Love At First Sight

It was October, and it had been three months of my college term. The first internal exam was going to start tomorrow. It was a 15-mark exam of 30 minutes, and I was not very stressed about it. I thought of studying at night. It was 5 p.m., the weather was moderate, a slow, cool wind was blowing, and the heat of the sun had fallen. I called Sandeep and told him to meet me at the tea stall near the college in 10 minutes. I left for the tea stall too. As I reached, I saw Sandeep coming from the other side, I waved at him. We sat on the wooden bench inside the tea stall. I ordered two cups of tea.

The evening market had just opened, it was a small market. There were a few vegetables and fruits selling shops, a meat shop, a few tea stalls, a grocery shop, a stationery shop, a medical shop and a small restaurant.

A kettle was boiling over a small fire, it will take some time to make tea, said the stall owner. The tea stall was empty, there were no customers except the two of us, and it seemed like everyone was in their hostels busy studying for exams. The tea was ready, and the seller served us the hot tea in the clay cup. After drinking the tea, we too decided to go to our hostels and study for the exams. As we were about to leave, some seniors came to the stall, they were of the third year. I knew them.

‘You are chilling here at the tea stall, don’t you have to study for the exam?’ asked Satyam Bhaiya.

‘Yes, I am leaving for the hostel now, I replied.

‘Wait, he said as I was about to go, I have good news for you, tomorrow there is a possibility of no exam.

‘Woah, But why?’ I asked with curiosity.

‘See, it is October and no company has visited for the campusing. So, the fourth-year seniors are doing a strike tomorrow to pressurize the college administration to call companies for campus placement, he said.

‘But why tomorrow, they can do a strike after the exam too, right, I asked.

Since tomorrow there is an exam, there will be full attendance, and it will be easy to create a large gathering, replied Satyam Bhaiya.

After knowing about that tomorrow there is a possibility of no exam, Sandeep and I dropped the idea of going back to the hostel and studying. Instead, we left for the Central Mall, near a mile away from the college. As we reached there, we saw many of our friends sitting on the concrete bench relaxing and engrossed in talks. On seeing me, Vikram said, here comes the prettiest boy of our class. I wish I was as handsome as you, then I would have had a girlfriend till now, he exclaimed! Everyone greeted me and Sandeep with a smile on their faces and offered us to sit, we sat.

The Central Mall has concrete bench built to sit in front of the shops on the ground floor and a passage for commuters to walk in between. On the other side of the concrete bench fenced with steel railings, there is a long narrow water pool where one can watch and feed the fish. Seeing everyone exhilarating there, it was obvious that they were well aware of the strike and the possibility of no exams tomorrow.

There was a tea shop in front of the Central Mall on the other side of the road. A boy was running from the shop to the mall campus serving hot tea and collecting empty glass cups. Ashish called him and ordered the tea for all of us sitting there. He counted the number of boys sitting there on his finger, it was twelve. He went and returned in 10 minutes carrying 12 cups of tea in a tea cup stand.

Chai, chai, garma garam chai, he shouted with a smile.

After serving tea to everyone, he said, “Bhaiya, you will have to pay if you break any of the cups.

The boy is the tea stall owner’s son. He studies in class 4 and comes to the stall in the evening to help his father. I called him, put my hand on his head, tousling his hair, gave him 5 rupees as a tip. He kept the 5-rupee coin in his pocket, showed his teeth with a smile.

While drinking tea, we came to know that Vikram is going to meet a girl tomorrow to whom he was in talk for 2-3 days on Facebook. Ashish was his love guru and assured him that this time he would be successful in making a girlfriend if he follows his instructions. It was his fifth venture in making a girlfriend, he was unsuccessful four times earlier, and this time he had trusted Ashish, another failed lover. Vikram was desperately in search of a girlfriend, within an hour of talking he used to propose to the girl and the girl also used to ditch him that quickly only.

We heard a sound as somebody was slapped, we turned to see. A girl was fighting with a boy and once again she slapped him and left saying that don’t show her his face again. It was a humiliation for the boy and a show of entertainment for everyone watching. The boy left putting his head down in shame.

This will be our Vikram Bhai tomorrow because he has trusted Ashish, said Rohit and everyone burst out in laughter.

The tea stall owner’s son came to collect the empty glass cups, we made the payment.

Rohit called the boy and asked jokingly, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No, the boy replied.

