‘It was not meant to hurt you. Nowadays, I see a lot of fake accounts here. That’s why I asked so. I am really sorry.’ – She messaged in response.
Even I didn’t have the intention to hurt her and I knew that such a question could be raised by anyone out there on social networking websites.
‘It’s okay for now, but try to keep your words significant when you talk to me next time. Bye for now.’ – I sent this message to her and logged out of my account. I didn’t log out because I hated her, but I did hate that question of hers.
A day after that incident, I logged in again and I could see a full set of offline messages from Namratha. Her messages were telling – ‘Arjun, I am really sorry for that kind of behaviour from my part. I really didn’t mean to offend you, but it just happened. I know that you don’t want to talk to me and so you logged out. I am really sorry for what I did. Please forgive me and accept my apologies. I won’t disturb you anymore.’
‘See Namratha, you are not the reason why I logged out the last day. I had some urgent things to do and that’s why I had to leave. I repeat, it was not because of you and I have no hard feelings for you either.’ – I punched the send button and waited for her reply even though I was not supposed to; might be out of curiosity.
After two long hours, she replied – ‘I’m happy that you are not angry with me. Thanks a ton.’
‘Welcome.’ – I sent.
For the next 15 minutes, neither I said anything nor did she. After those suffocating 15 minutes of silent thoughts, she sent another message to me. – ‘Don’t you really want to talk to me?’
‘Why are you asking so?’
‘I always listen to your shows on radio and I like them very much, but still you’re avoiding me.’
‘Do you want to say that you’re a fan of mine?’ – I asked and waited for her to confirm it.
‘I didn’t say that. I said, I like your shows.’ – was her reply.
‘Okay. So you are a fan of my shows. That’s enough.’ – I replied, playing safe. Whether she is a fan of mine or my shows, I deserve the appreciation.
‘Yes! Anyway, I’m Namratha.’ – She introduced herself.
‘I think there’s no need of an introduction for me now.’ – The arrogant side of me was popping out.
‘No need to introduce yourself. I just know your name but not your story. I think we should be friends.’
‘I’m on your friend list. Doesn’t that mean I’m your friend?’ – I asked out of curiosity.
‘I’m not here to increase the number of friends on my friend list. There are no people in my friend list whom I don’t know personally. You are an exception and I’d like to know more about you because friendship doesn’t live in a list, it lives in our heart.’ – She explained.
Whoa! I wanted to give her a round of applause for that reply. In fact, she surprised me with those words. I never expected a school girl to interpret things like that and in fact, I was becoming a fan of her attitude.
‘I can tell you about me, but before that, you should tell me about you. If it’s okay with you, we can continue this friendship.’ – I said
She said – ‘Yes’ and started talking about herself.
When she was opening up about her, I could discover an exceptionally non-partisan and common character in her. She was talking to me like she trusts me more than any other friend of hers.
Namratha was a girl of fifteen years of age who was pursuing her tenth level schooling in a reputed all-girls school in our city. Her family included her mother, who was a schoolteacher in a government-administered school, her father – a well-known businessman and a younger sister who was two years younger than she was. The most incredible information that she imparted to me about her family was that her dad was a Hindu and her mom was a Christian. After a long course of love, togetherness and family riots, they convinced their families about their relationship. Their families had no choice, but to accept them, as they were matured, stable and independent. Then they got married and later blessed with two girl children; the elder one was letting me know about her family history and I was listening to it with added interest.
I have always liked open-minded people and Namratha definitely was one. So, the chances of me disliking her were nil and my interest in her grew day by day. As she was constantly talking about her, I felt more comfortable opening up to her and I didn’t cover up anything particularly. I told her about everything that came my way in life until that day with some added spices into it, making it seem more entertaining. The conversation with her was not simply a usual messaging that happens between two individuals who meet online for some time; she was letting me know every single detail about her past, present and future plans as well.
That was just a tip of an iceberg and the more was yet to come. We became thick friends within a short period of time as we texted each other for long hours. The only problem we had while sending messages was that we were not always online at the same time for chats, but we were happy with each other. Sometimes, I had to wait for her and sometimes it was her fate to wait for me. We never fought over unwanted reasons because we understood each other and the situations that we were going through.
Her school life and my professional life collided with each other so many times due to her exams, my work overload and many other things. There were many factors, which acted as obstacles in our friendship and at times, each of those obstacles used to show their real faces in our friendship. She couldn’t talk to me when her family was around, when guests came to their home or when she had too much homework to finish; even I couldn’t talk to her when I was handling the late night shows, when I was making scripts or interviewing celebrities. Time and tide wait for none; however, despite those obstacles, we always managed to continue our string of communication by sending offline messages and it kept our friendship alive. In short, we were happy.
