‘Please have some chocolates, sir. The driver of the Mangalore bound
KSRTC bus gave a confused expression, to the stranger who had just barged near
the driver’s seat. With a tear rolling down his left cheek and a forced smile
on his face, Rohan insisted the driver, ‘Take it sir, it’s my happy birthday’.
Not knowing how to react to this situation, he took a couple of Ferrero Rochers
and started the engine, avoiding the need to have any further conversation.
Jai and Adi, seated in the second row of the bus watched their
friend Rohan with pitiful eyes. As he turned and started walking towards them,
they looked at each other and knew instinctively that another weird act from
Rohan was on the cards.
Going back three months in time, it seemed love had started to
find him……..
There was a family wedding that Rohan needed to attend, so he had
to travel in the middle of his semester. Accustomed to travel with his usual
gang, his onward journey via Mangla express from Mangalore to Delhi was
quite boring, and he took refuge in sleeping for the better part of the 38 hour
journey. After attending the wedding, he kept some novels to give him company
for his return trip to Mangalore.
After bidding farewell to his dad who had come to drop him at the
station, he dumped his luggage under his seat and went out for his usual stroll
on the platform. At the hoot of the engine, Rohan boarded his coach and could
not believe his luck when he saw a cute girl sitting right across his seat.
When his eyes met hers, it was ‘Recognition at first sight’. He was 100%
sure that the girl in front of him was Parul, his classmate from 5th to 7th standard. ‘Are you Parul?’ ,he
plunged into the conversation, very confident of himself. ‘No’, short
and pointed was the reply, which put him at a loss of words. Gathering his wits
again, ‘You have a sister named Parul?’ .The girl studied his face, took
a pause before answering. It was the same crisp ‘No’ again. Rohan’s mind
went completely blank this time, and he felt the urge to get some fresh air.
There was an unusual calmness on the girl’s face that helped him
regain his composure. He duly apologized to the girl and assured her that he
had no intention to flirt, as conventional wisdom would have made her believe.
Rohan’s imagined Parul turned out to be Nisha, and she was studying MBBS from
BMC Manipal.
The ice had been broken between the two and that gave room to
conversations. The usual topics included hobbies, movies, college, ragging and
so on. Rohan, being a shy person, was amazed at how effortlessly he could talk
with her. After a couple of hours, there seemed to be a dearth of topics.
Rohan’s long journey experience came handy as he initiated the 16 question game
wherein a player had to guess a famous personality the opponent had in mind by
asking a maximum of 16 questions. The fallout of the game was exciting
conversation based on popular personalities. And the best part... Music emerged
as something both were passionate about. Post dinner, Rohan could not sleep. ‘Pyaar
dosti hai’, these lines kept on inhabiting his mind for a long time.
The next day Rohan decided to play his trump card. He initiated a
game of ‘Antaakshari’ and
invited co-passengers around to play. Different variations in the game were
orchestrated which would consume a good portion of the day. Rohan was pleased
to see a sticker of liking on Nisha’s face for his singing abilities. Then came
the dinner time, and Nisha’s destination was just five hours away. Sleeping was
out of question. Instead, the remaining time passed by discussing about life,
priorities, cultural influences and so on. Rohan could not help but wonder, ‘Seriously, it’s just a day I have known
this girl?’ As the train approached Udupi station, he helped her with the
luggage. Thankfully, they exchanged email addresses. As they bid farewell, both
of them knew by instinct this was not their last meeting. Rohan could not help
smile playing with the thought that if they were together for five more hours,
he would have proposed her. He was infected with the ‘Love Fever’, the
type he had only witnessed in films.
The next day at college, Rohan was seen smiling for no reason.
Lectures did not seem boring, the hot and humid weather seemed surprisingly
pleasant. Of course, every type of fever has a silver lining. Frequency of
visit to Computer department increased, considering email was the chosen
communication channel between them. And so, after some email exchanges, it was
decided that Rohan would celebrate his upcoming birthday with her, as most of
his friends would not be around that time. They were planning a road trip to
Goa. Of course for him, it was not just his birthday, but the much anticipated
‘first date’.
As he boarded the bus to Manipal, his ears strained to hear “Dil
to pagal hai, dil deewana hai”. Unable to locate the source of the sound
track, he realized it was just some happy corner of his head playing the song.
The imaginative love playlist stopped by its own once he reached her hostel
gate. Nisha arrived shortly looking lovely as ever with a bouquet in her hands.
