Content with my role of second fiddle in the story of a dear friend, I was preparing for an entry in the big league. Before your mind gets fixated on the words: ‘second fiddle’, let me clarify; my bike and I were the only mode of transport for the ‘Hero ‘of this story. So in a way I was the second wheel of my dear friend’s love story which later turned out to be mine only. After high school, I got an opportunity at the big league and with no hesitation I left my home town in pursuit of my dreams. I never had a chance to say goodbye to my friends back home; I never even realised this oddity till I saw a familiar face, charming as any, laughing with friends at a Panni-Poori stall in Bangalore.
Well, I had heard about people doing insane things for love but I was not expecting what followed. I chose not to go back and watch the second half of India- Australia ODI, instead I followed her. I should not have,no body does that. She met a few more friends on her way back to hostel while I confirmed her to be an old acquaintance. She was the girlfriend of my dear friend. She had grown more beautiful in past two years.
I started to look up for her profile on Orkut- it was still breathing back then- and found out that we had some 100 common friends. I thought of sending her a friend request but further contemplation led to an otherwise decision. A whole week passed by as I did nothing but to stare at her profile pics and wished her to be single as the her social profile said. After 9 days, I sent her a friend request which she accepted almost instantly. I, now, wish she had not. She started talking to me as if were long lost friends .I found her childish yet charming; just the girl of my type. Chatting continued as we came close and become almost technologically inseparable.
One day while riding a R15 bike, being high on adrenaline, I decided to present her with my proposal of a love-relationship. In retrospect, I feel that is the biggest mistake of my life till date. Anyway, I did it the very night; I proposed her. I quoted Shakespeare himself; “When I saw you i fell in love, and you smiled because you knew”. Her response to that was so lukewarm that it had almost forced me to rethink about my decision.
An awkward but brief break followed that I thought must have given both us the same feel; I was ready to withdraw my proposal and build on our existing friendship when she decided to accept my proposal. After that I wasn’t able to take my words back and within a blink of an eye we were happy together.The good part of this love story has begun with hesitation and miscommunication to say the least. We were happy; I started to visit Bangalore more than often and the news of our love has started to reach even the deaf years of our pasts. It was time for our well-wishers to pitch in and save the day on our behalf. That was when things went bad from being good.
I was continually reprised about her recent past- my dear friend, while she was told about my anger issues; we both ignored all the talks as we believed we had something real and true. But we soon broke up, I don’t remember what the exact issue was but it had something to do with miscommunication. We kept ‘breaking-up’ and ‘joining-up’ for a period which was longer than our happy times; it went on for approximately 6 months. At time her words felt like a pinch of salt aimed at my fresh wounds inflicted by my own inability to handle stress. We broke up, for the last time, on issue of her going behind my back for shopping with my dear friend- her ex-boyfriend.
We ate charges and counter-charges for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We made each other’s life a living hell. Our fight was out in open like Chetan Bhagat’s sex-life as we decided to manifest it by posting sad quotes and comments on Facebook-it was the trend then and finally, by blocking each other’s profiles.At nights, I felt as if my skin was peeled off my body and was stuffed with nitro-glycerine, while we were trying to save whatever was left of our relationship.
I am still surprised the way things fell out of place and for how long it took for two grown adults to get a grip over their emotions. It took us another year to realise that we had started to hate each other. Things were so ugly that I was accused of having an affair with her room-mate while I kept accusing her for having a thing for ex-boyfriend. Finally, my job came to our rescue, I was sent to Dehradun, where I found no time to crib on my situation and indulge in debates over sanctity of one’s character any more.
She got engaged to my dear friend on 5th of January this year; at least someone still believes in first love. I, too, have met someone special who is capable of keeping up with my shortcomings and accept me the way I am. I know this story will disappoint many as it does not have a perfect ending but then life never turns out to be perfect; it can always be classified into the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY.