jeeva with an accent that was so 'Playboy-fullness'.
"Hi, I am Pallavi", she said.
"Hi, I am Jeeva. He's Chandran and he's Rahul", Jeeva said.
Shithead, he didn't even gave us a chance to introduce ourselves. All we could say is 'Hi'.
"I got to say but don't mistake me. Your smile is so beautiful", Jeeva said.
Yeah everyone would ask 'Where are you from', 'What is your parents?', 'How many siblings do you have?' . But, no no, to Jeeva. Those kind of words to a new person were already deprecated in his documentation. In his version, it was 'Your smiles are beautiful' and don't forget to include 'Don't mistake me'. Oh my god!.
Pallavi got little blushed and said, "Oh really?. Thank you so much. You look good too". Her smiles then got widened.
Oh crap, what curse was to see these kind of things in the very first day of my college. Later it was like we were grayed out. They talked and talked, totally forgetting about us.
"Oh again, the invisible Chandran was out?", Chandran said.
Pallavi laughed, " I am sorry, Chandran", she said, "Tell me about you guys"
"No No. About us isn't important. Your smile looks good. That's what is important", Chandran said.
"Well, thank you", she said with her reduced smile.
"No No. You look so beautiful, gorgeous and wonderful".
"What?", she said.
Yeah, I was too not knowing what was he upto. I thought he stopped being a sarcastic Chandran and trying to be a lover boy Jeeva. But I was wrong.
"What?. I heard you would fake compliment people like you did to Jeeva when someone compliments you", Chandran said.
We all laughed except Jeeva who was staring at Chandran. Chandran shrugged and turned his face away from him.
Then Chandran was able to fit into the conversation and Jeeva with his lover boy talks was already doing well but me. I was the only one who stayed silent, not knowing what to talk, what to do.
"Hello Mr.Tall and Silent, Do you need some kick start for spelling up words?", Pallavi said.
"Oh what?", I said.
"Say something big guy", she said.
"Can you call your other friends to join?", I said.
While Pallavi called her other friends, Chandran murmured, "Dude, we are strongly sticking to this girl but you got a master idea".
It wasn't like he said. I just wanted to talk to that Cheeku girl. That was all. But only one girl turned while that Cheeku girl didn't come.
"Hi guys, I am Mahima", she said.
Then we introduced ourselves and then we had fun talks. You know what, I liked Mahima very much. Her talks was so matured and grown up, knows what to talk, how much a smile should be, everything was so accurately measured and spoken, exactly like me. That was why I talked to Mahima more than any body else did.
"I think I like you. Your talks was so much like me, so matured and grown up".
Do you think that was me who said that?. Phew.
"Can you believe that I got the same thing in my mind?. Oh now I like you so much", I said.
Yeah it was Mahima who told 'I like you' in the first place.
"We are here to study Computer Science and this guy's teaching us the Chemistry, a different field of Science", Chandran said.
Everybody laughed, including me and even Mahima laughed. That's how matured she was. Then Mahima called the other girl too. But she wasn't even looking at us. In fact she hadn't turned her eyes away from that bench.
"Hey Cheeku", I called. Out of nowhere, her heads were up.
"What?. I was calling her for so many times and she didn't even turned but you called her with some strange name and her heads are up?", said Mahi.
"Yeah. We are best friends", I said and smiled at her. I signaled to come and she came with a turtle walk. Yeah quite surprising to us.
"Do you guys know each other before?", said Pallavi.
"No. I don't even know her name but I must say she is my best friend" I said and laughed. She smiled back.
I then explained what happened. "You guys seems to have a special bond", said Pallavi. Cheeku glared at her and I shrugged. "A special bond of friendship I mean", she said back.
"Alright Pallavi. Let her talk. She's so silent. Come on Cheeku. You got to tell me your name or else you would be Cheeku forever", I said.
She smiled and said "I am Ritu"
"Short and sweet name", I said. I didn't know why but her expression changed a little when I was half way in the sentence. To be exact, she became a little upset when I said 'short' and turned to normal when I finished with 'name'. Yeah I was quite well with the details, a great observer.
"I am Rahul", I said and smiled.
Then your uncles Chandran and Jeeva introduced themselves. None of the boys extended their hands because we knew that she won't shake her hands. I might be convinced that Chandran had some sense in these kind of things. But Jeeva?. I don't know.
We were then talking about the regular stuffs. Some humors here and there. But Ritu didn't talked a bit. Yeah, not even a single word. All she did was laughing to Chandran's jokes.
"Stop a minute guys. Someone is standing out of the group I guess", I said and looked at her. Then everyone looked at Ritu.
"What?", I said.
"What was her first word in our conversation", said Chandran.
We were waiting for his answer to the question. But it was not even a question.
"Why are you looking at me?. I said 'What' was her first word. Got it?", Chandran said.
Yeah yet another cracking sarcastic which Ritu didn't like. If you ask her, she won't even mention about this incident.
"What happened?. Why aren't you mingling with us?. Don't you like us?", I said after finishing my laugh. Everyone was silent, waiting for her response. She was out of words and was blinking at us, not knowing how to react.
"Are you still disturbed by that ragging?", I said.
"No . . .". Before she could finish, I started my philosophy.
"See Ritu. Roses has thorns. Before rainbow, there will be a furious storms. Every good things are accompanied by small bad things. Ignore the thorns, come out of the storms and dwell in the bigger picture", I said.
"No. That wasn't the problem. I am not that good with people. That's why.", I said.
"Have any body seen that great philosophical line?. Fuuuuussssshhhhhh. Oops. Oops. Your philosophical line was flushed", Chandran commented.
Everyone was burst into laughter. It was Cheeku aka Ritu who laughed the most. I was happy to see her laughing.
"Alright alright. At least we have some laughs from some one who are just replying to our questions and not talking", I said and looked at her.
Later, the Professor came and asked us to introduce ourselves. Then he professed about the rules and regulations to be followed. Then we were done for the day.
We six, then walked a few distance together. I didn't know then, that we will be walking together for the rest of our lives. We were becoming so close and close even without realizing ourselves. I never felt this kind of friendship before especially after Chandran, Jeeva and I became roommates. Also there in the girls' hostel, our girls - Ritu, Mahima and Pallavi became roommates. Our friendship was not like going to trips often, spending some nights in pubs, cutting cakes in each others' b'day and having a lavish treat on our b'day. Yeah we went to a trip and some outings but that wasn't what our friendship was about. Our friendship just demanded a coffee shop and a table consisting of six chairs or a stone bench in our college's lawn or sometimes a break of 20 minutes in our college during class was well enough. Your dad took some quite amount of time to struck well in the group but when I did it was all about happiness, laughs, understanding each other, sharing shoulders and lots and lots of friendship. The most important thing that I experienced in this friendship was a magical change in myself. 'What was that change?', 'How did I changed?' and 'Who brought that change?' - the most important question. With so many questions, let's dive deeper to find answers.
CHAPTER 3 :
"sHE".....
"feMALE"....
"woMAN".....
Yeah, whatever the man could achieve can never be achieved without his girl. Irrespective of the role she plays, whether she is a daughter, sister, wife or mother, she holds the major responsibility and part in the achievements of her man. To those women who goes invisible when sacrificed, who doesn't get recognition of the role she plays, who governs and serves her little circle of her family, independent girls, fighting not only her hurdles of life but also the society which looks at her in different angles, we are sorry, yeah extremely sorry. Whether you're short or tall, dark or fair, you're beautiful in every aspects. Happy Women's day to all the women up there.
