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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Another Love Story

Let’s just go through all the conventional love stories, boy sees girl, boy falls in love, boy proposes girl rejects and finally there is some act of heroism that makes the girl fall for him. Keeping those traditional stories on the shelf for a while, I thought why not experiment on something more random that could portray a confused guy’s confused heart that led to mere chaos and let’s just see if he gets his Juliet…

Another Love Story
It was a horrible morning to start with, the alarm woke me up and last night’s leftovers were on the dining table waiting to get devoured. Mom and Dad left to my brother’s and won’t be back for a week. Self-cooked food and doing the dishes gave me the weirdest feeling of being home sick even though I was home. It was even more painful when I realised that all the house keeping was eating up my time which I usually spend chatting with my special someone. I call her my little teddy bear and she calls me her little monkey. The dishes were done and I was on my bed right after breakfast and the very next thing I saw was the cute little teddy I got her. She threw right on to my face exactly 24 hours ago. What goes around comes around. I went mad in love, around her and all she did was bringing me back to the start. It all started when we were in our first year…
Year1:
I saw her, she was enjoying the girl talk and out of nowhere turned towards me. “Arjun, could you switch that fan on for us?” she said with that cute dimple smiling at me. It took me a few seconds to realize that she actually called out my name! That moment of joy when a girl actually knows your name and remembers it is probably something a guy would do anything for. It all started there and we continued to be good friends. Until year2…
Year2:
It was one fine evening and I was home talking with my mom and describing how sweet a girl my little teddy bear was to me. I never told her that the nick name for obvious reasons. My phone started ringing, interrupting my talk and it was her! My mom saw my phone and wanted to talk to her as I’ve been talking about her for quite a while now. Mom attended the call and the first thing my teddy said was, “Arjun, I’m at the mall. Help me choose, black or pink tops?” There goes the homely, innocent girl image I disguised her with. If only there was a speaker connected to my heart there would’ve been a huge sound of breaking glass. I got my phone back, ended the call and a few seconds later when mom turned aside sent a text to her reading ‘Black.. I choose black!’
That was just the beginning of our friendship going to the next level.
Year3:
The best part of a guy’s life is when a girl comes up to him with a problem to solve. We just feel like a hero, bound by duties. Duties that confine only to serve the teen-age female race. It gets better when the problem is about a guy who is pestering her in the name of love. Two reasons to be happy, one she hasn’t fallen in love with someone else and that you still have a chance, two you’re not the loser who is on the other side of the problem.

I felt that kryptonian energy in me when she ran up to me for help. The other guy wanted to meet me and her together at the mall. We went there and waited for him to arrive. I was all pumped up and ready for action though there was a girly little teddy bear in my pocket which I got for her. Suddenly, I felt a pat on my back. That was the moment when I really realised that I was a super-man who belongs to the kryptonian lineage because all my powers went dry when that huge piece of kryptonite got close to me. That guy was at least twice as big as I was and had a scary beard. He got very close to me and turned only his head towards her. “So, this is your boyfriend eh? Skinny, messed up hair and weird eyes” he said to her with his even more scary voice. She nodded her head and I was overjoyed and off my feet literally. He pushed me against the wall and lifted me up so much that I was taller than him. “You take good care of her, or else!” he shouted at me. I never knew bullies had a heart too. He dropped me and left the very next second. She was smiling and thanked me, holding my hand. I was on cloud nine and my other hand brought out the little teddy and gave it to her. “Teddy, I love you!” The very next thing I remember was the little teddy approaching my face like a bolt of lightning. Even the bully had a heart and the girl didn’t!

End of love story.

