Beautiful Days (LXI)

Reviewed by Lakshminarasimhan, Padu and Ridhi.

This post is dedicated to this blog's recent follower Jibak and the record holder for the most number of sensible comments in a day. (14 comments :p)

The pleasant college life turned beautiful. The entire environment was so refreshing. The word spread, and I even got a few felicitation cards. Shantanu wanted me to keep it a secret, but how could I ever hide something of this magnitude. No one seemed to be surprised of our love; rather they felt surprised that Shantanu had proposed me only then.

He started feeling very uneasy to hang around with me. Whenever someone looked in our direction, he complained that, we were attracting unnecessary attention. I felt, the girl and the boy just exchanged places in our case, especially in our love life. Thankfully, he at least did the proposing.

Whenever Shantanu felt the class was boring, he used to look in my direction. For him most of the classes were boring, and this made me uncomfortable in the class, yet it was kind of beautiful. Girls around me who kept bugging me, whenever Shantanu glanced in my direction had started feeling his staring was mundane.

Guys of our year, who were my friends and who used to mail me at times attached ‘sister’ in their mails. It was funny that the whole world around me changed. A change, not just by inner perception, but a real true change.

We walked around the campus, the trees, breeze everything that had been a part of my life for 2 years had become exotically beauteous all of a sudden. The silence which had made me more uncomfortable previously turned dulcet, I could keep listening to it for ages.

Once we were searching for topics to extend our conversations, and hence elongate the time we spent sitting next to each other. We had nothing more to worry or hurry. We remained silent for ages, yet we never gave a thought about the other person leaving.

Juniors and friends who giggled at us when they saw us walking side by side started looking at us with regard. I understood that people don’t bother those who are in love, rather they vex those who hang around as couples, claiming to be ‘just friends’.

I started missing him a lot. For the first time, I felt so very furious about the hostel timing restrictions, that, girls have to be back in place by 9.00 PM. Shantanu called me without fail just before going to bed. We waited for each other and went to bed at the same time. A feeling of telepathic touch through dreams filled us.

According to Shakespeare’s philosophy “Every man searches for his second mother in the name of love and every women gets her first child in the name of love.” Shantanu started behaving like I was his mother. He reported everything he did that day when I was not around. It was a strange feeling, and could be described quaintly as ‘beautiful boredom’.

The worst part was that, he apart from taking the child role did take the mother role for himself. The intensity of his care taking tripled. He chided for every improper meal, undid hair and every piece of junk food. He questioned about everything that happened to me, when he was not around.

He never let me stay awake after midnight, which was rather considered late evening in our hostel. I was not allowed to sleep beyond 6.30 which again, was considered early morning in our hostel.

I have heard of masculine strings, that bound a girl after she had consented her love, but this was not that bad. Unlike the boy friends of other girls, who bugged their girl friends, asking them to distance themselves from other guys, Shantanu never said a word about it.

Out of curiosity one day I asked how come he never forbids me from talking to other guys, he simply answered that my mother would have approved of those friends I had. He also asked me to talk to people, saying that would make me more knowledgeable.

The best part is, he never enforced his priorities on me. We were just like opposite poles at college. I did only the studying, and he did just the set language complement of it. He organized various events in college. Being the cul-sec he had to handle the college cultural fests. Even when I volunteered to help, he gave priority to my academics.

He made the fest funds transparent. Every penny spent was neatly accounted and the accounts were perfectly accessible to anyone in college. If someone felt some expense as unnecessary, he took their suggestions, and gave explanations.

In spite of being a money maniac, he never manipulated the accounts for personal benefits. Rather than trying to use the college funds for him, he did spend them with care as he would do with his own money. His policies made him popular in college, though drawing the wrath of a few evil minds by his side. Faculty who always felt skeptical about the college committee started respecting the committee.

After 2 months of hanging around as lovers, finally he asked for a date, a real date. When I asked him where, he looked like he never expected that question. After thinking for a week, we went by Anu’s suggestion. We decided on a beach resort.

Shantanu borrowed his friend’s car. I had always dreamed of a bike ride holding him from the back, like the romantic couples in the movies, but I was not sure why he chose car. May be he thought I would say ‘no’ for a bike or he himself didn’t approve of the bike ride.

We started off early on a Saturday morning in a white Hyundai Santro. The car was too small than Dad’s Accord. The seats and the ride were not that comfortable either, yet we had a beautiful drive in the road, that was laid along the coast.

We had breakfast at the resort. I paid the bill as I never wanted to be accused of being a bitch like Kiran did to Anu, though I knew Shantanu would not enounce that word at me even at the cost of his life. Anu’s thoughts did affect me a little.

Over breakfast I asked Shantanu about his openness in college funds unlike his predecessors. His answer as always intrigued me. He said that if by any chance he had manipulated the accounts or gave a chance for any such suspicion; anyone who looked at us there would say that ‘Shantanu is spending the college money on his girl friend.’

We walked along the coast for a long time without giving any thought about time. In sometime we had lost the rest of the human kind behind. We were all alone. We sat under a tree in the beach sand looking at the beach.

While walking back, Shantanu gently held my hand, I gave the hold a warm grip, which said, ‘I had the most beautiful day of my life.’