The Five-Minute Relationship

Punjabi University Patiala, aka PUP, is the university that gave me my story. One of the best years of my life was spent at this university. My graduation years. From the very beginning, I was fond of books consequently of libraries too. One can say that if I had the chance, I would even sleep in the library. That was the level of my nerdiness. I was not interested in syllabi books, rather just poetry and history is what amazed me the most. I always imagined myself to be a character in history or one of the admirers of that poet. It all felt so amazing until one day, a new character entered the stage where my life was being played.

I was standing in line at the library reception desk to get my hands on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was looking for a book for a long time. Don’t know who in the hell kept it issued for almost a month. Today I finally found the book on the rack and grabbed it at once. I didn’t want to wait anymore to read this iconic legend. So here, I was standing in line to get it issued. All of a sudden the girl in front of me lost her balance and dropped her books on the floor. As a gesture of goodwill, I helped her gather the books. I noticed that she was also carrying Shakespeare’s books.

“Thanks for the help”, she said in her sweet voice. Sweet or mesmerising, I cannot really differentiate at this moment. I wanted to say “You’re Welcome” but before I could say anything, my heart started to pound at an alarming rate. Something weird happened to me. Not the bad weird, but the good weird. It felt like I found a long-lost treasure. I found Juliet. My heart started to dance at an unknown rhythm. Instead of a normal natural reply, my unconscious ass rhymed.

“Who is thy, the owner of a sweet smile, an angel came from heaven or Juliet in search of her Romeo”, I was still on one knee with a hand forward, like proposing to her. Now, live this moment with me. You are in front of a beautiful lady, who has the same literary likes as yours. You are on one knee, a hand forward, and just rhymed an amazing original pickup line.

“Wow, that was great, did you write it yourself”, she said with a light laugh and with amazement in her eyes. My senses kicked me back into reality when I heard her laugh. I immediately apologized.

“I am so sorry, it is unexplainable why I did that”, I apologized with a shy smile.

“No, it was great dude, I wish I could also rhyme like that. Anyway, I see you are issuing Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, it is a great book. You wanna know the story”, she said with a mischievous grin. When you have seen the movie a day before your friend and you just want to tease them with spoilers, you carry a grin all the time around them. She had the same grin.

“Spare me from the spoilers, good lady,. I want to enjoy every single word of this love story”.

“Great choice,” She said with yet another smile.

We both waited for our turns at the reception to issue our respective books. All at once it started raining. Maybe it was a God’s signal of Romeo meeting Juliet or it can be possible that it was just the month of March and clouds were dense that day. I personally prefer the first assumption. Anyways, I took a seat nearby and started to read my book. She sat on the seat next to me.  Am I a fool? A girl who literally seems to be interested in sharing my thoughts on Shakespeare is sitting next to me and I am reading a book? Well, not reading technically, just looking at the alphabets written in black on a white paper. 

After a few moments of just the sound of rain, she said, “Can you suggest some other writers? I am almost bored with reading Shakespeare only.”

“Let me think, if you liked Shakespeare, you can go for Leo Tolstoy or George Bernard Shaw. They both write great too” I said, staring at pages that were not blank, still unfathomable.

She opened her book too and started to read. On the other hand, I was just pretending to read. Instead of focusing on the girl next seat, I was thinking about how I rhymed that good or the more important question, why did I rhyme for her. Once I onboard the train of introspection and asked such questions, the stoppage was very far. 

“You should turn the page to pretend that you are reading unless anyone can guess that you are just pretending to read,” she said while looking in her book. She caught me red-handed there. I was about to reply “Guilty as charged”  when she spoke again. “It’s better to move out now, the rain is slow”

“Wait, I have an umbrella. Don’t get sick” I said. I reached out to my bag in the racks next to the entry gate. “Would you like to share an umbrella with a fellow artist?” I asked in a British accent. She laughed a bit and replied,” Oh good sir, thanks for saving me from the arrows of sky.” 

I opened the door of the library and we both exited under the same umbrella. We both were standing too close to each other not for romantic purposes, just so that none of us would get wet. Her hand touched mine and I felt the same increase in my heartbeat at an alarming rate. I felt all the feelings again but this time one thing was different. Now I knew why it was happening and I was conscious about it.

Her hostel was the first in the path so I dropped her off. While she was entering the gates of her hostel, I said, “Let’s discuss Midsummer Night's Dream, tomorrow in the library at 4:00 PM” I shouted loud enough so that she could hear me clearly under the rumbling clouds.

