Beep Beep.
One message received.
"..should take more.. like half an hour.."
He grimaced.
Had it not been today, the templatised message would read as, "Half an hour.., not more than that, i promise..please baby!!, catch ya.. "
The half an hour wait, for her college to end, to reach ccd, to finish her last minute talks with teachers, to do all the chores, take the scooty before she could reach the table where they always met. It was only a 10 mins ride, had it not been for all those. And then, on other days, she would reach out, hold his hands and mutter sweet nothings. He understood that such chores are pretty normal for a academically serious student, after all, she was one of the most consistent and elite students at the mass communications college; and he, a dull and easy going engineering student with no aims or ambitions. Often they would talk about her plans after college; pretty often it would be she who would be doing the talking and he would be listening figuring out algorithmic ways to come up with a fool proof plan for her!!.. well done engineering, kahi to kaam aayi!! But, today was different.
"Damn, its just 5 mins gone". He looked at his watch. Maybe a cappucino would help let the time run. Its always the idle moments which make you feel that time is irritatingly incessant. He glanced at the ccd newsletter. "Bah!. crap seems to be in the air..". His mind wondered again. The "half an hour"s that had made his life take a new turn in the past few weeks. He met her at the first significant "half an hour"in his otherwise black and white umpteen "half an hour"s of 3 years in college.
"Heya!, do you know where can i find Nipyune?" ,an awkward south indianish accent, a pair of curious black kohl lined eyes, turquoise bangles and a blue salwar; it was the Garbha night.
"Well .. yea, nipun seems to be surrounded by the dance hungry crowd..should be back shortly", he muttered back.
"Hmm.. I am Shibani"
"Nikhil"
"I am representing my college for the University Ed Board, needed some grass on the Navratri.."
"Oh.. i guess then you might as well wait here for the entire executive committee to be back...Pepsi, if you may?"
"sure.. thanks"..
It seemed yesterday. The overtly normal talk which then became a scandalous line up of smsing all night, and then turned into uncounted "half an hour"s of talking about the usual humdrums of life. And then, it happened. Before he knew it, he was actually in a relationship. Talk about destiny, life seemed to be a big conspiracy about two people meeting out of nowhere. Life seemed to be on the seventh heaven. He did not have a big gang of friends, nor any interest in learning how darlington ampifiers behaved when the emitter was grounded!!. Life seemed to revolve around the 1km walk to the lover's point(atleast thats wat was the colloqial name), the ccd and the movie theatre. So far so good.
"Shews, 10 more mins.. Goddamn man... ". They say, an idle mind is a devil,s workshop. Never knew devil's workshop could be so blank. Outside, it had begun to drizzle; might turn into a hefty downpour. He glanced anxiously outside. "C'mon man, let it not be a downpour..maybe i should ask her to go home directly..but i need to meet her.." The shortcut to ccd from her college involved crossing a gravel downhill road which used to get real slippery during rains. It normally would be prudent to go back home, before the monsoons cause any further damage; but not today. He called her. No response.
5 mins left. Another call, no response. Another one, no answer. Next one, phone temporarily unreachable. "Wat the heck, get the phone ringing.." he uttered annoyingly. It had begun to rain heavily, the monsoons seemed to take its toll on anyone vulnerable to getting wet. Another call, no answer. "Maybe i should call priya, she should know where this oafhead might be.."
"Hello, hi.. NIkhil here, any idea where SHibu could be...?"
"Heyy, Nyx.. hw re you..., Shibu just left the college in a hurry..Could' nt really talk.. People were going helter skelter, to find some rain shade..."
"oh!..ok.. no probs..thanks anyways.. bye"
"Darn it!!!.." He looked at his watch again. 5:45. She should have been there by now. He called her again. Still no response. "might as well sit here for another few mins..." Normally, she would have definitely called him up before leaving college. But, today was different. Another cappucino, a must.
