Success in Love is... Part 1

Love happened to me like an every day event, nothing like that was shown in the movies or like I had imagined all these years. Going by the Westlife song “Flying without wings” goes “you’ll find it in the strangest places; Places you never knew it could be”, I never knew I would love her because she was there in my life for a long time and I haven’t got any feelings for her in that long time, a year to be precise.

She came into my life just like a relative or a next door neighbor, more like default setting than a miracle. After all, angels don’t descend from the clouds, but have the same process of growth like any human and attain the divine status only in their lover’s eye.

I was waiting for my friend in Boomerang and having Choco Classic – the most ordered ice cream by us when we have to spend more time and less money. I was busy texting my friend to come soon without taking me eyes off the girls coming out of the Women’s college opposite to Boomerang and their gestures as they rush to the nearby bus stand.


She was sitting in the table next to me arranging some papers; one of which flew over to my table and stained itself with my Choco.
“Oh No! I am very sorry.” She said in the most apologetic tone I have ever heard.
“It’s fine. Guess your sketch got stained” I said, still texting in my 1100.
“Oh! Anyway I was going to redraw all of them.”
“But they seem to be very good” I looked up to find a girl who has disguised all her beauty behind her spectacles.
“Thanks.” she said with disappointment written on her face. “They are not up to my Prof’s standards.”

Well, that’s exactly what we spoke, nothing that any of us can be impressed with. Darn! My friend came soon after and he finished the same Choco classic which I was eating for an hour in 10 minutes. Of course I didn’t forget to turn back to see her as I was leaving and we exchanged smiles.
That was how it started; No not love, we became friends from that smile. My Bio Block and her Fashion Block being neighbors made us have a chit chat then and there. But it never took any colors until a year or so; we never got close or anything. Actually except for the occasional meetings and quick chats in Canteen, nothing else happened. We weren’t friends in Orkut nor featured on either’s Distribution List of Forward messages.  

Days rolled and many got close and few moved away. Well that’s what life is all about. Then one day the calendar showed Jan 2, but my cell showed Feb 14. Valentine’s day it was, but we were celebrating the Bio Symposium with a bunch of researchers lecturing us on topics like new trends in Bacterial reproduction, Chromosomal networks, etc. I was one of the Key organizers and had hell a lot of things to do. Since the Fashion Fiesta was organized on the same day, we had to rush up things and finish our meet by 5.30. I was busy at the info desk and making a few last minute alterations when I saw her.
She was in a red Saree, walking with ease unlike most girls who hold their Saree so as to walk without falling, gorgeous and whole amphitheatre was looking at her. I turned to face her and felt like, ‘Man! She is hot’. I turned back to the info desk quick enough to make sure she doesn’t read the look in my face. The girl sitting in the info desk had a smile and signaled that she is coming towards me.
‘I want to talk with you.’
‘Fine. I will meet you at 6 in Canteen.’ I was talking to her organizing the order of gifts and avoiding eye contact.
‘No! Come out now. Just five minutes.’
I turned to look at her and emphasize the importance of my presence here. But her eyes were wet and she was already holding my hand. We walked out or she dragged me. I could see the smile in my HOD’s face as I went out. “Darn! This guy is too good in catching me” I thought

She took me to the Fashion Block which was a bit weird with big machines and not the artistic kind of appearance I had imagined. We sat on a corner bench which had very few scribbling unlike the ones in my classroom, may be because fashion is mostly about making scribbles into art and they don’t waste them on benches. She showed a few dresses that she had designed and explained how much effort she had put in designing them and how her designs were rejected this morning. The clothes were looking great to me.
‘I knew that you will be busy but I didn’t know whom I can talk to. All my classmates are at the Function.’
‘Ya. It’s fine’ I said thinking that the damage is already done.
‘I feel these designs are very good and I particularly like the colors used. What if your Prof didn’t like it, it’s not designed for him. When you see this you get a sense of satisfaction, that alone counts and here I am, a novice in Fashion, immediately in love with the work. I guess you have succeeded already’
I spoke in a serious tone to make her feel better.

She heard every word I spoke and I was avoiding her wet eyes so as to keep my eyes from dilating. She didn’t say anything but she had stopped crying. The silence that prevailed for few minutes was broken when her mobile started singing a kindergarten rhyme. She went to the far end of the room to speak and I started taking a look at the old handloom and the new Powerloom. Turning to make sure no one was watching me touch these machines, I saw her crying again and this time chronic streams of tears were flowing non-stop.
‘Oops! Not again.’ I thought and started scripting my next speech.
She came back to me and gave a big hug, resting her face in my chest. I was amazed and the only things my senses recognized was her fragrance. I realized that she was saying something only after she lifted her face, took a step back and looked at me with a wide smile
‘What happened?’
‘There is a slot in which they want me to participate in. Some Delhi guy has backed out’ she said that like celebration.
‘Great! All the best’ as I was saying that, there was an instant feeling of loneliness that she is going to leave now but that was overcome by the unexplainable joy that spread the next moment.
She ran away with the clothes and I was watching her run away till she disappeared behind the doors, feeling her warmth and the fragrance. The weird machines and benches witnessed me standing still and smiling. The Nokia tune and Vibration of my Cellular brought me back from the Clouds and my roomie was shouting on the other end demanding me to come straight away to the canteen and give the room key. I smiled again as I walked to the canteen greeting everyone who passed me on the way.

That night we spoke for 3 hours and she was telling that I have made her day and that she is in bliss after the big applause that she received. I couldn’t take her image in red saree off my eyes neither could I forget her fragrance nor the warmth. We talked and talked and I had told a gist of my entire life and she had shared all her dreams and realities. I never thought this girl could be this engaging to talk to, in fact if any girl could be. The length of the conversation was evident only when my cell phone ran out of battery for the first time in its life. In the next few minutes I woke everyone in my room in my attempts to search the Charger without turning on the lights. Finally when my 1100 came to life, a new message popped up reading “Good night dear Sleep tight, happy dreams” for which I replied “Good night Sweet dreams” which was apparently my first good night wishes to anyone. I spent the remaining hours of that night playing the scene amidst the weird machines again and again until my friend pushed me down from the bed for sleeping on the pile of library books, his Engineering drawing board, drafter and few other items I couldn’t recognize owing to their smaller sizes. Anyways nothing else meant anything now.