Trapped

Ever got stuck in your college after everyone left? Just imagine you being the last person in college with all the lights out and you’ll have to get back to your class no matter what. So, here’s a story based on true events…
Trapped
It was a Saturday, 6:30p.m and I had to wait in front of the principal’s cabin while he was supposed to be back in an hour. Well, that’s at least what I was told at 4:30p.m by his secretary who left an hour ago. I was probably the last student soul inside the campus at that time of the evening. I told myself that and got spooked by my own choice of words. I was convicted for the crime of not wearing my ID which was actually with the P.T department because I was earlier convicted for not tucking in my shirt. Curse that department for not opening today!
 Bored, lonely and irritated I decided to have a quick text chat and just as I ran through my pocket I found my mobile missing. Of all the days in the calendar I choose today to leave it back in my class in my bag. The classes are usually locked after an hour after the usual timing. The only hope I had was to break into the staff room, get the keys to our class-room, get my bag and evacuate the crime-scene as soon as possible. I needed help and decided to bring my friends who live nearby.  I walked to the security and just as he saw me coming without an ID on me his eyes got a little curious. A bike was approaching the gate at full speed and stopped right next to me. He took off his helmet and god was I glad to see him! It was one of my professors. The very next thing I asked him was, “Sir, is the staff room key with you?” he replied saying, “yes, but why are you even in college now?” I hesitantly told, “Long story! Sir, can I have the key for a minute, I’ve my mobile and bag locked in the class room.” Having the amount of crime reports on my name inside the college I wouldn’t blame any person for being hesitant in helping me but God bless him for not giving a second thought before handing me the key.
I ran to the staff-room and opened it and the loud sound of the old lock opening inside a campus was just the beginning of me getting spooked out. I got in and it was dark. I knew every last detail of the room owing to the number of times I’ve been there for the enquiries and so I reached to the switch board despite the darkness. I switched on the first switch and ‘BOOM!’ a light went on right behind me. It was the light inside the HOD’s cabin and it wouldn’t have scared me as much even if he was actually inside the cabin! I decided not to look back at the cabin and reached out for the key. I accidently dropped all the keys and that almost gave me a heart-attack. The keys got mixed up and I had to take them all to the class and try every last one of them. Grabbed all of them and tried them one by one. One of them worked and it was again a huge sound when it opened. I ran to my seat and found my bag. The very next thing I searched for was my mobile and it was just as I predicted. ‘GF 1 missed call, Mom 12 missed calls’. It was getting late and my professor was waiting for me to get back with the key. I locked the classroom and walked back to the staff-room and saw someone running out of it. A second of thought had me telling to myself, “I’d be blamed for anything gone missing from the room and it’s high time I change myself and try to get into heroic roles.” I ran with all my speed and threw my bag into the staff room on the way. He got down the stairs and I was right behind him. I jumped to catch him and I realised that it went in vain when my face met the floor the very next second.
I was dizzy from the fall and lost track of the culprit. It just struck me then that I kept the staff-room open, again! I ran back to the staff-room and to my shock it was locked, from the outside. I searched for the key and found it missing! I cursed myself and had no clue of what to do next. I took a few steps back and hit something. It felt like a human and it was obvious as to who it might be. I turned with all my guts gathered at the end of my fists and was shocked that it wasn’t the guy I chased and it was even more shocking that it was my professor. He looked at me all restless and sweating and asked me what I was up to. I explained the whole scenario and he gave me a weird look. I noticed that and asked him, “Sir, are you not trusting me?” with a curious look he asked, “How on earth did you open the room with the wrong key?” and then he showed me the right key then opened up the room. I had no clue of what was happening around me all I wanted to do was get my bag and get out of the campus. My bag wasn’t there anymore! I searched my class and it wasn’t there too! I got the shivers and all I wanted to do was get back home with or without the bag! I told him that it was okay and I’ll search for it on Monday and he offered me a lift back home.
I was back home in an hour and the whole cycle of events kept bugging me. I was clear of everything that happened or was I? The fall must have had some effect to my memory. Sleeping was the only option I had. I woke up the next morning when my mom started shouting at me for my missing tiffin-box. My bag and mobile didn’t matter to her. I had a quick flash of thought and it occurred to me, there was only one person who knew more of my tiffin box than me. I called him up from my mom’s mobile and narrated him the whole cycle of events and wanted to solve the mystery of my missing bag and how the staff room locked itself. He silently heard everything and kept the quiet even after I started asking him as to what might have possibly happened. He started talking after a few seconds, “Your bag was never locked in our class in the first place. We exchanged classes with our juniors and your bag was left in their classroom!”
I spoke nothing back and hung up the call.