And before starting this chapter, I would like to say that in account of Women's day, in this chapter only women characters of the story, Ritu, Pallavi and Mahima will be seen. The story was adjusted to depict in the way that only women characters appear. The boys will not be shown here. I am proud to say that this chapter was dedicated to all the women out there. And here it goes.....
You know son, in friendship, yeah in almost every friendship, you will never know when you will become close. It just happen, happen in a flow that you will never have a clue at what point you became close to them. But our story was different. We exactly knew when we became close and became best friends, no, sisters for life.
You know about your aunt Pallavi. She rarely gets emotional. All she is about is fun and smiles, spreading positivity. Her hardest task is to give someone a words of support when you're put down in life's tragedies. But her wit will make you laugh for sure. It's just her, not getting into emotions, but one day . . .
"Guys, I think I am in love".
As girls, Mahima and I should get excited and talks should be all like gossipy. But knowing Pallavi and she saying like that, we, Mahima and I laughed hilariously. After a humongous laughs, we stopped when she stares at us.
"Oh you are serious?", said Mahima.
"Yeah, damn it", Pallavi said.
"Alright Pallu, Who is he?", I said.
"You should not judge me, ok?".
We nodded.
"It's Rahul", Pallavi said.
Again we laughed. Now little strong than before. Pallavi angrily, got up from the chair she was sitting. We then consoled her to sit.
"Alright Pallu, I know you're serious", Mahi said.
"Hey Mahi. I know you know him well than anyone else. What do you think?. Will he take me?", Pallavi said to Mahi.
"As far as I know, practically he won't accept love, not only yours but any love. He's so much into his dreams that he won't accept any kind of distractions", said Mahi.
Her face changed. We sensed it and turned the talks over.
"But it's not that you shouldn't express what you think about him. Give it a shot. I think it might work", I said.
"Yeah Pallu. Once he said that he likes you. You always makes him laugh it seems. You must give it a try. May be he doesn't take now but who knows he might understand you later and will take you", said Mahima.
With all those tips and words, she called Rahul and asked him to meet her in the College's lawn. Yeah it was the romantic place where every couples will meet and share their romances. It was the best place she could tell her love.
After an hour, Pallavi returned to our hostel. She smiled and entered our room. We were happy to see her smiles thinking that it just worked.
"He didn't accepted my love", she said.
We were shocked. "What happened, Pallu?. What did he say?", I said.
"He regretted to say that he wasn't interested in me", Pallu said, "At least he said like he was regretted. I dunno".
She began to cry still smiling. We never seen Pallavi like that. Even at the time she says that she was in love with Rahul, we didn't expect it to be that serious. But seeing her cries mixed with her smiles really broke our hearts. We tried to console her as much as possible.
"Hey Pallu, don't be like this. You are never like this and you shouldn't be", I said.
"Yeah Pallu. It's unlike you. Smiles, laughs and fun is all about you. Even if this works out, we might have lost our old fun Pallavi. If you get into this kind of emotion, you can never be like you", Mahi said. Yeah you can never beat her in motivating someone. Her matured and practical words was chanceless.
"Exactly Mahi. She's correct, Pallu. He might have regretted or might have not but if he accepted it, later or sooner, you might have regretted, losing yourself. Pallavi won't be Pallavi when she's in emotions like love or something. Yeah, love doesn't suit you, Pallu. Be free from these kind of things and that's what makes you", I said.
She wiped her smiles and hugged us. We too hugged.
"I must say Pallu. I can't control my laughs", I said and laughed after hugging her.
"Yeah Pallu. Seeing you emotional and hugging?. Must watchable scene", Mahi said and she laughed even more.
Pallavi stared.
"Oh come on Pallu. You should accept it", said Mahi.
Pallavi started her smiles off a little but later she also laughed pretty much, beating and kicking us off.
"Hey what if we celebrate this out, say going out for lunch?", Pallavi said.
"Love failure treat?", Mahi said.
"Yeah. It's memorable. You can never find me emotional any more and in any way. We should celebrate it", Pallavi said.
"This is our Pallu, never worried and never sad, always fun and smiles", I said.
"Okay Miss. Short and Hot. Let's move", she said.
I kicked her head and we dressed up. We ordered whatever we could and ate as much we could. And in the last cheers of our coke, Pallavi said, "Always smiles and laughs in our friendship. No more worries, no more saddening. Just fun". We said 'Cheers' back.
Yeah my son, at that cheers, at the words of Pallavi, at that lunch, at that point we became close and endearing friends. Oops, again. Close and endearing sisters for life. There's always memes and sayings about boys' friendship and even about boy-girl friendship. And the hashtags about girls' friendship was not that trending in your mom's age and still it is. All about girls' friendship was about hairpin fight, ego and not last lasting. Yeah it's true but not in our case. We never got jealous, ego or fights. Yeah we got fights when someone of us became close to some other girl. Yeah Pallavi would do that often as she was the most extrovert girl among the three. Most of our fights went around 'Why didn't have your breakfast?', 'Saying thank you?. Oh you have became that big shot', 'You talked to that girl so closely. What, she's your lover?' and many more, circling around caring, love, affection, possessiveness and yeah lots and lots of friendship.
Yeah, about Pallu, she was still into Rahul, gradually recovering. Since that encounter, she never talked to Rahul. It was a major setback in our six member gang. For that, Chandran planned a trip. That was the major golden memories in our friendship story where we became so close that no one could separate us apart. It was still like yesterday. More on that later . . . . .
CHAPTER 4 :
"Yeah. What was I saying, baby?", Rahul said to his daughter.
"You said you rejected aunt Pallavi's love and uncle Chandran planned for a trip to Kodaikanal. Then, what happened, dad?", said his daughter.
"Yeah, yeah", said Rahul.
"You know what, dad. You should have told yes to aunt Pallavi", said his daughter.
"Why?. Don't you think your mom is cool enough?", said Rahul.
"No. It's because your boring story would have ended by now. You know it's hard to listen to such a boring story when you are tired from performing in the dance competition", said his daughter.
"Hey you. But you cannot escape", said Rahul.
"Oh no", said his daughter . . . . . . . . . . .
It happened in the second half of the second year of our college days. Well, it was quite, you know, a discomfortness in our gang. We couldn't be as normal as we would be. Pallavi wasn't like Pallavi the way she was before. Yeah, her talks and funny wits made the gang alive and active and enthusiastic. Yeah, it was also Chandran's thing to be fun and witty. But because Pallavi wasn't well, he too became quite silent. You never know how Pallavi and Chandran used to be like. They were the best friends for life, even more than Mahima and I used to be. Yeah the two great active members became inactive to leave our group in discomfort. For that, Chandran himself came up with the solution. He planned on a two day trip to Kodaianal.
You know what, kid. What may be the plan's duration, may be two day, one day or even two hours, you need to do your homework for at least 20 days before the scheduled date of the plan. It was ok if it was just the guys, but if it was the girls too, believe me it was always tougher than you think. Because, their first words if it was asked about the plan was ,'My parents won't accept . I can't come'.
