The next day was again the routine for all. Briti went to college and all of her friends greeted her and started discussing the upcoming exams. There was one month to complete that year. All of them were preparing very seriously. Briti was busy writing the notes of the classes she missed. Her friends also helped her in giving their notes and explaining a few concepts. Her faculty were very cooperative and took no pain to clear her doubts in their busy hours.
Gradually, she was becoming the girl what she was before; blossoming with smiles, teasing friends, taking part actively in all the programmes. But it was only for the world not for her. For her, she was a dead person. No one understood her and her feelings. People around her perceive that she was alright. But only she knew the pain what she was suffering from.
From
the day Sudeep left the world, she was dying inside alone. She couldn’t share
the pain. There were many nights, when Briti spent wetting the pillows,
swallowing the pain without making a noise. Only the pillow knew what she had
been feeling and what pain she was going through. That night also Briti hugged
her pillow tight and started weeping by recollecting her memories with Sudeep. But
what can one do than to let the life go on?
The
next day, all the friends met in the college canteen. In their group all were
present except Amar, the silent guy, who came from the nearby village and was
staying in a hostel. Briti asked the remaining what had happened to Amar, and
why he was not present. The other boys in the group replied, “These days, he is
absenting himself frequently. Like every weekend and sometimes in between the
weekdays. He told that he was going home.” Meetha, friend of Briti added, “He
was looking sad and desperate sometimes. I guess something is wrong.” “Okay
guys, let’s ask him what happened once he come back”, said Briti. They were all
left the canteen to class.
“Amar
is a studious guy who came from a nearby village; he loves his parents so much.
He never says or does anything against his parents; wish. But these days his
behaviour is unpredictable. Someone said he had a girlfriend in his village. I
guess he is going for her”, said Meetha to Briti. “But why so frequently?”,
asked Briti. “He went home for Dussehra holidays and from then, he was
seems so restless and worried. I think something happened there. Exams are
ahead but he is not reading… not concentrating. He shouted on our boys who were
ridiculing his behaviour. They were shocked.” said Meeta.
Do
you know what is his girlfriend’s name?, said Briti. Meeta told, “It starts
with ‘R’… I… I didn’t remember.
They
went home after their classes thinking what’s happening to them in that age.
The teenage… Briti had dinner with her family and hit the hay. She had some
sound sleep after many days.
The
morning Sun brought with him some melodies of chirping birds and tepid rays.
The curtain of the window of Briti’s room was swinging and projecting the
sunrays from its sheer texture. The rays touched Briti’s cherry lips first as
they were kicking off the day with a kiss and then her cheeks as if they were
blushing them. Finally, they reached her eyes for which Briti woke up suddenly.
She
got ready and went to have breakfast when her dad asked her about exams. She
told him they are in the coming month and she was preparing well. She had her breakfast
and left for college. Class was begun. The first hour is English. The English teacher
was teaching the Reported Speech. She wrote on the board a sentence which read “You
are an idiot who comes late to class.”, said Misha. Exactly that time, someone
asked permission to get into the classroom. Everyone in the class burst into
laughter seeing a boy standing outside the class. It was Amar who was looking gloomy
and added to that became a laughing stock. The teacher permitted him to get in
and so he was in.
The
teacher continued the class by converting the given sentence into reported
speech as “Misha said that I was an idiot who came late to class.”; followed by
rules to convert. All the students were jotting down the notes and converting
the given sentences except Amar. Briti and Meetha were observing him.
Morning
session was completed and all gathered in the canteen for lunch. Briti greeted
Amar and asked what had happened. Everyone in their group was very eager to
know what Amar say. But Amar was not willing to say and mostly he was
hesitating to share. Upon insisting, he started saying about his girlfriend
named, Rithika.
Rithika
and I were school friends from the same village. We studied together till class
10. I was very reserved from childhood and was studious. But somewhere in the nook
of my heart there was some affection and attraction towards Rithika who
happened to be one year elder to me. But I didn’t care about it. “Love doesn’t care
about race, creed, colour and now age.” I used to observe her silently while
she was playing and sharing lunch box with her friends. During our final exams
of class I used to worry more about her who is a mediocre than my performance
in exams.
Exams
completed, results came, I topped the village and Rithika just got enough marked
to claim that she passed in the first class. I felt very happy for not topping
the village but for she passed in the first class. Both of us appeared for
B.Tech. Entrance exam. She joined in a nearby college but I took long term coaching
for IIT.
Everything
went on well until one day when I went to my village and travelling in a local
bus with my father. She was also in the same bus but I didn’t notice her. Before
I noticed, she came towards me with a child who was holding her hand tightly. She
greeted me and asked about my whereabouts. I was very disappointed to see her
with a child. I felt so bad that I missed her… she got married. As my father was
there next to me, I couldn’t talk much and said I was doing well and asked “How
old was your child?”
What had happened?
Did Rithika really got married?
Was it her child?
Why Amar was in dejected mood?
