Love, Is A Wonderful Thing

Nikhil had taken up the post grad studies only because of his dad. Infact it was his dad who brought him the application form and prospectus. His mother, despite knowing his interest in doing business of his own, did not say anything, not even tacitly supporting him.

So there was Nikhil. At the University pursuing a course and a degree towards which he had no inclination as such. It would have been so, all through had not there been Ruchira. On the very first day at the university, when he reached that hall at the second floor where Post grad classes were held, a bit late, he found a space unoccupied beside that girl with long hair tied in a single braid. Seeing a girl tying her long hair in a braid being like that rarity of finding a beautiful white mare running through green meadows under the blue blue sky, Nikhil just went there and sat beside that girl, half mesmerised. Little did he know then that moment would usher in a great change in his life and academics. The introduction had been pretty brief and business like.

'Hi, I am Ruchira, people call me Ruchi'

She had said as she shook hands with him.

'Nikhil' 

He had reverted.

What did Ruchi bring to his mind, Nikhil did not fully decipher but the initial lethargy of attending the university lectures was completely overcome by her presence.

He attended dutifully all lectures, even those boring ones of Prof. M.K.G. 

More importantly he took down notes! 

Then one day, there had been a great furore in the university. The senior students took out a procession. They demanded the removal of the Vice chancellor over some issues. Classes were boycotted. Police came. There had been a clash between the students and the police. Many student leaders got injured. TV cameras and TV vans came from nowhere turning the campus into a centre of media buzz. 

Nikhil was hurrying towards the main gate when he saw a girl crying and bleeding. She got an injury on her forehead. Blood was coming out of it. Some students were trying to stop the bleeding. Then someone in the crowd called Nikhil.

'You got a motorcycle? Haven't you?'

A boy, whom Nikhil had seen loitering at the third floor verandah at the university main building before the PG II classes, asked him.

Even before he could properly nod and affirm the fact that he got a bike, the students located his bike and put him and that injured girl and another on his bike and asked him to take the girl to a nearby hospital.

It happened so quickly that Nikhil could not properly ascertain what was happening. There was a lot of noise around with shots of smoke guns of police being heard. Nikhil sped through the road. The girl was graoning all the time.

At emergency when she was treated and her wound when was bandaged, she calmed a bit.

Nikhil and that senior dada who accompanied the girl to the hospital stayed back till the girl was treated. It was almost nine when they released the girl.

'Hi, thanks a lot for helping me out...those bastards dud not even deter from lathicharging us'

The girl said.

Nikhil smiled.

'BTW, my name is Meenakshi'

She told him.

'Meenakshi? That fireband leader of our campus? I heard of you so many times, never thought would meet you this way'

Nikhil had said.

Perhaps it was that 'friend in need' gesture which prompted Meenakshi to keep in touch with Nikhil since then. She would oft come to their class in the lunch break, asking him to accompany her to the canteen.

Sometimes she would call him and ask if everything was ok or not.

The arrival of Meenakshi by his side, made Nikhil more popular among the students.

If there would be any issues related to students' welfare, Nikhil would be called in and help would be sought from him. He was made the unofficial leader of the class. 

However, there had been one girl who never sought any help from him, not even perfunctorily.

That was Ruchira.

Time elapsed.

Nikhil was head over heels for Meenakshi.

Her fiery speech, her knowledge on Indian Politics, her straightforwardness and devil may care attitude made a strong and indelible impression upon his mind. As days and months went by Nikhil realised that Meenakshi was that kind of a girl who could be admired in public and adored in private.

Then came a rainy Saturday of August.

The university classes gave over early due to poor attendance of students.

Meenakshi asked him to go with her to her rented accommodation near Dum Dum park.

They got into an autorickshaw.

It was raining mercilessly. The streets looked like rivulets.

Their auto sailed like a country boat.

Occasional thunder and lightning made the dark afternoon suddenly lit up.

Meenakshi was half wet sitting in the auto. He was also in the same state as strong winds gushed into the auto, drenching them to the bones.

Reaching the rented flat, Meenakshi quickly changed her wet clothes.

She asked Nikhil to put his wet tee to dry under the fan.

He, inspite of being a bit shy, did so for the fear of catching cold, wearing wet clothes.

Then, while sitting on a couch, God knows how, they got close.

That was the first time he savoured the sweet honey of feminine lips.

Meenakshi was disarmingly unashamed. She opened her salwar and then her bra.

The next twenty minutes was like having a romp for Nikhil.

It all went in a frenzy.

Meenakshi had been astoundingly proactive.

Only once Nikhil was thinking of withdrawing himself from the act, but Meenakshi implored and pleaded. 

That day after, a strange change occured in Meenakshi. 

She, instead of spending more time at canteen and students' union room, decidedly vouched for spending more time with Nikhil.

Nikhil also happily went out with her.

Ruchira, who like others, carefully noted the closeness between the two, no longer sat in the same bench with Nikhil. 

Though everytime Nikhil needed a copy of the lessons being given or sheets of photocopies of lectures of Professors, he would approach Ruchira and she would just give them to him.

Only, once, while having a brief chat over a cup of tea, after the classes were over, she made a request to Nikhil:

'The year end exams are round the corner, pay attention to your studies'

She told him.

Nikhil laughed.

'When there is someone like you beside me supplying me with notes on the lessons I need not worry'

He had said.

