We left after sometime. Neha and Riya wanted to go to Colaba for shopping. It was around 3 pm. We tried to convince them that Nariman Point was too far. However, who could argue with girls. Finally, we decided to go by taxi. We reached the place after some time.
Colaba had many small shops where we could get anything—from shoes and sandals to clothes. Riya wanted to buy chappals while Neha wanted to buy shoes.
‘Jaan, please make it fast. I hate walking for no reason,’ I said to Riya.
Riya gave me an angry look and kept on walking. We went to a few shops but the girls did not like anything. We boys decided to go somewhere else. We told Neha and Riya that they could continue shopping, and we would join them in sometime. We stopped near a tapri.
‘Amit, you really don’t smoke or did you say it because Neha was there with you?’ Anup asked him.
‘I am serious. I have never tried it and do not want to try it ever in my life,’ he replied.
‘Superb yaar. Why do you require money then? No smoking. No boozing. No junk food. Neha has got the cheapest boyfriend in the city,’ said Swapnil and we all laughed.
‘Amit, what’s your first semester result?’ Swapnil asked him.
‘Three KTs. BEE, Mechanics, and Maths 1.’
‘How can you get a KT? I mean you must be attending college and classes regularly,’ Anup said.
‘Oh, stop it yaar. Stop talking about fucking engineering,’ I said.
After some time, Riya called me and said that they were done with shopping. I loved the chappals she had bought for herself. She had also bought a T-shirt for me.
‘Thank you jaan. I love you a lot,’ I said giving her a slight peck on the cheek.
We went to McDonald’s and had a burger each. It was 6 pm by the time we decided to leave.
‘How are we going?’ Amit asked.
‘Do one thing—you all can take the train while Riya and I will come by taxi.’ I looked at Riya and she looked back at me in surprise. I just wanted to be alone with her. I wanted to end the day by spending some quality time with her.
Once all the others had left, Riya asked me, ‘Any more surprise?’ ‘No jaan. I just wanted us to be together. Just us,’ I said calling out for a taxi. A cab stopped in front of us. I took the bag from her hand and sat in the taxi. I kept the plastic bag behind.
‘Hey, do you want this taxi driver to come to your house and tell your mom that you were roaming around with me?’Riya said.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t forget it this time,’ I said referring to the bag kept at the back. Riya started asking me about our future.
‘Jaan, I want to marry you,’ she said kissing me on my lips.
Marriage? This early in life? I had known from the first day itself that we were moving rather quickly. How could I marry so early?
‘Jaan please,’ she requested me.
‘Have you lost it? What marriage are you talking about? Is this a joke? It’s not funny.’
‘Do you mean you will not marry me? Is that so?’ she said shouting at me. How could I make her understand this was not funny.
I decided that I did not want to end the day with a fight. I told the driver to take us to Dadar.
‘Why Dadar? It’s so late Aadi…’
‘Shut up and don’t argue,’ I said kissing her on the lips. That was the best way to shut her up.
We reached Dadar. I gave the driver the fare and asked Riya to walk along with me. We were near the plaza bus stop. I told her we were going to Siddhivinayak temple.
‘‘Now? We could have come some days later. What is the urge to go now? What is going on in your mind?’
‘We are going to get married,’ I said. She went blank. ‘Jaan…I did not really mean what I had said earlier. How can we marry?’
‘Why, don’t you want to marry me now? If you do, then come along with me. This won’t be a legal marriage. However, we will take seven promises in front of the God as is done in any marriage. Saat phere. I have decided what will be the seven promises. Are you ready?’
She kept on looking at me for sometime and then broke into a huge smile. In a matter of a few minutes, we had both matured into young adults. We reached Siddhivinayak temple. Once inside, we took God’s blessings. The temple’s pandits do not allow anyone to stand near the idol for more than ten seconds. Once our time was up, they just pushed us away. We went to one secluded corner of the temple. I asked for her permission to start and told her to remove her gold necklace.
