NOSTALGIA

        Dedicated To

        The     hymn…..

PROLOGUE

 I was sitting in my college library, trying my best to study.

Kshitij, a good friend of mine made his swift way to me .

“shantanu….so what u are doing here, I think u r free now”…

After I listened to him I once thought to blow up his head with my punch n in my mind I even did…

I had an exam the next day , so u cant blame me for that punch stuff….

Still I said “ya, I am completely free”

Actually I promised him once that when I get free I wud listen up his love story sort of thing…he always wanted me to listen his story, everytime I dodged his attack successfully but this time he victimized me.

“so now u will listen to it, I want no more excuses” he said….

I tried to make few serious excuses to skip his boring story(all love stories are boring)

But if said no, he would persist, so

Finally I said, “ok , go on with your love story”

“Its not a love story !! its just a story of two unusual friends, one is a boy that’s me n the other is a girl…that’s all..”

How beautifully he defended himself…admiring…really!!

In the lazy afternoon of that day he began….

Now, my goody goody readers, I am going to tell u that tale by assuming myself as kshitij. So the word “I ” will mean “kshitij”

  And here it begins……

“whats this man!! Wat the hell u r wearing n that too today!!! U r an idiot!!!!”

These welcoming gentle words greeted me as entered my college bus one morning...well, i can assure u his tone held much more surprise than the finite exclamation marks i put in the statement....

I wrestled with him for occupying the window seat n succeeded(a dream come true for evry bus travelling student). I took my time to settle down while he continued with his greetings...

You must be finding his way of greeting me , quite unusual, but the occasion on that day was the reason behind this. He stopped after some more taunting remarks. Well, he  is shashank, my good friend n we every day travel to the most hated place on earth....COLLEGE.

I know , after reading this some of you are already opposing my idea vigorously of calling college a hated place..., but to them who are in B.Tech  n still single, what else can you expect from their virgin lips. After a few minutes of silence, from the fear that shashank may again start welcoming me, i started the talk. “so, what have u brought in ur tiffin today” i tried to start the conversation as innocently as possible. “what is this man, u r just a stupid punk!!! U r going to meet a girl today n u came in ur usual college uniform!!!” said shashank. My innocent topic didn’t last long.”ok fine, so whats the big deal! We are just meeting, i am not going to propose a marriage to her, come on!!” came my saintly words.

After a long time, me n rishika (the cause for that days turbulance) planned to meet….

Generally I don’t go too good with girls…but some strange circumstance n few extraordinary coincidences  led me to this day…

The bus speeded towards college n my mind furiously thought what to do next…

For the first time in my life I was going to meet a girl(almost stranger) formally…

I found rishika on facebook…I requested her for a friendship on fb thinking she was the rishika of my school… after a bunch of months, I don’t know why , but she accepted my friend request n that’s how we began to chat. N today after 8 months of knowing her on the virtual world of facebook, we finally planned to meet in reality.

Bus finally approached college gate, as usual I found shashank sleeping beside me…he must have seen more than 4 movies back to back the previous night, not because he overstudied as many of studious readers might be thinking the latter to be the cause of his early morning nap…

I entered the class…n saw the class already started(not a rare scene for me)..the teacher gave be a rebuking look…I silently retired to my seat. I agree, by default, teachers do have a rebuking expression all the time. But this was one of a superior quality.

He started his topic with very innocent things, like –“ suppose u got out of ur home n saw a transformer”!!! now , y on earth I will see that bloody transformer when I am out of my home….i have many other essential things to stare at…!!

Soon that innocent topic took the form of a black board full of scary looking equations…I knew this crap was going to happen….

“and now kshitij will tell us how the transformer works on no load condition!!” said my kind teacher….

I gave a wonderfull discourse on ‘no load condition’ but it didn’t involve any transformer i.e technical stuff…again I got a ‘I will kill u’ type look from my, kind non violent teacher….

Some how I managed to survive till lunch n got out of college after that…

‘5’ that day held a special significance for  me…no , not because I was going to meet her at 5.pm ….. but because my mother told me to reach home at 5pm sharp…she wanted me to attend a boring party kind of thing.

I was figuring out a strategy to skip the party plan….me and shashank wer on our way back to home…”hey, so u are not going to meet her today??” said shashank…”just wait a minute, let me figure out a way to handle both the cases” I said confidently, but from inside I was like “oh crap , I don’t know what to do!!”

“You coming na….!!!!!!! J J!!!!!!!!!!!” rishika messaged…

There is a mysterious reason for girls using so many exclamations and smilies….