Ruchira smiled and said:

'When you got someone as powerful as Meenakshi by your side, the Professors would not dare to cut your marks' 

Nikhil laughed away her remarks.

Days passed, so also months.

Nikhil was having his 'heyday' so to say at the campus. 

He had become the face of not only their class, but also of the PG One students' group.

He spent his days at the university mostly at the students' union room or at the canteen with Meenakshi. 

Then suddenly came the Part One examinations.

For the first time Nikhil realised how far behind he was lagging as far as studies were concerned.

He was virtually swimming the the vast ocean of English Lit syllabi.

He was feeling morose and desperate. The four papers looked like four big continents which he had to traverse. 

Meenakshi told him not to worry. She would ask professors to be kind to him. But that did not in any way boost his confidence. 

At one point he was seriously thinking of not sitting for the exam.

He met Ruchira one day, after class.

She was going somewhere hurriedly, carrying some five or six books in her two hands.

'Excuse me, Ruchi, should I help you carrying them?'

He asked.

'No, thank you, I can manage'

Saying this Ruchira walked away towards the department library.

He felt bad.

Not because of Ruchira's snubbing him that way but because he thought it was his doing that kept Ruchira away from him.

The exam ordeal was over within two weeks.

Nikhil knew he did not prepare well for the exam.

Back home, his dad thought he slogged it out when he soent sleepless nights at hus room, burning literally the mid night's oil.

The results got out after two months.

He barely crossed fifty percent marks.

Ruchira got sixty.

She was among the top three students of the class.

Nikhil went to congratulate her.

'Thank you' 

She said curtly, without showing any emotion, as if he had been a distant friend who had gone to congratulate her.

Meenakshi suddenly started remaining absent.

His calls to her were left unanswered. 

Then one day like a bolt from the blue the news came.

Meenakshi's father who had been a well known industrialist had arranged for her marriage to a business man. Some ten years older than her.

At first, Nikhil could not believe it.

At the university he became lonely.

The second year classes resumed.

Nikhil did not feel like attending those classes.

Instead everyday he got out of home, pretending to be attending the classes at the university.

He would usually take a cab or rickshaw and go to the riverside.

There he would stay till the afternoon would wane into dusk.

Sometimes he would catch up a movie.

This way he duped his parents and also himself.

Then one day he thought of taking booze at a bar.

He did that.

That provided him with a temporary illusory view of life.

That day onwards, at least once a week he would go to the bar and drink.

The money he earned by giving tuitions to students in private and the money his dad gave him as pocket money- all went to this new found habit of his.

At the class Ruchira would sit in the front row and he at the last bench, slowly becoming that 'proverbial back bencher'.

Three months before the final exam he got flu.

He stayed back home.

His parents became worried.

Doctors were consulted.

They gave him meds which made him all the more weak.

Lying on his sick bed, Nikhil would often think of Meenakshi.

He even called her number once.

A man picked it up.

He promptly put down the phone.

Feeling dejected and lonely, Nikhil just lied on his bed.

Three weeks passed.

He got better. The fever and pain subsided.

But he was weak still.

One day, late in the afternoon, he was lying on his bed, at his room when his mother came and told him that a friend of his had come to see him.

'A friend? Who?'

He asked.

'Never seen her, she is saying that her name is Ruchira'

His mother told him.

Ruchira came into the room.

Nikhil looked at Ruchira.

She had grown a bit plump and perhaps more beautiful.

There was certain charm in her eyes and face.

She was wearing a red salwar.

'Hi dude!'

Ruchira said the first thing entering his room.

'Hi'

He replied feebly.

'You got so frail!' 

Ruchira said as she put a plastic carry bag on the bed side table.

'Brought some fruits and health drink, you need to get well soon'

She said, as she scrutinised his room by her eyes.

'Getting well is not what I wish to be '

He replied.

'That will not do, Mr.'

She said, suddenly looking at Nikhil, straight into his eyes.

'Why? '

'I know you are not in a good shape of mind with Meenakshi going away...but one should think of other people too, who care for'

Ruchira said with a sudden sparkle in her eyes.

'Brought all the class notes and some photocopies of lessons too, now that you are not attending classes, mug them hard, you got more time at disposal than others...'

Ruchira said.

'But Ruchi, would I be able to do that?'

He asked.

'Of course yes! Provided you study hard and think about me a little bit'

Ruchira said, flashing a candid smile.

Nikhil thought he had seen the most beautiful smile ever in his life.

He sat on his bed, looking at Ruchira.

She was not looking at him then though.

She was busy arranging a bunch of roses she brought in a vase on the table.

'Ruchi...'

Nikhil called her.

'Huin...I am listening'

She said while arranging the flowers in the vase and putting the study notes on the table.

'Do you love me?'

He asked, his voice trembling a bit.

Perhaps he was nervous.

Perhaps he was weak.

'No, I hate you but this hate also forces me to come all the way from the northest corner of the city to the southern most part to make something for someone who had been, by and large, an idiot, never knowing the ways to a woman's heart'

Ruchira said, now facing him, standing just beside the table, putting her hands akimbo.

Nikhil smiled.

The afternoon sun which was peeping through the curtains of the window, fell with its sweetest hues on his feeble and sickly face, making it shine.

'Such a wonderful thing it is...'

Ruchira murmured.

'What?'

Nikhil asked.

'Love, my dear , Love...' 

She said.

Her tone sounding magical.