Two months back, he had been selected in a prestigious foreign internship for a year; a lucky break for a not-so-lucky student. It was a tempting offer beyond which his entire life flow could change. An exchange semester at a world renowned university and then the opportunity to get placed abroad. It was a tumultous moment. On one hand, he had an opportunity of rejuvenating his otherwise dull life, on the other his relationship was at stake. No relationship could stand the test of "long distance", that too when you yourself are'nt sure of return before atleast a year. And this is where, it all started. It started with appreciation and promises of togetherness, longer hours of gtalking, googling long distance , making long term plans of keeping together, trusting each other and banking on each other's strengths to keep up. After all, what seemed to be the crux of a relationship was mutual trust and communication. For a moment, it seemed that balancing one's academic and personal matters was always a possiblity, which most people wilfully ignore. For a moment, the longing between the both had increased significantly to the extent that classes seemed a sheer waste, spending the maximum time in the company of each other seemed prudent. Another 5 mins had passed by. It was still raining heavily. The cup was half empty.
The relationship had gone through the "introduction to long distance" phase pretty smoothly. But soon enough, he got busy in applications and emails to proffessors, getting recommendations and conversations with the concerned people at the University, getting documents for visa and booking tickets to visit the concerned consulate in Delhi. The beginning of the end, he sadly thought. In the midst of all this, his personal life had taken the backseat. He began to wilfully ignore her, always on the pretext of "other important work", "tiredness" and similar lines. These pretexts are momentary, they always tumble down as quickly as they can be conjured. Conversations, took the form of verbal fights and soon enough they were yelling at each other on the phone. Meetings became formal and quiet and then irregular to the extent of "occasional". It was two weeks back, when they had a fight none like others. She was furious and he trying to defend himself. They yelled at each other at the top of their lungs and slammed the phone down and said things so hurtful that they knew they could never take it back.
“GOTO HELL!”
“You first!” he shouted back.
“Why did you lie to me about Preeti?”
“About what?”
“Don’t play stupid Nik, you know what. I saw the way you acting around her at the party!”
“What the hell? We are in this exchange shit together. You have known her for over six months.”
“I saw the way she was hittin on to you!”
“Hittin on me? Here we go again with that shit. We were outside the disc talking about work! We are in this together remember? Hello?”
“Don’t try to hide your cheating ass with her behind the “we were talking about France” lie. It didn’t look like that talk from where I was standing. Priya saw the way you two were talking and how close she was standing to you! She was the one who pointed that shit out to me!!!”
“Who? Priya? What? Is she supposed to be your spy? Do you have spies all over the place keeping tabs?”
“I know what I saw..A drunk Preeti and she was clearly tryin to take her chances. Why don’t you just tell me the truth? I watched the way you were looking at her all the time. What was it? Her skimpiness? or her half drunkedness?”
“You are blowin’ things way out of proportion Shibu. I can’t believe this. We have been together for more than an year now and here we are fighting again about some girl you think I’m gettin’ with or gonna get with on the other side.”
“So what are you sayin, you two been hookin’ up behind my back? Is that what you’re trying to tell me now? Sounds like the truth is finally coming out of your lying mouth you son of a bitch!!!!”
“What the hell now? You think that’s what I’m sayin’?
“Yeah that’s what I’m sayin.”
“Look this is nonsense. You’re making something out of nothing”
"Just put the phone down, dont need your stupid shit to make my life any better.."
"Yeah, that sounds fine, know what its just 14 days and you wont hear from me again...and the clock ticks for good.."
"Yeah, that's exactly the one last favour i wanted. Good! you outspoke me..and i dont have to go through this shit once you leave...and know what, I really don’t want to see you again…"
[grunt]. Click. He banged the phone down.
".. this rain doesnt even seem to slow down...". It was 6 in the evening, and still no signs of her. He had his flight tomorrow mornin, and it was important that he met her. It was his last meeting with her today. She needed to reach home by 7 and this monsoon was cutting whatever precious time they had left. He wanted her to know that he still loved her the same way and this was not what he wanted. He closed his eyes momentarily despaired and pained.
“Hi Nyx… How have you been..?” a shivery, heavily drenched voice uttered behind his back.
Another significant half an hour had passed.
