Me

He could hear a voice loud inside his head. “Arjun…..”. The voice was loud but quite sweet. He had heard this voice a million times earlier, but could not place it. “Wake up Arjun, It time”. This time he opened his eyes with difficulty and saw his mom shaking him wildly. ‘Oh no, it’s Monday’, he thought. He hated Mondays, who didn’t? It was time for his math tuition. He loved math and liked his math tutor, but he hated Mondays. Using every ounce of his will power he sat up in his bed. He saw the time in the big clock in his bedroom. It was 4:30 in the morning.

He is Arjun as we know now. He is studying in the 11th standard. He is a guy who hasn’t done much in his life. All he knew was his school, his house and a small set of friends he used to play cricket with in the evening. That was what he looked forward to each day.

He got ready fast as his tutor didn’t appreciate late comers. He gulped down his breakfast and got out the house. His best friend stayed right below his house (he stayed in an apartment). So he went to his friend’s house and called out his name loudly. Then they both got out of the apartment and started their ritual of cycling 5 kms to the tutor’s house. They had to carry their school bags as they used to go to school directly after the tuition. They reached the tuition 5 minutes early, by 5:55. They parked the cycle in the stand and went up to the classroom. He and his friend were just climbing up the stairs and that was when he saw her.

They had just started with their 11th standard classes and so there were new students joining daily. She also happened to be new. Though she was just another pretty face (there were lots of pretty girls around, but Arjun was never interested), something in her eyes struck a chord in Arjun’s heart. There was a tinge of sadness in it. The face had a smile which was artificially constructed. And there was a cute little dimple in her chin even when she didn’t smile. She had a very conscious gait in her walk and she always looked down when she walked as though she was expecting to trip on an imaginary stone. She would occasionally see someone she knew and glance up and give that fake smile of hers. Arjun could understand that she was not that popular from the way people looked at her. She looked that type too; the type of girls who guys would say ‘girls with an attitude problem’. But Arjun could sense no bad attitude in her. He wasn’t a guy who could read other people’s faces, but he could sense that he was correct in what he thought of her. He had had no crushes in life, so he felt somewhat different. The poor guy couldn’t even tell at that time that he already had feelings for the girl. She sat in the first row. So he couldn’t get a nice view of her though he didn’t want to stare at her. The day ended and she was the first person to leave. So that was that.

Arjun didn’t see her for the next 2 days. He also didn’t wonder where she was as they had scheduled the tuitions only for 3 days a week. Arjun had to attend it on all Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Arjun saw her next on Thursday. She had the same look on her face, as though she had lost something very important like a favourite pen or her geometry box (those days having a good geometry box was something). He found out that day that her name was Rincy George. ‘Christian, cool’, he thought. They were standing in the first row, looking at something his tutor was drawing on a piece of paper (some triangle or rectangle, today the subject being taught was geometry). She was not very tall, so she was standing in the front. Arjun was at the back. He noticed that she had long smooth hair and she had braided it in a different way. He never listened to his tutor that day; he was so lost in her hair. The day went by in a dreamy sort of way. Our hero was falling in love.

He made it a point to get to tuition early on Friday. He even left his best buddy at home and left early (he still hears dialogues from his friend about this). He saw that even the girl comes off quite early to tuition. She had a huge blue bag on and had a pink coloured cycle with a cute little key chain (he started noticing more and more things about her). She never wore make up (those days most of the girls did not, but pretty girls did). That was something he liked even more. She just had a couple of friends and always used to be with them. The more he saw the girl, the more he started to like her. He had seldom had a friend from the opposite sex earlier, so he found it awkward to go and talk to her. So he did what was the easiest thing to do, dream.

This went on for a long time, some two months. He would see her on these 3 days and dream about her the rest of the week about how he would go talk to her, how he would make her laugh, how he would take her out to different places. Then he got lucky.

On one Thursday, he saw a friend of his talking to a girl. He actually wanted to talk to his friend about some cricket match he was playing. When he was walking towards this friend of his, to his delight and surprise, Rincy walked towards to them. That was the first time in their lives that the two sets of eyes met. He was dumbstruck, drowning in her big brown eyes and no words came out his mouth. He had manifested this moment for a long time but all he could manage was a high pitch and girly 'Hi' and stumbled away. He never even went near her the rest of the day.

Friday came and went. The girl was nowhere to be seen. Arjun panicked. He didn’t know what to do at all. He didn’t want to ask anyone and he was worried. That weekend was the most horrible weekend he had endured all his life. For the first time in his life, he looked forward to Monday.

On Monday, he was again early standing near the cycle stand waiting for her. When he saw the familiar looking cycle in a distance, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. He was still standing near his cycle when she came near. She smiled at him and that made the day for our hero. He had this silly looking grin on his face all day and also got a couple of reprimands from his teachers. He didn’t care. ‘She smiled!!!! She remembers me!!!!’, this is what was going through his mind all the while. He couldn’t wait for Thursday.