But Chandran seems to be so determined. Seeing Chandran planning for the trip changed the whole view about him. It was just sarcastic Chandran we had seen so far, but planning for the trip, taking responsibility for himself and for what, to bring some normalcy in the group, all made me to witness a different version of Chandran. First, Mahima was so strong in not coming as her parents won't allow her. Chandran secretly took Mahima's parents' phone number from her phone and he himself called her parents and struggled hard to make her parents accept the same. It was a big surprise to hear from her parents saying that they accepted for the trip.
Next was a little bit more tough. It was Pallavi. There was no opposition from her parents. It was her mindset. If there was one thing that you should know about your aunt Pallavi it was that she was so adamant in her thoughts. If she made her mind up, that was it. I asked Chandran if I could talk to Pallavi to make her come to the trip. But Chandran said 'No' as it would upset her more. It was Chandran's efforts, a constant efforts that made her to come to the trip, yeah it was just half minded, but enough to make her come. Now the next biggest and final stage.
Mahima asked Ritu if we could talk to her parents about the trip. Ritu's parents was the most strict of all. They would never accept for a trip consisting of boys. Well, don't ask me if it was okay for them to accept if the trip consists of only girls. They won't accept that too. So it was natural of us to think that Ritu's parents won't accept. When Mahima asked, Ritu said that she will take care. We were quite surprised and the next day we were even more shocked.
"Yeah, it's on you guys. When we are doing this?", said Ritu.
"Doing what?", asked Mahima.
"The trip thing. I am ready now", said Ritu.
We were silent trying to relive ourselves from the shock. But we couldn't.
"You are what now?", said Chandran.
"I am ready for the trip. Let's rock and roll", said Ritu.
"Did your parents accept?", said Mahima.
"No", she replied.
"Oh my god, did you killed your parents?", said Chandran.
"What?. No", she said.
"Stop it Chandran", Mahi said and turned to her, "Ritu, how can you come to the trip if your parents didn't accept".
"I know they won't accept. So I didn't asked them at all", said Ritu.
"Oh come on break the ice already. Can't you see Jeeva freezing in the shock?. He didn't utter a single word since you said 'rock and roll' ", said Chandran.
Yeah, Jeeva was speechless. It was the longest time he didn't utter a word.
"Alright, alright. I never said we are going for a trip but instead I said we, the whole class are going for the IV, industrial visit, to some companies in Kodaikanal. And they immediately accepted when I added that IV also accounts for some marks in the semester", said Ritu.
We never expected such a strategy from her and we were so happy. Mahima hugged her.
"Who should I hug?. Who should I hug?", said Chandran.
"I will", I said and hugged him and even I kissed him. We all laughed, even Pallavi. We sensed a little bit of normalcy returning in our group.
While all were happy on Ritu coming to the trip, Jeeva was still speechless, trying to pronounce a word.
"Yeah, Jeeva. That's it. You can do this", he commented on Jeeva while he tried to speak out.
"What the hell?", he shouted,"We are really going to the trip?".
"Yes we are", we all in chorus chanted. Yeah including Pallavi.
Jeeva had his own car and knows to drive and so do me but not Chandran. We drove it to Kodai, our first trip as friends.
We thought it would be like a beautiful song in every film with our laughs as the song's lyrics, the breeze and chants of the birds along the road as the music. But it didn't. Yeah you heard it right, it didn't. Pallavi was still not comfortable around me. She hardly could speak to the group and whatever Chandran could do, it didn't bring out the the old Pallavi back which was the whole purpose of the trip anyway. We just drove and drove with some film songs here and there. We reached Kodai at midnight around 1 pm and booked a room. We the guys in a single room and the girls in another room. The girls talked to Pallavi that night and advised her to be normal. She tried the next day but she failed in it. The first day of the trip was the worst. Wherever we could go, there was no fun. It broke Chandran's heart so much but he didn't express it so much. But we could see it in his eyes. The whole trip was nothing but a distress. Chandran arranged for a fire camp and we all gathered there. We sat by the fire wood and stayed silent for few minutes. No one talked.
"I guess I should burn myself in the fire", said Chandran.
"Alright. This is it", Mahi stood up and turned to Pallavi, "What are you thinking about Pallavi?. We all striving so hard to bring you back to normal, to be the old Pallavi like you used to be and can you see Chandran, your best friend so much hurted and still doing his best to see you back on feet. Why can't you throw away your feelings, not for us, not for our group, but for Chandran.Why are you being so adamant and selfish about it?".
Pallavi sat silent but her face turned red. I knew she was gonna explode.
"Yeah. Expected of you Pallavi. You won't utter a word. Such a sadist", Mahi said.
Pallavi immediately stood up and said, "It wasn't me who forced me to come". She immediately left and walked out to the streets. Mahima was so much hurted.
"Don't worry, Mahi. I'll talk to her", said Chandran.
"No bud. You did so much and you got hurted so much. It all happened in the first place because I rejected her. I'll put a full stop to it", I said.
I ran after her and found her sitting in the lake side bench, sobbing and crying.
"Hey", I said and sat.
She wiped her tears and said, "Hi".
"You know what, Pallu. I should have told this before. But beg your pardon for doing this so late", said Rahul.
"What?", she said softly.
"You think you missed me in your life as your partner?", I said. She was blinking. "It wasn't true Pallu. I am the one who missed you so much as my life partner". She did a I-didn't-believe smile.
"Come on, Pallu. Believe it or not. It was true and still it is. I miss you so much".
"How come?", she said.
"Come on, who wouldn't want you, Pallu?". She smiled and I continued. "You made me laugh, all the times, at my miseries and distress. Just imagine how it would be if you were to be my wife and all my life was full of smiles, laughs and fun. You can't be angry on people whom you love even they hurt you so much. I have seen you on this aspect many times and that's why your angry speech on Mahi hurts you badly to come here and cry". she gave me a 'How do you know?' look.
"Yeah I know, Pallu", I said. She smiled and said to me, "Then the reason for not taking me?".
"It was because I don't deserve you, Pallu, certainly not. Yeah. I got this dream and you know, I am so set into it that I cannot . . . , you know", I stumbled with words.
"Yeah Yeah I understand, Rahul".
"But you know Pallu. You should be loved to the core that I can't afford. You should be given an attention that I cannot give. Pallu, you're a great catch that I could not catch and you're so damn beautiful that I can't compete with".
"I am beautiful?. You said I was funny and what was you, the funniest?", she said. I laughed.
"This is exactly it, Pallu. You made me laugh even I rejected you, I put you in so much discomfort that you can't even face me, talk to me but still you can put that laugh in me. I am the one who should be in love failure, not you", I said.
"So what?. You're gonna grow beard and name your daughter after me?", she said.
"It's been so long and I can't even grow a small moustache and don't worry, I can never call Pallu on my daughter. What an yuck name".
She kicked me and we both laughed.
"You know what, Rahul. I never thought this would work out. I never thought I could even face you. But you made it simple", we smiled on looking at each other.
"Alright, now that I am okay, you can now tell me the truth. It was lie that I am so much worthy", she said.
"What?. Come on Pallu. A girl who's so funny, makes you smile all the time, at your miseries and distress and can never be angry on the people whom she love - Hey you're the dream of every guy unless the guy loves the rid of section 377", I said.