One message received.
"..should take more.. like half an hour.."
He grimaced.
Had it not been today, the templatised message would read as, "Half an hour.., not more than that, i promise..please baby!!, catch ya.. "
The half an hour wait, for her college to end, to reach ccd, to finish her last minute talks with teachers, to do all the chores, take the scooty before she could reach the table where they always met. It was only a 10 mins ride, had it not been for all those. And then, on other days, she would reach out, hold his hands and mutter sweet nothings. He understood that such chores are pretty normal for a academically serious student, after all, she was one of the most consistent and elite students at the mass communications college; and he, a dull and easy going engineering student with no aims or ambitions. Often they would talk about her plans after college; pretty often it would be she who would be doing the talking and he would be listening figuring out algorithmic ways to come up with a fool proof plan for her!!.. well done engineering, kahi to kaam aayi!! But, today was different.
"Damn, its just 5 mins gone". He looked at his watch. Maybe a cappucino would help let the time run. Its always the idle moments which make you feel that time is irritatingly incessant. He glanced at the ccd newsletter. "Bah!. crap seems to be in the air..". His mind wondered again. The "half an hour"s that had made his life take a new turn in the past few weeks. He met her at the first significant "half an hour"in his otherwise black and white umpteen "half an hour"s of 3 years in college.
"Heya!, do you know where can i find Nipyune?" ,an awkward south indianish accent, a pair of curious black kohl lined eyes, turquoise bangles and a blue salwar; it was the Garbha night.
"Well .. yea, nipun seems to be surrounded by the dance hungry crowd..should be back shortly", he muttered back.
"Hmm.. I am Shibani"
"Nikhil"
"I am representing my college for the University Ed Board, needed some grass on the Navratri.."
"Oh.. i guess then you might as well wait here for the entire executive committee to be back...Pepsi, if you may?"
"sure.. thanks"..
It seemed yesterday. The overtly normal talk which then became a scandalous line up of smsing all night, and then turned into uncounted "half an hour"s of talking about the usual humdrums of life. And then, it happened. Before he knew it, he was actually in a relationship. Talk about destiny, life seemed to be a big conspiracy about two people meeting out of nowhere. Life seemed to be on the seventh heaven. He did not have a big gang of friends, nor any interest in learning how darlington ampifiers behaved when the emitter was grounded!!. Life seemed to revolve around the 1km walk to the lover's point(atleast thats wat was the colloqial name), the ccd and the movie theatre. So far so good.
"Shews, 10 more mins.. Goddamn man... ". They say, an idle mind is a devil,s workshop. Never knew devil's workshop could be so blank. Outside, it had begun to drizzle; might turn into a hefty downpour. He glanced anxiously outside. "C'mon man, let it not be a downpour..maybe i should ask her to go home directly..but i need to meet her.." The shortcut to ccd from her college involved crossing a gravel downhill road which used to get real slippery during rains. It normally would be prudent to go back home, before the monsoons cause any further damage; but not today. He called her. No response.
5 mins left. Another call, no response. Another one, no answer. Next one, phone temporarily unreachable. "Wat the heck, get the phone ringing.." he uttered annoyingly. It had begun to rain heavily, the monsoons seemed to take its toll on anyone vulnerable to getting wet. Another call, no answer. "Maybe i should call priya, she should know where this oafhead might be.."
"Hello, hi.. NIkhil here, any idea where SHibu could be...?"
"Heyy, Nyx.. hw re you..., Shibu just left the college in a hurry..Could' nt really talk.. People were going helter skelter, to find some rain shade..."
"oh!..ok.. no probs..thanks anyways.. bye"
"Darn it!!!.." He looked at his watch again. 5:45. She should have been there by now. He called her again. Still no response. "might as well sit here for another few mins..." Normally, she would have definitely called him up before leaving college. But, today was different. Another cappucino, a must.