I said, ‘We will make 7 promises in front of God. Then we will unofficially be husband and wife. Is that fine?’
She agreed. I took her hand in mine.
Continuing with our vows, I said, ‘Promise 1. We will always be together. Let’s promise we will never leave each other. Promise me we will always be together. Whatever be the situation, we will never leave each other alone.’
‘I promise you Aadi, I won’t leave you. I will always be with you like your shadow. A shadow which will be with you after sunset too. I will never disappear,’ she replied.
‘Promise 2. We will never fight. We promise that if we go wrong in some decision or have minor disagreements in the future, we won’t fight. We will always love each other and make each other smile.’
‘I promise Aadi… I will never fight. Even if I think of fighting, I will stop talking to you but won’t fight. I can’t handle fights between us. We will always love each other.’
‘Promise 3. We will not let our love fade. Promise me that even after spending years together we won’t take each other for granted. We will still have warmth in our relationship. We will never let our love fade. Whenever we feel our love is fading, promise me you will close your eyes and think of all the good times we spent in past.’
‘I promise Aadi… I won’t let our love fade. This will never happen. Going away from you is not in my destiny. I do not want to change my destiny.’
‘Promise 4. We will always trust each other. Promise me whenever you feel I am hanging out with someone else or lying to you, you will put that thought out of your mind. You will always trust me. I promise it.’
‘I promise Aadi… I will never spy on you. I will never point a finger towards you. I will always trust you.’
‘Promise 5. We will always respect each other. Promise me we will always respect each other in public or private. Promise me you will never shout at me. Promise me that you will always respect me. I promise to do the same.’
‘I promise Aadi… I will always respect you. I promise to listen to whatever you say. I will never hurt you in public or private.’
‘Promise no. 6. We will never bring our past between us. I promise I will never bring our past in our relationship. I do not mind whatever your past was. I don’t care about it. However, I won’t let it affect our relationship. I will never ask you about your past.’
‘I promise Aadi… I too will never ask you about your past. I will forget everything about your past. Your previous relationships. I just want you in my present and future.’
‘Promise no. 7: We will not neglect our studies. I promise I will never neglect my studies. I promise I will concentrate on studies and clear engineering. I promise I will never sidetrack from studies.’
‘This is not fair. Still, I promise I will complete my engineering and get placed in some good company.’
I put the gold necklace round her neck. She cried in joy. This is the moment a girl waits for all her life. This is the moment which comes once in a lifetime. But we would be lucky to do it twice. We were standing together in front of God, happy after making so many promises. Even God would have had no choice but to accept us. We had taken one more step ahead in our relationship.
Aditya and Riya were married—unofficially.
The Beginning of the End
It was exam time again. This time I wanted to study well and secure good marks. The second half of the year is always more dangerous than the first. I had heard of numerous cases of students dropping out in the
second half after being unable to cope up with the demands of the subject. I was almost done with my preparations in every subject including solving the first semester papers. Even Riya had studied hard this time. We wanted to show our folks at home that we were not going to let our relationship affect our studies. And Riya had promised my mom that she would make sure I studied hard. This time even the submission went off smoothly. This further boosted my confidence. I wanted to show mom how special Riya was for me and what a difference she made in my life. Soon it was time to write our last paper—Maths 2. it was the toughest paper in the second semester. But I wasn’t worried since I was going in fully prepared. I knew differential equation and rectifications by heart now and was confident of passing the exam. We had decided to drink the whole night after the paper to celebrate.
The paper was extremely tough. Still I tried to answer as many questions as I could. One by one, all of us trickled out of the classroom.
‘I can’t believe it’s the end of one year in engineering. We will be promoted to the second year,’ said Anup.
‘Seriously yaar, even I can’t believe it’s the end of our first year here. Let’s get naughty tonight and drink and party.’ This was the first time I was going to drink. I had never touched beer before. I was nervous and excited. I had no guilty feelings this time. I was in a mood to party after having made it through a difficult first year.