The next moment- “its near about 4.30….u gotta reach by 5, I don’t want any excuses kshitij” my mother called …

I was like ‘oh come on god, have mercy!!’I really didn’t have any idea how to meet her n also to attend the party..i was thinking n thinking….i put forth all my innovation n creativity n talent or watevr u cal it , to tackle this problem but I cudnt figure out a safe solution for it…..

Shashank and me exchanged few pathetic looks…but soon my mother again called   “ya kshitij,  u need not to come to party today, it has been cancelled” these words appeared to be the sweetest words of the day…i told shashank about it…

I requested shashank to accompany me on this occasion, as I didn’t have any experience to meet a girl , even though as a friend…but shashank deined….

“please bro, its just a matter of an hour, be with me else she will get bored ” this was the first time I requested him…I was looking into his eyes directly seeking sympathy n his consent….his gaze turned soft , then softer….my pleadings made him so emotional that he gradually closed his eyes. I thought may be he is making up his mind to come along me…I waited for his eyes to get open but it didn’t for the next 10 minutes….finally I asked him ”so, wat have u decided??”   “what to decide !! just go away n let me take a nap please” came his unconcerned reply….

I punched him thrice on his head n got off from the bus.

My phone beeped , rishika messaged “its over 5, mr. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! u gonna come or not???????????????;-) “

“coming” I replied….

 I like everytime she calls me MR.

it was a restaurant called “nostalgia” n that was my destination that evening. I was walking alone , along the road, with my mind full of thoughts about it…I went into a shop full of mirrors, not to buy one, but to see how badly my looks wer gonna scare her n I soon realized that I was really looking weird…shirt not ironed, jeans covered with dust, shoes withered, hairs shabby. These wer enough for her to hate me in our first meeting, I concluded….

For  some time , I cursed myself for not at all preparing me for this meeting.

But then I thought, hey!! Its just a meeting .. I am going to meet just another human being, n on planet earth , her category lies in a species called ‘girls’…that’s all dude, nothing to worry..relax…chill….relaxxx….

Ya, I become too philosophical sometimes…actually a bit tension or some unusual happenings,  trigger this philosophical being within me…..

As I was approaching my destination with a bit newly gained confidence , my phone beeped…it was rishika ”hey, I wanted to inform u that I am with my two other friends, anurag and vertika…I don’t wanna meet u alone so they are accompanying me, u fine with that?”

Now, what is this..!! at the last moment she was telling me this thing…that’s not fare..”y didn’t u tell me earlier , u shud have”

I replied..

For next 10 minutes, no reply… when girls don’t reply suddenly just be sure that something is wrong…

“hmm…” came her awaited reply…

“I am sorry, r u alright?” I said, not exactly realizing my mistake…

“fine” came her reply….when a girl says she is fine, be sure that u did something really stupid…I read it in a book of 3x10^8 pages  namely “the nature of girls- an overview”

I called her n said I was about to reach in 5 mins….

Now , as I told u, nervousness triggers the philosopher within me, but          over -nervousness triggers the mathematician within me, n its worse than the former…

I started calculating- if my walking speed is 4km/hr, n the distance to be covered is 300 meters, then ideally I shud reach there by time t=d/s

But if I meet some of my friend midway having a probability of x/z then he will make me late by suppose (t+ t*) minutes, so now my probability of meeting her on time will be….umm….

N immediately I realized that I am in front of that restaurant..!!!

Now all my calculations were gone but a new equation busied my mind…I again started calculating- there are three of them, the probability of taking a four chaired table is 1/3….now if rishika n vertika took two adjacent seats then my probability of…..

N I found myself inside that restaurant … I saw right, n found exactly a same type of group with two girls n a boy, both girls wer looking good but wer quite far away so I cudnt figure out their faces I was not sure of them.

But still I started to head towards them when unfortunately I realized that she told me to turn left….

So I again went back n took the left turn….

I  saw two girls sitting with a boy, n soon enough recognized the one I was chatting to,  day n night…I made my appearance n shook hands with her..

For the first time I thanked god for giving me hands….

I settled down finally…I was sitting beside anurag, rishika in front of me n vertika diagonally…sorry for the mathematical terms used.

I planned to talk so  much with her, but after confrontation, all I cud say was just hi , hello, how r u, kinda stupid stuffs….

Anurag was the one whom I talked with , the maximum time…he appeared to be a good person with simplicity n ethics…

Vertika appeared like any other modern day girl…

But rishika…lord..i cudnt figure her out… wen we chat, she seemed different person, n wen I met her , she appeared to be quite different…

But she appeared to be a sweet n innocent girl but at times seemed mischievous….. but her eyes held a serious n sincere n studious sort of look…

Very often, vertika n rishika exchanged smiling looks with each other…

I was just praying that I was not the cause of their mysterious mischievous smiles…anurag made me a lot more comfortable  though…

“So kshitij..do u drink or smoke?” anurag asked this humble question as I gulped my water down….”no ” I said, even my parents didn’t ask this to me !!

