Some very intelligent person had once said” Time is a very big healer”
I can hack him to death if he comes in front of me. And I mean it.
With all the passing days, life was getting all messed and screwed up to the core. The question was…….why????
The big question was that, ”why was I so worried about a girl who was completely a stranger to me.”
Why was I thinking about a girl who did not know that I even existed. That there is a boy who really dieing to know more about her. Name was really one thing which topped the list.
Why was I so desperate????? I had never felt this way before.
I tried many things to get over with that feeling. But nothing really worked out. I even went to the extent of taking an antacid when I used to have that strange feeling inside me, thinking that it was just acidity. Please don’t laugh, but I actually did it more than once. But seriously speaking, nothing worked out.
She was still a mystery , a dark road, completely unknown to me.
Well coming back to the main thing, time was one thing I did not have for sure, leave aside other problems I was facing.
My pre boards were over by this time of the year. I had done badly in some subjects. Rest had some really good scores. That lessened the guilt. But it worked well for me, but not for family members. My marks had already got the alarms ringing in full volume. People were being consulted, teachers, Prime Minister, astronauts and only God knows who else…….
Finally, after consulting some old family friends, I was told to join an English class.
But coming back to the main thing, I was really pissed off by the teachers when I had reached back home. All the lectures and taunting did nothing good to my falling confidence. And when I was just getting all relaxed up for some rest, Dida(I call my grandmother by this name) came up to me and sat next to me. My eyes lit up. I put my head on her lap and let me tell you, I was really feeling good till she broke with the last thing I wanted to hear.
“I had a talk with Vaani’s mother ”
“So?” I replied half heartedly.
“She suggested an English coaching, and I have taken all the details, you have to go and meet your teacher today in the evening.”
“But….”
“And she will start teaching from today only. So go prepared with your books…”
“But dida….” I tried to protest….
“She will be expecting you by 5. Don’t be late on the first day.”
She walked away before I could say a word. So much for the relaxing thing. So much for the cricket match in the evening. I could already see the plan going for a six.
And I was in no state to refuse. No mercy was to be expected. Damm these results!!! Always messing up everyone’s lives.
Here I would like to tell that ‘Vaani’ is a person, who later has a very important role to play, and shape up many things which are right in my life and also for few things which are wrong too. She was born at my house, the nursing home which my grand mother runs. Vaani’s mother was undergoing treatment under my grand mother, just like all the other ladies of their big joint family.Both of Vaani’s brothers were also born here only. And if this is still not enough, then listen to this and digest it if you can. All the 24 kids of present generation are the product of my Grandmother’s hands. Well, not to forget, I am also one of the lucky ones who have the privilege of being born in their own house and by the hands of their own Grandmother .
Well, now Vaani and I have grown up together. We are of the same age group, she being half a year elder than me, I guess. I don’t want to tell her actual age. Girls really hate this part. Why, is still to be answered. She was a regular face in the family get-togethers and special occasions. Though we never used to talk much whenever we met each other in all these occasions, but whatever little time we shared with each other, was very good. We both gelled really well with each other. This came naturally to us. This was a bane in disguise.
I will come to the details later, and why I use such words for her, but now more important is that she had really done something which was to completely change me and my life forever. Till this day, I owe her for this, and a lot of endless sweet things she had done for me.
So, the orders were given, and orders need to be followed. So I decided to do the same too. I had no other option. So I just got ready, hopped on to my BSA Mach, and raced down in utter disgust to the given coordinates. I took some wrong turns or rather overshot the place in my little race with a man on a scooter. So after bit of struggle, I finally found the place.
It was kind of a small colony with a small park in the middle of it, with a statue of someone there, whose statue is it, I am still quite unsure of it. 8 or 9 houses were there in that little colony, all facing the park. I found the house where I was supposed to be. It was a little house with a beautiful garden in front of it, though I never complimented ma’am about her garden. I knocked the door and waited for someone to answer. I was rather answered back with some barks and more barks. There were two of them. I was overjoyed.
I have this great fascination for dogs. I have always had a pet dog in the house since my last memories I can remember. I am just so very fond of them. So wherever I found one, I was more than happy. While I was trying to figure out what breed was it, a dark shadow seem to appear behind the metal netted door.
“Who is it?” A voice grabbed my attention, ending my survey on dog breeds.
“Good evening, I am here to study English, my friend referred me.”
“Ok,wait.”
And the shadow retreated back
Damm….. those were days when I used to act really stupid sometimes. Same was the case that day. I was kicking myself for saying such a thing. Is this the way to answer that question. I had really messed it up.
Well I was greeted by a voice which was much sweeter and had a great accent in it.
“Come inside ‘beta’ and park your cycle inside and do close the door.”
“Yes maam, ” I replied back, more careful this time with my reply.
I parked my cycle and closed the door and entered the house as I was ordered to do. As I entered the doorway, I saw a door on the right and entered it. It was the drawing room. It was a small room but was very warm indeed. The way things were kept and the lights gave it a very warm look. A middle aged lady came up to me and asked me to sit.
