A figment of imagination and a whiff of reality
“You’re 26 Nithya. And you say that you don’t like to fall in love!” screamed Aditi.
“And she also says that she doesn’t have any plans to get married as of now. I wonder even 35 would be acceptable for her,” scorned Ramya.
“Oh God! Spare me girls! I have a train to catch. Can we hurry up now?” The svelte girl, who was the subject matter of Aditi and Ramya, rose up from her bed, agitated with her friends’ lamentation.
“Which train is it?” Aditi put forth.
“Cheran Express at 10.20 PM.”
“Wow! Hope Cheran Express has cute guys in it so that our dear Nithi can hook up with someone for the night,” replied Ramya mischievously.
“Aiyooo, stop being gross Ramz,” Nithya threw a pillow at her.
“Hey, I agree with her. You know, I have heard that guys in Coimbatore are really cute and smart,” added Aditi.
“Hell with you both! Neither I will find a guy nor will I allow a guy to talk to me.”
“Then, how’d you spend the night?” chorused the girls.
“I will sleep.”
There were smirks from the girls. “Uninteresting,” muttered Aditi under her breathe.
“Nay! I am not. Don’t you know that night trains are meant for sleeping?”
“Lord! Please leave us. We wouldn’t discuss about this anymore,” said Aditi.
“But wasn’t Nithya hopelessly romantic during our college days?” asked Ramya.
“Ramz, please don’t start again…” began Aditi.
“Yes, I was. And I am. Not wishing to fall in love or get married doesn’t make me unromantic.” Nithya said in an offended tone.
“Then, why don’t you look for love?” Aditi lunged forward and held Nithya by her shoulders.
“Love will come in search of me.”
“Aha! I will hack you to death. You’ve rejected everyone on your way. How can you even expect love to come in search of you? Your dream man might have already proposed you and got snubbed by you. He should’ve married by now. I am sure that you’d live the rest of your life as a spinster, regretting your choices and decisions.”
“Well, I don’t care.” Nithya shrugged her shoulders, spewing nonchalance.
“Look at us Nithya. We’re happily married. You’re just following the trend of feminism, blindly declaring that not getting married at this age is the new fashion. But it isn’t. You’ve to…”
“Stop there Ramz! You needn’t advice me on marriage. It’s solely my wish to get married or stay single forever. If you ever dare to intefere in this, then that would be the last of our friendship.”
The girls never expected such an outburst. Nothing was spoken after that. The topics changed to general girls banter. After a few minutes, they exchanged goodbyes to each other and parted ways.
As soon as they left, Nithya seated herself on a chair and contemplated on their advice.
Should I really get married now? Is it mandatory for me to fall in love? Can’t these things wait till I completely tick off my bucket list and carve a niche for myself? Her thoughts wandered.
Perhaps, I should try. She assured herself, packed her belongings in her travel bag, locked her apartment securely and left the place.
*****
It was pitch dark inside the coach when Nithya boarded the Cheran Express. She muttered excuses as she made her way to her compartment. As fate could have it, she bumped into someone. And also her heel landed on the other person’s toe.
“Aaaaaa!!!” It was a guy’s voice.
“Oops! I am sorry, sorry, sorry.”
“That..that’s okay.” The guy stuttered. They couldn’t see each other in the darkness.
Nithya switched on the torchlight option in her smartphone and flashed it on the guy’s face. And the next moment, their eyes locked. His gaze pierced her heart. Those emotions which weren’t meant to be felt by her, came gushing to her.
Regaining her senses, she asked him quietly, “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I am okay,” the guy whispered. From his looks, it was evident that he was enchanted by her, as she was by him.
