What I Felt - Part Two

For the next three days, by mere coincidence, we were drawn at the same table, together. This repetition made us suspicious, both of us, of each other. People started noticing us too. What started as a very harmless coincidence now got its own dimensions. I had asked him name and batch, so did he and that made the start of our very unusual, coincidental, harmless acquaintance.

Though we saw each other next day too, we had seated different. In the next few days, we saw and had exchanged a couple of words. Slowly we had come to know of each other. I found that this guy was a single child, like me, and had indifference as much as I had, except that I was a bit more optimistic than he was. This gave me an upper hand during conversations where I made hour long speeches on personality development. Day by day, I had given an impression that almost ninety percent of the talks I made up were just for the sake of conversation or a smile. I had bluffed.

For all those days I was glad no one noticed us together, glad because there was nothing as much noticeable. We were beyond anyone’s notice, surely by the fact that we never saw or spoke outside our beloved canteen. Day by day, it occurred to me that the guy was far too much a pessimist and introvert than I expected. Whenever we spoke, I made the best of talks; the guy silently accepted all I said. It was as much irritating to me that he had nothing to say on what I said. I made my trials starting from the most practical to most emotional topics. He never spoke. Sometimes he smiled. Sometimes he pretended he heard. Sometimes he didn’t. In any case I was feeling odd. On one side, there was a rising curiosity to intrude into his thoughts, on the other side confusion on whether to let him go or not.

Day by day, it became a tedious task to conclude that he was still a stranger for me and I had no business with him. Perhaps it was some sort of sympathy on the lonely boy. I was seeing another me in him. In every picture of loneliness I had visualized, I have had two other weak faces called mother and father. But somehow the picture he had given me, there was a void. Nothing but void. For some reason I believed I was luckier than him, for there was an eye of protection that most girls do get. In his case he was made to live a life of freedom, freedom that can be easily misused, freedom in the sense misunderstood and freedom to decide whether to love or hate oneself.

In our next encounters, I was a bit more careful about what I said. Perhaps he had a sadder story to narrate, for this simple humble reason of mine, I had prevented myself from narrating my cooked up instant sad stories. I was careful not to bluff too much on “how-happy-can-single-children-be”. I felt that the boy might not take it. Perhaps he would consider me as a good friend cum advisor thereafter, but I knew it was a serious crime I would be doing to his parents and to people who love him. I had reflected that I had always felt bad on my parents, when my friends spoke of their siblings. It was short lived for me, but I couldn’t guarantee that on this guy, my friend.

A month passed on as such. I had misused my intelligence to steal this guy’s secrets. At a point I had even inquired if he had a girl friend- a matter I would not have any use or business to do with. He was becoming more and more comfortable with my talks and once in a while he had made his own opinions. We had shifted onto casual talks. We had open thoughts, for the first time. We were not best friends. We hadn’t any other too. Yet we were together, sharing some taste and trait in common. Perhaps it was just for the sake of being together. Or may be because we were incapable of handling “best-friends”.

We never complained to each other. Some days we never saw. Sometimes we saw, we never talked. There was no element of duty or responsibility. We were comfortable with the fact that we were never a priority to each other. Comfortable and safe fact, it was...

What I Felt - Part One

After spending fourteen years of eventful and quite disturbing period in the place I called my school, I had to ultimately join some college, and for god's grace, I was let in a carefree campus, where I got more freedom than what I could ever gain from eighteen years of life. For instance, You could try a walk alone, you could go to cafe alone ,you could go to canteen alone and altogether when you are alone no one complains,no one bothers. And the best part of it, any time you can have any number and any sort of friends. Perhaps this condition was quite a very dangerous a trial for a girl like me. I had changed tremendously after I left school, perhaps more

rational thi s time, more diplomatic. There was a fall in spirits. Yet I was happy with all. You dont expect, You are happy.

Whatever change that came upon me after my school days, the best thing was that I started having cold responses on the most popular subjects of girl-girl conversations. On this, I was too much afraid of myself, as if something had seriously gone wrong with me. I didnt make much 'best friends' or friend circles, drifted away from people, no matter boy or girl. I befriend them, I like them, I enjoy with them and whenever so happens someone shows some attachment I would escape from the scene.

I didnt know why made it all up, and people naturally thought I was insincere in my relations. Perhaps I was. perhaps people took me as a joker. Perhaps they would mark me down. In any case, I cant help.

Everything went smooth until one day I had spotted a slim,short boy with a weighed down head, pacing into our canteen. No one watches him, I had found. Perhaps because he is a boy. perhaps no one bothers if a boy walks alone. perhaps no one befriend him. Or perhaps he is not friendly. Or perhaps he had a fight with his friend saying that they had not accompanied each other while moving in and out of college. Suddenly it stroke me that boys might not take "accompanying to

store" and "accompanying in class" and "accompanying to canteen" as prime objectives of

"best-friend-ship". Girls do. Perhaps with boys, it was sharing that mattered.Mine.Yours. Ours. These matters left me at the first smell of food. No thoughts remain in me for more than fifteen minutes.

In the heavily crowded and congested canteen, I had managed to find a seat. It noticed that even in canteen there are no single-seat-single-table for lonely food seekers. It was four seat-one table and eight seat-one table arrangements. No one goes to canteen alone. In an unnoticed corner four seater table was vacant and I had taken a seat for mine.The very same boy whom I had alloted ten minutes of my thoughts, at last had to satisfy with the seat opposite to this stranger girl. There are thousands of students like me in this campus, no one insists that you behave well with strangers, so for the safer part, we didnt talk to each other, nor gave any

dramatic glances. No one occupied our side seats. There were inspecting eyes from all four corners. I had decided that next time I would bring a friend from class along. I tried. Tired of trials, I decided to come alone. He too. We came alone........