The boy was around say 15. The girl was all of 16. Both stayed in the same locality - she, a building away from him. Both studied Algebra, Geometry, and English in the same school. And both pursued the same subjects and a couple more in the same college.
The trouble began one not so fine a day when the boy decided to think he should have feelings for the girl. Why he had feelings for her he did not quite know. Perhaps, she was beautiful, perhaps she was intelligent, perhaps he was in need of a girlfriend - whatever the reason was, he just knew he had to have feelings for her.
So, he chalked up a plan of action. He knew she took the 8:06 VT, and he knew she left her building at 8:00 to land up at the station by 8:03. So he left his building at 7:58 and almost always caught up with her at the station.
As if that wasn't enough, he made it a point to give her company from VT station to the college as well. She said nothing to refuse and he thought she liked him.
He also tried to talk to her. She did not refuse to respond to this as well. She smiled, nodded, and seemed quite interested in whatever rubbish he spoke. He, in turn, continued to smile, and think of some more rubbish to entertain her.
And so the amusement began. The walks to the college were terrible: He tried to look normal and she tried her best not to.
The talk was even worse: He strung up some of the most ridiculous sentences a 16-year old can come up with and she strung up one of the best ways to laugh at them and yet not betray her feelings for those sets of words.
I remember I happened to walk past them one icy cold December morning. I remember her looking down and he looking oh so intently at her. And I remember this little snapshot of their conversation too:
"Oh were you there for yesterday's function?"
"Yes I was. I was so nervous."
"Oh so was I."
"Really?"
"Yes really. I did not want to attend you know. I felt like a smashed candlestick."
Smashed candlestick? I had never been privy to a smashed candlestick attending a function nor had I invited any smashed candlesticks to any of my functions either. But if he wanted to say that, I was sure not going to interrupt. I looked at her.
"Haha, " she laughed, still looking at the ground, "That's funny."
"Haha. Yes, I know. I was so nervous."
Oh yes he was always very nervous. He could not kill a cockroach you know. He needed them killed before he got anywhere close to them. And here he was - this 16 year old fellow - trying his utter best to close in on his kill.
These walks and talks went on for a year. All his classmates knew. His peers teased him till he allowed his cheeks to go red with embarrassment. I wonder whether her classmates knew. But what they all wanted to know was when would be thee day. Or whether there would be that day at all.
Well, the day came around a month after a year had passed. That day, by 12:50, his peers convinced him he had to ask the question. They said that he'll do well and she just might accept. They forced themselves to believe what they said because that made them sound sincere. And they did sound so sincere, he believed them. He said yes, let's do it. They said, yes yes, you must.
He said yes again and walked off in search of her. They said yes yes yet again and followed him all set to watch the fun.
At around 1 pm, he saw her in the corridor near the girl's room. She had no inkling what was coming her way when he walked up to her - as usual - looking like a smashed candlestick.
"Hello."
"Hey hi. Lunched?"
"Yes. Er.. I have to tell you something."
"Yes?"
"Er.. I have to ask you something," he said as he spotted his peers all perched on the window sill of the second floor - all set to laugh.
"Yes go on."
"You know (here, he took her name), I admire you a lot. I think I have feelings for you. and - you know - I think, those feelings can best be described as- " and he mentioned the four-letter word.
The word flew out with so much innocence, I doubt it had any idea what damage it was about to bring. It smiled, sailed on his breath, and set foot into her ear. It then went to her head and her head decided to let her cheeks go red.
Her eyelashes pulled her eyelids up and down. So, he thought she was fluttering her eyelashes. She, in turn, looked - as usual - at the ground, looked up, looked into the girl's room and remembered she had to respond all because the boy stood there, waiting for her reply.
"So, see," she said, "I think I think-"
"Yes?"
"I think let's be friends."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay."
And he walked away as if a truck had run him down.
The ensuing months were horrible.
"You okay?"
"Yes why?"
"It's been half an hour since I served you lunch."
"So?"
"You haven't eaten anything."
"I'll eat."
"You're sure? You've been tracing the in that rice."
"I'll eat" was the deadpan reply yet again."
So the Mother left him alone and asked him no more.