In reply, she said, “I will be waiting for you Romeo the reader of romantic books but first I have a question to ask from you.” 

“Sure, what is it”

“If you had an umbrella, why didn’t you use it earlier?”

“Oh, I will answer that tomorrow at the library, I have to come up with a good reason so that I don't make a fool out of myself,” I said while walking out of her sight and waving goodbye. I went to my hostel. Inside my room, I was struggling to concentrate on the book. My mind was just replaying the short and sweet trip under the umbrella which I shared with my Cinderella.

I was so eagerly waiting for the next day to arrive so that I could again spend some time with her at the library and discuss one of the most romantic books. To pass this tough time, I opened my WhatsApp and started looking at status uploads of my contacts. I saw a "Janta Curfew" news kind of thing over there. On further research, it came out that due to Covid19, the whole of India will have to go under lockdown. In the panic of being locked inside the university, I packed my bags in a hurry and went to the bus stand to take a bus for my hometown. I was not the only one there, many other students were at the bus stand too. It looked like almost all the students were doing the same.

When I reached my hometown after 3 hours of journey, I freshened up and opened my bag. I saw the book. Swiftly the library girl came into my mind and I felt like going back to meet her immediately but it was not possible now. Maybe she also went home. Maybe we were only together for that small lovely moment. I should have asked her name. I was under a little self-guilt for not asking her personal details when a thought came to my mind. The library book must have her name on the issue card. Proud of my mind for coming up with such a brilliant idea when it was under so much pressure from my heart, I said thank you to myself. I opened the book in a swift motion and looked at the issue card. There an initial “K” and “She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” was written.

She must have erased her name before returning the book because she held on to it for almost a month. This felt smart and funny to me as well as a little sad at the same time. That five minutes relationship that I had with her came to an end. Those five minutes were long enough to become my memories and at the same time, short enough to make me want to go back in time and relive that moment longer. I may or may not meet her again but I can surely say that if it was the stage and my life was being played, I would love to play this part, again and again, only this time, a little longer. Those five minutes were like the winter mornings, where we just say five more minutes and again five more minutes before leaving the blanket. Five more minutes of this five-minute relationship.

My half-hour relationship

“Ye palampur ki bus kab ayegi bhaiya?” bus counter khaali dekhte huye maine conductor se pucha.

“Aadhe ghante mei aa jayegi bhaiya” he replied in his usual pitched voice.

I was at the Hamirpur bus stop waiting for the Palampur bus. I had heard a lot of stories from travelers that Palampur will give me internal peace and to be honest I wanted that pretty badly. After studying hard for my metric, it was time to get some rest. Not only physically, but, mentally too.

So, I was at the Hamirpur bus stand. I sat down in the complex and turned on my BoAt Rockerz 400 to listen to some music. What more could I expect at that time, I had music, I had my bus ticket and I was going to Palampur. It was like a Maja in Life moment for me. My bucket of happiness was ready to spill and then something heavenly happened. I saw her. Was this “love at first sight” that people talked about in the movies? Oh hell, yeah!!

She was wearing a pink tank top with black jeans. Her wavy black hair flowed in sync with the wind or was it just me? Hard to say. She also had on a pair of BoAt Rockerz 400 and she appeared ready to start dancing then and there. What I wouldn’t have given to know what she was listening to right at that moment. She looked like a strawberry ice cream walking directly towards me. I wanted a scoop of it.

“Ye Palampur ki bus kab ayegi bhaiya?” she inquired while unwrapping a piece of gum.

“Sorry? I ain’t conductor here. Do I really look like a conductor to you?” I spewed back at her while thinking “I would definitely be the conductor if she were to be my bus.” Wow, what a disturbing analogy.

“Lol, sorry. Serious much?” she said with a mischievous smirk.

Her smirk had my heart doing somersaults. God help me, please. Her smirk changed into a half-grin showing her snowy white teeth. She had something special about her grin too. It was just the right amount of cuteness and mischief to walk away after making trouble.

“We are Headphone buddies,” she said pointing at my BoAt Rockerz.

“Are we now?” I asked back with a smile. “Well, have a seat by your headphone buddy then.”

“Gracia headphone buddy,” she said sitting down. The conversation died down for a minute.

I spoke with a little hesitation “My name is Pratap.”

