A Girl In My Life

A Cup of Coffee, Registers, lots of books under the light of a table lamp. Well that’s a perfect description of a room of a student who is about to appear for board exams and I was no different. I was lost in an Account’s problem when my phone vibrated, which was loud enough to break the silence in the room and my concentration.

My eyes glared on the screen as I picked up the call from an unknown number. “Hello” the voice struck my ears. It was a female voice and nothing was special about it. The voice said again: “ Jasmine can you help me with this Accounts problem”?

With this I realized that the girl is also appearing for account’s board exam tomorrow. Hence, I replied to her ”Miss ! I am not Jasmine but I can help you with your problem” . She was shocked to hear a male voice and replied promptly “ who are you and where is jasmine “ ? I cleared all her doubts and explained to her that even I am appearing in the same exam and can help her in some of the questions.

She hesitated initially but later on, agreed to share her problem. After solving her problem, she politely said “Thank You”. I don’t know why but I didn’t wanted the conversation to end but unfortunately I was falling short of words. Suddenly out of the blue, I asked her name to which she replied “ Tanisha” and that moment froze for me. Next day the exam was good and I was happy, As soon as I reached home , I found one unread message in my phone. It was from Tanisha in which she thanked me again , confirming that her attempt of the exam was good. I don’t know why her message had put a smile on my face.

After that day , there was a silence in my life until the day when results were announced. I was in a joyous mood having scored very good marks. The phone was ringing since morning to congratulate me. Once more the phone was ringing. I saw the screen. It was an unknown number but still it seemed to be very much known. I picked up the call. It was the same girl and I was blushing. She had called up to know my result. 

We started talking regularly for hours and became close friends. It’s been a month since we started talking and one fine day she asked me to go a step further with our friendship. I was a bit hesitant initially but finally gave up and fell in love with a girl I’ve never met or seen. Everything was going great and that lovely feeling of love gripped me and my love for her became blind.

Soon we joined our respective colleges. Our talks were reduced to few minutes in a day as we got busy with our new daily routine. I felt the lack of contact. I decided to Meet her and take her out for a movie; unknowing of the fact that things are worse then I have thought.

I called her and before I could have said anything , she called it quits to our relation. I was stunned and wanted to know why she took this decision. But , before I can open my mouth, I was shocked again to hear a male voice. The guy introduced himself as her boy friend and soon she nailed the coffin of our relation by stating that she doesn’t love me and disconnected the call. I was in tear’s thinking that she is surely cracking a joke at me.

Everyday, every moment I use to wait for her call, which never came. My hopes were shattered with every passing day. Soon, I realized that my friends were standing besides me in support, doing everything to keep me happy. I started to enjoy again, putting my past behind. In a blink of an eye, days, months and years passed by as my life was back on track.

Four years hence, I was working for a reputed organization. I was in a train and was about to sleep when my phone vibrated as it received a new message. First I felt like giving it a miss but suddenly I picked my phone and was shocked to see Tanisha’s number. She had said ‘Hi”. I wanted to ask her why she left me and never called back but instead I decided not to talk about the past. We chatted the whole day during which I came to know that his boy friend has ditched her for another girl. The world has moved 360 degrees. She was going through the same phase of loneliness as I had faced once.

And then she said those words which my ears wanted to hear for the past 4 years. She apologised for hurting me so much. She stated that she wants to be back in my life. I was hesitant again and just then she broke down into tears and I accepted her proposal again. Everything started on a bright note. The 6 months mark was crossed easily and then she dropped a bomb on my heart again. She had a new boyfriend who was of the same caste as she was, stating that her parents won’t allow inter caste marriage.

I had thought that the lightening never strikes twice at the same place but that was not to be the case with me. This time I was prepared for it and my heart was tougher then before. I changed my number so that she cannot contact me again. It’s been so many years that I’ve not listen to her voice.

Today is the biggest day of my life. I am getting married to a very beautiful and charming girl. Amidst all celebrations I am still thinking of her, the girl I know due to the most abnormal reason in this world and I fell in love with her without even meeting her and knowing how she looks like.’

But today is the day to delete her memories from my brain as I enter the new phase of my life. I have overcome the biggest fear of a man; a fear of witnessing your heart being thrashed by the same girl not once but twice.

Because the Lightening has struck me twice !!

Note : This Is a true story of my friend. All the content in this article is as stated by the person .

Rail Yatra : A Journey Of A Life Time

Before you go through this article, I would like to declare that this is not a work of fiction but an account of 24 hours from my life.