“Do you want one?” Rohit asked.

“No, I don’t want, the boy replied.

“But why?” Rohit asked.

‘Bhaiya, didn’t you see what had just happened? The boy said.

Even this little boy knows making a girlfriend is not good, but our Vikram Bhai is desperate to have one, Rohit taunted and everyone again burst out in laughter.

We laughed, we talked, we enjoyed, and we didn’t realize how the time passed.

It was night already, the cold wind was blowing, and the skies were full of stars. We left for our hostels and bid goodnight to everyone.

It was 8 o’clock in the morning when I woke up. I quickly got ready, did breakfast and left for the college. As I entered the classroom, I saw that every arrangement was done for the exams, only one student was allowed to sit on a single bench.

“Was the news of the strike wrong? Will there be an exam?” My mind started toiling with these questions.

But it was 9:30 a.m. now, and the exam was supposed to start from 9 a.m. We were said to wait by the teacher. At 10 a.m. some seniors came, talked with the teacher and requested them to leave. As teachers left, one senior stood on the teacher’s stand and said today there is a strike, and we need your support. This is for our future, if we don’t put pressure on the college authority, they will not call any company for the placement, it is already October, the companies were supposed to visit from July itself, at the very beginning of our 7^th term of the college. So, everyone vacates the classroom and comes down to the college ground. There was a huge gathering at the college ground, everyone had come out of their classrooms.

The college campus has three large buildings and a large ground at the center. There is a coloured brick pavement around the ground leading to the three buildings. The ground is fenced with lilies, roses and marigold flowers around it. There is a small pool in front of the administrative building with a fountain in it which seldom works.

We were made to stand in a queue. A senior came to lead us, he was holding a mike in his hand and told us to repeat loudly what he said and made us walk on the circular pavement. We moved and started shouting loudly, give us our right, give us jobs, call companies for placement, the college administration woke up, fulfil our demands.

We enjoyed it, we shouted with full enthusiasm for the first few hours. But now I started feeling tired, the scorching heat of the sun was getting unbearable. So, I started looking for a place to sit, I saw the gate of the second building was open. I slowly slipped away from the queue as I came near the gate of the second building. Before entering the building, I gave a signal to Sandeep standing in the queue to come, but he didn’t understand what I was trying to convey.

I entered inside and thought of resting in a classroom. I moved towards a classroom, and as I was about to open the door, someone from inside opened the door of the classroom. I staggered some steps forward and fell down on the floor wobbling. The door of the classroom got shut with a bump. I turned, I saw a girl. A girl of incredible beauty, grace and charm, full of praises. She was wearing a white shirt and black pant fitting the shape of her body. She was looking gorgeous even in the college uniform. She had a heart-shaped, radiant face, her shiny black hair tied up into a ponytail exposing her delicate ear with gems stud earring attached to the earlobe, she had deep lustrous expressive eyes, thin straight nose, calamine pink lips. Her crescent shaped eyebrows inclined slightly as she saw me staring at her. I took off my gaze from her face.

She moved her one hand forward, holding her ear with the other hand in apology, looking at me with one eye closed and was asking for forgiveness for the mishap. I held her hand and she pulled me up. We were looking into each other’s eyes, still holding hands. She was standing very close to me, so close that the perfume from her hair was tantalizing me. Her delicate nose rocking a nose pin, her sweet-pink lips, her elegant personality, all had mesmerized me. It was love at first sight. I was in love with her.

Suddenly, we heard the opening creak of the door. We left each other’s hand and moved some distance away from each other. This was Sandeep, as he entered the room, she walked out.

‘What was going on? Who was that girl? Is she your girlfriend?’ You never told me about her, Sandeep asked all these questions in one go.

‘No, I don’t know her, I just met her, but you ruined the moment, I didn’t ask her name too, I replied dismally.

It’s not my fault, you were trying to say something to me in the ground, and then you vanished. So, I came here looking for you, said Sandeep innocently.

Okay, let it go, let’s take some rest, you must be feeling tired too, and that’s what I was trying to convey to you in the ground, I said.

We sat on the wooden bench under the fan, the soothing air of the fan touched our faces and body, and we felt relaxed. About 10 minutes would have passed, some seniors found us sitting in the classroom. They came inside saying, hey, brother, you are relaxing here, don’t sit here, go to the ground, please support our cause, and they forced us to leave the classroom.

