The Rose Queen Who Stunned Everyone

DISCLAIMER

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this Story are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and unintentional.

 

Clare was one of the many poor, pitiable people for whom 'The Rose Day' was 'A day of dread'.

A day she just wanted to skip or better never wanted it to happen. 

The Rose Day in her Arts College!

A day when you could give either a Red Rose to the person you love or a Yellow Rose to the person you like.

Red and Yellow.

These two simple colors had never been so much at war ever before!

For on that day, they were exactly opposite to each other. They were tough competitors of each other! And more importantly, the girl who used to get the maximum number of Red Roses would be crowned the ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ on the dais, in front of the entire College, since she was the one who was loved by the majority of students, mostly boys, of course! Though it had started as a playful event, ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ drama had acquired an abnormal and unusual stature, over the years as it had all the essential ingredients of jealousy, animosity, competition, hatred. Almost every girl dreamt of being crowned ‘Rose Queen of the Year’, though everyone knew that it would be accompanied by a lot of jealous taunts and unnecessary scrutiny and comments throughout the year. ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ used to be the talk of the college and the undisputed Beauty Queen of the College until the next Rose Queen was announced, the next year.

Though everyone hated it, everyone wanted to win it! The crown of ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ Such is the paradox of life and emotions!

Clare was no different. She both loved and dreaded the day. Like most of the girls of the College. In the first year BA, she did not know much about the importance of ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ and so when she did not win the crown of the 'Rose queen', she did not feel the least bit offended. In the second year BA, she knew that she would not win the crown of ‘Rose Queen of the Year’, but still wanted to keep a slight glimmer of hope alive in a small corner of her mind, which truly believed in the fairy-tales with their happy endings!  But she did not win the crown in the second year also. Which was a bit of disappointment for her and the two thousand odd girls of the college. For there was only one winner, one crown for ‘Rose Queen of the Year’, and the rest (which meant all the girls of the entire college, minus one girl) were left feeling dejected and rejected. Though each girl shooed away her failure as if shooing away an annoying pest.

Some stuck to the principle that 'grapes are sour' and said something like ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ is just a plastic beauty anyway' totally forgetting that just a few minutes before ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ was announced, they were one of the many girls, who were viewing the competition with the eyes of a hopeful winner!

‘Studies are more important’ proclaimed another. A universal statement, seconded by all the other losers, who were indeed hopeful for their victory, just a few minutes before!

'The contest is rigged!' an accusation, which everyone except ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ accepted whole-heartedly, though no one had the proof of the same, and just a few minutes before, they were all dying to be a part of it! Clare was listening to these whispers, scandals, and accusations and agreeing like most of the girls (which included everyone, absolutely everyone except for the officially crowned ‘Rose Queen of the Year’).

She knew of many of her friends who had purposefully kept off the contest, by simply bunking College on that day!

For as one of her friends Dia, had confided to Clare "If I get ‘Rose Queen of the Year’ crown, it will be a problem. And if I don't get ‘Rose Queen of the Year’, it will also be a problem. So it's better not to attend college on that day" and she was absent that day and was consequentially relatively happy and relaxed at home.

While the other girls who were attending College were going through the see-saw of emotions like hope, excitement ‘before the crowning’ and hatred and jealousy ‘after the crowning’.

Clare received two red roses in the first and second years of college. One from Dia, her best friend, and the other from Dinesh, her secret admirer, the sly guy who used to watch her from the corner of his eyes, when she used to enter the classroom. The short guy who was the same height as Clare was, that is 5 feet 1 inch, always looked shorter than Clare because one of his legs was crippled, leaving him shamefaced and feeling like a loser almost all the time.

His ‘short height’ essentially meant that he was invariably ‘short on confidence’ also! Confidence especially when it came to speaking to girls. So much so that, he used to start stammering when he used to speak to a girl, so self-conscious he would get especially with the other taller boys and girls around him, for unspoken competition.

It was only Clare, the girl with the golden heart, or the girl with a prominent scar on her left cheek, who accepted Dinesh as he was. Short and sweet. And stammering.

While the other girls and boys towered over Dinesh, only by the principal of their heights, Dinesh would feel marginally small and almost invisible. That is how he was made to feel by many of the macho, 6 feet tall handsome hulks, who managed to grab eyeballs wherever they went and attracted girls towards them like sugar attracts ants. Naturally, there were many ants…oops, I mean girls swarming around them. The macho tall ones used to bask in their attention. Being fully alive at the moment and enjoying every bit of it. Dinesh, who felt shorter more because of their superior attitude than their actual height, wished the ground below would open up once more and swallow him up and his unspoken insults and inherent insecurities.

Clare and Dinesh were naturally drawn close to each other. Because both were victims of nature and fate. Both had been born with their birth defects and respective limitations. So both understood each other perfectly and even liked each other pleasantly. Though not romantically. So they became the best of friends. And nothing more. Clare was dear to Dinesh in a special way because she made him feel 'special' and 'wanted'. That feeling was enough for Dinesh, who was born with a crippled leg. Dinesh decided it was high time to do something for Clare in return for her sweet behavior towards him. So in the third and final year of college, Dinesh zeroed in upon an idea. He bought 1,000 red roses and presented them all, indirectly and unanimously, to Clare.

Clare naturally became the winner of the crown of ‘Rose Queen of the Year’.

Clare, the stout, plump girl with a cylindrical shape for a figure, a body without any curves, and a face with a huge scar, a rough skin, unimpressive eyes and a huge pug nose, won the crown of ‘Rose Queen of the Year’. When she went on the stage to receive the crown, she was more surprised than the Judges and the Principal, and the crowd. Everyone was stupefied at the results. And pitted the many pretty girls with perfect well-earned figures and flawless toned skin, who might have experienced insult and humiliation for 'perhaps the first time in their lives'!

Imagine being sidelined, despite being so beautiful and sensuous, by a girl who was nowhere near them in the race of beauty and glamour! Naturally, Clare knew that she would be subjected to lots of snide comments throughout the year, and rightly so, she thought. For everyone including Clare was mighty surprised that she had won the crown or even deserved the crown. She knew that she would feel the unnecessary burden of the crown throughout the year. When she was crowned the ‘Rose Queen of the Year’, her Principal asked her “How do you feel?”

To this, she simply answered "Stunned by the weight of the crown and moreover by the love of my unanimous admirer”.