The story
began when I was in the second year of my medical college. It was a lecture in
the auditorium. I could get a clear view of her from the place I was seated.
Whenever
she rotated her head by 45degree around the axis of her spine, I got the view
of her half of the face which included one eye, half nose, half upper and lower
lips and one cheek and one ear. Almost three times I got the view of her half
of the face. Her top had different colorful flowers designed on them. But all
of them looked fake in presence of her face. Her face had the freshness of rose
and the brightness of a sunflower.
In one hour
of lecture, I noticed following things.
--Three
times she adjusted both sides of hair at a time.
--Four
times she adjusted her hair on right side, two times on left side.
--Four
times she smiled.
--Half the
time she sat keeping the chin on palm with fingers resting over cheek while the
other half resting the whole cheek over dorsum of flexed fingers.
Everytime
she turned her face a bit on the right, the sun shined brightly. Every time she
smiled , the dark room got lightened up. This was the first time I was getting
such vibes from a girl.
I
desperately wanted to introduce myself to her, be friends with her and spend
time with her but didn’t know how. Though she was in the same batch, I had
never spoken to her.
As they say
“God always listens”, in the next medicine lecture this happened:
Just two
minutes after the professor entered into class, he said, “Anjali and Raaj.”
Anjali
stood up at her place and I stood up at mine.
“Good that you both are present. You have got to do some work. You both together have to prepare the design pattern of our “Medicine Voyage” magazine by the next saturday—is that Ok?”
“Yes.” We both said.
The professor said, “You work together after the college hours. Concentrate on this work for the next one week.”
After this, I started getting sarcastic comments from my friends such as,
---Chance
pe Dance..for one week..
---Enjoy
the time, boy, enjoy..
---Don’t
miss this chance..
So that’s how
we met in person for the first time and by the end of the week we became good
friends.
We kept
meeting each other regularly in the college campus; be it in the canteen, the
badminton court or the library. We both were very much comfortable in each
other’s company. We used to study together for exams in library. She helped me
in completing my journals while I used to share my notes with her. Many a times
I used to explain her some things over the phone during late hours of night; so late
that the conversations ended in the morning. We used to go together for lunch
and even dinner quite frequently. She would share her every joy and sorrow with
me. Whenever she got upset over any matter, be it her family quarrels or fight
with room-mates she would call me to get consoled and I would rush to her with
her favourite ice-cream ever ready to make her smile. We were fond of each
other.
On her
birthday, when I gave her bucket full of her favourite chocolates she was so
happy and uttered a statement which seemed like elixir entering into my ears, “Love
you so much Raaj. Thank you for this.” I kept on repeating those words in my
mind again and again and told myself that she for sure has similar feelings as
I have for her.
Two years
had passed and it was the final year. My friends were constantly pushing me to
go for the proposal as it was the last session. One such day I decided to tell
her my each and every feeling for her.
When I went to her, she said, “As soon as this finishes, I am gonna start preparing for USA entrance exams. I want to pursue specialization in USA."
I was freezed and didn’t know what to say. I thought as if the last two years meant nothing to her and she had no attachment with me.
She said, “Why don’t you too join me in the preparation? Then we shall study together in USA also?”
I felt a sign of relief on hearing that. I held back my proposal and said, “Of course, why not?”
I thought , “May be it is understood that she wants to be with me.” For me she had become my Girl-Friend. As they say in hindi movies, “Its not always necessary to express love in words. Sometimes it is to be understood with silence.” My friends kept scolding me for not making things clear and that someone else may be there in her life. I was so close to her that had there been some other guy she would have definitely told me. I was confident that Anjali was also in love with me.
We both
happily prepared for the exams and then waited for the results. The results brought
mixed feelings. She got selected but I got rejected. This meant that she got
the approval to go to US but I had to wait for one more year to give a second
try. This was when I decided to get some clarity.
I went and
said, “Anjali, You go to USA. We shall be in touch and then next year I shall
work harder to catch you there. I love you very much and will do whatever it
takes to be with you.”
She, with expressions of surprise and shock, “Wait a minute. I thought we were good friends. Where did this ‘love’ angle came from?”
I asked, “Do you mean you love someone else?”
She, “Why do I have to be in love with someone to prove that I am not in love with you?”
I was taken aback at this and didn’t know what to speak further.
Her final words were, “Good bye Raaj, I was always your friend. Dont know at what moment you took me as your Girl-Friend.”
She went USA and I was left with my broken heart in India. I had the misconception of she being my girl-friend but in reality, she was just my "HALF-GIRLFRIEND".
