M_IM : Mature Loves Immature

Chapter-1 Our First Date

We decided to meet at my place as my parents went out of town for two days and I was all alone at home, so I invited Payal for lunch at my place. But having strict Indian parents and living on different outskirts of Mumbai, it was difficult for her to make it up. Needless to say, Mumbai can separate people by distance but connect them by heart. So none of the reasons could stop the love birds to meet. She somehow managed to convince her parents to let her go out by making an excuse for group studies, the best excuse students make to convince their parents as parents generally give up just by the name of studies and that happened with her too. Poor parents! 

I was eagerly waiting for her to come as this was the first time we were meeting other than the college campus. Yes, it was our first date after getting into the relationship, we can say!

Finally, the doorbell rang at 11 a.m. and so did my heartbeat! If there were any mechanism to hear the tinkle of my heartbeat, one could easily get my excitement. And here she was wearing kurta of my favorite white color and jeans with a cute little jumkhas which was giving it an elegant look. The icing on the cake was, she had worn the payal which I had specially brought for her and gifted her saying, "The best gift one can give to Payal is payal only." For a moment, I forgot that I was at the doorstep precluding her to come inside. I was so wonderstruck that I didn't even realize that I was gaping at her and she was too shy to ogle me openly so she peeked out at me shyly. As an effect, her cheeks turned red as if they also knew red goes very well with white. 

"Stop staring at me like this and let me come in first. You have an entire day to do so." She winked at me, saying this she flirtily pushed me inside and entered.

 She adjusted herself on the couch beside me hesitatingly. To make her feel comfortable, I started chit-chatting and cracking lame jokes. I started telling her about how notorious I was as a child and also told her all the nasty things I had done in my school and college days, just to make her laugh. Then she made delicious Sindhi style lunch for both of us. Rather than going on fancy dates or fascinating candlelight dinners, we preferred our first date to be simple and real.

We fed each other. We felt it like a simulation of how our lives will be together in the future. Food tastes better when someone else is feeding you, especially if that someone is the love of your life. Isn't it? After lunch, she sat again on that couch but this time I used her lap as a pillow and stretched out on that couch. She was astounded by this sudden gesture of mine but really liked it. She started playing with my hair and we continued our conversation. This time she started sharing about her childhood and how she had been raised up and pampered then, and how restricted she is now.

She also shared how passionate she is about photography. She asked me, "You will allow me to follow my passion in future, na?" I was shocked by this question out of the blue. But I liked the way she mentioned our future together. I promised her that I will always stand by her side no matter what. On that, she felt so happy that she bent down on my face and pecked me on the forehead. I could clearly see the love in her eyes. I felt like I am in a euphoric state. What else one expects from life other than this?

 We both opened the diaries of our own lives and as if we were reading out all the pages from them to each other, we both shared about the life we had spent before we met. My bad habits, her past relationships, my past jobs, and everything. The day fell too short to share everything and here it was her time to leave. She felt the urge to stop the time like all the lovers feel when they are with their loved ones. She hugged me tightly as though she wanted to carry a part of me with her and I held her tightly and embraced her as if I wanted to contain her. I pecked her on the forehead, cheeks and all over the face and then we locked our lips! Yes, it was our first kiss!

Chapter-2 Jab We Met

It was the month of February, we had our second three-days Personal Contact Programme (PCP) of our college where all the batch mates meet and share their experiences with learning. Also, it helps management students like us in networking as this hybrid programme has students not only from India but also from other countries, freshers as well as experienced in their respective industry. So I also decided to attend this programme as I had missed the first one.

As usual, I was late on the first day itself and came to know that some of my friends were at nearby food joint, so I also joined them there. There I found a girl wearing white printed T-shirt and jeans. It was Payal, one of our common friends introduced us to each other.

As we entered the class, I got a seat on the last bench with her coincidentally. She helped me with the textbook and a pen and paper to note down the important points and like this, we started talking to each other on studies. She was quite mischievous and notorious like I was. So we had a lot of fun just like the last benchers generally do like passing the comments on professors and throwing things to other classmates during the lecture and likewise, these three days of PCP program got over with a lot of memories and fun.