Then the lights came on. Embarrassed with the occurrence, they moved to their respective seats. Once seated, the guy began behaving indifferently. He never paid any attention to Nithya. He concentrated on his mobile, looked out of the window and rarely noticed her, even though he was seated right opposite to her. She was surprised beyond words. Guys had swooned for her in the past. But the indifference of this guy bothered her. She began dreaming of the sequence from Varanam Aayiram where the hero Suriya falls in love at first sight with the heroine Sameera Reddy, talks & flirts with her, confesses his love by breaking into a song and assures her of his love. She fantasized a similar sequence happening to her, with the guy wooing her and breaking into a song.
What’s happening to me? I accept that I am romantic. But I strongly oppose to falling in love and getting married. Now, why does this guy bother me so much? Why do I feel an urge to talk with him? Why am I changing my positions so that he’d notice me? And why the hell am I imagining the sequence from Vaaranam Aayiram? I am not supposed to feel like this.
Though her rational mind bravely spoke those to her, she kept stealing glances at him frequently. But the guy remained the same. He just flashed a couple of glances occasionally. His smartphone kept him engaged most of the time.
Oh my God! Why is my heart pining for his looks? Why is he indifferent, even though I look at him? Can’t he just smile at me? If he smiles, I am sure I would start talking to him. By the way, should I message Aditi and Ramya that I’ve found a cute guy on the train and might end up getting married to him? She smiled mischievously.
A man in his forties seated himself next to the guy. After a few minutes, they began talking to each other. Though their voices were surprisingly low, Nithya tried to make out most of their conversation.
“Well, what do you do?” asked the man.
“I am working as a senior software engineer in Infosys, Chennai.”
“Oh! But you look young. What’s your age?”
“I am 28 years old.” The guy replied politely and went back to fiddling with his phone, in order to avoid anymore conversation.
Nithya did a small mental dance of truimph as she came to know about the guy’s age.
After an hour and a half, the guy stood up to arrange the berths.
What the hell! Seriously, doesn’t he want to strike up a conversation with me? Perhaps, he is playing safe. He wants me to begin the conversation by acting indifferently. Nithya’s thoughts reassured her.
As she opened her mouth to say a ‘Hello’, the guy abruptly climbed the upper berth and placed his pillow on it.
Whaaattt??? Am I not going to face any Vaaranam Aayiram type of night?
Disgusted by the guy’s actions, she too climbed to the upper berth and laid down. She stealthily looked at him across the berth. He flashed a million dollar smile. Oh, not at her. At his smartphone. She even made smirking sounds so that she could receive his attention. But he remained oblivious. Moments passed away in snail pace, before he turned and looked at her.
Pouncing on the opportunity, she said, “Good night!” Her tone was rather lovely.
“Thank you. Good night to you too.” He replied calmly and covered himself with the bedsheet.
Hey, at least tell me your name. But she could only think of it, for the guy was dozing away. Soon, detaching herself from her fantasies, she drifted away to sleep.
*****
Nithya woke up to a screeching alarm from her mobile phone. Cursing under her breath, she switched it off and sprung from her berth. Immediately she steadied her disheveled hair, tying it into a pony tail. Then her eyes gradually wandered to the opposite berth. But she was welcomed by an empty one! At the next instant, she peeped down to see whether he was there. The guy wasn’t in sight at all.
Slowly, she alighted from her berth and reached the lower one. She looked hither and thither for him. But there was no sign of him. He had vanished into thin air. She couldn’t even ask anyone about him, for the man in his forties was also not present. Dejected by the state of affairs, she seated herself and pondered, he must have got down in Salem or Erode.
Well, her Vaaranam Aayiram type of journey went under water. She couldn’t believe herself that a headstrong girl like her was smitten by a mere co-passenger. Though her heart pained, she quietly alighted at the Coimbatore Junction and made her way towards her destination.
Perhaps he would come in search of me back in Chennai, she comforted herself with yet another Vaaranam Aayiram movie sequence.
*****
Two months passed away since that hopeless journey. From that day, Nithya began to change her preconceptions about love and marriage. Though she never met the guy again, she thought about him on a daily basis and pined for him. She couldn’t categorize her feeling as love, as she had no belief in the love-at-first-sight stuff. Yet she wanted to meet him, talk to him, get to know more about him and perhaps, enter into matrimony with him. And then it happened, one fine day.