She introduced herself. She was to teach me. As I was about to start, she started telling me about me only. She seemed to know a lot about me. Vaani had told her a lot about me.
Well we got over with the intro part and we headed to the main reason for which I was there. She briefly asked me about the course I had covered and how were my scores in my pre-boards. And I am sure my replies would have really not impressed her. We quickly decided on what to finish first and what to leave for the later part. All was set and decided. Poems were the first we would touch and finish, before moving onto the stories and play.
“Where are these two? Are they going to come today or not?”
“Don’t know ma’am” I replied half confused!
Two??? Who was the second person? I was under the impression that I and Vaani were to study together, but who was this second girl? “Well, who cares.’ Hogi koi, Mujhe kya lena dena’.” I replied to myself, half heartedly.
We decided to start with poems right from that day itself. I thought that the first day would have been a good sweet intro thing, you know me I know you and little chit-chating only. But study on the first day itself!!! Quite a surprise for me. She meant business. And I did not.
She asked me that whether I had brought my poetry book with me or not?
I thought of saying a no, nothing would have been better. But somehow I spilled out the truth. I fished out the book from my bag and gave a very sad look to her. Thought this would melt her heart and she would ask me that whether we should start it from today or tomorrow. But nothing of this sort happened. She got up, went inside and in a minute she got a book for herself. Same as mine. We were about to start when I thought of asking her about Vaani. She was nowhere to be seen. She pushed me into this and how could she vanish like this? I was sitting
here, studying poetry, and that too at the cost of a cricket match, and she just did not turn up. How could she???
I asked about her whereabouts. Maam replied that she should have been here by now. Neither did she or her friend whom she comes with are here till now. I really felt cheated. She should have been there.
Just as we finished talking about her, the door bell rang.
Ma’am inquired so as to who was it???
A voice from outside replied.
“Good evening ma’am, its me, Avantika.”
“Good evening ‘beta’, come in.”
I could hear the door being shut and the door of the drawing room being opened and a figure enter the room. The next thing I saw, I am really very thankful to ma dida and really very grateful for Vaani for what she had unknowingly done for me.
As the girl entered the room, the book in my hands fell down. My hands became numb and my fingers lifeless. I could feel a rush of blood in my veins, feel my heart beat rising like hell, but felt as if I was a rock, unable to move a muscle. The room’s warmth and its beauty ceased to exist anymore. There was a total blackout for few seconds.
My mouth opened and my jaw dropped down embarrassingly. I bet you could have parked your car inside it at that time. My heart missed a few beats, for sure.
There she was, simple as always, yet so beautiful and so very much attractive. Dressed up in I could fall in love with her a hundred times. I already was ……
I was not able to believe what I was seeing. I just could not believe it.
It was her!! It really was her….. she was standing there in front of me. She was beautiful. She was just so simple, yet so awesome. I could look at her for hours.
She was dressed up in a blue sweater, black jeans. She was looking awesome. The only thing that was missing was a pair of wings and a halo. The same innocent look on her face.
She came inside the room. She sat right opposite to me. I expected her to occupy the big sofa on which I was sitting but she chose otherwise. Never mind. At least I could look at her. See her. She was actually sitting in front of me. She was.
I wonder how awkward a scenario it would have been if ma’am would have seen the look on my face and my body language while she was entering the room and was settling down. Glad she did not.
All this while she was talking to ma’am and she hardly noticed my presence in that room or hardly looked at me. Strange I guessed. Never mind, always a next time. All this while, they were busy discussing about the topics taught yesterday. I hardly cared. All I could do was look at her, and look at her and look at her and look at her. I just did not get enough of it.
When I woke from my little day dream, I got back to my senses and realized where I was, I kind of gathered myself. I was now actually listening to what they were talking. I still don’t remember what they were talking, all I remember is her. Only her. She was actually sitting in front of me. She really was there. This could not be true. Too good to be true, I murmured to myself.
The situation was such, I could not gather my senses. I just lost track of everything. Everything else ceased to exist. All I could see was her…..
I was just sitting there, admiring her. That was all I could do. She was just so awesome.
I really don’t remember for how long this continued, but my little trip to fairyland was cut short by ma’am. She looked and at me and said “Sameer, I did not introduce her to you, but you must be knowing each other I guess.”
“No” I squeaked, barely able to manage to get that out of my mouth.
“Oh, I thought you must be knowing each other. Well she is a friend of Vaani and her name is Avantika.”
I instantaneously shot back “I know ma’am”
Some things happen around you for a reason. They all give you a message. But we often ignore them or just let them pass without giving them much of a thought. That day was one of them. I was there at the coaching for a reason. Destiny had some plans for me. Destiny helped me answer a very big question that day, a question that was really biting me, for quite some time. What I failed to realize was that one question got answered, but some bigger ones and more typical ones were soon to follow, that were to change me and my life, FOREVER…