Questions though did pay him a visit. I happened to know four that pestered him for an answer:
He however thought it best not to pester his head to answer. So the questions - quite irritated, and irritating, as they were - shrugged and left him alone.
However, he was never alone. He had her refusal for company. He had her smile to dwell upon. He had so many of her charms to bother about, he just could not be alone.
Neither could I be alone when I thought of his state: Cate Blanchett came to give me company. She made herself comfortable in my head and began to narrate the prologue of The Lord of The Rings. She said: "Fact became History, History became Legend, Legend became Myth." And I think I can say the same of this fellow and the girl:
Of course, I knew the fact before the historian told me. But I wanted to know what the legend writer and the myth lover would tell me in complete confidence. So, I pretended to know nothing for a whole month. I looked lost and was quite an innocent face when they looked this way and that and told me what I wanted them to.
As the legend and the myth looked for ears that did not have lives to live, the boy decided to befriend Amnesia. Amnesia helped him forget her and he, in turn, helped Amnesia to remember what to keep forgetting. Their association lasted a month. He then was seen with Longing in the next month and with an exotic ice maiden - Ms Sans Emotion - the month thereafter.
A month after he left Sans Emotion for Sense, I graduated and - as usual - lost touch with all of them; the boy included. Months passed. I graduated yet again – this time with ‘post’ appended to my graduation. A year passed. I defeated the temptation to laze at home and took up a job. The job let many years go by till I got rid of the job itself and hopped onto another.
Many such jobs later, on a certain Sunday, I happened to attend the 9 am Mass in his parish.
I also happened to remember that he did make it a point to attend the 9 am Mass on Sundays because she did. So, I looked around the Church to spot him and the girl.
He, I did not see.
She, I heard about in the Church announcements:
"Be it known to all who are present that The Girl, daughter of her Father and Mother, residing at Some Place and Another Boy, son of his Father and Mother, residing at Some Other Place, intend to be united in Holy Matrimony..."
The Mass ended and I walked to the station.
A train strolled up along the platform and I walked into it.
And alongwith with me walked in the boy - cheerful, pretty carefree, and not in the least bothered that the girl he wasted his time on was now never to be his.
The trouble began one not so fine a day when the boy decided to think he should have feelings for the girl. Why he had feelings for her he did not quite know. Perhaps, she was beautiful, perhaps she was intelligent, perhaps he was in need of a girlfriend - whatever the reason was, he just knew he had to have feelings for her.
So, he chalked up a plan of action. He knew she took the 8:06 VT, and he knew she left her building at 8:00 to land up at the station by 8:03. So he left his building at 7:58 and almost always caught up with her at the station.
As if that wasn't enough, he made it a point to give her company from VT station to the college as well. She said nothing to refuse and he thought she liked him.
He also tried to talk to her. She did not refuse to respond to this as well. She smiled, nodded, and seemed quite interested in whatever rubbish he spoke. He, in turn, continued to smile, and think of some more rubbish to entertain her.
And so the amusement began. The walks to the college were terrible: He tried to look normal and she tried her best not to.
The talk was even worse: He strung up some of the most ridiculous sentences a 16-year old can come up with and she strung up one of the best ways to laugh at them and yet not betray her feelings for those sets of words.
I remember I happened to walk past them one icy cold December morning. I remember her looking down and he looking oh so intently at her. And I remember this little snapshot of their conversation too:
"Oh were you there for yesterday's function?"
"Yes I was. I was so nervous."
"Oh so was I."
"Really?"
"Yes really. I did not want to attend you know. I felt like a smashed candlestick."
Smashed candlestick? I had never been privy to a smashed candlestick attending a function nor had I invited any smashed candlesticks to any of my functions either. But if he wanted to say that, I was sure not going to interrupt. I looked at her.
"Haha, " she laughed, still looking at the ground, "That's funny."
"Haha. Yes, I know. I was so nervous."
Oh yes he was always very nervous. He could not kill a cockroach you know. He needed them killed before he got anywhere close to them. And here he was - this 16 year old fellow - trying his utter best to close in on his kill.
These walks and talks went on for a year. All his classmates knew. His peers teased him till he allowed his cheeks to go red with embarrassment. I wonder whether her classmates knew. But what they all wanted to know was when would be thee day. Or whether there would be that day at all.
