August 27, 2006
First day of college.
You may have prepared yourself for the whole college experience for a long time. It may have been the only thing on your mind for years. You might have worked hard to earn a place for yourself in a college that you have always wanted to go. So when you finally get that, you must be excited for the first day experience. But no one can deny the nervous jitters they feel when they step into the college for the first time. It actually overpowers your excitement a little.
And it was the same for me. I was cool and kept my face stoic on the outside but I was actually panicking on the inside. And my heart thumping a little too fast against my chest was not helping either. If I was a nervous wreck, I couldnt even imagine how Jenny was managing the first day of her college.
Jenny.
She had become stronger now after everything that had happened in the past few years and how everything has finally settled in our minds. She was at shock first. But as days passed and after the initial shock wore off a little bit she became really quiet and unnaturally calm. It was weird to see her like that. She was always bubbling with excitement and it was heartbreaking to see such a lively spirit like her lose all those liveliness and turning into nothing but a shell of a human being. It was getting me really worried and I was dying to do anything to make the life return to her eyes.
And suddenly one day she came back to our home carrying so many things that I couldnt even see her head through the mountain of bags she was carrying.
"Oi! Dont stand there like a tree. Come and help me with these bags Ash!",
I quickly moved to her side and carried the bags to the living room.
She dropped on the couch and let out a long sigh and muttered something about curtains and slow witted salesman with no taste. I wanted to ask her what was with her sudden change of mood but unsure how she would take that and really worried if that would bring back some bad memories that would make her lose her liveliness again, I chose to stay silent. After our eventful past few weeks I was walking on eggshells around her and was watching my every word. It was frustrating but that was outweighed by my concern for her. I just wanted her to be happy and it was good to see her retreating to her old self.
So I settled for asking something simple, "Care to explain why you were on a shopping spree?"
"You live like a pig and I don't like the idea of living in a pig sty", she deadpanned.
I don't know whether to be offended or feel guilty. It was typical for Jenny to say something like that. I am not the cleanliest person and sure the carelessly strewn clothes on the floor and every other vacant furniture would attest to that and I dont know how many days it had been since I mopped the floor. Was it two days or weeks? Any way the point is that I live like any other normal teenager but that doesnt make me a pig!
"Oh yes it does my friend", said Jenny with a smirk making me scowl. Guess I said that aloud.
"Anyway with that said I am going to show you how normal human beings live and educate you on something known as hygiene. Seems like you have never heard of that", she said picking up pizza boxes from under the couch.
The rest of the day she made me clean the entire house even mop the floor and wipe the windows. And she said SHE was going to clean my house. She was such a slave driver I tell you. By the end of the day my house was totally redesigned from curtains to pillow covers and as Jenny said fit for a normal human being to live. I couldnt even scoff at that as I was completely exhausted and our day ended with the dinner Jenny cooked and us laughing at the movie Mummy and commenting on how hilarious the ghosts and other creatures in the movie were.
Thinking about the day made me smile ruefully. And from that day onwards jenny stayed that way happy, bubbly and ordering me around. And I, like the good friend I was, carried out her every order. I shook my head at that and chuckled to myself. Jenny even got into the college she had been hoping to go to. I was really happy when she cleared her entrance exams and she was literally jumping with joy. She wanted to become a chef and open her own restaurant some day so her choice of degree was in catering and hotel management. I was happy for her that she got the chance to do what she always wanted to do for the first time in her life.
I was lost in my thoughts that I didnt notice I ran into someone until I was on the ground and my bag and notebooks were sprawled around me.
"Wait wait wait!", said Nithya bringing me back to reality "I know what happened after that" she said eagerly.
I quirked an eyebrow at that and asked her feigning curiosity, "Really? And what would that be?"
