No commitments please! part# 4

Continued from here...

Days passed away in a blink and I didn't realize that I'm into final sem now. The project work has sucked all my energy. And I was busy applying for Ph. D, got an offer from Germany. But I just had one month for vacation as I have to be in Germany by then.

Neelima has stopped mailing me, neither I mailed any message to her. We weren't in touch with each other for one full year. I didn't come to India during sem break, as I got an offer to assist my professor in his research work. I became so submerged into these things in s'pore that I hardly made a call to home.

After getting graduated and the graduation party without wasting any time I caught the next day first flight to India. I felt so happy to come back home after two long tiring years, but then the thought of going to Germany in another couple of months ruined my happiness.

Mom and dad came to airport to receive me and my sis too. I asked my dad not to inform anybody about my returning for at least 2 days. Mom inspected me with watery eyes even dad too. I felt so secured, after seeing them all my mental stress vanished, poof!. Even poo wasn't blabbering anything while coming in cab.

As soon as I entered my room, poo attacked me from behind. She pushed into the bed and jumped with a pillow and started banging me with the pillow.
"what the heck do you think of yourself, you nerdy ass?"
"Oi poo, ass?"
"yes!, you are such an ass****... don't talk to me at all"
I knew at once for the reason poo being mad on me. I didn't wish her on her b'day last week.
"I...I ... sorry yaar, c'mon now, you know me how much I love my sis... if I forgot to wish you on your b'day ... ok , well , forget it, I'm really sorry, tell me what should I do for you?"
"Get lost ok, I hate you dumbo!", Poo shouted at me and went to her room.

In the night when everyone slept, I slowly sneaked into poo's room and placed a bag in her bed and came back to my room. Back to room I closed my door and digged my lappy's bag for davidoff. Ah! a cigarette after 24 hours. I got into this stupid habit of smoking in s'pore. Luckily I had control over my smoking habit but then at least one cigarette per day became necessity for me.

Next day morning I woke up after being disturbed by poo's weight on me, again!. Before I said anything she gave a peck on my forehead. She was smiling with her cute dimples.
"Hmm, so I'm an ass****, huh?"
"yes, you shouldn't have any doubt about that bro... anyways thanks for the teddy, and I have given it a name too, Junglee. How's it?"
"Hey c'mon poo, why you calling the poor thing with your name"
"hellooo..." poo was getting geared up to bang with the pillow again. I caught her neck and took her into the balcony.
"Hey poo, you know what, I have to go to Germany for my Ph.D in another one and half months... hmmm"
"aww, shit yaar, too much, you didn't even inform this to mom and dad yet..."
"No I didn't wantedly... will tell them after two or three days, and you don't tell anybody please..."
"OK. OK... and I have booked tickets for om shanti om, evening show,..."
"woohoo cool..."

After week or so, one day dad called me and asked what are my next plans. I informed him about Ph.D thing. He felt happy about that but mom came rushing from the kitchen...
"No way... you aren't going anywhere. Better stay here and do some job, enough of studying and staying away from home for years... "
"Hmm... Ok ok... chicken curry is getting over roasted on the stove go and check I'm hungry..."
"you don't have to tell..." she said and went back into the kitchen room.

My dad took me into the veranda and asked me how long it would take to finish my Ph.D. It's not that he being a professor hasn't got any idea about Ph.D but the distance is what keeps his worried.
"Dad, you know that it's gonna take yrs... and I want to go for it..."
"Your wish Prasad... your mom is insisting me to get you married now itself, you know why..."
"No marriage nothing, please dad...please, I'm not thinking about it now.."
"Hmm..yea..",

And the day has come for me to leave to Germany. I had mixed feelings filled in me. I decided that after Ph.D I'm coming back to India forever and do whatever I want to. Neelima's call that day woke me up. I just forgot about her. I felt so bad about this. All of a sudden some kinda voidness got created in me.

I woke up from the reverie when the air hostess announced that we were about to reach the destination in another thirty minutes.

........to be continued

The patch up...

Finally after four years we talked openly last night. I stopped talking to her when I was in engg first year and then I broke the ice on the farewell day. But then we didn't patch up properly.

She is my classmate and at one juncture my the best friend. I still count on her given any day. She is very cribbing kind and then tad bit sensitive. We used to wait for the labs cus' my roll number is after her and we always been in one team in all four years, the fun we had in labs, the never ending gossips, the comments. She wrote lab notes and assignments for me while I was busy having masti. And on my b'day she told she'll call at 12 in the night to wish and when she couldn't make the call she had watery eyes next day. All went fine until one day where I stopped talking to her. I can't reveal the reasons. She tried to talk to me but I walked away ignoring her. And when I started feeling guilty and started thinking how to patch up with her our engg finished. Thanks to Karthik, our classmate who played the cupid in breaking the ice between us.

Even though we said sorry to each other we didn't patch up. She caught me online one day and vent all her frustration, I couldn't console her. I couldn't tell her the exact reasons for not talking to her after first year.

I hurt her badly and I felt guilty for that. When I was going through rough phase she was there for me keeping all the bitterness aside. And after that we talked to each other last night whole heartedly, told each other how badly we missed each other.

I deserved to be slapped!

Hey bud, I'm really sorry for whatever I did to you. And thank you so much for forgiving me. Missed you like hell all these years.

No commitments please! part 3

Continued from here...

"There... there's the bag, dad said you would come", she said looking worriedly.

"Oh, yeah... ok", I succumbed sufficient energy to mutter that.

I took the bag and came off from there without saying another word. Beeds of Sweat rolled of my face. I didn't dare to look her back. And that was our only talking since our childhood. At the first sight of her after so many years was amazing, even though I didn't knew the girl I was seeing during Dussera festival every year at the temple is going to be Neelima.

And then I never met her after that. I got admission in National University of S'pore for pursing MS in Biotechnology. Well, I couldn't not meet her in person for two years but then I found her in orkut I should thank Orkut Buyukkokten for providing such a wonderful tool to us. From there to gtalk and Yahoo Messenger, couldn't imagine how this world could have been without these virtual social networks. And then these networks have spread so fast like a wildfire that it shouldn't be shocking if you come to know that there was an e-wedding happening online, bride is sitting in front her system in Sri-Lanka and groom somewhere in US, Pandit somewhere in Banaras and the guests would be you and me blessing the new couple sitting in our sweet-homes.

Anyways, we became very close online and we started knowing each other better. There wasn't a single day without chatting with her. If couldn't meet online we ensured that we shot a mail to each other. One fine day she asked my mobile number in S'pore. It was on my birthday. I took her mobile number instead and called her.

".....Hi..... Neelima..."
"....Ha a ai, happ haappy b'day Prasad"
"Thank you.."

And to our respite her mom called her the next second, Phew! after hunging up the phone I badly wanted to talk back to her. All our the possible meetings through all the source which were the means for the first time turned out to be very nervous thingy. The first time confrontation was nervous one and now the phone thing too.

Well, all this happened for only couple of months. We couldn't meet online anymore after the first two months there in S'pore. Assignments kept me busy and then the part time job. Just the occasional e-mails continued thankfully.

... to be continued.//