Life is full of surprises! Isn’t it? But do surprises always surprise gleefully? The answer is no. It surprises you unexpectedly. It will bestow you something when you aren’t expecting a little and It will snatch something away from you when you are on cloud nine about it. To the question that why it happens, I would say that this is what the driving force of life is. Adapting the unexpected situations and a training period about how to cope up with it. Will be isolating myself from these certain philosophical thoughts and coming directly to the story…
We hadn’t talked for a few days, Amaera and I. I thought not to disturb her with my phone calls or irrelevant messages as she might be busy with packing or collecting some ever-lasting memories with her friends. She, on the other hand, didn’t bother to include me in her pre-departure happiness, neither with any call nor with any messages.
I won’t hold this mystery for long about how it started between us but will detail it briefly as life gave many surprises to me especially since I met her. It shoved me into the crest and trough-like situations in my life, detailing those in this short story would be like increasing the pages.
I saw her when I was in the third semester of 2nd year (you can say ‘like at first sight’ if any such thing exists), started liking her in 4th semester and finally talked to her towards the end of 5th semester of 3rd year. We didn’t ever have any commitments towards life and each other. Despite that, I always tried to develop a healthy relationship, which wasn’t more than a friendship (keeping a halt to my feelings toward her, which I never disclosed her openly). Moreover, somewhere every good relationship starts with a friendship. Sometimes, she tried too, to be good friends but the fact is things never happen in the way as you expect. It happens in its own peculiar way. There came a time when some arguments on trivial issues had almost drifted us on the two shores of the same river, but luckily, as the water on the two shores is always the same, one can say it acted as a connecting link. Fortunately, we got reunited due to the certain game played by fate. As every good thing take time, It was toward the end of last semester of college life when we began to realize that we have developed the understanding of one’s like and dislikes, not enough to fall in relationships. Also, at such point where we were at the verge of separation from each other, just in less than one month, what can you expect even! It’s better to be friends and enjoy life.
Hence, there is a common notion which I follow that to “those relations which you can’t give a perfect ending, leave it at least in any beautiful situation so that when life will give you another chance, you can begin from where you have left. With such a view in my mind, I was hoping to collect some everlasting memories with her to leave our friendship somewhere on a beautiful corner of life. But as I said, things never happened in the way you expect, more interesting news was waiting for me.
“Hey, I got a placement with Wipro India. I am leaving for Mumbai two days from now”, Amaera disclosed it to me one fine day in a voice brimming with dreams.
The first part of the sentence was enough to make me feel over the moon but the second one was similar enough to the fact that life can’t exist on the moon.
She is leaving just in two days? I thought of myself. I couldn’t reply to her well except congratulating her as I felt my throat choked by something. I knew her ambition towards the start of her corporate life but never realized that It will come too soon. We had just started a few days back and then this!
Time and tide wait for no one. That day, she was going. The flight was scheduled at 2 PM. The whole day, I was in utmost confusion about my actions. I was hungry but I couldn’t t eat. I was drowsy but I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to talk to her but my hands refused working when I took the cell-phone in my hand. I couldn’t find any proper explanation for this action of mine. I kept staring at walls and ceilings for a long time while lying on the bed, doing nothing.
Was I waiting for her to call and say final goodbye? Will she? This may be the one question which overpowered my mind. The clock already struck 12:25 PM but my phone stayed in silent mode as if there is some network error. I couldn’t bear it longer anymore. I grabbed my cellphone, typed a message “, Hey yaar, Where are you?
At IGI, waiting for my flight! Luckily, her reply was prompt as if she too had been waiting for my message.
Okay, I am coming in 15 minutes! With that, I hanged my phone off without waiting for her next message and walked toward the Airport link metro station to avoid usual traffic from cabs. At such situations, you need good luck but that day, fate was playing with me. The previous metro left the station just before I reached and the next one was after 10 minutes. I had no other option left than to wait for it. Every minute passed like an hour to me. I was moving to and fro and my pace increased every time in the anxiety. Finally, after a long wait metro came, giving me some relief but it lasted for a short duration. I grew irritated when it stopped at the stations. Also, the door seemed to close a bit late today to me as compared to usual days which took my anxiety to another level. Somehow, in these state, I reached IGI- T3 half running, half panting and started inspecting every face there in that huge crowd but couldn’t locate Amaera. Where is she? I took my phone to call her, but my eyes first fell upon the time. It’s already 1:10. I never realized that time went so quickly in the whole process both in life and at the end too. She might have had checked-in till now. I opened my WhatsApp for the one last time, expecting a message from her.
“It’s already late Shashank, Please DON’T COME!” was the first message which popped up on my screen. I fell upon my knees after having a half glance at her message. My eyes were reluctant to stare at the message for a longer time. Why didn’t I called her earlier when I was sitting idle the whole day? I incriminated myself. The burden of not giving a proper ‘See off‘ to my best friend made my heart and lungs shrink, making it difficult to breathe and pump the blood at the same time.
Within a few minutes, she would be taking the flight of her dreams toward her dream city, leaving me in her dreams and some memories to live with. I neither have the money nor courage to chase her in that new place. Hence, I chose to live in myself with some memories embedded deep within my heart which is difficult to erase. These memories are often unsaid, untold, unerased, and inexplicable but they remain with you forever. I took my way with a heavy foot as a traveler in some unknown direction as if I have lost the destination. On my way, I touched my nose, pulled my cheeks, peeped in my own eyes as she used to, with the comments such as your nose is smaller, mine cheek is soft and your eyes have a special type of glitter. Several uncountable memories came flashing back simultaneously as if the movie was being screened directly to my retina.
Sometimes, things can’t be encompassed within these terms love, friendships, and relationships. It’s much more than that and no terminology can define a boundary around it.
As always, I was left with a story to tell – Yes, I do have a beautiful love story to tell!
-Shashank
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