On Thursday, he was standing in the same place when she came. He got that small smile again and that got his confidence up. She was looking unusually grim that day. He gathered courage and went up to her. “Someone died or what today? Why are you looking so sad”, he mumbled. He got a stare from her. His heart stopped beating for an instant. Then she smiled again and asked “Enough?” and left for the class. He had that silly grin on his face today also.

Things started to go well for Arjun from that day on. He was going to classes early and spending some time with Rincy. He even started to talk to her more freely. Sometimes he felt that he spoke well to her more than to anyone else. She didn’t change all that much, she still had the sadness in her eyes. But she laughed more often nowadays, listening to Arjun’s silly jokes. She started to like Arjun. Then one day the most unexpected thing happened.

It was on a hot August evening. Arjun came to meet Rincy at her school (she studied in a different school) and told her that it was his birthday. After all the wishing formalities, Arjun said “Come I shall give you a treat. We shall go to this coffee shop near our tuition place.” Rincy was stunned. This was the first time someone was asking her out. She did not know how to react. It had taken a long time for Arjun to sum up the courage for asking her out. She never remembers even now saying ok to Arjun. But they went and had a great time. Arjun was in his elements that day and kept on talking and joking and making her laugh. Then he did the most unexpected thing. He reached into his bag took out a red rose and gave it to her. Rincy had not yet stopped laughing at the last joke that Arjun had said. Arjun stammered “I love you”. She was stunned and didn’t know what to say. Tears started streaming down her face. Arjun didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to upset her this much, but he had to tell her what was on his mind. To Arjun’s surprise, she then smiled and whispered "I love you too".

Thus some of the most wonderful days in Arjun’s life started. He met her daily and talked to her. He used to call her at home and talk to her for hours at a stretch. He bunked a lot of tuition classes (never math!) and met her. Every day after school, he used to cycle 10 kms to her school just to talk to her for half hour. She loved the attention he was giving her. She loved the way he made her laugh. People around her could tell the difference in her. She was having a glow on her face nowadays. She talked to a lot more people and people could now see the bright side of her. Her birthday was the most unforgettable day in both their lives.

It was a rainy Tuesday. It had rained the entire morning and the entire city was flooded. Schools were closed due to the heavy rains. But it also happened to be Rincy’s birthday so it was a day that Arjun would never even dream of missing. Arjun had planned this day in advance and rehearsed it about a hundred times. He was cursing the rain now. When it showed signs of stopping, Arjun thanked the heavens and picked up his bag and left his house. He was scheduled to meet Rincy at about 2.00 in the afternoon. He met her and they walked side by side for a long time. He was again doing the bulk of the talking and was making a fool of himself. Rincy was laughing all the way and loving the expressions on his face.  But inside Arjun was as nervous as a frog. He had thought for a long time about what he was going to do next.

They stopped near the coffee shop where Arjun had proposed first and ordered their coffee. Rincy could see everybody in the shop smiling at Arjun. She wondered what was going on. Then she started looking outside. It had turned out to be a glorious evening. The sun was shining shyly and there was this wonderful smell of rain. As this coffee shop was just near a very popular school, there were some kids running about here and there. Then suddenly the lights went out in the shop. She was startled. She looked around when she saw the sweetest sight in her entire life. Arjun was down on his knees next to her holding out a cute little ring. It looked expensive. She thought about the sacrifices Arjun had made for making her day this wonderful. Now she understood why Arjun was smiling to all the people in the shop. He had planned this earlier with them! She saw Arjun with a cute little smile and lot of nervousness on his face. She barely heard him say “I know this is way too early. But when we are old enough, will you do the honour of marrying me, please?” She was stunned. She had promised Arjun some time before in one of the numerous conversations they had that she will never cry again. But she couldn’t help a couple of tears streaming down her face. She hugged Arjun and said yes.

Arjun was literally on the top of the world. He knew she would say yes, but the word coming from lips was the moment he will cherish all his life. When she hugged him, he felt like a man.

They didn’t utter a word for a long time after that. They just left the shop and started walking with no destination in mind. They were holding hands and Arjun was holding the cycle with his free hand. It was the most picture-perfect moment any young lover would have hoped for.

Things changed a lot after that. They both felt the need to be together all the time. They did anything for that. They visited each others’ houses (obviously when no one else was there). They watched TV, listened to songs, talked, held hands or just simply stared at one another’s eyes. It felt like heaven for Arjun. He was starting to behave more like a man than a boy. It seemed to him that he had matured in few months what he couldn’t in 3 years. He started going to the church more often (with her of course!), something he hadn’t done in his entire life. In the church he would kneel next to her and just look at her face. Eyes closed, lips moving slightly, she looked like an angel. He felt God himself had personally selected this girl and destined her to be with him. He prayed his thanks to God for being so extra generous with him.