She laughed and said, "One of the Chandran's jokes?".
Oh God, how did she know that?. I swear that she wasn't there when Chandran made this joke because we didn't even know Pallavi then when Chandran made up this joke. How did she figured it out?. May be that understanding love and friendship she had for Chandran.
"Yeah it was. He missed you so much, pallu", I said.
"Yeah me too. I did so much hurting things to you guys", she wiped her tears and stood up, "Let me fix this up", she said. Then she ran to the fire camp where everyone was there.
"Hey wait up".
All the group was so shocked seeing Pallavi running to them.
"What happened?", Mahima said.
Pallavi, without any words hugged her tight.
"Hey me too me too", Ritu jumped and joined the hug. I took the picture of it and you can see that in there, photo framed.
After that hug, Pallavi looked Chandran. Chandran smiled. She cried and said, " I am sorry da".
"I never heard of 'Sorry' in the friendship dictionary that I learned with you, Pallu", said Chandran.
She ran to him and hugged him and cried.
"It's alright, Pallu. It's alright", he patted her head. Yeah how could I miss the photo of that moment.
"Alright guys, I am ready for the trip. Let's rock and roll", said Pallu.
"Hey that was my line", said Ritu.
Everybody laughed except for Jeeva.
"Look at Jeeva, he entered into the freeze mode", said Ritu.
"Looks like the fire wood is almost over. Let's use him and throw him into the fire", said Chandran.
"Oh stop it", said Mahi and turned to Jeeva, "Yeah it's alright Jeeva. You can now spell out your words".
"What the hell?. Pallu is back to normal?", said Jeeva.
"Yeah I am", said Pallu.
"And we are back to the trip mode?", said Jeeva.
"Yes we are", we all said in chorus.
Now, that beautiful song that I missed was back with our laughs as the song's lyrics and the breeze and the little birds' chant adding the music to it. The trip just starts and more on that later.
"And one more thing, now you got to know the real reason why you are named after aunt Pallavi, right Pallavi?", Rahul said to his daughter.
"Yeah, dad", said Pallavi, Rahul's younger daughter.
CHAPTER 5 :
So that your aunt Pallavi was then okay, we began our trip. Yeah all the friendship song in almost every film, right from the good old Thalapthy movie of Rajinikanth to the recent friendship anthem of 'Oh My Kadavulae' or 'I'll be there for you' title track from friends fame, it was all wrapped up in just one day of the trip. Now that your uncle Chandran and Pallavi was back into form, there were no words to explain the laughs and smiles we shared. Yeah our song was a super hit yet underrated song, a song that we would always endear in our hearts. Oh my god I am gonna cry as I say. So I am not going to explain each and every details of the trip. Let's directly switch to the very end of the trip. It was the fire camp where it all ended . . . . . . .
"Switch on some rock music, we will dance", said Pallavi.
So the song was hit. If I am right, it was 'Aal thota bhoobathi' song from Youth movie of Vijay. Yeah, it was that song for sure. I could never forget that song.
Once the song was hit on the floors, every one had gone crazy. They didn't even had a drink but acted as they were so high on two bottles. All danced but your mom.
"Come on , Ritu. Let's dance. You will not have this day again", said Mahima.
Not only Mahima tried to convince me but everyone did but I refrained from it.
"Oh come on guys. It's Ritu after all. It's surprising enough for us that she showed herself in this trip. Let's not distrub, let her enjoy herself in her own way", said Rahul.
All of a sudden I stopped the music.
"Who's that", said Chandran.
I, then, started the same song from the first and then everyone had gone paralyze mode from the crazy mode they had been while they were dancing. Yeah, you guessed it right. It's your mom, Ritu on the floor.
Have you guys seen Sai Pallavi's dance in Premam fame. Yeah I got to say it's Ritu's version of the same scene. Your mom did danced like the Simran in the same 'Aal thoota Bhoopathi' song except that I had no Vijay to dance with me. Everyone was just wide opening their mouths and yeah they better be. After my dance was over, no body spoke for a while.
I smirked off and said, "Dance was not just crazily moving your hands and legs. There's a way it should be done and this is how it's done". I then just went to have some water.
While drinking water, I could see everyone went to freeze mode.
"Yeah spit it out", I said.
"Honey, what the hell just happened?", said Rahul.
I laughed and Mahima and Pallavi came on to hug me. The way they had visioned Ritu was totally then flushed and renewed with this dancing Ritu. Yeah, your mom was so cool, right?.
After everyone praised me for this hidden talent, it was your uncle Jeeva, as you would expect, still was in the freeze mode. We got to drag him into the room to make him sleep. And all of the sudden in the mid night, while everyone was sleeping, Jeeva got up and shouted.
"How the hell Ritu danced like thaaaatttttt?", Jeeva said.
We all woke up, even us, the girls from the other room came running to guys room to see what happened.
"What was the noise?".
"It's Jeeva, turns out that he had got out of the freeze mode", said Chandran.
"No No. How the hell she could do that?", said Jeeva again shouting.
"Yeah girls, we're getting the second opinion", said Chandran.
We hit our heads.
"Don't worry girls, we'll take care", said Rahul and they hit Jeeva with the pillows.
"Yeah I think we got to join the party", said Pallavi.
Then we took some pillows and beat Jeeva up. Well of all that fun parts in the trip, it was the pillow fight that was the funniest. Yeah, my dear son, sometimes, you just need no big trips, no site seeings, sometimes, you just need your friends and a quality time to spend with them. Yeah that's it, even a street side vendor shop will be memorable if it's with your friends. Learn this well my boy, the most special part of a great and awesome friendship.
Well after that night, we rode back to the college, get ourselves into our usual routine. There was yet another thing that was rock written in our friendship tale. It was because of Rahul. It happened one month before the culturals of the second year end of our college. What made so memorable, especially to me, was what followed.
"Hey Ritu, I had given your name for solo dance in our culturals. You got the selection round today evening at the seminar hall. Be ready", Rahul said.
"What", I said.
"That's awesome, Rahul. Even I didn't get that in my mind", said Mahi.
"Hello, excuse me. Dancing is just my hobby. I certainly cannot dance in front of the huge crowd", I said.
"Come on Ritu. It was okay you just stayed in your circle but not anymore. Come out of it", Rahul said.
"But if I messed it up in the crowd, I cannot take it", I said.
"Let's just forget about the crowd, Ritu. Just for now, dance in front of four people in the selection. That was all", Jeeva said.
"Yeah Ritu, he's right. It's time you should show who you really are", said Pallu.
"We are not asking you to take this dancing as your career, just this selection. I haven't told anyone that you would dance for the selection and plus no one from our department is going for such a selection. No one would know even if you got rejected", said Rahul.
"Rejected?. Phew. Bad dream, bro", said Chandran.
Yeah, he meant that rejection of me in the dance selection would happen only in dreams. Such kind of bragging, right?.
"No I am not going", I said but I did went. That shitheads, somehow tricked me to show up in the selection round. So I danced.
