Diya Rai – End of a Puppy Love

It was too much for Diya. Karan’s I-don’t-care attitude was a definite put off for her. Added to that was his phone number which was always unreachable or switched off. She wondered whether he had eloped with some other girl. She also despised his attitude of not informing her about his whereabouts. Then, she came to a conclusion. She decided to visit Romin Apartments and confront him directly.

“Mahima, I need your help. After our cycling session, let’s visit Romin Apartments. I want to meet Karan. He has been behaving differently. His phone is always switched off. I don’t know what to do. I must meet him and get to know the truth.”

“Okay, okay, cool down. Take time to breathe.” Mahima consoled her.

Diya heaved a sigh and continued cycling. After gulping chilled blueberry soda from a supermarket, the girls visited Romin Apartments. The apartments was divided into two blocks – A & B.

“Uff! I don’t even know Karan’s block. How will I find out his flat then?” She grumbled, irritation reaching its pinnacle in her mind.

“Don’t worry. We’ll ask someone,” replied the practical Mahima.

They found a young boy playing with a ball, kicking it ferociously.

“Hey! Do you know Karan?” Diya put forth.

“Do you mean Karan bhaiya?” the boy asked in his teensy voice.

“Yes, can you call him down? Tell him that Diya wants to meet him.”

“Okay, Didi, I’ll call him.”

Minutes later, Karan appeared. Looking at Diya, he beamed at her. Nonchalance was written all over his face. ‘Doesn’t he feel ashamed to smile at me?’ That was Diya’s mind voice.

“Hey, Diya, what a surprise! How are you?”

“I am fine. How are you?” She swallowed her anger and asked him rather politely.

“I am awesome. Why have you come here?”

“I just needed to ask about your mobile phone. Why is it switched off?”

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t inform you. I had a fight with my cousin. In a fit of rage, I threw the mobile phone on the floor. A few parts broke. So I have given it for service.”

“Oh my god! That’s so sad, Karan. Why did you fight with your cousin?”

“Hey, it was just a silly tiff. Nothing to brag about. You know, yesterday I went to watch the movie Bhoot along with my uncle.”

“Wow! Was it scary?”

“Yeah, it was. I was frightened like hell.”

“Ha ha! Luckily, I am not afraid of ghosts. I can watch a horror movie without getting scared.”

“Proud of you, girl!” Karan exclaimed delightedly.

“Okay, your 10th grade results are out, right? What’s your total?”

“I scored 836 out of 1200. Very bad score!”

“It’s not bad, Karan. Quote it as average.”

“Hmmm, by the way, who is this?” He pointed to Mahima.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce her. She is my best friend Mahima.”

“Hi Mahima!”

“Hi Karan! I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Of course, I am popular in this area.” He prided in himself.

“Well, I didn’t mean that, Karan. I’ve heard a lot about you from Diya.”

“Oh, okay.”

“So, when will you get your mobile phone?” asked Diya concernedly.

“Maybe after two weeks. I’ll give a missed call to your landline number once I get it back.”

“Okay, Karan, I am happy to meet you after a long time.”

“Well, I am surprised that you came till my apartments to speak with me. Thank you!”

“Mention not. Okay, bye.”

“Bye Diya. Bye Mahima.”

As soon as they were out of Karan’s sight, Diya asked, “Mahi, don’t you think that something is amiss with Karan’s behavior?”

“Hell no! He spoke well, right?”

“No, he didn’t. He seemed like he wasn’t interested in speaking with me. Now he secretly wishes that I shouldn’t meet him anymore.”

“How did you analyze all these?”

“With his behavior. During the initial stages of our relationship, he wasn’t like this. He used to speak jocularly. Now he has adopted a bland tone.”

“Hmmm, I see. Okay, wait till he gets his mobile phone. Let us see whether he gives you the missed call which he said so.”

Diya remained quiet. She knew that the call would never come.

*****

Diya successfully made it to the 9th grade. She completely lost touch with Karan. Neither did she get to know about him nor did he contact her. It was like the two lovebirds had separated, but Diya pined for him immensely. Though she put up a brave face and accepted his impassive behavior, she wasn’t ready to lose him completely. ‘I want to live with him lifelong’, she repeatedly thought to herself. Also, with each passing day, she was getting spoiled by mushy Bollywood movies which portrayed love in an unimaginable form. She couldn’t establish a line between imagination and reality.

It was almost after a month that she met him. Yet, it was accidental. She was standing along with Mahima in the bus stop, chattering about the best sanitary napkin brands in the market. Just then someone whizzed past her. The guy had tied a handkerchief around his semi-bald head. The growing hairs stood up like a porcupine’s hair. Diya could only glimpse the back of his head. Something told her that the guy was known to her. And then he turned. With his bright beady eyes, he glanced at her and ran away to his group of friends.

“Hey, Karan!” She hollered after he had joined his friends, but he took no notice of her.

He rollicked with his friends and did not even glance at her again. She was disappointed. That’s when realization dawned upon her. Karan was deliberately avoiding her. ‘What wrong did I do? Weren’t I a good girlfriend to him? Why does he behave like this?’ But her rational mind knew that the answers won’t come to her magically, only Karan can provide them.

Though she kept gazing at him, her heart pained like hell. The budding heart of a 13 year old was marred due to a worthless 15 year old’s ignorance. On the persistent advice of Mahima, Diya boarded the next bus to her destination. As soon as she climbed the steps, she looked down at him. To her horror, he was waving at her. And what more, he was also beckoning her to alight, fully aware that the bus had started.

