Those of you who are sniggering at the thought of me even having a crush; take heart. This is another of my attempt at being a raconteur. Though, I made all you readers wade through a lot of verbiage during my last attempt, I'll try to keep it simple(r). But that doesn't mean the post is short, is it? This is one will take up a long time as well. So, it is your discretion that must help you to decide when you must return here to go through my story.
I loved boarding school. The school was obviously strict. Why do you think my parents enrolled me into here in the first place? But then, the guys surrounding me made it such a wonderful place. Among them, Rahul is my Best Friend and one of my roommates too. He is one of the reasons why I love this school so much.
Another reason why I loved boarding school was the numerous inter-school fests that seemed to keep occuring every week. It was during one of those seemingly innocuous programme did I first see her. Being holed up at boarding schools all my life, rating females or even 'picking' the right ones to ogle at seemed Rahul's innate talent, while I would look on lamely. But this time around, I knew she was someone special. I seemed to spot her wherever she went, or rather the other way around. She is present wherever I go. We even locked eyes. I could not wait to tell this to Rahul. Even before I could point out to him, he came to me with a smirk. He has that smirk when he is thinking something else and speaking some other rubbish simultaneously. Thus, he has always been a poor liar to me. Something else seems to have come up because his smirk fades as he comes closer to me.
Me : Hey, what happened? Someone proposed to you?
Rahul : Worse. The girl I was eyeing at was looking at you.
Me : Another girl? I was about to say the same. I saw a girl looking at me wherever I go. And you must see her to understand how beautiful she is. She is...
Rahul : Oh, shut up. Ignore her. I'll show you that girl and you will immediately forget the other one.
He took me to where she and her school mates were hanging out. Needless to say, he showed me the same girl about whom I was gushing about. Now, you do not always encounter a time like this. Another guy confirms your feeling without you having to ask him. It gives your ego, a maniacal boost and an adrenaline high that is very difficult to describe. I am brought down to earth sooner than expected, for my reticence emerges from nowhere and I find myself waiting to find her alone. Now, the roles seemingly get reversed and I keep following her unabashedly. Worse part was, she hardly seems to mind my presence. As usual, Rahul comes to my help.
Rahul : Hey, I have found out her school and my cousin studies there. I have asked her to introduce you to that girl. And that girl's name is... Her name is... It is...
Me : Hey, stop being a sadist. Tell me what is her name? Quickly!
Rahul : Alright. Don't get worked up. Her name is Isha.
Me : Wow. How did her parents name her so aptly? I am liking her more and more. I cannot even stop thinking about her. She is...
Rahul : Aw, stuff it!
Me : Did you atleast ask your cousin to speak something good about me to her?
Rahul : I asked you to shut up.
The introductions get over and it seemed a formality. She seemed just as eager to get to know me. I wished I can steer our conversation to asking her out. Preferably when she hints at such an opportunity first.
Me : Why don't we have an ice-cream over there?
Isha : No. I don't like ice-creams.
Me (stunned)
: What???
Isha (as a matter-of-fact)
: Yeah. What happened to you? I think you can close your mouth.
Me : Ha ha.. I haven't heard girls hating ice-creams, especially good-looking one like you.
She never seemed to mind such inane conversation and even such blatant flirting, which only kept my sprits soaring.
Me : I'll make you eat atleast one ice-cream some day.
Isha : Really? It is a challenge then. I will eat an ice-cream if you win my challenge.
Me : What? Alright. Spell out. You are going to eat lots of them because of me. So, what's the challenge?
Isha : Tonight, at 12:00 p.m., you have to come to the empty ground beside that girls' boarding school near your dormitory outside your campus.
Me : What? Are you kidding?
Isha : You are backing out so soon?
Me : Hey no. I am not backing out. Could not we have something
tougher? You know very well, what happens if they find us boys, breaking those rules. Especially, the late night rules. The warden would beat me up and would ensure I get only stale bread for a week. So, how about something else?
Isha : You cannot even attempt that? You would even refuse to ME?
When your feet is not on earth and head is in the clouds, reality gets obscured. Everything seems smaller and more importantly,
easier. So, it is no surprise, that I take up the gauntlet thrown at me. Only because I did not want to hurt her. Yours truly, fell hook, line and sinker.
