Jan 8 2004
"I never looked at you that way. I always felt that you were a good friend!!" Pranay was dazed as he continued to gaze at the screen blankly. The letters started dancing in his eyes, but however convoluted they were, they combined to scream the same ugly message. It was already 10 minutes since he started reading the mail, but he still had not read the remaining 5 lines of the response.He wasnt making an effort either; what remained promised to be an urgently scripted elegy of an infamous, premature death.
It was 20 minutes and he came to life as the screen saver with the bold letters of PRANEETI started hitting the corners of the old screen lazily, as if it was cursed into doing this!
The letters grew in size in a geometric progression and blew out of proportions..the red 360 font was the only thing Pranay could see now! He was shaken out of his consciousness...and when he woke up, he could see the letters slowly vanishing in waves before his eyes. 5:15 AM, Room No. 104, D Hostel. Hardly an hour since he slept off after a valiant 3 hour effort to capture some sleep. He felt as if he had some mental disease nobody could ever cure! A mind blacked out by thoughts out of reason, out of comprehension! Should he tell her..or should he not??
hhmm...forget about this.."Is it Me??" "Am I Smitten??"
Sep 22 2000
First day of college, Second day in hostel and the third in Kerala. A religious non-believer in GOD, Pranay had never expected to land up in the GOD's own country :D And what a place it was!! As he sat near the window seat of Cochin express, he could see how eerily different Kerala was from Andhra. Trees..trees..and more trees..in almost every possible direction!! Coming from a predominantly rocky, arid and concrete Hyderabad, it was nothing short of a huge undiscovered rain forest and he started feeling like an investigator for the National Geographic :D
7:55 AM, MB 104, Regional Engineering College, Calicut. MB 104 was just another class room in a government college. Modest seating arrangement in a building with a 40 year heritage fit to be declared a national monument. Seated in the second bench from the last, Pranay was disillusioned. "Not Again!!" .. "Where have I landed!!!". After two days of torture by seniors, the last thing he expected was to find himself among 30 GUYS in an engineering class room!! Boys school, Boys college and now..a Boys Only Engineering Class for 4 more years!!
He started a silent prayer for his orientation to remain intact if he were to continue here :D May be he was praying a bit too hard as he missed something that the whole class was suddenly engrossed at. The guy next to him, who looked like a cross between a MIT drop out and someone maintaining a Punjabi restaurant, wore such an eager, expectant look on his face that Pranay knew the worst was over :D
8:05 AM.
"Present Sir"..the voice was soft and held a slight melodious tune. Pranay got the first glimpse of the girl on his right bench as she completed a rather slow, extended motion to sit back after answering Prof Paul. Preeti, Roll No. 33 - 5'5, slightly heavily built with beautiful, long dense hair that seemed to have covered her from every side. Her hair fell in such a luxurious tumble over her shoulders and back that Pranay couldnt see her face beyond that sheen. He cursed himself for not looking at her as she walked in..but how could he..in just about a minute there was an avalanche ofgirls from nowhere!
3 hours and repeated introductions later, it was time for the next round of introductions at the workshop. As Prof RamaKrishna called out the Lab Groups and asked them to be seated together, Pranay for the first time saw that face beneath the huge blanket of hair. Preeti wasnt a ravishing beauty. Clear, almond-shaped black eyes beneath a pair of exquisitely carved eye brows. Wheatish complexion, with a nose in proportion to her slightly large, symettric face which would have looked a bit quirky to many, but to Pranay, she was real pretty! A look at her face will make you feel she has been eternally chewing some gum like a hamster! Her lips were pale pink which bent into a splendid arc when she smiled. There was an aura of light heartedness around her; kind of a friendly attitude you see with people who make 4-5 friends a day :D And when she smiled, which she continously did on the first day too, it was a hearty, mischievous one; as if she had a secret which she shared just with you which caused her to smile!
Prashant Agarwal, the quentessential Bhaiyya from UP, seated next to Pranay said something; Pranay didnt know what, but looking at Preeti laugh, he felt it must have been extremely hilarious. She swayed frantically and clapped her hands graciously in a swift movement of ecstasy; her wonderfully expressive eyes sparkled in delight..her left brow slanted at the same angle as her face did to the left as she looked at Pranay - It was like a courteous welcome to have fun as she was having! Pranay unconsciously threw back a smile at her. Her face wrinkled into such a beautiful shape, like a carefully constructed machine creating pure perfection, that he wished Prashant says something more funny :D
Pranay had an instinctive crush on her. He felt like seeing a replete version of Amisha Patel he adored in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai a few months back. There was something mischievous about her that made her look quaintly beautiful. He had a few crushes in the past few years, but having a crush on your lab partner was surely going to be something else!
What a first day!! As he started his walk past the numerous coconut trees on the way back to the hostel..his brain started scripting stories he would live through in the next few years!!
"May Roll No. 32 and 33 Live Happily Ever After!!!"...
Ameeen!! :-)