I felt good for his concern…we busied ourselves in general conversations..

I tried to crack few jokes in the middle but 99% of them went unheard…

“so, mr. hows going” rishika asked….i wanted to say, its going great , tremendous , fabulous with u but my lips just allowed the word “fine” to come out, disobeying my mind…

Food was soon ordered… she was serving me my meal…I looked at her, she looked beautiful….but soon I turned my attention towards food n began…

Rishika: hows ur studies going??

Me: its sucking… how about your bio??

Rishika: its going fine, still preparing hard…..

Me: ya, I can understand…once I was also victimized by bio, it scared the hell out of me so I turned to another hell but a bit less horrible i.e mathematics…

Anurag got bored by our conversation n interrupting us said- so, how u two met n became so gud friends on fb??

Now, his question was genuine n genuine questions generally don’t have any answer….i gave rishika a “what to tell now” kind of look….

Anurag: rishika, is kshitij any mutual friend of yours or in some coaching u ppl went together??

Vertika spoke abruptly….that helped me  to have a sigh of relief…

Vertika: hey anurag, I think we shud leave  them alone for some time…they are not at all talking to each other..

Me(in mind): wao..thats a great idea…..!! late idea but great idea….

Rishika looked at me unsure of what to say….i understood her condition n gradually started to shook my head  in negation… n finally spoke , no its fine, we wana be with u people .

rishika instantly started violent head shakings trying her best to express her deep negation to the splendid idea of vertika….finally she took the help of human language n said ‘no’ repeatedly till vertika got completely silenced….

Even though there was no point in staying with her alone but still due to some unknown reason I wanted to….but the idea was shattered now….

Rishika: hey kshitij, its for you…

Well, it was a chocolate n I love chocolates…..i thanked her….

But then I realized that I shud also have brought something for her. We were meeting for the first time n didn’t give her anything…that felt bad. Actually in my friend circle we never do such give n take stuffs, so I was not prepared for it…..ya , I was stupid…but anyway I was happy for my chocolate..:-P

Soon my phone rang…it was my mother!!!

Me: ya … what??

Mother: where are you??

Me: umm….actually I am with my friends

Mother: I asked WHERE?

Me: restaurant…ya , a restaurant, just a restaurant

Mother: name?

Me: its mc donalds….

Mother: ok….actually me and your father are also out…we are also heading towards a restaurant…today I was not in a mood to cook!!

Me: wao …great!! Good idea….which restaurant by the way….

Mother: its something called ‘nostalgia’

Me: no no…bad idea!!! I mean ,… u … nostalgia…father also…but….how come!!!....i mean…

Mother: y are u getting so nervous..??

Me: ya, actually….no…I mean…u know…

Meanwhile, rishika n vertika started giggling(a usual girlish habit)

Mother: who is laughing behind u…??!!!!

Me: its nothing, may be a phone line disturbance…

I soon realized how bad that reason sounded…

Me: ma, do u know the case of ‘nostalgia’ two friends came to eat here and they fell seriously ill because the food was poisonous ….i don’t want to see u people fall ill….

Mother: ok ok…we are not going to that restaurant…don’t worry…!! Enjoy with ur phone line disturbances….!!

End of the call…

Her last line really proved me to be a bad liar…

We again resumed to normal mode when suddenly, rishika and vertika got up n said they will be back soon…in one corner of my analytical mind I thot – is it a way to leave me n anurag alone…oh god !! no!! don’t get me wrong….

Anyway….me and anurag talked about some harmless innocent stuffs…

they soon came back….n we again started to talk, but unfortunately my talks with rishika was the least….it was getting late so we all decided to leave.

I didn’t wanna leave!! I hardly talked to her….but if I insisted for a longer  stay it might have looked awkward, so I consented…ahh.what a great sacrifice.. :P

It was a bye bye time for us….thanks to anurag , he made rishika to do the goodbye handshake…

I again thanked god , but this time for giving me two hands….as I was holding my bag in one, n shook by the other….anyway….i said a final bye n tata stuff…n departed…

EPILOGUE

Kshitij’s face held a sign of relief n happiness as he ended it up.

I appreciated myself for not falling asleep while listening to him.

The next day was my exam so I departed from my college n u know after that what I might have done…

No!!!! not study…..i reached home and slept….my way of preparing for an exam…!

                                                   J