“Hi Pratap, I am Divyanshi. Nice to meet you” she replied with yet another grin. All I could see were her gleaming eyes, perfectly shaped lips, and me marrying her. Don’t laugh at me, you will see when it happens to you. Time seemed to have paused. And I was totally willing to pay any amount that I didn’t have to have time frozen right at that instant forever.

“How did you know that I am going Palampur?”, I asked to keep the conversation going.

“Duh! You are sitting right in front of the bus counter for Palampur”, she replied with an unamused face pointing to the board saying Palampur at the counter.

Damn! Why didn’t I think of some other line? That was so freaking simple.

“I could have thought of a better line to break the ice, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, try again”, she urged me with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Divyanshi, do you know, your smile is absolutely enchanting, say, what toothpaste do you use?” I said with seriousness in my voice.

She looked into my face for like ten seconds straight and then burst out laughing.

“Single I assume you are, huh?.” She squeezed out while continuing to chuckle.

The conversation went silent once again. Thinking I had flunked it, I turned on my headphones and was putting them on when she finally spoke up.

“I have heard that Palampur gives inner peace to the visitors who seek for it. It gives a gift of happiness to every visitor. Is this true?” She was looking into my eyes in hope of looking for an answer.

“I am here to find out as well. A couple of first-timers or so it would seem. I heard the same stories, that’s why, I am going there”, I said.

She just nodded at me and put her headphones on. I, too, did the same thing and we waited for the bus to arrive. The only difference between us was that she was listening to music and I was just pretending to be listening to music while stealing glimpses of her face once in a while. How could someone look so cute and hot at the same time? I kept thinking of ways to continue the scene forward. Should have I asked her, why she’s looking for inner peace or why was she so serious about finding inner peace? A loud horn broke my meandering line of thoughts. We both stood up, exchanged small grins, and boarded the bus. The bus was practically full. We both got our respective seats and the journey started.

After a couple of stops, I felt a gentle tap on my right shoulder. I looked back and to my unexpected expectations, it was Divyanshi, my smiling angel Divu herself. Aah, I had missed her. I should have really sat in the back of the bus for obvious reasons. She asked whether she could take my window seat. I, more than, gladly complied with her request. Now we were sitting by each other with the sweet hill breeze blowing in through the open window.

I was sitting next to my crush. We both continued listening to music and I was smiling quite oafishly for some reason. Everything was cool until a tiny drop of wetness hit my cheek and upon looking I saw tears in her eyes. Maybe the music was hitting her hard and proving to the world that my mom had raised a gentleman, I reached inside my backpack’s side pocket and conjured up a tissue.

“I am sorry”, She said, accepting the napkin.

“Hey, I am not saying anything. We all have our reasons to tear up”, I said with I don’t give a f* attitude in my voice.

Actually, it’s a good thing. When someone is crying next to you and you don’t know what else to do at the moment, just try not to be bothered by the crying person and pretend like it never happened. I did the same.

“I am just having a few rough days. Don’t want to cry again, so, please don’t ask.” She said wiping her tears and doing her best to make it look light and did I detect a hint of a smile there too?

“Nobody ain’t asking nothing,” I replied a little too fast.

After this little incident, we both went back to our music world and the journey continued. I didn’t realize when I fell asleep, but, after waking up I squeezed my hands and exhaled deeply. That’s when I realized that I was holding something in my left hand. My eyes snapped open. I was holding my co-passenger’s hand in my left hand. And what else, our fingers were intertwined. Isn’t that how a couple holds a hand? As it so happened, she also appeared to have dozed off. And now, we were holding hands. Holding her hand didn’t seem strange at all either. It felt right. I didn’t want that moment to end and therefore, didn’t wake her up to question how our hands ended up intertwined together. I slipped back into the realm of dreams holding her hand in mine.

When I woke up, she was also up and looking out the window.

“Had a good nap?”, I asked rubbing my eyes.

“Yeah, it was quite refreshing”, she said without looking at me.

I took that as a gesture not to speak any further. I turned my head towards the conductor and asked about the ETA of Palampur. It turned out to be the next stop only. The bus stopped at Palampur bus stand and we got off. So, there it was, the time to stop stealing glimpses of her serene face was here at last. My heart felt a little heavy. My mouth felt like sandpaper. My throat seemed to have closed up. I hoped it all didn’t actually show on my face.

