It was a hot summer morning. A young man sat, fidgeting in his chair. Students continued to come in. The first lecture was about to begin in less than 15 minutes and Professor Ghosh doesn't take kindly to late-comers, so as to say gently. He checked his watch again. 9:15 am. Where is she? Did she miss her auto? Has anything happened to her? He kept checking his phone in case of any missed calls or text.
A distant hearing of his name, made him look up. “Atul! What the fuck man. Where are you lost? Band practice at 7 pm; don’t be late!" Atul nodded, slightly flushed. He was looking at Kuldeep, the main singer of their band and probably his man-Friday! From the corner of his eye, he saw her entering. As usual she looked pretty. She was wearing a pink salwar suit and for a moment Atul felt his heart missed a beat! She entered, looked at him, acknowledged his presence and took the first seat. Her usual place! Atul and her, had only one class together. So no way in the world would he oversleep on Tuesday mornings or think of bunking it? No amount of soccer practice or jam sessions could interfere with this resolution of his and giving up on soccer or guitar playing time, in his world, meant A LOT. Probably worse than getting a voluntary vasectomy!
He had met Priya in his second year, during a practice match. The 'ball had left the field' and hit Priya. Since she was a fresher, they feared if she reported, the college disciplirians would see this as ragging or an attempt to one, or worse some sort of sexual harassment given the reputation of their group and not to mention the college name in itself. To his surprise, Priya did nothing like that. On the contrary she kicked the ball back into the field and left. It was a Tuesday or as Atul liked calling it, 'To-her-day!'
Ever since that day, they would keep bumping into each other, accidentally. Well at least to Priya those were accidents! ;-) And the biggest coincidence ever, Atul started taking Shakespeare 101. Not only Priya, even the professors found it odd. Atul was an engineering major, to be specific, majoring in Architecture. And he had a good GPA, so he really did not need to take an extra credit. Most students with a GPA less than 5 are encouraged to take extra credits for them to fare better, annually. Atul was a 9 pointer and probably one of the better students in whole university. 'Mysteries of youth and romanticism of Shakespeare!', Prof. Ghosh's conclusion, after accepting him in his class.
After his first few classes with Atul, Prof. Ghosh was seen telling one of his peers that, " ahh..Atul, Roll No: 10020? Bright fellow. Sharp Mind. But fact remains he's horrible with words. He fails to grasp the sheer romanticism of Shakespearean characters. Whether it's the pain of Romeo or the dilemma of Othello, his 'logical' brain always over-rides his heart. May be someday if he falls in love, he'd find it easier to relate to the characters!" To which his colleague, Prof Matthews, had replied. “hopefully before the midterms or else that kid needs to work extra hard on the essays! " Little did, Prof Mathew know that everything was about to change before mid-term for Atul, perhaps forever!
The bell rang. Lecture's over huh? Atul wasn't sure of it. Honestly, he paid no attention to what Prof. Ghosh was teaching. The locus of his attention was of course but Priya. He could not describe his feelings for her. Was she a friend? Definitely a friend! Was she more than that? He had no answer!! Why did he feel extra protective of her and not in a platonic way? Why did he care if she was upset? Why did he feel a little monster in him, awake every time he saw her with a guy? They used to talk hours on gtalk. Initially the talks were strictly professional. Priya was good with the words. Always scored straight 'A's in the class tests. With the pretext of improving his grades he had approached her. Atul would 'create' doubts or 'make mistakes' so that he could talk to her. The chats soon took a casual turn and they started discussing everything under the sun. He never felt uncomfortable around her. No matter how embarrassing it was for him to answer, he'd always be honest with her. From the first time he watched porn to his ex- gf in junior College to whom, he lost his virginity, Priya knew everything. Surprisingly, she wouldn't judge him. And that's what fascinated him the most. Priya would always reply, "Men will be men" and that's it no matter how big or shameful the incident was.
"Atul! Atul! Atul Mehra, roll no 10020?" Prof. Ghosh called. Atul stood up, startled. He walked over to the teacher's desk. Prof. Ghosh handed him over his assignment. B+. Prof. Ghosh smiled and said, "Your interpretation of Desdemona’s character was excellent; a little more practice and you can get an A*." Atul was about to leave when Prof. Ghosh stopped him, winked and said, "Looks like the Grinch’s heart grew a few times larger!" And that's when the realization sunk in, he was in love. What he felt for Priya was Love! Something which he had never felt before, especially not for any of his exes!