‘What does he think about me? Am I a superwoman to jump from the bus?’ Diya was pissed off.

“I was there all the time. He didn’t even notice me. Now, he is asking me to alight. Why the hell should I?” She grouched to Mahima, who as usual put up with her tantrums.

That evening, Diya tried Karan’s mobile number on the cordless telephone. It started ringing.

‘Bullshit! It’s ringing. Oh my god! My day is full of surprises.’ Immediately Diya cut the call. She had hoped that the phone wouldn’t ring, since it was switched off for a long time.

‘Does he really love me?’ She broke into tears.

*****

Yet another evening, the same happened. Karan was in the same bus stop as Diya. He was glancing at her, but did not move forward to speak with her. Similar to the other day, she boarded a bus and looked down at him. Once again, he was beckoning her to descend from the bus. She angrily signalled him that she cannot and straightened herself. She held a taut expression on her face.

“What happened?” Mahima asked.

“I think Karan reads too much of DC comics. He expects me to be a supergirl.” Diya fumed.

“Okay, I can understand,” mumbled Mahima and kept quiet after that. She didn’t want to add fuel to fire.

*****

‘I am not going to let him do his antics once again. I will speak with him today.’ Diya grinned.

As expected, Karan arrived at the bus stop on a bicycle. He knew that Diya was present. Yet he completely ignored her and entered the shopping complex adjacent to the bus stop.

“Mahi, hurry up! Let’s go to that shopping complex.”

“Why?”

“Karan has gone inside along with his friends. I am going to confront him today.”

“Arey yaar, I am bored of your confrontations.” Though Mahima sulked, she joined Diya. She never wanted to let down her best friend.

Standing at the entrance of the complex, Diya eyed at a girl who had accompanied Karan’s group of friends. Karan had gone into the basement which housed fancy articles, dolls, gift items, snowglobes, and greeting cards. The girl was gorging on a cup of vanilla ice-cream. She then paid the cashier and moved towards the entrance. Diya waylaid her.

“Excuse me! Can you please call Karan? I am his friend Diya. I need to speak with him.”

“Okay, wait a minute.” The girl disappeared into the basement.

After three minutes, Karan came outside. His face was stern and he walked briskly, which meant that he was angry. He neared Diya. The latter was excited that finally he was going to speak with her, but Karan was wickedly smart. As soon as he neared Diya, he took a left turn and moved towards his bicycle, leaving behind a bewildered Diya.

“What the hell! He came towards me, Mahi. Why is he leaving?” She almost screamed.

“Diya, calm down.”

But she did the opposite. She opened her floodgates and wailed like a banshee.

“Diyaaa! All are looking at us. Come, let’s go!” Mahima ushered her to a corner of the bus stop and wiped her tears. After a few minutes of consolation, they got into a bus and veered towards their destination.

*****

‘Tring! Tring! Tringggg!’ Karan’s mobile phone rang. He knew that it was Diya.

“Hello!” came his excited voice from the other end.

“Hello Karan, this is Diya.” Her voice was gurgly.

“I know that.”

“I thought that you might have forgotten me. Do you love me Karan?”

“Well…ummm…no!” He spat out.

“What? Why?” Diya roared.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean by you don’t know? It was you who proposed me, right? You were the one who fell in love with me initially. Now what happened, Karan?”

“I don’t know, Diya. The actual reason is Ranjan. He told me not to get into this relationship.”

“Ranjan? But actually we were already in a relationship when we met him. How can he be the reason?”

“Well, that’s it, Diya. I cannot give anymore explanations. I don’t love you.”

Karan could listen to Diya’s sniffs at the other end. Yet he remained like a stone.

“Ka..Karan, ple..please don’t do this to me.”

“I am sorry, Diya. I don’t know what to say to you or how to console you. You’re a small girl. You’ll understand when you reach my age.”

“What’s the difference between 13 and 15, Karan?” She flared up.

“Please, Diya, leave me. I am in no mood to explain you.”

“You are being rude, Karan. Tell me, that which occurred between us, wasn’t it love?”

“No, it wasn’t. It was puppy love, Diya.”

“What the hell do you mean by puppy love? Don’t confuse me with new words.”

“I mean…err…puppy love means…err…our puppies were in love, Diya. Britto and Lyka. They were in love. That’s what is called puppy love!” Karan was near to chuckling.

“How dare you make fun of me, Karan? I am boiling over here and you’re laughing at me. Idiot!” She barked.

“I am sorry, Diya. Bye.”

“Karan, please don’t end the call.”

But all she received was a beep tone.

Once again, Diya cried bitterly. Though she wasn’t a melodramatic queen, she wasn’t used such pain. Karan had wounded her heart beyond her hurt-bearing capacity.

‘God! Please help me.’ She buried her face in a pillow and cried even more.

*****

“Happy birthday Karan.” Diya sent a message from her mom’s mobile phone, after a week of her breakup with Karan.

“Thank you, my dear friend.” He replied.

Karan mentioning her as ‘dear friend’ was the last thing she wanted to hear. She didn’t reply. She deleted the messages. After that ugly breakup evening, she tried calling him once again, but he never picked up.

Also she learnt the true meaning of ‘puppy love’ from Mahima. With that, she started burying Karan’s thoughts.

It was painful, yet it preached her something that could stick to her lifelong. She learnt never to trust boys. She accumulated so much hatred for the word ‘love’ that the proposals after Karan were met with deadly consequences.

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