“Thank you! Headphone buddy.”, she said suddenly. “Thanks for being a stranger and not a strange guy.”

“Sure, sure,” I blurted back. "Did you forget my name though?", I said smiling sheepishly.

She smiled. Not a grin, not a smirk, but an actual smile. My heart did one last set of somersaults.

"Guilty as charged", she admitted. "What was it again?"

“Pratap aka Headphone Buddy for you Divu”, I announced with a wink.

We shook hands and shared one last pair of crooked smiles and turned away from each other to go our separate ways. I wanted to ask her where she meant to go from there and if I could tag along but at the same time, I didn’t want to appear like I was invested in her in any way. Was this my chance at making something happen with a girl? Maybe. Maybe not.

After walking a few paces away, my brain started thinking if I should have asked for her number. Should I have given her mine, just in case she needed it. Should I have asked her about the reason behind those tears? I know she told me not to ask but isn’t that what girls do? Should I turn around and do these right now? She is still right behind me.

“Aah darn it!” I cussed and turned."Hey, listen…"

There was no one behind me. How much time did I spend thinking over all this? She was just here and now she isn't.

I had just arrived in Palampur and I already felt like I have had found inner peace in the 30-minutes long bus ride. The journey is more valuable than the destination indeed it seemed. The stories of Palampur were true.

Divyanshi was my inner peace which I had sought to find in Palampur. With this thought, I walked away with a massive oafish smile on my face listening to my music.

Not a Love Letter.

Dear Rashgulla Ji 💕

We wish you a very very happy birthday.

Who's we? It's me and my heart 😂

Do read the whole message, it will mean a lot to me 🌹

You are as beautiful as your name is. When I first saw you on stage, I was so amazed. You were looking so confident. I had a crush on you immediately and I told you many times about that. When we started chatting, I fell in love with your personality. You are so sweet 🌹.  I don't know any other time when I felt like this. When you were gone for days during the chats, I used to get upset. I waited so anxiously every day for your return. Just to hear a word from you was like nectar to me those times. This thing between us kept on going for about a month. 

Spontaneously one day, I gathered the courage and asked you for your number. You ignored me sometimes but I knew that you would accept my friendship. That night, when I got your text on WhatsApp, I was so happy. It felt so overwhelmed. 

I know that you keep yourself so busy with your work, but it really meant a lot to me when you spared some time for me too. I loved every moment that I had spent with you. Witnessing your dedication to your work makes me look forward to our meetings even more eagerly. The way you become sad about this all pandemic going on, makes me adore you even more. You take care of everything so dearly.

This is the first time I'm writing a birthday letter, so I'm surely out of proper words 😅. I don't know what I should gift you in these times, I can just give you my best wishes. Best wishes to the fairy who is so deeply in love with Korean films and dramas.

That's not all that I can say about you but it's your birthday, plus you must be busy with all your projects. One day, let's watch a movie together and make a target of binge-watching dramas. So, that's all, enjoy your birthday.

Do smile 😊

Happy Birthday, My Rashgulla 🌹

I wish you all the happiness in the world. 

Stay blessed. Stay you 🥰

A really long journey

“Finally, the train is here, it’s already 2 hours.” This was going to be a long journey, so I just prayed to god to make my fantasy come true. You know, the common fantasy in which an appealing girl would be sitting next to us. Nothing will happen further, everyone knows that. All of a sudden a cute-looking girl, probably in her early 20’s, came next to my window.

"Is that seat number 66?" she asked in her sweet voice.

“Yeah” I replied.

“Would you please look for this luggage? I will come just in a moment”

“Sure,” I replied.

She went towards the ticket counter. Did my fantasy really come true? A cute girl would be sitting next to me. This journey is going to be an awesome one. I opened my bag and searched for a bottle of perfume. Sprayed it two or three times and waited for her.

She came with an elderly woman. Probably her mother. I went outside to give a hand with their luggage. Damn, I was just making a good impression. They both came inside the coach. The elderly woman took seat 66 and thanked me.

 

“Have a safe journey Saasu Maa” saying that the lady left the coach.

Saasu ma? Did I hear it correctly?

“Thank you Beta, you are a nice person,” The elderly woman said to me.

“It was my pleasure aunty,” I said with a smile.

“That fragrance is really nice. Is that your perfume?”

“No aunty, I don't smell anything in here”

My fantasy almost came true. The train whistled and my journey began along with the journey of my fantasy thoughts.