Exam time came up and they studied together. They would get together in some tuition class and just sit outside and study together. She would always score more than Arjun in every subject (except Math) and would find a reason to point that out to him every time they met. This would make Arjun really study hard and it showed in his grades. He kept telling her that all changes in him were due to her and she loved it when he told her that. They just had a lot of fun those days. All this was too good to last. And the un-thinkable happened.

It was a very hot April afternoon. They were on a break from their schools after their 11th Standard exams. They had a couple of weeks off before the all important 12th standard classes started. Arjun was spending almost all the time with her. Even today they were just holding hands and walking on the road. Suddenly Rincy pushed Arjun’s hand away and moved away from him. Arjun was surprised. He turned to her to ask what the matter was. Rincy’s face was red and there were a couple of tears struggling to get out of her eyes. She didn’t tell him anything and just walked away from him. Arjun was wondering what happened to her. He called her name out loudly. Rincy just turned, met his eyes and put her finger on her lips as if to signal him to keep quiet. Arjun just stood there not knowing what to do next. He thought she saw somebody she knew on the road and she didn’t want that person to know about them. He then turned and started cycling towards home.

For the next three days Arjun did not hear from Rincy at all. He tried calling her house (they had a code, they would let the phone ring just once and then they would disconnect. Then the other person would say it’s ok to call by doing the same). But he never got back the call and started worrying.

Then their math tuition started. Arjun did not find her in the class. He was starting to get desperate. He even asked a friend of Rincy to try calling her and to pass on a message. But even that didn’t work. Then after class on that day, he cycled all the way to her house and waited opposite to her apartment gate. He then saw Rincy coming back with her father (he recognized him from the photos that he had seen) in his scooter. She saw him, but turned away. Arjun guessed that her parents had come to know about him. He didn’t know what to do. He knew that he had to think things over and went home.

Next day, same time he was back opposite to her house trying to find an opportunity to talk to her. He saw the same thing again, she and her father in his scooter getting back to their house. School was yet to start and so he didn’t have that chance to meet her at her school. This happened for a long time. For about a week or so, Arjun would wait next to her house trying to talk to her. Rincy would look at him but made no attempt to talk to him. Arjun was starting to get frustrated about this situation.

A couple of days before school started, Arjun was waiting next to her house again. He saw Rincy going to her house alone. He immediately realized that he might never get a better opportunity and ran towards her. She stopped when Arjun reached her and pulled him away to a small alley next to her apartment. What she told next was exactly what Arjun had feared. Her parents got to know about him and had threatened her to stop seeing Arjun. She didn’t know what to do and she just blindly obeyed her parents. Arjun was shocked at hearing this, even though he knew already that this was probably the reason she was not coming to classes. He was starting to get angry. He just walked away from her and started to go up to her house. He could hear Rincy shouting behind him, but he was so blind in his rage that he didn’t reply. All he thought about during those few minutes of blind rage was how could Rincy just forget everything just because her parents told her to. He had to confront her parents.

When he got up to her house, he banged on her door loudly. He was not prepared in the least what was about to happen next. But he knew he could face whatever came his way. The door opened and a frail looking lady with red puffy eyes stood beyond it. He could see that this lady has been crying for a long time. He knew this was Rincy’s mother. He just marched past her and went directly into her father’s study. There he saw Mr. George sitting on the bed with a doctor tending to him. Rincy’s dad stared at him with absolute hatred. The man looked so small. Arjun had looked at Rincy’s family photos earlier but nothing prepared him for this sight. Her dad was very frail looking though Arjun thought he looked better in the photos. He waited there for a couple of minutes till the doctor left the house. By then his anger had come down exposing the meek and soft Arjun of the inside. He actually was feeling scared.

He then got the fiercest scolding he had got in his entire life. Rincy’s dad was a person who never minces his words and Arjun heard language that he had never heard before. Every one of Arjun’s love notes were thrown at his face. All the roses he gave Rincy were cut right in front of his eyes. Rincy’s dad never even had the thought in his mind that he was talking to a kid. He never held himself back. Then Arjun got to understand what Rincy went through her entire life. He could now guess why she had that sad face and that sorrow filled eyes. But he could not understand why she had hid all this from him. He could not take any more of the scolding and left the building. He went back home in a trance like state. He could not understand why Rincy had never told him anything about this. If she had told him about her dad and the way he acts and the way he gets angry for no reason, he could have done something. On second thought, what could this kid do? He reached home, parked the cycle and went up to his house. He seemed as if he had lost everything in his life. That was when his mom told him, “Arjun, Sudha had called and asked you to call her back”.

Ok, now let me tell you about Sudha.