1^st Feb, 2011. Me along with my friend Rahul was waiting for Goa Express at Hazrat Nizamuddin station. During my childhood I have always travelled by sleeper class but as the people possess a higher purchasing power and with the railway’s fare almost unchanged for many years now, the same man travels in an AC compartment with me being no exception. I was a bit sceptical of travelling in sleeper. As one says that the luck runs out when you need it the most, the same applied to us that day. Despite all jacks working for our cause, we ended up in sleeper class. We were the first one’s to enter the coach as we found almost no one standing outside our compartment. With 10 minutes left for the train to depart, I started praying that less people turn out today to board the train. Just then a flurry of people entered the coach and in a blink of an eye the coach was full. To sum up my neighbour’s in the coach; two gujjar couple’s, a Punjabi army guy with a friend, 3 agri labourers and a typical goan guy, I stared at my friend and found him already glaring at me. We had a small conversation and decided to upgrade our seats in the AC compartment. We took turns to approach the ticket checker. It was my friend’s turn first to get up from his seat. As he saw the man in the black coat a smile embellished his face and it vanished soon as he saw the length of the queue surrounding the checker.

Still he surged ahead with confidence only to be told to come after an hour. I can feel his emotions as our heads and shoulders dropped down. Can we sneak to that AC compartment? Was the question in our minds. Suddenly we saw the labour guys staring at our luggage down under our seat. It was only 30 minutes past the last time we approached the Checker, but the incident was enough to take me off my seat. I went to the TC and was told to come after Agra. I came back with my hopes dying slowly but gradually.

The train stopped on the outskirts of Agra and as usual few people got off the train. As I was sitting on the window seat, a man from outside the train asked me to pass a plate of ‘Chaat’ to his wife on the other side.  I passed the plate to others so that it reaches the lady. Finally , a gujjar boy delivered the item and told the lady that I’ve offered this to her. She turned back and refused to accept the ‘chaat’ with anger. The confusion between the couple made me a culprit. As if this was not enough, the gujjar guy who delivered the item had an impression that I am playing games with him. In no time he got aggressive and the people sitting nearby took care of him.

Meanwhile, when these incidents happened we made numerous rounds to the checker but to no avail. Soon, the two army guys started chatting with us. They disclosed that both of them are without tickets and are ready to pay for the seats as we were in the hunt for AC compartment. I again went to the TC and he asked me to wait outside his cabin for 10 minutes. Every minute was difficult to pass by as I crossed the 30 minute mark waiting outside. Finally, he appeared only to tell me an inflated price for the up-gradation which I promptly denied and with that our hopes vanished. Now it, was clear that we have to survive the night among the unsettled environment of the sleeper coach.

One problem ended and just then another started. The army guys!! They want our seats and we will not vacate them. We explained them the scenario and they agreed to it. Suddenly, the things started to ease off. Everything was going on smoothly until the dinner time, when the two army guys hopped on to our upper births and started drinking alcohol. We were not very optimistic that we will be able to bring them down. Soon, they offered us the drinks which we politely refused. Both of them, since the start of the journey were speaking a word ‘JOGA’ and we were not able of crack its meaning, but now we realized that it meant alcohol.

All credit to holy spirits, they climbed down and agreed to sleep on the floor. But then, there were more surprises left for the day. As we prepared  to call it a day, another gujjar boy of around 20 years came yelling at his friends with all sought of abuses coming out of his mouth. Soon we found out that he was slapped by 15 army people for misbehaving with girls. He called up his friends to fight but no one was in a mood to fight 15 man strong army group. And then appeared the army group surrounding the gujjar boys. I was thrilled and my eyes were all set for a battle royal. But here came the twist, army group apologised for their misbehaviour and everything was settled.

The lights were turned off, everyone asleep, I laid back on my birth with earplugs on listening to soothing music and hoping that the longest night of my life must end now, but it was a day when nothing went my way. I was lost in the music, when I saw that all the lights were turned on again, everyone getting up from their seats in a state of shock and suddenly there were smiles on everyone’s face. I removed my earplugs and discovered that 3 homo sapiens were snoring so loud that it was impossible to sleep with that noise. I decided to ignore anything which happens now on, listening to music my eyes closed and I slept unknown to the fact that not many people slept last night.

Next morning, people started to de-board the train at their respective stations. The coach was half full now. I sat back on my seat , looking through the window and thinking about the people I met during the course of this journey. I still don’t know anyone’s name, but they were a part of the 24 hours of madness that I will never forget.

That’s why it was a “Journey of a Life Time” !!