All of a sudden, there was this surge of emotions within him. His first love! He wanted to know what Priya felt about him. Could there be something? Does she also like him? Or does she him as a friend? How do I find out? Should I ask her out? What if she says NO. Should I ask her best friend? Nope she's a RADIO BROADCASTER. Within minutes whole university would get to know!!!!
As Atul headed back to his seat, contemplating his 'next step', he saw Kuldeep talking to Priya. He immediately felt the friendly monster throwing raising his fist in anger, kind of like Homer Simpson, when he is denied of a donut! Keeping his cool, he approached them. Kuldeep immediately greeted him and said, "Guess what bro? Priya's going to be there today when we are jamming! What say, we give her the musical treat of the century?" Atul immediate response was 'Amen brother! UP five'.
Before Prof Ghosh left the auditorium, he announced that there would be a test on Romeo's character next Tuesday for 30 marks and this will be included in the internal assessment.
Atul felt as if it was taking forever for the clock to strike 7. He checked his watch again 6:15. Darn it! He was so nervous about the jamming today. Priya's going to be there. What if he messes up the chords?? Or worse forgets how to tune the guitar! What if he makes a total fool of himself in front of her? He was always full of self-appraise when it came to music. And now he felt like an idiot. Kuldeep would bring Priya to their rehearsal hall. He had volunteered to drop her off. He knew what his next step would be! He'll casually ask her out for the Bryan Adams Concert next week. So what if the concert is on Monday? He knew Priya is already prepared and he did not mind flunking a test for A GREATER CAUSE. "I'm sure Mr. Romeo would understand". And then when her favorite song, "Have you loved a woman" is sung by the maestro himself, he'd confess his feelings to her. Even if she rejects, he would have no regrets. He did his best. And rest is up to fate.
Soon his groupies gathered. There was Priya with Kuldeep. Everyone was pleasantly surprised to see Atul early. He's the one who has perfection-ed being late! And thus the jamming began. Priya was thrilled. Kuldeep was good but Atul was better and he knew it! Throughout the session, Atul never took his eyes off her. And for once he felt the lyrics as Kuldeep sang. Once they were done for the day, Priya came rushing towards him, and gave her a big hug, probably the tightest hug ever. She was happy and he was literally on CLOUD NUMBER NINE!
Soon it was time to drop Priya off. Instead of giving her a ride, Atul decided to walk with her, feigning his mean machine was showing temper tantrums! A last minute improvisation of the plan and Atul felt pretty smug about it. As they walked down the alley, he felt Priya's hands clasping around his arms and then Priya said, "Atul, can you keep a secret? I think I'm in love." Atul felt his heart in his throat. Priya continued, "I know it's silly. I thought it was a crush until today; when he kissed me!" Atul froze. There was a huge lump in his throat and the monster in his stomach had gone mad. He quickly muttered the word "Who?" Priya blushed and said "Kuldeep idiot! Do you think he likes me for real? Or am I just one of his flings? Oh God how can I be that stupid? I am just one of them girls right? Gawd! I LOVE HIM! Atul, help me na?" Her grip around his arms had tightened and her head now rested on his shoulders. She was vulnerable, he knew but he was a perfect gentleman! He continued walking and dropped her off at her house. Before he left, she hugged him and thanked him for being there. Atul just nodded and left. His life had changed in a day! To be precise in a matter of few hours!
He reached home, went to his room and played his guitar. Those who heard him play, agreed that it was his best composition ever. Following morning, Atul went to Kuldeep's house and asked him what the deal with Priya was! Convinced that it was real, he gave him the tickets of the concert and left.
No one saw Atul for a week after that. He had come to write Prof. Ghosh's paper and left. In the assembly the following day, professor Ghosh had announced that Atul had scored an A*. His was the best written interpretation he had read in his life!
Atul came back after a few days. He was back in his usual self. For the rest of his college life, he continued to be friends to the happy couple, never letting his feelings get better of him. In fact he was Kuldeep's Best Man in their wedding. Did he leave Shakespeare 101 after that? No! On the contrary he replaced Priya as the top student. Prof Ghosh and Mathews never understood the real reason of his improvement, each deriving their own conclusion.
You must be wondering what happened to Atul after college? He went on to become one of the world's critically claimed authors. An architect by degree, but a writer by profession! He never married. Not yet. In one of his recent press conferences, someone had asked him about the hardest challenge he had ever encountered His reply was "The hardest thing to do is watch the one you love, love someone else. Love itself is hard but loving unconditionally is probably the hardest."
