Love@Fresher's Party

House in a mess and she decided to clean it up. Confused where she shall begin from. “Let’s clean up the cupboards first,” she thought. She rolled up her sleeves and started her work. And when she was in the middle of her tryst with dirt and mess memories tumbledown from the upper racks of the cupboard. Photographs! She took a pause to take a look at them. Time just rallied to pass in front of her eyes. Though photographs were dull in color the freshness of memories tapped in them is still intact. Fancy dress competition in school, Shimla trip in college, marriage, her son’s first birthday, summer holidays with cousins, and as the sheets of the album rattled against each other her gaze was locked by one photo perhaps one face. It was a college fresher’s day picture dated 20th July 2003. How different everyone looked in this picture she thought and soon her thoughts raced back in time, opening up yet another chapter of her life – her first love.

It was not love at first sight for her for they were just acquaintances who exchanged pleasantries every time they met, nothing serious and special about it. But after college fresher’s day days were never the same for her. It was during the Jam session that she sprained her ankle and among the crowd, it was only he who held her hand, made her comfortable, cheered her up, and made a mark on her thoughts that followed after that day. She was swept off her feet by his gesture and could think of nothing and no one but him.

A week later he came to her and softly said to her “you look good in Indian attire than western”. She couldn’t believe that she actually got a compliment from a guy and that’s him. She started paying attention to the way she looked as this was the first time in her life that her appearance was in the eye of someone. Now every day was marked with a sense of eagerness – eagerness to see him, to talk, and to be noticed by him. As days were passing she was still unsure if she could define her feelings as “Love” or not? Whether it’s just attraction or infatuation? If it is mutual or not? What she felt was evident if not to everyone but to her friends but his feelings were never signaled.

She slowly started giving up all hopes of being reciprocated and one day she had to quit college with one year pending. But her feelings for him never quit her heart. She still longed to hear from him and it did happen one day when she visited the college for some documentation work. She saw him but ignored fearing a probable ignore from him. But suddenly he called her, greeted her, gave her his contact number and the chats began.

“What’s that one secret about you that no one knows,” she asked him. “I started liking you,” he said with his eyes locked with hers.

Soon it dawned upon her that he had the same feelings for her, it was Love to be precise. They were in a relationship, finally! Days turned to years. They were unusual as a couple. No long chats, no gifts exchanged, no Valentine’s day, nothing that couples usually do but what they had between them was the understanding of a different level.

And one day the boy called it “quits” out of nowhere. Reason: “Our relationship has no future as we belong to different religions. I knew it earlier that’s why tried to avoid you but couldn’t stop myself from falling for you” and it was over. She felt a try must be given but as they had an understanding of different levels she didn’t pester him. And their ways parted.

It’s been over a decade now, they are still on friend lists of each other and happily married to their partners. But the question still lingers on her mind “what if they had tried at least once, had they given up easily, could there have been a different ending to their story?”

She closed the album as the clock was ticking.

Love is the most beautiful emotion on earth. College love stories are the most beautiful chapters of one’s autobiography but not every love story meets its destination and not necessarily every such ending is sad. Happy or Sad first love never leaves the heart, it is there to stay Forever