Two months back, he had been selected in a prestigious foreign internship for a year; a lucky break for a not-so-lucky student. It was a tempting offer beyond which his entire life flow could change. An exchange semester at a world renowned university and then the opportunity to get placed abroad. It was a tumultous moment. On one hand, he had an opportunity of rejuvenating his otherwise dull life, on the other his relationship was at stake. No relationship could stand the test of "long distance", that too when you yourself are'nt sure of return before atleast a year. And this is where, it all started. It started with appreciation and promises of togetherness, longer hours of gtalking, googling long distance , making long term plans of keeping together, trusting each other and banking on each other's strengths to keep up. After all, what seemed to be the crux of a relationship was mutual trust and communication. For a moment, it seemed that balancing one's academic and personal matters was always a possiblity, which most people wilfully ignore. For a moment, the longing between the both had increased significantly to the extent that classes seemed a sheer waste, spending the maximum time in the company of each other seemed prudent. Another 5 mins had passed by. It was still raining heavily. The cup was half empty.
The relationship had gone through the "introduction to long distance" phase pretty smoothly. But soon enough, he got busy in applications and emails to proffessors, getting recommendations and conversations with the concerned people at the University, getting documents for visa and booking tickets to visit the concerned consulate in Delhi. The beginning of the end, he sadly thought. In the midst of all this, his personal life had taken the backseat. He began to wilfully ignore her, always on the pretext of "other important work", "tiredness" and similar lines. These pretexts are momentary, they always tumble down as quickly as they can be conjured. Conversations, took the form of verbal fights and soon enough they were yelling at each other on the phone. Meetings became formal and quiet and then irregular to the extent of "occasional". It was two weeks back, when they had a fight none like others. She was furious and he trying to defend himself. They yelled at each other at the top of their lungs and slammed the phone down and said things so hurtful that they knew they could never take it back.
“GOTO HELL!”
“You first!” he shouted back.
“Why did you lie to me about Preeti?”
“About what?”
“Don’t play stupid Nik, you know what. I saw the way you acting around her at the party!”
“What the hell? We are in this exchange shit together. You have known her for over six months.”
“I saw the way she was hittin on to you!”
“Hittin on me? Here we go again with that shit. We were outside the disc talking about work! We are in this together remember? Hello?”
“Don’t try to hide your cheating ass with her behind the “we were talking about France” lie. It didn’t look like that talk from where I was standing. Priya saw the way you two were talking and how close she was standing to you! She was the one who pointed that shit out to me!!!”
“Who? Priya? What? Is she supposed to be your spy? Do you have spies all over the place keeping tabs?”
“I know what I saw..A drunk Preeti and she was clearly tryin to take her chances. Why don’t you just tell me the truth? I watched the way you were looking at her all the time. What was it? Her skimpiness? or her half drunkedness?”
“You are blowin’ things way out of proportion Shibu. I can’t believe this. We have been together for more than an year now and here we are fighting again about some girl you think I’m gettin’ with or gonna get with on the other side.”
“So what are you sayin, you two been hookin’ up behind my back? Is that what you’re trying to tell me now? Sounds like the truth is finally coming out of your lying mouth you son of a bitch!!!!”
“What the hell now? You think that’s what I’m sayin’?
“Yeah that’s what I’m sayin.”
“Look this is nonsense. You’re making something out of nothing”
"Just put the phone down, dont need your stupid shit to make my life any better.."
"Yeah, that sounds fine, know what its just 14 days and you wont hear from me again...and the clock ticks for good.."
"Yeah, that's exactly the one last favour i wanted. Good! you outspoke me..and i dont have to go through this shit once you leave...and know what, I really don’t want to see you again…"
[grunt]. Click. He banged the phone down.
".. this rain doesnt even seem to slow down...". It was 6 in the evening, and still no signs of her. He had his flight tomorrow mornin, and it was important that he met her. It was his last meeting with her today. She needed to reach home by 7 and this monsoon was cutting whatever precious time they had left. He wanted her to know that he still loved her the same way and this was not what he wanted. He closed his eyes momentarily despaired and pained.
“Hi Nyx… How have you been..?” a shivery, heavily drenched voice uttered behind his back.
Another significant half an hour had passed.
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