"Oh my God. This girl would never need a teaching or practice. She has a natural talent", said one of the selectors, a Professor in Multiprocessor subject. I felt like I wasn't even sweating. There was not so much competition. Even they didn't select the senior girls. They asked them to dance in the group dance. That was so huge for me. It was all because of these idiots. So I had practiced so hard for the next month. Each day those idiots would stand back, waiting till my practice gets over. Not to brag, but your mom did teach some of the steps to my senior people. I was afraid that they would hold grudges but they were so sweet that they appreciated me. But deep in my mind, I was so afraid. Then the day of the culturals arrived.
I was so much depressed that my heart beat could be heard amid so many sounds in the auditorium. In some of my practice sessions, I wasn't that sweating but even before I perform, I was so much sweating and heart beat, yeah well enough to beat it's own song and my hand was shivering and dancing to the heart beat's music.
"I cannot do this, Rahul. Please tell them I cannot dance", I said. But Rahul pushed me into the stage.
When I went up to the stage, the music was started. It was the same , 'Aal thota bhoopathi' song. Everyone chanted, yeah not for my entry, but for the rocking song. I tried to start dancing but I couldn't and before I could do anything about it I started to cry. Everyone showed thumps down. I came down and cried to Rahul.
"It was because of you, Rahul. It was you who put me in this thing and all these humiliation was all because of you, Rahul. It was all because of you Rahul. It was all because of you Rahul", I shouted and cried.
"What was because of Rahul?. Why are you shouting?", Mahima woke me up and asked.
Yeah, kid, that was a dream. But yeah, 90% of the things that happened in my dream really did happened. We all then got ready for the culturals.
It was my performance next after the prize distribution of academic awards. Yeah I got one of those awards. But when I see the whole crowd during the receiving of my academic award, it terrified to my very soul.
"I cannot do this, Rahul. Please tell them I cannot dance", I said to Rahul.
"I knew you would say this. Let me tell you an idea", Rahul said.
I did according to his plan, danced my steps. It worked, actually worked. Yeah your mother nailed it.
Wonder what was his idea?. He told me to wear coolers and a headset. He asked me to turn on the same music which I had choosed for my performance exactly at the same time when auditorium music was turned on with full volume so that I could hear nothing. He then asked me to close my eyes so that I could see nothing and as I was wearing glasses no one would know my eyes were closed. Since I danced a lot of times in the same stage during the practice, it's nothing for me to close my eyes and dance. I did exactly what he said. When I finished my performance, I opened my eyes to see the whole crowd chanting like anything, went crazy, not just because of the song but because of my dance performance. It was the first time I had seen so many people appreciating me and as I said most of the things happened in my dream really did happened. Yeah I cried, cried, went down the stage and went up to Rahul.
"It was because of you, Rahul. It was because of you", I shouted and in fact I hugged. I don't know why I did that hug but it felt nice.
"Yeah Yeah. Move move. Photographs and autographs, afterwards. Yeah it's dance master Ritu's body guards. Out of the way, I say", Chandran said.
"Come on. Don't be kidding", I said and hit him.
We all laughed and as we walk in the aisle and as the people congratulated me, I was busy in looking Rahul and when he looked at me, yeah I knew it was it.
You know I had no Vijay during dancing in the trip. Well not this time. When I closed my eyes in the stage, it was Rahul who stood as a dancing partner to me.
Well after this dance performance, I danced for many events, for culturals for hostel day and for everything and without doing his idea.
Now that I became famous in the college, so did the rumors. Many people started rumors that I and Rahul were in love or is it actually a rumor?. More on that later . . . . . . .
CHAPTER 6 :
"So the girl hugged you because you made her expose her talent to the whole college?", said Pallavi, Rahul's daughter.
"Yeah dear, you never know how it felt. It was the first time any girl hugged me. I don't know how should I to react to it. I stood still. I even didn't hugged her back. The first time I felt a weird feeling, not knowing what it is and couldn't explain what it is", said Rahul to his daughter.
"So you fall in love?".
"I really didn't figure it out that time. But eventually, I think I did figured it out. Let's find out in the story . . . . . . . . . "
"Hey Ritu and Rahul, you guys are aware of the talks about you in the college?", asked Mahima.
"You said what?. I heard Ross and Rachel. Come again", said Chandran.
"I am gonna slap you, Chandran", said Ritu.
"Infact I do", I said and kicked your uncle Chandran.
"Oh come on guys, I am not saying this because every one talks about you but I feel there is some chemistry between you two guys. I think you should probably give it a chance", said Pallavi.
"You don't understand, guys. If I had wanted love, I would have loved Pallavi. There are some things that I had struck my mind with. And as far now, until I reach my goals, there are no such places as in love in my mind. If you're gonna keep these talks, I can't take it anymore", I shouted.
When all these conversations was going on, Jeeva was seeing a girl and giving play boy signs to her. We all stared at him. He then turned to us.
"Oops sorry guys, I was looking there at that girl", Jeeva said.
"Oh see, that was a brand new information. We actually didn't know that", commented Chandran.
Everybody laughed but I didn't.
"Alright alright, let's talk about Rahul and Ritu, oops I mean Ross and Rachel", Jeeva said and laughed. Yeah he didn't know what Rahul said so far.
I went mad, got so tensed and went.
Well thesse type of talks comes and goes in our gang. They would tease me on Ritu, I would get angry and yell at them and if it goes over the limit, I would walk away. This spreads like a rapid fire. Every class mates in my class, even from other classes would tease me. And I breached the threshold, the threshold above which you will get used to. I didn't get angry, didn't get mad but stayed silent and even sometimes I laughed. Even then, it brought no feelings over her. Ritu was still Ritu. And to be honest, our friendship goes strong, ripened off and matured. We didn't cared about the talks but we valued our friendship and still we are. We enjoyed our rest of the days, merrily. I began to spend time with Ritu more than I ever was and still no feelings. And as the days passed, the most disastrous day came. Yeah it was our farewell day.
I know your dad was so practical guy, won't get emotional at these kind of situations. But I did. Yeah I changed, the change which I didn't expect.
We didn't react to each other. The program was going on, we sat together but didn't see each other, yeah we were afraid that we might cry. We just saw the things that was in the auditorium. When it was all finished, we sat in the park where we usually talk.
"So it was all?", said Jeeva.
Every body saw each other, stayed silent.
After few seconds cries exploded. We all hugged, yeah all six together. We never thought it would be so difficult. Even I cried for the first time. I tried to control but I couldn't. And I cannot control my tears welling up as I narrate. Those idiots gave me so much good memories, so much smiles, laughs, changed my core behavior of not getting emotional and for what?. To get departed?. To say good bye?. Damn you guys.
"Earlier, I don't even know how to cry but thanks to you, I learned this thing. Damn you idiots", I said.
"Hey Chandran, why can't you say something sarcastic now?", said Jeeva as he welled up.
Chandran kept silent. He then saw Pallavi. Pallavi came running to him and hugged him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?. Do you think we are not gonna see us anymore?", said Pallavi.
Chandran couldn't speak. Never seen him like that. It ripped my heart right through. And it turns my head towards Mahi.
"I can't see you, Rahul. Don't make this too much harder for me than already is", Mahi said.
I immediately turned, walked a little away from her and cried. She came running towards me and hugged me from the back.
"You had been the reasons for my smiles, for my laughs. So how's it now to be the reason for my cries?", I said. She even cried harder.
Chandran, then hugged Jeeva. I joined them too. Yeah the guys hug. I don't even know whether they are hugging me or crushing my heart.
