Scene 8: Minutes of silence
Meghana now had a clue that I liked her and have been following her. The stupid thing that Vinay did the other day had somehow helped me. It would have taken me too long to let her know that I liked her and wanted to try if this works out. But, Vinay in just some seconds had made that happen.
I gathered some more information about her in the next few days through common friends and social networking sites. There were a lot of surprising information’s about her. She is a Malayali and so am I.In fact she was from my hometown. Our family backgrounds and other cultural backgrounds were similar.I was kind of happy. This seemed as if god has a plan here. Like Vinay said once, even I believed in Destiny now.
That day I decided to follow Meghana. But, at the same time I didn’t want her to see me. So, I waited for everyone to leave the classroom and when Meghana left with her friends I waited for two minutes and then left the classroom, to the direction of the building exit. When I reached the exit I saw Meghana sitting on the bench near the entrance with her friends and chatting. I had to follow her and hence had to be around till she left.
I looked around and saw Karishma, my 12th class mate sitting on one of the benches. I approached her, and she smiled at me.
Me: “Hi Karishma”
Karishma: “Hey Akash. Which batch?”
Me:”Physics. What about you?”
Karishma: “Bio-tech.”
I am not sure when the last time we spoke was, or I don’t even know if we ever spoke. But, Now I had to talk to someone and didn’t see anyone but her.
The bench we were sitting on was exactly opposite to the one Meghana was sitting. A Lot of people were walking towards the exit, which constantly blocked the view between the two benches. But, still she could see me and I could see her. I couldn’t stop looking at her, I tried my best but she was like a magnet attracting me. The hard I tried to look away, the more I looked at her. Karishma was talking to me but, I was not attentive to her and didn’t know what she was telling. After sometime, she laughed and even though I didn’t know what she was laughing for, I joined her and laughed out loud. I think I was too loud. I realized this when all the noise around the place had vanished and everyone present there was staring at me. I felt like an Idiot.
Karishma continued talking and I was just nodding my head without being attentive. After a minute she tapped on my shoulder,
Me: “ah..umm..what happened.?”
Karishma: “Don’t look immediately but, that girl there on the opposite bench. The one in the blue salwar is staring at us from long time. Not sure for what.”
When someone says not to do something, you can’t stop but do that. I did the same. She had not finished her sentence and I looked at the girl who she was talking about. I knew it was Meghana in the blue salwar hence I had to look. Since I was quick, I could see Meghana looking at us and she seemed a bit annoyed. When she saw me noticing this she looked away.
It was surprising for me. The girl who I thought is annoyed because she knows I was in love with her, was now annoyed because I was sitting with another girl. Was her mind leaning towards me? Was she beginning to feel possessive about me? Or was she looking at something else and I mistook it?
All of a sudden she stood up and started to walk out. Her friends were still there. Again, I left after two minutes. When I came out I didn’t see her. I looked around but, didn’t see her anywhere. I ran towards the direction of the place where I saw her the first day. She was not to be seen. I had missed her even this time. I was almost in tears. I shouldn’t have missed this time. I walked back. I had not felt so sad for a long time. I wanted it to rain because I wanted no one to see me crying. I reached the college campus, in front of the Chapel. I walked into the Chapel, and sat on the bench there. With my head hung down I was crying, with only god looking at me. I felt like asking god the reason behind this. Why is this happening with me every time? Why am I not able to meet her properly and talk? How am I going to tell her that I want her to be mine?
I sat there for a long time. I felt relaxed. I felt I just spoke to a close friend and shared all the sadness I had with him. I prayed for some time and decided to leave. When I came out of the chapel it was raining. I sat behind one pillar and was waiting for the rain to stop. I was thinking about a lot of things sitting there. And I heard the Chapel door opening, when I looked, for my surprise it was Meghana walking out of the chapel. She was there in the chapel all this time. She should have come here directly from the college building, and not knowing this, I was searching for her. More over, I went into the chapel and didn’t see her there. I hope she didn’t see me crying. Now, it seemed like she didn’t notice me there. She came and stood on the other side of the same pillar behind which I was sitting. Even she was waiting for the rain to stop. I didn’t have the guts to speak to her today, and after the little time I spent inside the chapel, I felt like I should talk to her tomorrow with a fresh mind.
After almost 10 minutes, the rain slowed down, and those who were inside the building waiting for the rain to stop,started walking out. We were still standing there, and then, Karishma who was going that way saw me, she was carrying an umbrella,
Karishma: “Akash! You are here. Are you waiting for someone?”
Me: “No. I was just waiting for the rain to stop”
Meghana realized now that I was standing there. She peeped to see I was there. She didn’t expect me there and was surprised.
Karishma: “Oh ...Then come...I will walk with you till the bus stand. Come.”
Me: “Hey! It’s OK. This rain will stop now.”
Karishma: “No. It’s not OK. Come let’s go.”
I didn’t want to go but had to...I moved under her umbrella and we started walking.
Even though I didn’t turn back and look, I knew Meghana was standing there looking at us go, and if she had any feelings towards me, she will not be happy seeing me go with Karishma.
The Rain was still on.
No comments:
Post a Comment