It was one of those restless nights, when sleep was miles away. The mind was preoccupied with a lot of things and started producing question like how? why? what? I tried doing a few things to kill time, like reading Dan Brown, watching a movie, logged into Facebook; I even tried studying... but have to leave everything midway. I was running short of options, just then my phone started ringing. After seeing the name on the screen, I heaved a sigh of relief. It was Anshul who had called. He's been doing this since ages, 'saving my ass in tough times'.
"Thanks a ton bro, you are a God sent angle." I answered. He was a bit puzzled at my reply, "Kya hua bhai?" he asked me. I updated him on the current situation and then it was all 'man to man' talk. Boredom was soon all history, our conversation stretched from his life to my life, college to corporate world, glamor to Bollywood and then we arrived to our favourite topic 'his girl my girl talk'. Oh! Yes, we loved this topic... it was so much fun to hear all his crazy stories and then narrating him mine.
"How's your girl?" I shot the question at him. "Why are you so interested in her?" I could gauge the sarcasm in his tone, but who cared 'screw sarcasm'. It was all cool and cute after that, and then it was 'his girl and her story' all the way. "Enough with my girl, what about yours "? He came even with me. Now it was officially my turn, to be the 'storyteller'. I spoke after a pause, "My girl, and dude! You know am single." He applied the tried and tested emotional formula, "Ab bhai ko nahi bataayega tu." "Tere liye koi baat hain kya? theek hain, batata hoon," I reapplied the same emotional formula.
And then I broke the news to him, "You know about Rishita?” I asked. "Yeah, the one who’s been driving you crazy from some time now...” He confirmed. “ I mean, am falling for her." I spoke. "Are you sure about her?" He asked me before I could complete my sentence. "I was sure about the last four as well." I tried to sound humorous. "Will you stop fooling around?" He replied and I could well sense the seriousness in his tone. He added, "You don't have to be realistic. Not when it comes to love." His words hit me like a strong force, bringing me face to face with reality and it all started to sink in. "Whoa! Man... This is some food for the thought. But It did happen to me, it still happens to me and I wonder if it will keep happening to me over an again. I have been falling for the every single girl; I've been attached to... Shit! it’s happening again." I blurted out to him. “I have a solution, let’s start it from the beginning." He said. "What?" I spoke out of confusion. "Your Love's Timeline", he made the statement. "Was he reading my mind?"
Tanya: Too Cute to be Hot 2003-2004, 8th Standard
"You know it all started back at school, it was the very first time someone made me feel weak in the knees. It was Tanya and she was way too cute. I looked forward to every single opportunity, which could lead to a conversation with her..." "Yes, and most of the times you ended up making a fool out of yourself." He cut me in the middle of the sentence. After hurling a few abuses at him, I continued with the story. "Finally I did fit in with her, and it was all fantastic. Stealing glances at her during the class, playing Bollywood on the last page of the notebook, sharing lunch with her, borrowing her notebooks which led to frequent visit to her home... soon became a part of life. But, nothing is constant and so is with life. After the year got over, she moved to a new place. If there was some more time, I'd have said everything I wanted to. But, it was all gone now. ““You do have a thing for her, even today?" He asked. “You were an eyewitness, so you better know", was my answer. "If you were provided the chance at that instance, would you be able express it to her?” He asked. I was at loss of words, " Maybe yes, maybe no... but I still care a lot about her. Her memories always light up my face with an innocent smile." "Even if she's a lot hotter now, than cuter she used to be then," he said in an attempt to sound witty. "Bastard," I cursed him under the breath. "Let’s hear the next one", He said.
Naina: The Girl With Cute Dimples 2005-2006, 9th and10th Standard
"As I knew her from the past, Naina was the most irritating girl in my opinion. She was all cute and good looking but at times, she was such a pin... She would burst into giggles every now and then. Apart from being irritating, she was intimidating as well. I still remember, engaging in a fight with her was part of the daily schedule. I'd always look for opportunities to get even with her. But I didn't had the slightest of intuition that, by engaging in all those petty fights with her, someday I'll lose it all to her. But with changing times, opinions do change. Finally, we both gave up and the fights were all history. We got enrolled to the same coaching class, as a result of it I got to see her beautiful side, especially those cute dimples. With passing time, the irritating giggle turned into an infectious smile. Slowly and swiftly, I developed a certain liking for her, in another sense she was all over me. At times, I would crave to see her smile. My cravings for her grew in stature with each passing day. For some time, I took it to be the whole teenage infatuation thing. Moreover, I wasn't enough courageous to express. Somewhere deep inside, there was a fear of losing her company, which refrained the actions from my side. Soon, we guys got busy with our board exams. And after the boards got over, I left for Kota to pursue the great Indian engineering dream." "Was it just more than a teenage infatuation?” He asked. "I don't know... I've tried to give it a thought, but have failed every single time. She's been haunting my mind from quite some time. The more I try to get away from her, the more closer I get to her." I answered. "Have you spoken to her? Did you try meeting her? Talk to her, you idiot! maybe she's the one for you." His questions were starting to trouble me. "Do you want to hear about the next one or not?" Go on, he gave in.
Continued in next part...