The Sun was in full swing. It was 1 p.m. now, the trenchant heat of the sun was more radiant. Everyone was sitting on the ground. We also sat there in the open sun. But my eyes were looking for someone. I was searching for that girl, but she was nowhere to be seen. The hot and dry weather was making me feel sick.

For how long the strike will continue, I asked one of the senior.

The college authority has agreed to talk, and as soon as they accept our demands, we will end the strike, but it will still go up to 7 p.m., I think so, he replied.

I can’t wait anymore, I am feeling tired and hungry, we will have to find a way to escape, I said to Sandeep slowly. We stood up and went to every gate of the college, but all gates were blocked by the seniors, and no one was allowed to leave the college.

As we were roaming hopelessly, I saw the library gate was open, so we went inside the library. The library was air-conditioned, we got a feel of relief. I leaned on my back on one of the barrier screens which was half wooden and glass fitted in the other half. Sandeep was roaming here and there and started looking for some books. After some time he gave me a signal that a girl was leaning on the other side of the barrier in the same manner as I was. I turned, she turned, this was her, our palms were over each other, our noses touched, our lips touched, we kissed, but it was not real. Unfortunately, there was a glass between us! We stood still for a moment looking into each other’s eyes. I heard the footstep of someone, this was her friend, we turned away from each other. She walked out of the library with her friend. As I was about to follow her, Sandeep called me to show something, and she was gone once again.

‘What happened?’ I asked, annoyed.

He showed me the back boundary wall of the college through the library window and said if we cross that wall, we can escape.

‘But how to go there?’ We will have to find its way, I said.

We left the library. I was looking for her, and Sandeep was looking for the way to the college outer boundary wall. She was nowhere to be seen, but Sandeep had found the way to the college back boundary wall.

The library was in the administrative building, and there was a small passage by the side of the building which led to the outer boundary wall of the college. We went near the passage, no one was looking there, we quickly crossed the passage and reached the college boundary wall. It was about a 6-foot-tall wall, Sandeep climbed up the wall and jumped out of the college campus. I saw her there, she and her friend were trying to climb up the wall. On seeing me, she asked for help. I helped her friend to climb up the wall and she jumped out of the college campus. Now it was her turn, I lifted her and she caught the upper end of the wall, I pushed up her legs and she climbed up the wall. I, holding the upper end of the wall, asked her name looking into her twinkling eyes.

‘Pritha, she answered with a smile.

Suddenly, some seniors came shouting, look, they are escaping, catch them. She jumped from the wall hurriedly. Sandeep asked me to hurry up from the other side of the wall, I climbed up the wall with a jerk and jumped out of the college campus.

‘What took you so long? What were you doing?’ Sandeep asked fiercely.

‘I was helping the girls, I replied.

‘But where are they gone?’ I asked, looking around.

‘They ran away on hearing the seniors approaching, and we should also hurry up now, Sandeep said.

We crossed the field and came on the road away from the college.             

‘I am coming to your hostel because to go to my hostel I will have to cross the college, and the seniors will take me inside if I get caught, I said.

‘Bro, you’re always welcome to my place, Sandeep replied.

As we moved, I saw both the girls going, a few yards ahead of us. They were going in the same direction as Sandeep’s hostel.

‘Is there any girl’s hostel near your hostel?’ I asked.

‘Yes, there is a girl’s hostel, a few buildings before my hostel, Sandeep replied.

‘Have you ever seen her there?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know. I don’t keep a watch on girls living in that hostel, Sandeep said, disgruntled.

We were still a few yards behind them. Suddenly, she turned back, she saw us, then looked away and kept walking. After walking some distance, she again looked back. She was thinking that we were following her, I felt.

Let’s get ahead of them! I told Sandeep.

We paced up, passed them, and now we were a few yards ahead of them. We turned right and walked some distance and then turned left. Sandeep pointed towards the building at the corner on the right side and said, this is the girl’s hostel. Sandeep’s hostel was three buildings ahead of the girl’s hostel on the left side.

As we reached his hostel, Sandeep opened the gate and entered inside. I stopped and looked towards the gate of the girls hostel. She was standing at her hostel gate. Our eyes met, first she tried to avoid my gaze but then looked up straight into my eyes, blushing, she smiled, I smiled too. I saw a feeling of love for me in her sparkling eyes. As, some people, it is said, fall in love at first sight, that was what happened with us. It was love at first sight.