Time has a proven way of teaching man meekness: aging. As it passed, Swati became that-school-crush that Sathya had in childhood days. Mistake not, he never forgot her, he just learned to live without her.
Years passed and she stopped coming in his dreams too.
Sathya was in touch with Madhu and occasionally queried him about Swati but never learned anything more than the usual "She is fine".
In college, he was as cheerful as anyone and even had a few crushes. But none came as purposeful as he saw his need for Swati. So he passed out of college, a virgin, frankly speaking. He repeated his brilliance at school in college too and landed himself job offers while graduating.
He was enjoying a month's vacation before joining his (excuse the cliche) high-paying-software-job-in-yet-another-Indian-MNC, when his mom asked him to go back and visit his school friends. Sathya liked the idea. He could stay at Madhu's and possibly sight Swati as she lived near Madhu's home only. But he knew he had lost his chance with her, long ago. Adaptation: he was excited all the same.
Chapter VII
"Look at you, you have grown into a man!" exclaimed Madhu.
Sathya laughed and said, "What did you expect? That I would grow into an ape?"
"Good to have you dude. Im thrilled. We have so much to catch up on."
And catch up they did. They talked all day except when they were pushing food down the throat. Sathya brought Swati into the conversation and Madhu ellobrated, "You should see her now. Apparently she attracts half a dozen proposals every week in her college. From men and women alike."
"What? Is it? And does she have a boyfriend." Sathya was suddenly very interested.
"Nope, she rejects them by the dozen."
Sathya gulped and thought of the devastation he might have had if he proposed and she rejected. Disaster averted he thought and thanked God silently.
"She still lives in this neighbourhood right?" queried Sathya.
"Yep, if you want to catch her go to the Narasimhar temple around 5 in the evening."
The topic diverted into other things but Sathya mind was ringing "Evening-Temple-Swati, Evening-Temple-Swati, Evening-Temple-Swati..."
At the dot of 5 Sathya excused himself and headed towards the temple alone.
Chapter VIII
Sathya was not expecting Swati at the temple. He was convincing himself that he was there to say hello to God. Unconsciously though, he just wanted a glimpse of Swati and then he would go on lead his life happily.
He prayed his usual prayers and added an extra demand, "Narasimha, its not like you don't know what I desire. Just one last glimpse. Thats all I ask. Willya? Please. I'll wait a 5 minutes for her. Thank you very much."
And he waited for a good part of a hour, eyeing every girl, before giving up on Narasimha. He strolled back to the temple door cursing Madhu for making him do a futile trip to the temple. At the door he turned around for one last look.
Chapter IX
"Excuse me! You are blocking the door." came a voice from behind Sathya.
Sathya turned around and saw Swati. Slow motion shot, take 3.
She was even more beautiful -if that is possible- now.
"Sathya!"
"Swati!" both of them said at the same time.
No words were exchanged for a while.
So naturally Sathya lied, "Out of all the people on planet earth, I would have never expected to meet you here."
"Now that is a lie, if I ever hear one."
Sathya managed a nervous smile.
Swati rallied back, "So you are still scared of me!"
"I was never scared of you. What gave you that idea?" said Sathya but wished that she stoped reading his mind.
"Remember our battles for the 1st rank? Are you up for another round? I bet I can beat you hands tied down!"
"I didn't come all the way from my city to start another battle. ok?"
"Hey, you were just leaving right? Why dont you wait here while I go inside and come back. I got loads to share with you."
"Yeah why not. I'll wait here."
And so he waited, thanking Narasimha and taking back the curses he sent towards Madhu.
...to be concluded
Author's confession: Thanks to Vani for the names and pushing me into rewriting this story. The 35 pages original that me wrote in the middle of 2002 was forever lost in a parking lot.
Labels: Short Story
3 owls