Our friendship continued for three long years without any serious issue and we had shared all our likes, dislikes, happiness, sorrows, expectations, disappointments, photographs and every possible detail. In those three years, she could secure her place in my life as my best friend. Every night we used to chat about all the events of that day and we enjoyed being in each other’s life. In actual, we were personal diaries for each other. There was nothing in my life, which was unknown to her and vice versa.
We weren’t aware of the fact that our friendship was getting stronger day by day until she went on a holiday trip with her family. We never expected that the holiday trip had a lot to do with our lives. One day, I found some offline messages from her. I started reading each and every line of it like I was checking my results after the university examination.
She sent – ‘Arjun, after a long time, my dad has agreed to take us on a holiday trip and no one in our family could deny. If we deny this, we won’t be able to go on a trip in the near future and that’s why we are going. It was a sudden decision and I got held up after that. Hope you won’t mind. I’ll be back in a week. Take care. Bye.’
She came online when I was offline and left that message for me. It was really tough for me to understand the fact that she will not be with me for the next seven days. I felt like being locked-up in a jail waiting for my advocate to appear with the bail order after seven days.
‘Happy Journey. Take care.’ – I replied.
●
I was in some other world thinking about all those beautiful chat sessions spent with Namratha and I came to my senses when our radio station’s Programming Head poked me and said – ‘Arjun, we have an immediate meeting for the programming team right now. Come to the conference room now.’
I went to the washroom, washed my face and went to the conference room for the programming meeting. It was about some upcoming events and their execution plans, but I was not able to concentrate in those brainstorming sessions because my brain was already in a whirlpool.
Those seven days were so hard for me to handle. After one long
week, Namratha returned home and texting me was the first thing that she did. I had installed a texting application on my mobile phone already so that I don’t miss any message from her when she sends one. The mobile phone application did its job very well and it helped me to receive Namratha’s message instantly. Even though I was half-asleep, I started to text her from the mobile app itself.
‘Where were you all these days?’ – I asked.
‘We went to so many places and it was the best holiday trip we ever had.’ – She answered with so much of excitement.
‘I was not asking about what you did all these days and I am least bothered about that. I just want to know, why didn’t you text me the whole week?’ – I asked, in frustration.
‘Why are you yelling at me? I told you before I left for the trip.’ – She said.
But, it was not enough to calm me down and I continued – ‘I know that you went for a seven day trip with your family, but I expected you to text me at least once.’
‘We were travelling from one place to another and I had no means to contact you. Then how am I supposed to text you? Why are you blaming me for that?’
‘Okay. I really wanted to talk to you and I missed you more than that I ever did for anyone else.’
She might have felt something unusual in my words and asked – ‘What happened Arjun? Is everything okay?’
Now the unusual feeling was mine as I was unsure whether my comment was rude or offensive. I had only one excuse and I asked, - ‘Can I text you back later?’
‘No. Check your E-MAIL now.’
‘Why?’ – I asked, exclaiming.
‘I sent you some photographs from our holiday trip. Please check and let me know.’ – She replied.
‘Wait. Let me switch on my laptop.’ – Sending this, I rushed to my laptop computer and checked for the mail that she had sent. I opened the mail and I could see a lot of pictures of their holiday trip. Her whole family could be seen in the photographs and all of them were really happy. I could read their happiness from their expressions, postures and smiles. I already knew how she looks from her old photos, but this time, she looked radiantly beautiful than what I had seen before. After viewing all the pictures, I returned to the chat box and sent her another ‘Hello’ message.
‘Did you check the photographs? How are they?’ – She asked
‘The pictures are really beautiful.’ – I replied.
‘True? Or are you just kidding or lying to make me comfortable?’
‘Do you think that I will ever tell you a lie?’
‘As far as I know, you won’t.’ – She replied.
That response from her gave me more confidence because I understand that the feeling of being trusted is priceless and I said - ‘That’s what I said. I really liked those photos very much.’
‘Thanks, Arjun. But, I have something else to ask you.’ – She said.
‘Yes, ask.’
‘A few moments ago, you said you will not lie to me, right?'
‘Yes.
‘If you won’t lie to me, let me know why you missed me more than that you accomplished for any other one.’ – She asked and my heartbeats almost topped the optimum level because I had no idea how to convince her.
‘Look Namratha, you are my best friend and I don’t find any reason for not missing you when you were away from me for seven days. You didn’t send me any text and it’s natural for a person to miss his best friend who is away from him.’ – I said.
‘Arjun, you said you missed me more than that you did for anyone else. I wanted to know the reason for that. You have many friends and some best friends, but what made you miss me more than that you did for your other friends or best friends.’ – Her messages were getting harder for me to answer.
‘I don’t know. Might be because you’re so close to me.’
‘Not just me. There are many other persons who are close to you.’