Well, the day came around a month after a year had passed. That day, by 12:50, his peers convinced him he had to ask the question. They said that he'll do well and she just might accept. They forced themselves to believe what they said because that made them sound sincere. And they did sound so sincere, he believed them. He said yes, let's do it. They said, yes yes, you must.
He said yes again and walked off in search of her. They said yes yes yet again and followed him all set to watch the fun.
At around 1 pm, he saw her in the corridor near the girl's room. She had no inkling what was coming her way when he walked up to her - as usual - looking like a smashed candlestick.
"Hello."
"Hey hi. Lunched?"
"Yes. Er.. I have to tell you something."
"Yes?"
"Er.. I have to ask you something," he said as he spotted his peers all perched on the window sill of the second floor - all set to laugh.
"Yes go on."
"You know (here, he took her name), I admire you a lot. I think I have feelings for you. and - you know - I think, those feelings can best be described as- " and he mentioned the four-letter word.
The word flew out with so much innocence, I doubt it had any idea what damage it was about to bring. It smiled, sailed on his breath, and set foot into her ear. It then went to her head and her head decided to let her cheeks go red.
Her eyelashes pulled her eyelids up and down. So, he thought she was fluttering her eyelashes. She, in turn, looked - as usual - at the ground, looked up, looked into the girl's room and remembered she had to respond all because the boy stood there, waiting for her reply.
"So, see," she said, "I think I think-"
"Yes?"
"I think let's be friends."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay."
And he walked away as if a truck had run him down.
The ensuing months were horrible.
"You okay?"
"Yes why?"
"It's been half an hour since I served you lunch."
"So?"
"You haven't eaten anything."
"I'll eat."
"You're sure? You've been tracing the in that rice."
"I'll eat" was the deadpan reply yet again."
So the Mother left him alone and asked him no more.
Questions though did pay him a visit. I happened to know four that pestered him for an answer:
- Why did she refuse me?
- Does she have someone else in mind?
- Does she think I am not that clever?
- Worse, am I not man enough for her?
He however thought it best not to pester his head to answer. So the questions - quite irritated, and irritating, as they were - shrugged and left him alone.
However, he was never alone. He had her refusal for company. He had her smile to dwell upon. He had so many of her charms to bother about, he just could not be alone.
Neither could I be alone when I thought of his state: Cate Blanchett came to give me company. She made herself comfortable in my head and began to narrate the prologue of The Lord of The Rings. She said: "Fact became History, History became Legend, Legend became Myth." And I think I can say the same of this fellow and the girl:
- An acquaintance told me that some fellow had proposed to the girl.
- Another told me the girl had accepted.
- Yet another told me she had said yes first and no later and then decided to say she wasn’t sure.
Of course, I knew the fact before the historian told me. But I wanted to know what the legend writer and the myth lover would tell me in complete confidence. So, I pretended to know nothing for a whole month. I looked lost and was quite an innocent face when they looked this way and that and told me what I wanted them to.
As the legend and the myth looked for ears that did not have lives to live, the boy decided to befriend Amnesia. Amnesia helped him forget her and he, in turn, helped Amnesia to remember what to keep forgetting. Their association lasted a month. He then was seen with Longing in the next month and with an exotic ice maiden - Ms Sans Emotion - the month thereafter.
A month after he left Sans Emotion for Sense, I graduated and - as usual - lost touch with all of them; the boy included. Months passed. I graduated yet again – this time with ‘post’ appended to my graduation. A year passed. I defeated the temptation to laze at home and took up a job. The job let many years go by till I got rid of the job itself and hopped onto another.
Many such jobs later, on a certain Sunday, I happened to attend the 9 am Mass in his parish.
I also happened to remember that he did make it a point to attend the 9 am Mass on Sundays because she did. So, I looked around the Church to spot him and the girl.
He, I did not see.
She, I heard about in the Church announcements:
"Be it known to all who are present that The Girl, daughter of her Father and Mother, residing at Some Place and Another Boy, son of his Father and Mother, residing at Some Other Place, intend to be united in Holy Matrimony..."
The Mass ended and I walked to the station.
A train strolled up along the platform and I walked into it.
And alongwith with me walked in the boy - cheerful, pretty carefree, and not in the least bothered that the girl he wasted his time on was now never to be his.
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