Nithya ran to the main door to attend the bell. She opened the door and then froze. There he stood, with a smile on his face. Immediately, her thoughts began playing with her. She veered off to the scene in Vaaranam Aayiram where Suriya would make an appearance in front of Sameera Reddy’s house in pursuit of her and to prove his love for her.
Maybe he has finally come to pursue me. Nithya felt joyous beyond words.
“Excuse me! The flat next to yours is put up for rent, I suppose. And I am aware that you’ve the keys with you.” The guy’s firm words brought Nithya back to reality.
Though she was taken aback, she replied composedly, “Yes, I have them. By the way, have we met before?”
“We? No, I don’t think so. I have never seen you. I just came to enquire about the rented apartment along with my younger brother.” The guy declared plainly.
A gush of pain seared through Nithya’s heart. Her face contorted into agony as she realized that her ship had sunk. My goodness! He doesn’t even remember me. She was almost driven to tears.
“Please hurry up ma’am. I need to inform my fiancee about the apartment’s interiors after taking a look.”
And then, her heart broke. She could literally listen to it. That was her first love. Maybe a crush, but still a crush. She wanted it to end happily in a marriage, though earlier she was dead set against marital life. At that moment, she realized that not every guy can become Suriya from Vaaranam Aayiram. And not every guy she meets would be single. The harsh reality threw itself before her. I am sure that you’d live the rest of your life as a spinster, regretting your choices and decisions. Aditi’s words echoed in the air.
She did an about turn to hide her tears. She then moved to the key platter and brought out a bunch of keys. Handing it to the guy, she said, “Take a look by yourself.”
“Thank you. But it would be better if you show me around.”
“No. I am not in the mood. And also, I don’t prefer going into that apartment along with male strangers.”
“Oh! I can understand.” Saying so, he moved ahead to explore the apartment.
Just as she came to terms with the fact of being single forever and just as she began to retreat to her apartment with a pained heart, she heard someone approaching her.
“Excuse me! Is my brother inside the rented apartment?”
Nithya looked up to face the speaker. There, in front of her, was the handsomest guy she had ever seen. Her jaw almost dropped by his appearance and the way he conducted himself. And the same reactions were felt in him too. He flashed a pearly smile at her and continued, “Well, please stop admiring me and tell me whether my brother is inside that house.”
“Yeah, he is.” Nithya collected herself.
“By the way, I am Rakesh. 26 years old. Working as an administrative officer in State Bank of India.”
“I didn’t ask you. Why do you say all these?” asked an irritated Nithya.
“Because you seem broken and it feels like that I’ve been sent to mend your wounds.”
What the hell! What’s happening here? He can see through me! Thank god, I didn’t end up with his elder brother. Now, this guy seems perfect to me. No Vaaranam Aayiram type of proposal or chessy lines. Just a simple introduction and a straightforward confession. But wait! He doesn’t even know about me. Is he the love-at-first-sight kind?
“Hey, are you….”
“Before you question me, let me tell you that I meant to befriend you. I am not a guy who’d fall in love at first sight. I just liked you. So, let us gradually get to know if we are made for each other. I hope you don’t mind for a few dates.”
As a response, Nithya blushed and replied, “Okay, note down my number. I am not giving it because you’d asked me out. It’s because you’ve given me a whiff of reality and taught me not to imagine too much. Thanks to your straightforwardness and practicality.”
“Well, what do you mean?”
“That’s a long story Rakesh. We have an old connection. I will tell you on our first date.” She confidently replied, as her eyes wandered inside the rented apartment where her failed object of attraction was keenly exploring the interiors.
She silently thanked him.
**********
Love,
Kavya Janani.U
Photo Credit: rocketero2012 via Compfight cc
