I saw her when I joined Indian Matriculation School for my higher studies with a great determination to make up my disappointing tenth standard marks. The then principal of my school believed that she would tackle 10th standard exams straight after her 8th and so I was lucky to have her in my class. She was very sharp. She was incredibly fast at grasping, retaining and flawlessly reproducing lessons in the class. I liked her. I liked her funny walk and her beautiful smile with dimples. It was very challenging to consistently equal her in the class and I loved doing it.
After almost a year, I got a call from her, disguised as Sharmila, to get plus one question paper which was out before the exams and which I had from my Krishnagiri friends. To her surprise, I could identify her in few seconds of conversation though that was the first time I was talking to her personally. Thanks to Graham Bell. It was through his invention it all started and blossomed later on. We conversed over telephone many times later on and became quite close but remained strangers at school. I could sense that she liked me too from her embracing smile and open discussions. It felt nice talking to her. We had an inter district mock exam called Vidhya Scan conducted at Salem and we couldn’t talk much during this exam prep. Though I never expected, I topped the exam in Chemistry, Maths and Overall in Bio stream. She topped in Biology. For the first or second time, I had a total more than her. We had our public exams soon and she was quite supportive and consoling when I discussed the mistakes I did in the final exams. With the advice and support of my uncle, I went to Chennai for my professional course entrance exam prep. However I was back to Dharmapuri to write the tests. I wanted to see her then, but couldn’t as she was in a different centre. The results were out and our scores – her 1161 and my 1162 kept us together :). It was only after a few days when I went to my school with my grandfather to collect the mark sheets and TC, I saw her with her Dad. I wanted to talk to her but didn’t. That day gave me a feeling that I missed something.
I lost touch with her for the next few months. I enjoyed the fun filled early days at CEG while she settled down at Stanley Medical College. My senior, Kadhir took me to SMC some day to meet one of our classmates at school. I happened to meet her after few months and we exchanged our Hostel numbers. Our telephone conversations started off again. I remember how I went to all possible STD booths in and around my college campus and how my fingers involuntarily and automatically typed her hostel number when I kept my fingers on the phone. She would promise to call me up at a certain time and she would call me up sharp to the second. I liked her unbelievable punctuality. I met her few times in her college and mine. I expressed my liking for her in several indirect ways, none of which she understood properly. I only knew that I liked her a lot and so did she. However, I wasn’t clear enough in deciding what further should happen. One of her classmate who was also my friend brought her to my college and left us alone to figure out what was between us which she felt was obvious and evident to her. Days passed with each one of us yearning for the other. One day, after several months of uncertainty, she admitted that she clearly knows what was between us. So, both of us got to know the bonding and the love that existed between us.
With a few days of this certainty, my mind played the spoil sport and kept telling me that it won’t work out for some reason. I requested her to just be friends with me for few days and then began the devastating experiences. I had my own version of Cheran’s tamil movie Autograph. Just that, the Sneha’s character in my life wasn’t as clear and strong as the one in the movie for some days but later became stronger and clearer. I was my own villain who separated us suddenly. We suffered loneliness terribly. Both of us wanted to get back to the other soon but we didn’t. I couldn’t approach her back for many days though I badly wanted to. There was a lot of self realization that was happening these days and I clearly got to know that I wanted her for life. I understood the value of compromise and commitment. However, it was totally unclear whether I would get her back. Days, months and years passed in this uncertainty. I gradually started talking to her and started sharing significant events with her. Every call of hers and every word she uttered gave me immense happiness. She got an M.D, Anesthesia in Madurai Medical College. It was exactly a year back, I collected all my guts and visited her in Madurai to outburst all my emotions. So strong was her commitment and love that she couldn’t let go off me despite several events that happened in her life. So, finally what I thought wouldn’t happen at all but badly wanted to happen, happened. I never believed in destiny but this felt like one.
My parents were kind and broad enough to accept us without a word for the sake of my happiness. Her parents gave the fun of fighting for what we wanted and it all happened finally.
We are immensely filled with happiness. We would marry next year, probably sometime in May.