"You said you ran into someone right? You picked up the books and was apologizing to the person you accidentally knocked down and when you looked up BAM! You were mesmerized by the most beautiful pair of eyes you had ever seen in your life. She was apologizing to you too but her words fell on deaf ears as you were stunned by her beauty. Everything around you blurred and you felt like you two were the only people in the universe. You havent moved from your spot till she looked at you for one last time before walking away with a breathtaking smile. And, that my friend, made you to fall head over heels in love with the girl who was none other than Hasini. And from that moment onwards it was all angels dancing around you and cupids making lovey-dovey eyes at you", she finished rolling her eyes.
She looked pretty smug like she had figured out the answer for the last question in the who would be a millionaire show and was about to be given a cheque for a million bucks.
I couldnt control my laughter anymore. I was laughing uncontrollably while clutching my stomach.
Nithya was confused at first and the more my laughter grew the more she became irritated. She even started glaring at me after some time and I slowly started calming down my laughter turning into chuckles after a good two minutes. Seriously what is it with girls and their glares at poor men like us? It should be considered as murder attempt the way she was looking at me and probably plotting ways to kill me or just kick me flying into the ocean so that I would drown.
Anyway the last thought made me sober up and I wiped my eyes to clear a tear or two from laughing so hard.
She was looking at me expectantly to explain to her about my sudden and outburst. I said to her with a chuckle, "I was just thinking what Gowtham would say to whatever clichéd love scene you have narrated moments ago."
"What does it got to do with Gowtham?" she asked a little bit confused.
"Because he was the one I accidentally dashed into on that day", I said making realization dawn on her and her face flushing a little with embarrassment.
That made me laugh again and I said through chuckles, "Apparently you watch too many movies"
She tried to stay angry but ended up laughing with me anyway. After our laughter died down, we were seated in a comfortable silence listening to the waves kissing the shoreline and retreating back like a lover playing hard to get only to come back in a few minutes with much force. It was really nice to sit there and we were enjoying nature as well as each others company.
"So what happened then?", she asked after a few minutes of silence urging me to continue with my story.
I felt like I ran into a wall and the pain in my shoulder made me wonder if I had dislocated it. I looked up hoping to find a wall but there stood a man at 6 foot with bulging muscles and I was a little bit scared. I thought he was some senior and feared he would break my skull for running into him and was really worried if I was going to be killed on my first day at college.
"Need a hand my damsel in distress?" he said with a dashing smile playing across his lips and thats when I realized I was still on the floor. I may be intimidated a little bit by his appearance but I was a man too and no man liked to be called a damsel in distress. I stood up by myself ignoring his outstretched hand as my pride wouldnt allow that. He laughed good naturedly and stretched out his hand again to introduce himself.
"I am Gowtham" he said with a genuine smile and I shook his hand saying my name.
"By the way Ashwin, do you know where the first year ECE classroom is?", he asked.
"You are a freshman too?" I asked a little bit surprised by that revelation.
"Yeah and by that look on your face I assume that you thought I was some senior and by your question I think you are new too. Am I right?"
"Yes. And I was searching for first year ECE too before we um met", I managed not wanting to say I bumped into him and fell flat on my face.
"And here we are", he said pointing to a classroom.
I looked up to see that we have indeed found our classroom since we were walking and talking the whole time.
We entered the classroom and from that day onwards Gowtham and I stuck together in college and he was even becoming a good friend of mine. Gowtham was the ultimate definition of a playboy. He became popular very quickly because of his involvement in sports and he was good at that too. I still dont know how he did that but within a few months everyone in college knew him and his group of friends grew faster. He was a lively spirit just like Jenny and loved his friends with just one flaw. He was a terrible flirt and had a reputation of having a girlfriend every other week. He was never serious with any of his girlfriends too. But that didnt make him any less of a friend to me. Maybe he just liked to flirt and show everyone that he could make any girl swoon over him. Sometimes I wondered if his ego was the size of Mt. Everest or more than that. But like I said earlier it doesnt make him any less of a friend and he was sure to make everyone happy whenever he was around.
The first semester holidays were nearing and thats when I realized I havent introduced him to Jenny. Sure I have talked about Jenny to him and vice versa but they havent met officially then. So I decided to take him to my house and introduce Jenny and God that was one hell of an introduction.