Why, guys?. Why did you gave me the seat at the freshers' day?. If it wasn't for you, if it wasn't for you two, I would have not cried now. You are the total reason, you hold the sole responsibility. It's you, you and you only.
"So what girls?. The short and hot, now cannot talk. Happy?", said Ritu.
Pallavi and Mahi, smiled, cried and hugged. Their hug, reminded of the hug they had at our trip. Of all girls' friendship, that was only hairpin fight, full of egoistic, there are only few who managed to put their ego off and be sisters for life. Of those few, my girls are the best.
After their hug, then comes the worst part.
"Hi", said Ritu.
"Hi, Cheeku", I said and smiled.
She smiled and hugged. This time, I hugged back. Then it made me so uncomfortable. I don't know why. I thought saying good bye to Ritu was the most hardest thing I could do. For some reasons, I felt a weird thing about her now. Something, more than just friendship. Yeah, I couldn't stay there anymore. Before letting those weird emotions out, I thought I should go.
"Guys, beg your pardon. I think I should go to my hometown, I already booked ticket and my bus is gonna be in two hours at our college entrance. I'll call you, guys", I said and left off the place just like that. Jeeva and Chandran called me but I didn't respond.
As I was packing my clothes, all I could think about was Ritu, her eyes, her memories, her hug in the auditorium after she performed her dance and this new weird feeling.
"Why am I doing this?. What is with me?", I kept saying to myself.
"Am I in love?", "No, it shouldn't be", "You had your dreams still in stake", "You cannot let this happen", "Pack your things and leave first" - the thoughts that ran in my mind.
I packed things within one hour and I was waiting for my bus to show up. Then Chandran called me up over the phone.
"Where are you now?", said Chandran.
"Waiting for the bus at our college entrance", I said.
"When is your boarding time?".
"In an hour".
He then hanged up and within few minutes, Ritu showed up. I dropped off my bag.
"So it was like that, uh?", said Ritu.
I kept silent, putting my heads down.
"You bring out my things out, made me feel so special, gave me things that I can't even imagine and this was how you're gonna end it, right?", said Ritu.
"No, Ritu. I . . . ", I struggled for words.
"Yeah tell me, tell me", she said, "I know you won't and I know why. Because you think I'll be your hindrance to your dreams. Well let me tell you one thing. I wasn't like you. I have no dreams, I just danced as a hobby within four walls and you broke those walls, exposed me to the whole world and brought claps and chants. But all I could see amid those claps and chants was you. It was because of you, Rahul, it was because of you", said Ritu.
"I know you won't speak. But I'll wait, Rahul, I'll wait until your dreams are done. I will wait until you speak. I . . . .I will . . ", she stumbled with her words and turned and walked away from me.
I wanted to run behind her, hug her and say, "Yeah, Cheeku. I love you". But I didn't. I couldn't do it. I kept standing and standing with my Cheeku moving away and away from me. Then the bus came. I boarded into it.
Then the changes, the real changes that I told you about in very first beginning, started to show up and gain my heart.
"Is love an obstacle?", I asked.
"No, it isn't", my heart replied, "Imagine, you got your dreams, succeeded in it and then what?. With whom you're gonna celebrate with?. If you don't have anyone you love, even success seems to be a failure and at the same time if you had some shoulders to cry on when you failed, even that failure seems to be like your success because you had won someone. Don't run away, Rahul, from your friends, from your buddies and most importantly not from your love, Cheeku".
Yeah, love isn't an obstacle. I got my answer . . . . .
CHAPTER 7 :
"Mom, is it that much hard to depart from friends?", said Ritu's son.
"You can't tell. We cried a river at that moment without dams to control our emotions", said Ritu.
"Then, what happened?".
After all those hugs, the most awkward moment came, the moment to face Rahul and it was the toughest of all. I walked towards like a turtle, yeah same like when I walked towards him when he called Cheeku in the class in the freshers' day.
"Hi", I said.
"Hi, Cheeku", he said.
Yeah, that was all. I couldn't control myself anymore. Without even realizing for myself, I was hugging him, hugged him tight and yeah he hugged me too and cried as I did. Every friends watched us and smiled.
Then Rahul started to behave weird, pulled me off and said, "Guys, beg your pardon. I think I should go to my hometown, I already booked ticket and my bus is gonna be in two hours at our college entrance. I'll call you, guys".
He just left then, just like that without even saying anything. Chandran and Jeeva called him but he didn't respond.
"Leave him, let him go", I said and turned and went quite far away. I stood by a tree and cried. I thought I knew this tree.
My friends came running and Mahi said, "Now, tell us Ritu, do you love Rahul?".
"What is the point, Mahi, when I know his answer already?", I shouted as I cried
"What answer?", Chandran said.
"You know this tree?", I said pointing to the tree, "It was this place I saw him first. And you know what was his first words?. 'No, I can't say I love you to her, she's my best friend'. I think he already gave me the answer for my love. I just realized it later".
"You know what, Ritu. He's already in love and he's just a damn too coward to accept it. That's it", said Mahima.
"Ritu, everyone has their own walls and everyone's got fear to even touch those walls and you know what walls you got. The walls that stopped you to expose yourself and you know who broke those walls more than anyone do. It's just your turn to do the same for him", said Jeeva.
Yeah, what your uncle Jeeva told was absolutely right.
I decided to go for my love, my Rahul for it was because of him I broke my walls and it's time to do the same for him.
When I was about to go, I just thought I forgot something. I looked at Pallavi.
"It's alright, baby. I think you guys make the best pair more than I do. Don't feel guilty. I'll be the most happiest to see you guys as the couple", said Pallavi.
I hugged Pallavi. "Now, just go", she said.
I smiled and was about to go. But Chandran asked me to wait.
"Let us know where he is and then let's go", he said.
He called Rahul's phone many times but he didn't picked. It was after one hour he finally picked.
"Where are you now?", Chandran said, "When is your boarding time?".
He then hanged up. "His bus will be in an hour. At College entrance", Chandran said.
Without wasting any more second, I just ran, ran to see my Rahul, with my tears welling up, with some smile and yeah some fear too.
I saw Rahul, stopped my run, and then walked slowly towards him. When he saw me, he just dropped his bag off.
"You bring out my things out, made me feel so special, gave me things that I can't even imagine and this was how you're gonna end it, right?", I said.
"No, Ritu. I . . . ", he struggled for words.
"Yeah tell me, tell me", I screamed as I cried, "I know you won't and I know why. Because you think I'll be your hindrance to your dreams. Well let me tell you one thing. I wasn't like you. I have no dreams, I just danced as a hobby within four walls and you broke those walls, exposed me to the whole world and brought claps and chants. But all I could see amid those claps and chants was you. It was because of you, Rahul, it was because of you".
"I know you won't speak. But I'll wait, Rahul, I'll wait until your dreams are done. I will wait until you speak. I . . . .I will . . ", I stumbled with words and turned and walked away from him.
As I moved away, I had a feeling that he would come running behind and hug me from the back and say, "I love you, Cheeku". But he didn't, he didn't, left me weak and sobbing.
I went dragging my heart that was torn apart, with no waters left out to cry, no strength to bear that pain to my friends just to hug my girls hoping to relieve from that bruise.
