Love At First Sight

Rahul and Megha were classmates. They were friends and also they had many other common friends. But Rahul and Megha got along best together. They did not quarrel much and whenever they had a fight, it was over no sooner than it had begun. Their friendship started in school and slowly matured when they moved to college. It now became fully ripe. Everyone knew what they meant to each other. On Valentine's day last year, they first made a pledge to remain friends for life.

Rahul came from a very well to do family and so he had no problem spending money. In fact, he splurged and sometimes was too extravagant. Megha, on the other hand, came from a middle-class family and finances used to be tight. Although she was generous and had a mind to spend but was hindered to the limit her pocket allowed. Also, she was wise enough to know the value of money and the strength of its utility. So she always spent money judiciously. On the contrary, Rahul was conspicuous about his wealth and was indiscreet when spending was concerned.

This spendthrift habit of Rahul was a later addition to his trait after meeting with a new group of friends. In fact, this new group was the reason behind Rahul's drifting away from Megha. Recently Rahul had become friends with two new girls and a boy who had just joined campus. This new group had seen Rahul's wealth and wanted to use it on them for splurging. Rahul was ready to indulge because he loved fanfare and idol worship. Megha was very uncomfortable with this new behaviour of Rahul. Her middle-class upbringing trait clashed with this new trend in Rahul's behaviour. This change in habits was the reason for the parting of ways for Rahul and Megha. Soon they broke up. The new friends of Rahul were secretly celebrating this break up as they wanted it this way. Later on, Rahul would rue this break up of his love at first sight, Megha.

Rahul and Megha moved on in different directions. Rahul continued with this new group. There was one girl by the name of Seema in this group. Seema was ambitious and wanted to use Rahul as a prop to fulfill her ambitions. Seema had desires of becoming a model or an actor wherever success lay. For this fulfillment, one needs monetary support. Rahul, the simpleton as he was, was ready to support Seema. Without knowing that Seema would use him till her goals are attained and then throw him by the wayside. So Rahul's second innings started now with Seema leading the way. Rahul used to pamper Seema to her heart's desire thinking that Seema had developed a great liking for him. She was using his money that was ignorant to Rahul who was so madly infatuated with Seema. All good things come to an end. Even the wealth of Kuber the God of wealth may seem inadequate at some point in time.

It slowly dawned on Rahul that he was being milked. He was now facing trouble with his finances. Because his family business was going through a rough patch. His father had taken ill and lot of money had gone to bring him back to health. Rahul also had to now look after the family business after his father's absence. With responsibility, Rahul's carefree nature changed. He now felt the importance of money and remembered how Megha used to lecture him on this. But Seema was not ready to compromise as she was still far away from achieving her goals. But Rahul, now realizing his immense folly drew a line and told himself silently that enough was enough. He had to be strict with his time and money. He stopped meeting Seema altogether. Rahul now tried to mend his erratic lifestyle which was very difficult as this sort of life had bece ingrained in him... The more he thought the more he longed for Megha. He wished if he had given due weightage to Megha. But people do realize the worth when their pockets are burned. How he had unjustified the worth of his love at first sight. He realized that Seema and the likes are abundant around us but the likes of Megha are rarely come across.