CHAPTER 1: December 30 (The Girl’s View)

It was on Dec 30th morning I reached Chennai with a bag full of certificates and a mind full of energy. Inside my mind, I had a wish to meet a guy who has made an impression on me through Gmail chat and blogs and that is how I reached there before one day of the interview. Even though he is my senior in college we have hardly talked 2 or 3 times in person. So how can I suddenly call a somewhat stranger and fix up a meeting? I am a girl after all. So I took my mobile and called my classmates. I thought I will meet them first. But as one of them was out of station we planned the meeting for the next day evening.

Now I have a full one day and the unexplored Chennai in front of me. Then I didn't think much, with all the courage I have, I gave a call to this senior guy. I was practicing how to start the conversation and I was clearing my throat so that I can make my voice as sweet as I can. Then, I heard a lady's voice over there 'The user you are trying to reach is currently busy'. Yes! He cancelled my call. Ouch! That was a big hit to the ego of this self-proclaimed attitude girl. I wanted to switch off my mobile. It was completely dark everywhere.

Huh! Who invented this stupid mobile to spoil one girl’s mood in the morning itself. But just then it blinked, "In a meeting..will call you..”

"Oh!!I was relaxed and typed "oops..I simply called.."

Then after 2 minutes my mobile started ringing. I took the phone with the practiced "helllooo..." and told that I was in Chennai and as my friends are not in station I would be free in the evening. Before completing the sentence he told that he is also free in the evening and he would come to meet me at 5 PM.

Wow!!I was so excited.

I dressed up quickly and went out to explore Chennai till evening. At 3.45 PM when I was in Marina beach, he called me and told he doesn't have any work in office and thus our meeting was advanced by almost 1 hour. And from Teynampet, I saw him coming in a bike wearing a Red T-shirt and a smile. I walked towards him with a big made up smile to overcome my shyness. Suddenly I realized that I have not practiced what to tell him. He was giving his full smile to me. I have to tell something now. I kicked on his bike and told,

 "Wow.. Nice bike".

 Cha..from where did that dialogue come from??(There was nothing nice about that bike. It was Bajaj Discover 2006 model)

*Grin*

May be he understood that I was struggling a lot and as a big help he came with the dialogue "Now where do you want me to take you in this bike?"

I smiled and told we have to find out our interview place. That was the first time in my life I sat on the bike of a somewhat stranger.

After finding out the interview hall we decided to have a cup of coffee. After sometime, we  saw ourselves in Chit Chat waiting for one Peach Melba and 2 cold coffees. He was talking his personal things to me as if we knew each other for a long time and this made me feel that he is not a stranger now. I talked about all the brave things which we did against Mechanicals when we were in college. Then we started filling up sudoku on the table mat. I wanted to win somehow and I wanted to make him know that I have brain but very soon I realized that it was level 5 and I am not gonna fill it in seconds. Just after getting 2 cells filled, I looked into his paper and saw him sitting with 1 cell filled. Then came our Peach Melba. Taking this opportunity, I proclaimed myself the winner and I stopped the game because I didn’t want to fail the first day itself. I was already so impressed of him for 3 reasons. 

1) He was a guy among very few who got placed in the highest paying company.

2) He was the one who taught chess to a brilliant guy in our class.

3) He was a CAT aspirant and I knew that he is very good in aptitude.

Coming back to our Melba, Principles are principles. I don't like having food from the same plate with others. My dear friends always used to tell that it was a bad habit of me and now I didn't want to change my bad habit in front of a Peach Melba which was tempting me by the look itself. How can I tell him that I want a separate one when one glass itself was Rs.180/-and I was damn sure that he was gonna pay for it. I was in dilemma. But as it was a big glass I decided to start eating from my side without touching his part of ice cream. And I was having it so fast because I didn’t want his part to melt and come to my part. It was so delicious and I was enjoying it. Suddenly he put his spoon in my part saying

'Peaches are all here'.

Ah!I was so diappointed.But I didn’t stop as I was unaware of the sudden attack and I was not prepared to stop eating.I had one last spoon and with a smile I told him that I am done. Then our chat continued. It was so interesting and I never got bored even for a second. I noticed that he never boasted which almost all guys do! After a long chat from chit chat we started our journey to my hostel.

It was night by then. I was impressed by his driving. He didn't do any sort of circus. Never tried to draw 'S' in roads. Through the traffic, it was a matured way of driving. When he dropped me I thanked him for that wonderful evening.

That night, I was lying on the bed in the hostel room in the fear of Chicken guinea with lots of mosquitoes around me . But in between all this, I was thinking of the wonderful few hours I spent with him. It was awesome. He is a perfect guy!

Some years rolled back.. Third year of my college. One day after combine study when we were heading back to hostels, we saw someone in the middle of a group, distributing something from a cover. Assuming that it was that guy’s birthday, we decided to go and wish him and get some chocolates for free. We ran towards them. Then we saw this guy, distributing his pass port size photographs to all around him!! My roomie also got one. After sometime that photo got a place in our room’s wall as we didn’t feel like throwing it away and as a symbol of our senior’s creativity we decided to give it a position in our room.

For months he was there in our wall, watching all our girlie things. Then one day my junior girls came to a room with a declaration that “Asha chechi will not fall in love”. I have always been against this love thing and all but at that moment I wanted to play a prank on them and I created a story from air. The hero of the story was  the guy on the wall. My roomies spiced it up and our juniors were carried away by my love story in which we loved each other a lot but we haven’t revealed it because we both believe that if it is true love we will be brought together one day. And thus that somewhat stranger guy became my lover in the story. But his photo didn't last there for long. It was removed one day as a part of cleaning when my roomie's mom announced her visit to our hostel. I never saw that photo again. And that story got faded in years.

I was back to my present when I heard my mobile ringing. He asked my plan after the interview. I told that I was going to Bangalore to meet my friends. When he asked about the ticket, I told that I will take it the next day or I would go in General compartment. He told that he would book ticket for me and kept the phone.

Next day evening I was waiting in front of my interview hall for him to pick me up. I was so excited being interviewed by a panel of executive officers which included civil service officer too. I called my parents and my dear friends and shared the excitement about the best interview I had in my life. But I was missing something. I was waiting for someone to share my happiness in person and I was badly waiting for him. When I saw him I ran towards him. It was not last day's Miss.Shy.I felt so happy when he told that he would start his bike only after hearing my interview news and he listened to me very carefully and became a part of my happiness.

Then we started our bike journey. First to hostel and then to Railway station. On the way I noticed that I was the only girl sitting with 2 legs on one side of the bike. With a big bag on my lap and without having a handler to hold I was struggling to sit. I was holding the back side of the seat tightly so that I would not fall down. Even though he asked me several times whether I was comfortable I didn't tell anything about that missing handler. Even in that uncomfortable posture I was always making sure that even by mistake I would not touch him. Girls are always girls!!

Then we went to food court and had dinner. It was night and all were in a mood to welcome New Year. After long journey we finally got into train. During the journey, I noticed him calling his parents frequently and giving them the latest update. I was surprised seeing a boy calling home frequently but to be frank I was not so impressed of this. But I was impressed when he told that he is calling because they would be worried if he didn’t. Hardly we come across people who care for others. And here is a software guy in front of me who cares for his parents happiness.100% impressed!!

-Asha Jayanthi