Few days gone, my friends went to their home town and I went back to my home town, Bangalore. You know what, there's no place than the mother's lap to cheer you up from the sores you bear in your heart. It felt nice to sleep at my mom's lap. But sadly, even that couldn't take Rahul's thoughts away from me. It was just a never healing hurt. My girls called me here and often, even Chandran and Jeeva. They would sometimes put conference call and will console me. Few days passed, our results were out, we all got passed with decent marks, with me standing as a topper. I got offer letter from the company here in Bangalore, where I got placed during college days and September 25th was my joining date. But all those days, I still didn't heard a single word from Rahul. I heard he got passed, got offer letter from his dream company and doing fine. But still never heard from him.
Environment changed, time moved on, new people came, yeah almost everything changed but one thing, my feelings for Rahul, never healing hurt, still didn't found a medicine to heal itself. But I think I was doing fine, getting myself stick to the work, relating to new people and so on. I used to call my friends daily, sharing smiles and laughs as we would. They were placed in different companies and in different states. That was the time I missed your uncles and aunts so much and yeah, Rahul too.
Do you remember about the magic I said in the beginning?. Yeah it was time for that magic to happen. It was my birthday, November 13th. Some guy from the office called me and asked me to come to one restraunt.
When I went to that restraunt, I thought my office mates planned for a surprise party. Yeah, it was a surprise that it wasn't my office mates but your uncles and aunts. Yeah, Mahi, Pallu, Chandran and Jeeva were there. I couldn't control my tears, went on, hugged everyone and drenched their shoulders with my tears.
"The surprise isn't just over, Ritu", said Chandran.
Yeah, from the washroom, there comes Rahul, with smiles, saying, "Hi Cheeku".
"Enough for the hero entry from the rest room. Now go on", said Mahima.
I was totally out of my mind, cannot feel my legs, yeah Jeeva's freeze mode syndrome.
"See that's why I told you not to come. Your syndrome is totally communicable", said Chandran to Jeeva.
"What, I don't do that", said Jeeva.
"Oh honey, you do", said Pallavi.
"Guys?", Rahul said.
"Silent, people. Time for some romance", said Chandran. Everyone silenced.
Rahul came towards me, took my hand, hold it with his two hands. I bite my tooth hard while he just smiled, looked straight at me. I couldn't move my eyes from his. Then he said.
"No, Cheeku, I can't say I love you to you. You're my best friend".
"What", everyone screamed . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER 8 :
"What happened after that, daddy?", asked Rahul's daughter Pallavi.
It was a beautiful day, dear. Right from the entrance gate decoration, the kids at the entrance showering panner to the attendants, the stage, the music band singing romantic songs and your uncles with all their suits dressed up and chatting with me at one room.
"It's alright dude, you can do this. Don't get tensed", said Jeeva to me.
"What?. That's ridiculous. What's there to get tensed?", I said.
"Then why are you sweating?", asked Jeeva.
"It's just . . It's just", I stumbled, "I am sweating because of the long sleeves", I said.
"In AC room?", said Chandran.
"It is possible", I said and turned away from him. Yeah, your father got little afraid of the biggest commitment he's gonna take.
Then I moved out, out of the room and sat on the chair, that was put in the middle of the stage. I was constantly wiping my sweats with my hand kerchief. Chandran looked at me and laughed and I stared.
"Yeah I know, it was just the long sleeves", Chandran said.
"Damn you, Chandran", I thought.
All those fears, then turned into nothing when the other room opened. First your aunts Pallavi and Mahima showed up. Behind them, yes it was her, the bride of the event, your mom and yeah my girl, Ritu, dressed in maroon saree, so cute that I can't turn my head from, but her head still looking down with her smile, blushing and all. I saw the same Ritu where she put her heads down at the freshers' day, didn't got up, didn't looked at us. It was when I called her 'Cheeku', her head is up.
Yeah, you guessed it right, it was our marriage, the marriage reception.
Without my knowledge, my legs went near her and my mouth pronounced 'Hey Cheeku'. At once her head is up, yeah same like before, smiling so cute. There, at that point, a thing popped up in my mind. Am I being afraid of this little Ritu to take up as my commitment?. If yes, I'm the most foolish guy in the whole world. Suddenly, all those things, this wedding reception, this marriage, this commitment all looked so much simpler and not only simpler, with your mom, with my girl, it looked so beautiful because she made it so. Yeah I know I am welling up now. My long sleeves was no longer the reason for my sweats because there was no sweats after all.
I hold her hand, brought her, and made her sit in the wedding couple's chair in the middle of the stage.
Yeah, the most beautiful event is about to happen.
I requested the mic from the music band.
"To all those who gathered here, we have a special event now, the event that no marriage has ever seen", I said, loud and clear to all those attendants. I saw Ritu, she was all "What" and confused. I smiled at her and turned to the attendants.
"Yeah Jeeva, bring that screen on, right in the center of the stage", I said.
Jeeva brought the screen and placed in the center of the stage in a way it is perfectly visible to all those attendants and he set up the projector. I asked my friends including Ritu to stand before the screen. With all those confusions and her cute smiles, Ritu came forward, right before the screen so that she could see the screen sound and clear. My friends knew what was going to happen but Ritu.
"Yeah, rock and roll", I said. Ritu laughed. Chandran turned on the video clip so that it projects on the screen.
In the screen, the video of then Ritu's bday was played, yeah where I said, "No Cheeku, I can't say love you to you. You are my best friend". Let's switch on to the video scene.
"Guys?", I said.
"Silent, people. Time for some romance", said Chandran. Everyone silenced.
I came towards Ritu, took her hand, hold it with my two hands. I smiled, looked straight through her eyes. Then I said.
"No, Cheeku, I can't say I love you to you. You're my best friend".
"What", everyone screamed.
"Well, let me finish, guys", I said.
"Alright, from the top people", Chandran said. Ritu was all confused on the whole situation, yeah in the video tape. But, in reality, she was all blushed, closed her face and turned away from the screen. All her expressions was just a treat to my eyes. She even closed her face against my shoulders and hid her blushing face. Then I smiled and made her look into the screen. In the video . . .
I again hold her little hand with my two hands and said, "No Cheeku, I can't say I love you to you. You're my best friend. This is what the old Rahul would say, with his own walls, own fears. But damn, you broke those walls, shattered into pieces and made me realize how love is so important in life, how you are so important in my life. Even now, I didn't achieve my dream yet. But I am sure you're not the hindrance to it", I said. Her face turned red, not knowing how to react, how to react to this overflowing happiness.
"Yeah, Ritu, I am gonna do this", I said and stood in one knee.
As in the video tape, in reality, I also stood in one knee, pronouncing the same words as I said before, as projected in the screen. There in the video, I took out bouquet. But there, during marriage I took a ring.
I held my ring box out, opened it, took the ring outside as in the screen, I was taking my bouquet, all happened synchronously.
With mic in one hand and a ring in another hand, I said to Ritu, "I love you, Cheeku, will you marry me?" as me in the video spelled the same words.
She didn't know how to control her overflowing happiness, yeah both in the screen as well as in reality. She hid her face, turning around, blushing, making a 360 degree circle. Yeah, she totally didn't know how to control, what to do, her hearts literally dancing to its own fast beating music in happiness. She then, stood in her knees, both in the screen and in the stage, hugged me tight as though she didn't want to leave me and yeah she never did. She then kissed me in the cheek, took my ring (took my bouquet) and I put that ring in her little finger. She said, "Yes, I will" and wiped her tears that welled up.