Chapter-3 How It All Started

After that programme, one WhatsApp group was created to share some important study materials and assignments and we all were added to that group where people were sharing selfies, jokes and all other stuff except the study material for which the group was primarily created!

Payal was also added to this group. So I got her number from there and messaged her to ask for notes just to start the conversation. She helped me with the notes as well as clearing some doubts I had in some topics. I was really impressed by her humble behavior. This is how we started talking to each other and gradually it became our routine. We started developing trust for each other so we started sharing our past and so many other things about each other. Our bond was getting stronger every passing day.

With the weeks passing by, we realized we had so many things in common, like common interests, common beliefs on so many things etc. We felt like we are on the same page. We were enjoying each other's company. I always teased her for her big spectacles and was calling her 'Chasmis' and also for that lado rani tattoo she had. Besides all these, I never missed any chance to flirt with her. This is how our journey of friendship was running smoothly.

Chapter-4 The Proposal

And now it was a time to confess and confront what we feel. Were we really just friends or more than that? Was I in love with her? Does she feel the same for me? So many thoughts were running on my mind and were getting on my nerves. On one hand, I wasn't sure about my feelings for her and was not ready for any commitments and on the other hand, I wanted her in my life. I was in a dilemma about whether to share my feelings with her or not. But I felt I couldn't take all these just to myself. So I called her finally and got the courage up to share my feelings. I know the idea of proposing to her over a phone call was unromantic but I didn't have more guts to propose to her, getting down on my knees and giving a rose to her. These fascinating proposals happen only in Bollywood movies or in novels, not in the real-life, I guess! But they had really set the standard too high for us.   

The phone was ringing and with every ring, I was feeling to give up the idea of proposing to her. As she picked up the call, my mind got completely blank and I forgot the entire speech I had prepared to express my feelings. I was really nervous but plucked up my courage and decided to go through it. So I said," I want to confess something. I think you have become more than a friend to me now. I really like to spend time with you. With you, time just flies away. I don't know if you reciprocate the same or not. I don't even know if I can make any commitments to you or not. All I know is I can spend my entire life with you by my side. " I said this in one breath. Now I was falling out of words. I couldn't gather enough courage to say those three magical words even after the rehearsal but I felt that what I said was enough to make her understand. So I waited with bated breath for her response. She was taken aback by this unexpected proposal. So all she could manage to say was she needed some time.

Chapter-5 Yes! It Was A Yes!

Finally, after a week of silence, Payal also reciprocated the same. I was literally on cloud nine after knowing that she also felt the same for me. But just like everything comes with terms and conditions in life, it was also wrapped up with some terms and conditions. As we both were not in a state of committing anything to each other for the future, we decided to keep it that way only.

After this, the things suddenly changed between us, I started to flirt all the more as if I got the license to do so! People call it romance, she called it flirting. But I loved the way she used to blush while calling me a flirt! I never missed a single chance to meet her or to talk to her and tease her. We started spending hours at Nariman Point, our all-time favorite meeting point, holding hands and enjoying each other's company. We had named our relationship as 'Mature loves Immature' and she happily took the tag of immature.

Chapter-6 Her Birthday

It was the month of November, Payal's birth month. She was so excited about her birthday. But like a stupid, I forgot her birthday. She waited entire day for my wishes but then she finally got to know that I had no clue about that so she reminded me of her birthday, not directly, (Girls don't enjoy direct and simple conversations, I guess! Why can't girls just normally remind us their birthdays a day before? Or tell us what gifts they want! Too much to expect from girls maybe!) but by giving me some hints. I apologized to her for this and promised her that I will make up for this for sure. She was such a kind-hearted that she accepted my apologies and got convinced.

On that weekend, I took her to a mall and we watched a newly released movie 'M.S.Dhoni: the untold story' over there. She dedicated a lovely song 'Kaun tujhe yun pyar karega, jaise mai karti hu... ' to me from that movie. After that, we had her favorite Domino's pizza. And then I took her to her favorite place, Nariman Point, to enjoy the sunset. She seemed happiest that day and didn't even complain once how can I forget her birthday. That made me feel more guilty!