‘Seriously, for whom did she get the bouquet?’, Rohan wondered. His query
was quickly answered when she wished him with the same bouquet. Though it had
assorted flowers, poor Rohan’s eyes could not see beyond the few scattered red
roses. So much for the
stupid conventional wisdom.
After the special welcome, she took him to a nearby restaurant.
Once inside, she guided him to a small private section. The room was completely
silent, dim lights adding on to a certain experience that can only be felt. ‘What
next’, he thought. His eyes zoomed in on the center table with a candle lit
birthday cake waiting for him. Surely, another surprise like this one and his ‘fever’
would have made him faint. Post the cake cutting, they aimlessly strolled
across nearby places marked by beautiful scenic beauty Manipal is famous for.
As her hostels entry time was approaching, Rohan promised to give
his birthday treat the next time they meet and left with a winning grin. On his
bus journey back to college, he thought he heard ‘wo ha Nisha, wo hi meri
zindagi ki dor hai’ playing somewhere. This time, it was actually playing
on the radio. So much for the little joys of life, considering that it was
quite rare to find a Bollywood number playing on predominant Kannada FM
channels. ‘Magic of Nisha’,
he smiled.
Once inside his KREC campus, Rohan was proudly walking with the
bouquet and the birthday cake in his hands. Few of his batch mates saw him and
within no time, the word about his
romantic achievements spread
like fire. As he entered his second year hostel building, he was not allowed to
go to his room. Instead, few of his mechanical engineering classmates escorted
him to the common room. He sat on a chair, still holding his prized
possessions. Soon, he was surrounded by a bunch of eager faces waiting to hear
from him. It felt he had lived up to the glorious dream of every mechanical
engineer. The standing ovation he received felt no less than a gallantry award.
The poor fellow did not realize that a wicked GPL was waiting him. And he won’t
be able to sit properly for next few days. #Side#effects#of#first#date
#Frustrated#Mechanical#Engineers. That night, though he groaned with
physical pain due to the kicks he got, there was a smile of hope on his face.
The emails progressed to telephone calls they made on each other’s
common hostel number. The next date was fixed shortly. As planned, Nisha
happily plunged into the shoes of an experienced guide and showed Rohan some
popular churches and cafes, followed by a short movie running in one of the mini
theatres that the Manipal-Mangalore belt was famous for. Frequently, along the
long strolls, Nisha requested Rohan to sing some of her favorite songs, which
he happily obliged. All was good until Rohan ‘errored’. Towards the last
part of their retreat towards Nisha’s hostel, in the heat of the ‘fever’,
he held her hand. Nisha, on her part, elegantly withdrew her hand and stepped
aside. They continued their walk. As he prepared to leave, Rohan sensed
something amiss, but neither one of them spoke about it.
The next few days Rohan felt awful. Citing illness, her impending
exams and other not so believable reasons, Nisha started to avoid him. He was
anxious like never before and could hardly concentrate on anything. All he
needed was one meeting to clear any misunderstanding. At last, she agreed to
meet him. May be it was divine intervention, but this time, Jai and Adi decided
to come along. Also, Nisha’s birthday was approaching. So, Rohan managed to
borrow some money from his buddies, and bought a grand packet of Ferrero Rocher
chocolates. He had heard about its guaranteed power to bring a smile on the
female face.
With a big box of chocolates and love instilled hope in his heart,
Rohan boarded the bus to Manipal with his friends. They had agreed that after the
meet and greet, Jai and Adi would take on a different path leaving their ‘Romeo’ with Nisha. And they would meet
him at 8PM near the main bus stand. So, there they were in front of Nisha’s
hostel. After waiting for half an hour, Rohan could not control his anxiety. He
found a telephone booth nearby, and called her hostel’s common room number. It
went unanswered. Rohan kept on trying nervously till someone answered. Luckily,
the girl on the phone told Rohan that she would call Nisha and asked him to hold
on. The five minute wait seemed like forever. ‘Nisha has gone out’,
Rohan could not believe it, and asked her to repeat pretending that there was
some background noise. ’Nisha has gone out with her boyfriend’, he could hear a girl giggling in
the background. The receiver left Rohan’s hand on its own. His friends could
clearly notice his muted expressions, even from a distance. He asked them to
leave him alone for some time.
Coming back to the present….
So, there they were in the Mangalore bound bus. Rohan turned and
started walking towards the fellow passengers. He politely offered them
chocolates, with a …‘May you pass in Love’.
His tears had dried up by now as he took a seat behind his
friends.Somewhere in the background, he could hear “Ye kya hua, kaise hue,
kab hua, kyo hua”. This time again, he realized the tune was playing in his
head only. The surroundings seemed dark and very very silent.