All my friends were so happy, so proud of us. I hugged the guys, the gesture of saying "Thank you, guys for everything you had done", because we are not allowed to say thank you in words when comes to the friendship.
Ritu also did the same to her girls, delivering her own gesture of saying 'Thank You'.
Then she looked at me, the look that I won't forget for million years, she smiled and looked down. I then again took mic, asked the band to sing 'Aal thota bhoopathi' song. Everyone in the hall would have expected for some romantic song but we had different ideas. Ritu couldn't stand her smiles, her blushes. I took her a little front. I asked her to dance, she refused. I insisted.
"I want my Vijay to dance along with me this time", Ritu said.
"Yeah he will because, for the past one week I had seen your culturals video and practiced your dance", I said.
She laughed.
"Come on, Ritu. Let's show the whole world that we had broken our walls", I said.
Then we danced, with our friends cheering, with the audience going 'Wow', we danced. Yeah it was such a gaana song to everyone but to our hearts, it was such a romantic song. While everyone looked like a Koothu song, it seemed almost a bridal waltz to us. The best day ever. Then in the morning, it was even more best, yeah our marriage, the day your mom became my wife. This is how we got married, how we loved each other and how we met each other.
Then the door bell rang, Rahul stood up to open the door. It was Ritu, his wife and their son, Badri. It was now after, 9 years, their marriage had happened. They got twins now, named Badri and Pallavi. Badri and his mom, Ritu went to Bangalore for some programming competition in which Badri had won.
"Hi daddy", Badri came running and said, "I won the competition in programming".
"I know dear, like father like son", Rahul said.
"Hi mommy, I too won in the dance competition", Pallavi said.
"You got to be. Like mother like daughter", said Ritu and smiled at Rahul.
"Yeah I accept, ladies. You're my queens of dance", Rahul said.
"But mom, dad also danced quite well in your marriage too, right?", Badri said.
"Hey kid, how do you know that?", Rahul said.
"Mom was telling the story of how you guys met each other during our travel back", said Badri.
"What, you too?", asked Rahul to Ritu.
"You too?", said Ritu.
"Yeah he did", said Pallavi, "It was boring as hell, isn't it, Badri?".
"No dad, it was great. I loved it", said Badri.
"Yeah?. It's surprising that even computer guys have feelings", said Pallavi.
"I dunno, if it's her name is the cause of her wit, but she really wits like her aunt Pallavi", Rahul said.
"Yeah, she better be", there comes aunt Pallavi and so do Chandran, Jeeva and Mahima and their kids.
They all sat together and had some chats.
"Where's your kid, Jeeva?", asked Mahima.
"He's talking to neighbor kid, Athvika, aunty", said Pallavi's daughter, Reshma.
"Yeah, he's really you son, buddy", Chandran said.
Everybody laughed
"He's always embarrasing me. Wait, I'll get him", said Jeeva and got up and dragged his son, Harish.
"How's Athvika doing, Harish?", said Rahul.
"That's what I asked, uncle, just then my dad dragged me up here", Harish said.
Everybody laughed.
"Hey Badri, you're back from Bangalore?", asked Mahima's daughter Radha.
"Yeah, Radha. Just now. See, I had won the competition too. Here's my trophy", said Badri.
Every kids wowed at the trophy.
"What happened to your dance competition, Pallavi?", said Chandran's son, Kamal to Pallavi, Rahul's daughter.
"Yeah, Kamal. I too had won it. This is my medal", said Pallavi.
"Yeah, whether it is Chandran or Chandran's son, they are always into Pallavi", Rahul thought and smiled to himself.
"Hey, Pallavi, how's 'love mocktail' movie that you and Chandran went?", said Rahul.
"Not good", Pallavi said.
"Yeah boring", said Chandran.
"You people had got married to each other and still you didn't get into romance thing?", said Ritu.
Yeah, Pallavi and Chandran got married the same year Ritu and Rahul got married. The kids, Reshma and Kamal were their kids and yeah, they were also twins like Rahul and Ritu's kids. Infact, everyone got married in the same year. Mahima was married to a guy who works with Rahul in the same company. Yeah it was also a love marriage. But Jeeva, unexpectedly got arrange marriage. He really was not into the love thing. He dates girls, was really good in romance, but not good in love. But his marriage works fine, so controlled, targeting all his play boy things into the single girl, his wife. Their friends were really surprised to look at this matured Jeeva.
"Yeah, dude. I don't know why this romance thing isn't working for us in this 9 years of marriage", Chandran said, "You know what happened earlier, we had together watched your proposal video yesterday. I got bumped up and I went on one knee and proposed, saying, 'I love you'. You know what she did".
"What?", said Rahul.
"She laughed", said Chandran.
"She what?", said Rahul.
"Yeah dude, you heard it right", Chandran said, "And I knew it, it was not kind of a blushing laugh but a hilarious laugh. She even laughed so hard that she fell down from sofa".
Everybody laughed so hard, even the kids did.
"I mean, what can we possibly do?. Even though Chandran is my husband, all I could see him is like my best friend, like he's used to be in college days. We would like to pillow fight rather than holding hands tight and tease each other rather than sharing romantic words", said Pallavi.
"Yeah, fellas. Being friends is our kind of romance", said Chandran.
Pallavi and Chandran shared a look and smiled. They had always been like this, even when Rahul, Ritu, Chandran and Pallavi used to double date and went to some really sad ending love story, they would fall asleep at each others' shoulders while Rahul and Ritu weeps at the ending. It was their kind of romance after all.
"Hey guys, what do you say if we watch Rahul - Ritu proposal video, all together?", said Mahima.
"Hell of a plan", said Jeeva.
They all sit together, put on the screen, turned on the video.
"Yeah rock and roll", said Rahul and Ritu.
While all the parents sat on the sofa, the kids, all six kids sat down on the floor, starting their own six member friendship story.
There was a dream that six elder friends had. It was that all six people as a whole should live in the same street with their kids starting their own magic, making some good changes, helping each other in breaking each others' walls, tripping to some places, but enjoying the most of it in some road side shops, starting their love and above all starting their own FRIENDSHIP.
YEAH, THEY ARE ALL LIVING THEIR DREAM.
Second part of How we met each other >>
Realistic dood 😆😆😆
ReplyDeleteWow! Great start. Makes me nostalgic about my college.
ReplyDeleteThanks dude
DeleteWritings good
ReplyDeletethanks :)
DeleteI think this trip mode part is getting back to my golden days. I am for this chapter to enjoy till last one came.🥰❣️thanks the_boundless_explorer - H A S
ReplyDeleteThanks buddy....Can I know ur good name pls??
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI think you know me dude😄
DeleteYeah macha...I know now😂😂
DeleteYou are really good. You need to take writing as serious one. Wish u all the best for your writing career
ReplyDeleteThanks Sneha...I also had read your blog...it was good too...all the best for you too....
DeleteSuper
ReplyDeleteThanks
DeleteIt's so good and I really loved tat pallavi character than the heroine😉
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't you? . . . It is based on your character . . . . lol
DeleteHaha...
Delete