Love Story – ROTTEN FLOWERS
Photo credit: krosseel from morguefile.com
Its 18:15 and as sun is about to set, Krish still waits for Vaishnavi in the park. He is been waiting there for 45 minutes still no sign of Vaishnavi. Some kind of weird stink catches up his attention and he finds two sets of bouquet rotten dumped under the bench. His face gives a strange expression as if he knows the story of those bouquets. Still he ignores it and starts of thinking about Vaishnavi. It’s near 18:40 and still she hasn’t shown up. Slowly he is getting disappointed and decides to wait till 19:00 then he would leave. During his long wait he starts thinking about the day he first met Vaishnavi.
25th December Christmas day , all were in festive mood. Television was full with special entertainment programs and a new tv show aired its first episode on this day. Just that was the moment which made Krish fall in love with Vaishnavi. Vaishnavi was the same town girl used to live 4 blocks away with her parents. She went college and shifted to the city 5 years back and that decision changed her life forever and now she is a famous tv star.
30th december, Vaishnavi was back in town for a week to celebrate new year’s eve with her family. Krish was in supermarket , shopping ;while picking up tin cans from the racks he accidentally drops some of them and one them rolls and find its way to hit someone’s foot.
“ I am sorry ?” he says apologetically and moves his eyes to meet the eyes of the stranger. “Vaishnavi !!!” he says surprisingly. His jaw dropped when she recognised him and hugged him. He somehow managed to pass on a smile despite of mixed up feelings and emotions that were emerging inside him. They walked together to her house, they were been talking about everything,the city life,the life in town after she left, mutual friends, school teachers, life of a tv star which seemed quite fantastic to Krish , his life after school and the conversation was just going on endless like where the sky meets the sea.
They were in no mood to end the conversation but unfortunately they reached her house. She said goodbye and invited him to the batch reunion party. He remained silent though had urge to talk more get inside her house , have some tea but just managed to say goodbye and left for his home. There is no need to explain how he was feeling. He took the longest route possible back to home and just imagined and daydreamed all the way. He was just filled up with this new euphoria. He is not a miserable f**k anymore. Now he has something to live for, something to dream about and something to fall for. The television set which was the largest occupant of his evening time is now a boxed piece of s**t projecting bull**it fairy tales and stupid images. He explained the whole story to his elder sister , well she was happy for her brother. Finally something interesting has happened in their monotonous and boring life.
The next day 8:00 am , there was a knock on his door and an envelope was left at his doorstep. It was an invitation to some kind of party and he took no time to figure it out, what it actually is. The party was tomorrow evening and he just had enough time to prepare himself for it , he indeed prepared a good speech and thought about this party the whole day. Rehearsed some pick up lines and took help form his sister. He was just too excited, could not sleep in night and has already decided to follow wherever his heart goes. He was just amazed by the fact how can she remember him even though they met after six years and was nice to him and invited him to the party as well. Finally he just found someone like him,” similarities attract , fuck the theory of magnetism” he pondered and slept; back to his dreamland.
Next morning he woke up at 6 o’clock , he could not believe that he is still alive even sleeping so less. This felling is killing him slowly like a poison, intoxicating him whole day and night. There is only one way out of this, follow his own heart. Party is at seven in the evening , he got lot of time and decided to spend the day thinking about her. He thought of doing some laundry and help his mom but the adrenaline rush kept him excited and unfocussed. Finally he came up with something that will help him to pass these painful hours of wait. He took out his diary, it was not updated since 22nd of December. “What the fuck?? How did I forget to enter about these good times that are happening right now?” , he pondered and started writing.
Finally the wait was over and it was time to go. He is all set for the party, this day turned him into a complete narcissist and once more he stands in front of the mirror before he leaves. He rehearsed his speech for te last time and left for her house. He reached a bit early and only a few people have arrived. He was warmly greeted by her mother and was asked to wait till others come.
“what about Vaishnavi? Where is she?”, he asked her.
“ she’s been out , shopping ,will be back soom”’ was her only reply.
In the meanwhile Krish was talking to his ex-schoolmates about old memories, the fun of mass spelunking , the teachers who were real pain in the arse . Then he saw someone and another slap of surprise hit his face, left him numb for a moment. It was Arham, he best friend and his companion throughout his school life. How can he just forget him over these years? Anyway some of it was Arham’s fault too , he never replied his e-mails and neither tried to reach out for him even once. Even after 5 years of no contact, he recognised him easily and hugged him tight.
Their co-ordination just sprouted up from nowhere and it was like nobody could make out that they have met after such a long time. He was happy after meeting Arham but that was not the thing he came for. He told everything to Arham about how lucky he got recently , ran into Vaishnavi and there she was recognising him and hugging him, she even gave him an invitation for this party too. He felt she likes him and was confident that tonight he will tell her what is there in his heart and that too infront of everyone. In the meanwhile half an hour passed and still there was no sign of Vaishnavi.