Me : Alright. You are going to eat lots of ice-creams. Mark my words. What must I do when I get there?
Isha : You will know, when you get there... Bye.
With a tantalising smile, she trailed off leaving me starry-eyed. I realised I was falling for this amazing girl so soon. I was wondering if I should propose to her that night. Maybe this was her idea of a
swayamvara; accepting proposals only from the brave one who make it at 12:00p.m. I prayed to god, that I would be the one she chooses.
Rahul promised to arrange everything. He promised that no one would miss me at Dinner Hall, nor the night study hall. I don't know how he manages, but everyone knows he keeps his word if he gives his assurance. He insisted that at around 11:30p.m. itself Bhai - the watchman gets up for his rounds. Bhai is the most feared and vigilant watchman around. Nobody has dared to slight him and those who dared has met with troublesome fates. So, we decided that I get out early, and after 12:00, I try scaling up the wall and wait
on the wall till Bhai crosses over to the other end. I still did not know what I was going to do. So I took up the glossed-transparent sheet we used to cover our notebooks. I cut up a metre or so and stuffed it up inside my pockets.
By 8:00 p.m., I was ready. I scaled up the walls and went off. I knew, the flowers growing on the way to the empty ground. I plucked a few of them and wrapped them around the cover I had in my pockets. I then took out the marker pens to write cheesy lines around them and used a blade of grass to tie them together. Now came the wait. The long wait for midnight. I wished I could have an ice-cream ready to offer her now. But, I could not get any by that time. I waited impatiently for the minutes hand of my watch to tick to 12 each hour. With each passing minute, my excitement multiplied and I could barely hold the makeshift bouquet. For fear of crushing it, I had laid it on the ground and sat down beside it watching my watch with a pounding heart. This wait was killing me.
I knew it was going to be a long wait. But nothing like this. I said so because, it was 1:00p.m. and there was no sign of her. It was then I notice it. That window. I had been blinded by my own hopes of an imaginary swayamvara that I had not noticed the single lighted room on the top floor of
that girls' dormitory. I notice a sign that has been pasted on the window sill. I cannot read it clearly because it is so faraway and I dared not go closer to it for fear of an ignominy of the highest proportions. But the writing on the wall was as clear as it can be. You do not often find a signpost and your girl missing on your first date, unless your missing girl put it up.
I stamp on the bouquet I had lovingly made with frustration and can hear peals of laughter resounding across the empty grounds. I run away madly towards my dormitory, with my vision blurred by moist eyes. This kind of a snub has never happened to me and I did not know how to react. I reach my dormitory very soon and scale up the wall. But, I forget to look out for Bhai while I am sitting on the wall itself. I jump off without another thought and land upon Bhai himself who was bending down and picking up something only God knows what, and also at this ghostly time.
He also fell down and I glare back at him, lying on my thighs. No one has ever glared back at him like that and I was properly thrashed. His staff seems to be made for that kind of work. I felt angry only at myself for being so gullible. Falling so easily for a girl I barely knew. And this Bhai fellow for exercising such control over boys in this dormitory.
After a sound thrashing and a report to my warden, I troop off to my room only to find Rahul awake. One look at me and he burst out laughing. His laughing woke up the others as well. Needless to say, I became the laughing stock of the whole dormitory for more than a month.
It had been nobody but Rahul's idea to play a prank on me. He insists, he never thought that matters would reach the warden. To hell with his thoughts. I must have suspected him when he came to me with such a smirk. And to think, he has told me umpteen tales of duped boys and girls when he and his notorious cousin team up. I was so smitten by Isha (she was after all Isha, I learnt from his cousin later), that I failed to see the connection when his cousin, of all the people, introduced me to Isha. But, whether it was a reality or a farce, it was my true first crush. And my first crush has been crushed...
And...
You wanted to know what I did to Rahul?
He had to eat MY stale bread for more than a week AND clean up MY bed.
P.S.: I wanted to write, how Rahul managed to cover up my absence in the dining hall and other places with some ideas I had. Then I realised, that would make this post too lengthy, and so decided not to torment the handful of people who comment on my site, any further. I'll have to save those ideas for subsequent posts.