Chapter-7 My Birthday

It was the month of December, my birth month. Even after I forgot her birthday like a dumb, she was all excited about my birthday more than I was. She had planned to make it special for me so rather than buying some gifts or cards, she decided to do something beyond that. So starting from the first day of December, she recorded a song for me and sent it to me as a dedication till that date. I was overwhelmed by such a cute gesture of hers for making not just a day but an entire month very memorable for me. I felt bad that I didn't do anything for her birthday. Needless to say, I loved all the songs she dedicated to me and from then it became my favorite playlist which I keep listening on repeat mode. She also made an effort to come all the way in the morning itself just to wish me my birthday. Such a sweet girl she is, I felt!

Chapter 8 The Nightmare

From the day I proposed to her, our relationship status seemed quite unstable. We hadn't committed anything about our future together to date but we were dreaming to spend it together. But it wasn't easy for us to reach on the next level. She kept asking me about how serious I am regarding this relationship but on the other hand, she also knew that there were many hurdles in our way. People say love sees no boundaries but marriage sees, and society also sees! Caste, financial status, looks, family background, and everything becomes important for society when it comes to marriage. So I used to avoid this discussion.

Once I went to Jaipur to attend my friend's wedding on which she suddenly asked," Apna number kab lagega(when will we get married)? I am longing to sleep next to you and wake up every morning seeing you by my side." This thought of her whipped me up and the first thing I decided to do after going back to Mumbai was to meet her parents.

So I went back to her as soon as I came back to Mumbai. But on that day, her parents weren't in town but only her elder brother was. So we decided to talk to him first. So we went to her place to plan what and how to tell her brother before he arrives from work. I was a bundle of nerves, just thinking about how he will react on this as she told me how narrow-minded they were!

As her brother arrived, he was furious to see his sister with a stranger(that's me) all alone in their house. Any brother would, I guess! So without even listening to us, he himself assumed the things and started scolding Payal. He was continuously yelling at her and also cursing me. I was so helpless to see the love of my life crying right in front of my eyes still was unable to do anything about that. He grabbed her inside and locked her up in a room in spite of all her begging and requesting. He then threw me out of the house giving me the strict warning to stay away from Payal.

All this took a long while and it was 12 a.m. I was wandering at a completely unknown place thinking about the drama that had just happened and blaming and cursing myself for all this. I was all worried about Payal that how she will face everything all alone. Somehow I managed to reach my place at 2 a.m. and saw my mother waiting for me. She got angry with me for coming that late and showered me with a bunch of questions. But I was exhausted after that drama and of course the tiring journey from Jaipur before that. So I didn't react to any of her questions. I spent that entire sleepless night crying and thinking about her.

Chapter 9: The breakup

After that dramatic evening at her place, she was restricted all the more. It became more difficult for us. She requested me not to contact her until and unless she says. So I promised her that I won't do anything which can cause trouble for her and I kept that promise. Though it wasn't easy, not to talk to her as my day used to start with her good morning message and end only after sharing all the details about the day. Still, I managed to keep that promise not to trouble her more. But it all went in vain as she got manipulated by her family. Her father was trying to brainwash her and it was quite a successful attempt from his side at least at that moment. Still, she tried her best to convince her father on which she was strictly asked to choose between me and her family. She got really frustrated and worried.

On the other hand, I was feeling restless getting no news from her side. And finally, she called one day, but it made things worst. She doubted my intentions, we argued and the conversation was getting uglier. Maybe it was our frustrations talking, not us. And finally, we mutually decided to part our ways. Yes, we broke up!

Chapter-10 Bin Phere, Hum Tere!

She had become an integral part of my life until then. So even after the breakup, I was carrying a torch for her. We still were smitten with each other. But not all the love stories end up with marriage and marriage is not the final destination always, that's what I feel. And even if it were the final destination, then also the journey towards the destination is more important than the actual destination itself! And if I have her by my side in this journey then who wants to end this beautiful journey? And this is how our journey of love continues!