After sometime he heard brakes squealing and tires screeching. Everyone ran towards the door to see what has happened. A speeding silver Mercedes was drifting around the small fountain in front of the house and finally came to halt. And there she comes, out of the driver’s seat Vaishnavi, his princess , his dream girl , the person he would give his life for . she was in an elegant party wear and greeted everybody. Then she spotted Krish and they both greeted each other. They again started talking , had drinks and snacks together. The party carried on in its own pace followed by dinner and some interactive games. Everybody had fun enjoying booze, food and playing charades.
Finally Krish stood on the coffee table in the living room and took out a piece of paper and announced that he has something to say. Everyone gathered around him anticipating a good speech, a perfect memory for this night. The booze has got his nerves and he wasn’t scared speaking in front of this big arse crowd. Finally he threw away the paper and started speaking.
“ Good evening everyone and thank you all for coming here . I am proud to say that we were the part of an awesome batch of 2007. I don’t know how to give a good speech but still want to share some words with you all. Many of us achieved a lot in this short span of time and supposed to be busy on this day too so I would like to appreciate you all for taking your time out for your companions of your school. I don’t see any sign of distraction in you all so this means my speech is goin well” he chuckles and the crowd smiles.
He continues again,” There was only one for me to attend the school and it was her. I used to do homework so that she could copy from me, used to take extra food in my tiffin so that we could share. Those moments when she use to dress up my wounds whenever I get beaten the shit out of me by the bullies. Those nights when we use to count stars laying on the grass side by side, god I lived for those moments. Those times when we were teenagers , she used to fight with her boyfriends, my god such a wild cat she was, and I used to console her. The moments when I used to tease her and then she would run behind me and eventually get hit by her and mock that it hurts. Listening to her sweet apologies, god I miss them all. She moved to the city and my life turned into s**t. I am sorry girl that I never said what I felt for you , cause I was so f**king immature and scared to understand those signs. So I am saying it now, this what my heart speaks , I love you baby girl, I love you Vaishnavi and I can’t afford to lose you again. I swear I’d rather die than losing you.” and he burst out with tears.
Vaishnavi ran upto him and hugged him, maybe the booze had pulled too much of nerve out of him.
“ That was indeed a nice speech” she said. “Do you want to find out what’s there in my heart? Well that won’t be so easy, you have to wait. Let’s meet up at 6 in the evening at tomorrow in the park ”.
Back to present, it is 18:50 now and still no sign of her. He is really upset now. Then he observes those rotten bouquets this time closely. “ oh s**t!!” he gets surprised those bouquet are addressed to Vaishnavi in his own handwriting. Coming back from this shock he starts to recollect, what really happened? How they ended up here? He forces his memory back , he remembers Vaishnavi at the party says,” Lets meet up at the park on 2nd January “, he bought the bouquet for her, waited like an idiot , got upset and dumped the first bouquet under the bench and left. He is shocked now , it is like this memory was implanted inside him just now or maybe it is déjà vu , as soon as he recovers from this shock, another chunk of memory strikes him. Vaishnavi at the party said,” Lets meet up on 3rd January “ and he did the same thing bought bouquet, waited , got disappointed and dumped that too and left. He is unable to understand what is happening, he takes out his cell phone and checks todays date, its 4th of January 7 o’clock now. He is just perplexed on how to sync in that information his brain has just given. Before he could do anything he tries to relate one more time on what is happening now.
Back in December 30 when they first met, Vaishnavi accidentally ran into him. He didn’t say anything, neither did she; it was obvious that she doesn’t know him. Next day , every one of the batch 2007 got the invitation to the party so did he. He indeed prepared a speech. He met Arham at the party and Arham gave the speech just a normal one, kind of thanks giving. Even Krish tried to stand up to give a speech but somehow he backed out. But he just watched as Arham gave a thanks giving speech and clapped for him. But he didn’t give any speech maybe he was too nervous or was too self centered he just couldn’t do it. Rest of the party he spent with Arham, drinking beer and carrying a sense of guilt and remorse in his heart.
“how is that even possible?!!” back to reality he exclaimed. He is being delusional , just so much mingled with his daydreams and reality that he is unable to judge now what he should accept. Either the dream was real or maybe the reality he is in now is a dream. Surprisingly he finds his diary in his side pocket and starts reading it. Finally reaches to the last line, Vaishnavi at the party said,” lets meet up on 5th of January at the park”. A smile comes over his face ,”so tomorrow then” he says to himself, dumps the third bouquet under the bench and leaves.
__END__