I did not allow Riya and the other girls to join us in the festivities. If we had taken girls along, Pop Tate’s Restro Bar would have been the only option nearby and we boys wanted strong beer and not mocktails. After all, we had successfully made through one year of engineering.
‘Bachcha, drink within limits. I don’t want it to become a habit. Please promise me you won’t drink too much,’ said Riya.
‘Okay sweetheart, I won’t. Promise.’
I promised Riya that I would meet her a day later. She didn’t seem to mind and gave me permission to carry on. I told everyone at home that I was going to spend the night at Sameer’s place. Our plan was to drink until 1 am and then spend the night at Sameer’s house since his parents were going to be away for two days. It was going to be a night of fun, a night when I would have my first drink.
We left from our respective houses at around 7 pm. We all decided to meet outside Mamta bar. Sameer, Anup, and Swapnil were already there by the time I reached. Once in, we ordered two beers and a few snacks. The waiter poured beer into my glass. It was going to be my life’s first glass of beer. I was afraid of facing the consequences. I kept asking myself, Should I or shouldn’t I? I was confused. But I had worked hard all year and wanted to enjoy myself.
‘Cheers,’ everyone said loudly.
‘Cheers to the end of one year,’ Anup said raising his glass.
I took my first sip of beer. It tasted awful. I quickly chewed a few cashew nuts. Everyone was staring at me, probably thinking what a wuss I was.
‘Relax guys. I’ll finish it. Don’t worry,’ I assured them.
One glass down, my eyes started becoming heavy and I was beginning to lose control over my body. We ordered two more beers. I was partially stable and enjoying myself with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
‘Waiter, two more beers and a full chicken tandoori,’ Swapnil screamed since the music was playing at full blast on his mobile.
‘Hey, enough now,’ I said to everyone trying to keep my eyes open.
‘Oh come on, Aadi…have just one more glass.’
After much coaxing, I gave in to their demands and called for another glass of beer with tandoori chicken. And another one. And so it continued till I was almost ten glasses down. By the end of it, I was totally out of my mind.
‘Aadi…Riya had told you not to drink so much. You had promised her you will drink within limits,’ said Sameer shaking me up.
‘Please, get away from me. Let me relax,’ I said almost about to puke. Sameer was holding on to me or I would have fallen flat on the table.
‘Aadi, shall I call Riya and tell her what you are upto?’ Sameer said angrily.
‘Mind your own business, Sameer. You can’t blackmail me by taking Riya’s name. I don’t care. Do whatever you want to.’
Sameer called Riya up and told her everything. Five minutes later, I got a call from her.
‘Hi jaan…what do you want? Why are you calling me at this hour? So you trust Sameer so much that you are willing to believe whatever he tells you? Well, he’s lying. I am not all that drunk. So don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I know how to take care of myself,’ I said groggily.
I was so heavily intoxicated that I couldn’t even catch what she was saying. The phone slipped from my hand and I fell on the table into a deep slumber. Sameer tried to wake me up. Anup splashed water on my face. Both of them hauled me up and took me out of the bar.
After making me sit on the footpath, Swapnil shouted, ‘Are you an idiot? How were you talking to Riya?’
‘Excuse me? She is my girlfriend. Or have you started loving her too? Tell me, do you also want her?’ I did not know what I was saying. The words were just coming out of my mouth.
Sameer slapped me hard on my face. I fell down on the footpath. I do not remember anything after that.
Second Year
It was not a happy start to the second year. The next day when I went to see the notice board in college to check which division and roll number I had been allotted, I found that Riya was no longer in my class. That meant we could only meet in between breaks. I had come late to college. Riya was already attending her lecture. She had messaged me a few minutes ago asking me when I was coming. When I peeped into my new classroom, to my horror I saw that there were all new faces. My eyes were searching for Riya. I took my seat in the last row and stared continuously at the third row where Riya used to sit.