‘Namratha, I’m not ready for an argument. This is the first time that we are talking after a week. Please stop arguing.’ – I interrupted.
‘I am not arguing. I am just asking. I felt odd when you said that. So I need to know the reason.’ – Even when she was saying that she’s not arguing, every word made similar vibes like she’s arguing.
This made me so irritated and I lost my control over my mind. I replied – ‘Maybe because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’
‘Are you joking? :-P’ – She asked with a tongue emote-icon added to it.
‘I don’t have to give you jokes at this point of time.’
‘Then what made you say that to me?’
‘I don’t know. I just Love you.’
‘That's funny. I think you need some sleep. It’s already 11.15PM.’
‘I don’t want to sleep. I just want you.’ – I answered in a demanding tone.
She didn’t wait for my message. She ended the conversation and logged out.
That made me restless; I couldn’t even figure out what I just did, but I wanted to talk to her and sort those things out.
‘Yes, I can withdraw the proposal, but I need at least her friendship.’ – I said to myself and shut down my laptop.
The next day was a usual day for me professionally, but a stressful one personally because I was not ready with a good excuse to give when Namratha comes online. Even a single callous word from me can end the entire conversation and even our friendship. I spent the whole day expecting her to come online and talk to me, but she never showed up. I finished my regular job routine and reached back home. I had my dinner with my family and headed straight to my bed to sleep. I was half-asleep when finally my phone buzzed. I checked my phone and saw a series of messages coming from Namratha. I expected her to question about the last day’s conversation, but she didn’t. Neither she wanted to remember nor did I try to remind. The next seventeen days passed like normal days and on the eighteenth day, I wanted to talk to her about that because I hated uncertainties.
‘Namratha, I don’t know if you remember or not, I had proposed you before 18 days.’ – I sent this to her during a casual conversation.
‘Yes, I do.’ – She replied.
‘You didn’t tell me a decision.’ – My texting speed was increasing like anything.
‘I already told you that my mom and dad had got married without giving ears to the problems arose from their families. My dad was a Hindu and mom, a Christian. Both the families didn’t want them to get married, but they made their option and got married. By the time of their marriage, my grandmother cursed my mother that she will feel the same pain in the future when her kids commit the same mistake. All these years my mom was worried about that; however, she managed to keep me and my sister away from friendships or relationships with boys. Even I’ve made up my mind like I won’t do anything that would hurt my parents.’ – She took a long time to type all these history portions to me.
As a very social person, that was not at all an unsolvable issue for me because I have seen so many parents bearing such situations and living a happy life even after their daughters’ marriage with their boyfriends.
‘Namratha, as far as I know every parent wants to see their child happy. They will definitely want you to marry a guy who is suitable for you and do you think you will be happy with him? In this case, I am trying to make you happy and I am making myself happy by keeping you happy. I really don’t want to lose you in my life. I am just 23 years old and I already have a job at this age. I am likely to get promotions in future and my career graph is at a high position. As you already know, I am trying to be a part of the film industry. If everything goes fine, I can earn a lot of money and be the perfect professional guy like what your parents would expect and I can be the most loving husband in this world. Please think about it and let me know your decision.’ – I tried to explain the facts in a much easier way.
‘I can't accept your proposal Arjun. I told you about my family, parents and their wishes. My parents have thei
r own ambitions for me. I have to make them happy.’
‘I understand and you can make them happy. One day or another, they will find a guy for you and you will have to marry him. Why can't I be that guy? I need your love, support and everything. I will make you happy throughout our life. Trust me.’ – I was asking for trust than love.
‘I do trust you, but...’ – She paused.
I understood that I was not fully successful in convincing her and asked – ‘No buts and ifs! I made myself clear and now, it’s your turn.’
‘Let me ask you another question. I’ll give you an answer after that.’
‘Questions again?’ – I wondered.
‘Just one question.’
‘Ask.’ – I told her to ask, but I was totally tensed about her next question. I had no clue of the next question and everything will be over if I fail to answer it properly.
‘Who will decide the names of our kids?’ – She asked.
‘What? Our kids? So? Do you agree?’ – I jumped an inch from the ground and asked.
‘Yes Arjun, I decided. We can be together. I have the same feeling for you in my mind and at the same time, I had too many questions about the future too. You have the answers to all my questions and I am impressed. I can’t hide this anymore. I love you Arjun.’
I was shocked to hear this. A few drops of tears rolled over my cheeks. I had no words to express my happiness and she was equally happy. It was 18th June 2011 and that day was the most beautiful day of our life.
‘Can I have your phone number?’ – I asked.
‘I don’t have a mobile phone.’
‘Your residence phone number is enough.’
‘Sorry. I can’t give you that as it may stir suspicion if anyone other than me picks up the call. So give me your number. I will call you when they are not around.’
Sorry, I'm Taken Page 3