A Tiny Si Love Story Part 2 - circa 1997

The next year came and he was increasingly belligerent as things were headed nowhere and he was just a confused soul. As he cleared the exam and went to attend his classes, he was pleased to see that she too had returned for the tuition's. And as if it was a sign of the new found confidence of reaching the Xth standard, she called him one day while he was just climbing onto a friend's scooter. All her friends moved away in anticipation and his friends too moved away. It was a scene set up from the movies and there was a great expectation. So, what does our majnu do. He kick-started the scooter and ran away. yes, right, he ran away - perhaps hammering a final nail on his fledgling love story. 

His love for continued though, but he could never muster up the courage to approach her. He started feeling that this will be his pattern for the rest of his life and he will die alone one day. Also, people became more serious and everyone was into the subject and studying and talking about studies most of the time. Even she was busy with her studies, while he hovered around like a bee. He soon decided that since he is a senior, he will soon talk to her and one fine day, he got dressed up and was prepared to say hi to her. Reaching his classes, he noticed that she was missing. A day turned into weeks and then a couple of months passed but he could not ask anyone and resigned him to studies.

It was only after two months that his father happened to meet his father and was told that she has left the tuition's. This was the final nail and he went crazy as if the cycle of despair returned. He started following her obsessively but from a far far distance. Whenever her jeep entered his school campus, he would follow the jeep from the gate till the lake which was a distance of more than one kilometer and would often manage to steal a glance. If nothing, he became fitter from his sudden interest in running and his friends also soon joined him. Now, there were 3-4 boys running after a jeep every morning and the school teachers were left wondering what these boys were up to as board exams were upon them and here, these boys were preparing for the Olympics.

The one effect was that these jeep trips were few and far between and slowly, his studies improved. He found his mojo as they call it and slowly he started doing well in school. He could not yet gauge but his crazy love-filled days of Class IXth were over and his love had taken the dimension of yet another lost love in the world of lost loves that many lives lead.

Then, one day as he was entering his school, hunching with a more-than-usual heavy bag, he saw the jeep coming towards him from the opposite direction and he saw her looking at him. It was the moment that he had dreamt of for they stared at each other for almost a minute and suddenly the world was a better place, was it not. Love, not spoken was enough when love was about staring at each other's wide eyes. She smiled and he began flying and would have taken off if the jeep had not crossed by then, for the driver was not aware of all the sparks flying around. That was the happiest day of his short life and his life cycle was further oriented towards seeing the jeep, studying and then going to school again to see the jeep again, as often it was the jeep he would be staring at and not the passengers inside.

One side-effect was that he largely stopped going for his tuition's as opposed to his earlier diligence to attend these classes, as she was no longer there. My friend said that I am mad as now, I would often go to her school which was some distance away and stare at her from half a kilometer away. But soon, November came and he came to realize that he might flunk his Xth exams and started studying intensively. 

Soon, for his studies, he shifted to his uncle's house which was close to school. School would start at 8 am and her jeep would cross at 7.45. So, everyday, he would be ready and meet her glance when the jeep crossed his path. When her jeep was late, he would be late for school. His friends would save his attendance, albeit with reluctance. They were convinced that he had gone mad and thought it best not to argue with him. His routine continued till his pre-boards in January an life had settled in between studying and waiting for his jeep. Life went on and he realised that time was less. His entire hope was on the Science exhibition which was scheduled before the main push for the board exams were to start and he found out through his millions of contacts that her school and she would be attending the exhibition. The world became all about that exhibition and how he would finally talk to her.

Another chapter would soon start...