But Riya was missing this time. The entire first year was spent in watching her during lectures. I took my mobile and gave her a missed call. Again my eyes went to the third row. Riya used to look back whenever I would give a missed call. I was missing everything. I was missing all the moments that we shared in the first year. This was really painful. I messaged her but she did not reply. Maybe she is sitting on the first bench, I thought. This upset me even more. I wanted to see her so badly. I hadn’t talked to her once all morning and was longing to hear her voice. This was not the morning I had wished for. It was not what I wanted. I wanted her. I enjoyed going to college only because she was with me. But now what?
As I was about to call her again, I got a message from her.
Where are you bachcha? Have you reached college.? I am in the middle of a lecture. Will meet you during break time.
I replied immediately.
Miss you jaan. I’m in the lecture hall. My eyes are fixed on the third row where you used to sit. You’re not there anymore. :(
I was waiting for her to reply but she did not. How was I going to sit alone in this classroom? How could I attend lectures without her? How could I concentrate? How could I laugh during lectures? We had been separated for no reason. We did not like it but we had to put up with it. I was not comfortable with all the new faces around me. There was no Swapnil nor Anup. They were both in the IT section with Riya. Even Sameer was not here with me. This made lectures even tougher for me to bear.
I looked at my watch. There were still twenty minutes left for the lecture to end. It was like time had come to a standstill. Each minute seemed like months to me. When I was with Riya, time would just fly. Now I was all alone.
I called Riya up as soon as the professor left the class. It was 1.30 pm. Time for a much-needed break. Riya didn’t pick up the call. I went and stood outside her class which was on the third floor. The lecture was still in progress. I waited impatiently outside and as soon as the professor came out, I ran into the classroom. Swapnil and Riya were sitting together. I could not spot Anup anywhere. I did not care. I wanted my sweetheart beside me. I called out to her. She was so happy to see me! Both of us had
tears in our eyes. It was afternoon and we had not even seen each once since morning.
‘I missed you jaan. Not seeing you in class brought back all the memories of the first year. I miss how you would turn from the third row when I would call out your name. I miss seeing your smile. I miss your messages. Your missed calls. Being without you is tough, jaan. How can I survive in that class? It kills me not seeing you there.’ I was holding her hands tight.
‘Even I miss you. I miss your naughty smiles and the little things that you used to do for me. And even I looked back a few times during the lecture but found you nowhere. Love you. Should we go and grab a bite to eat? I have brought along your favourite—rajma chawal.’
She opened her tiffin box and put a spoonful of rice in my mouth.
‘Hey Swapnil, where is Anup? I miss you people. The first year with all of you was superb. It’s going to be difficult for me now,’ I said to Swapnil.
‘He has gone out with a friend. Had some work, I think. We will miss you too, Aadi. Especially Riya. She has been upset since morning. Why don’t you take her out somewhere,’ Swapnil said patting my back.
Sameer came shouting into the room, ‘Hey guys, the result is displayed. Let’s go and check.’
Every semester result brings with it a sense of apprehension. We were not confident about our results. We left the class immediately and reached the library outside which the results had been displayed. Sameer somehow managed to go near the board. We asked him to look for our names too. He came out of the rush and was looking upset.
‘What happened? Did you check the results?’ I asked him. We all were looking at him.
‘Yes, I have got 4 KTs in the second semester and 1 KT in the first semester. I have been dropped for a year,’ he said almost on the verge of tears.
This made our hearts pump abruptly. I could not believe Sameer had been dropped. I searched for my name in the result sheet. I had managed to pass in all subjects in the first semester! Even Riya had passed all of hers. So had Swapnil. Anup had got 1 KT. I still could not look for my name on the second semester result. I was really tensed because of Sameer’s result. Finally, I saw my name. One KT in Maths 2. I could not believe it. Maths was one subject I was good in. I had scored 95 marks in HSC and 68 in Maths 1. Mumbai Univerrsity—totally unpredictable.
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