Stylus Entry - 15

June 14, 2008

3:30 AM: The night was breezy- the night I proposed to her. I came close to her and held her hands- my heart aflutter with anticipation. Her eyes met mine as she moved closer- my expectations were sky high. But suddenly she shouted “The time is 8:30 AM” and I woke up with a start. The alarm clock spoilt my dream. The same dream! The same girl! What was this supposed to mean? That too on the day I was leaving Hyderabad for XL!

2:30 PM: I was in the Secunderabad Railway station to catch my train. I was waiting for the train to depart when I saw her- The girl of my dreams, the girl I was waiting for all along. This was my chance. I hurried behind her and was a few steps behind her when she dropped a greeting card accidentally. And in a scene reminiscent of the zillion Bollywood movies, I picked it up and was about to return it when I heard my father shouting “The train is about to depart.” And the girl too had disappeared. I flipped the card over and saw the name POOJA on it.

9:OO PM: I was in the train chatting with my dad but my mind was still on Pooja. I decided to stand at the compartment door and lo! She was at the door. This was my chance.

“Hi” I said.
She turned to me and smiled.
“Hey, you dropped this at the station today.” I continued and handed the card to her.
She looked at the card and smiled “Thanks a lot. My sister dropped it actually and was searching for it. “
“But I saw you at the station.” I said rather foolishly. She smiled.
This was when realization struck me. “Twins?” I asked
“Yes.”
Whoa! I was in love with this girl’s sister and not her.
“Oh Ok!...By the way, I’m Vineeth and on my way to XLRI” I said, holding out my hand. The girl looked visibly surprised.
“Oh great! Me and my sister Pooja too. Joining PMIR.” she exclaimed.

Wow! Pooja and I were to be in the same class- a great love story was to begin. ‘But this girl too looks the same, Why not her?’ my confused conscience asked.

“No! There is something about Pooja that attracts me.” I told myself determinedly as I dozed off that day.

This was how it all began. The day the three main characters in this story met.

**********

I joined XLRI and began life as a B schooler. Pooja and her younger twin- Neha both became good friends of mine. One thing I noticed was that both were similar in almost everything. But still my eyes were only on older twin. The first few days at a B school was quite different for many and needed a lot of coping. New life-new experiences. Unable to do so, Pooja broke down, but Neha took it sportingly and was smiling all along. But even then, Pooja’s weeping was more attractive to me than Neha’s chilled out nature.

As the first term progressed, the three of us became great friends and were always together in everything- projects, contests and even when Fraxing. And all the time I noticed that both the sisters were identical in almost every aspect except for the fact that Neha was more jovial and easy going while Pooja was more reserved. I latched on to this subtle difference. “I need somebody who is calm as my girlfriend” I said. As days turned into months, I also noticed that Neha wanted to spend more time with me and that seemed restless when I was paying attention to Pooja. It meant only one thing- she liked me. So in a couple of months, I was in this situation- I loved a girl who didn’t show interest in me and I was liked by a girl who I was determined not to love just because I loved her twin.

This led to frustration and for stress relief, I began dunking my own batchmates, gave the hardest of kicks to my friends during their birthdays and Counter-strike became an addiction (Kill virtual people to release stress.)

Finally, I realized that this was the time to get our friendship to the next stage and I decided to propose to Pooja in a formal way. The chance came in our village trip when I proposed to her but her answer was simple - “You are just a good friend.” I was distraught- to say the least and I went into a shell and that showed- scored a nought in my next Managerial Economics test. I noticed one thing though, I never saw such a relieved Neha before. But still, I could never think of her because I loved her twin sister. I was disillusioned by the love for Pooja.

The second term at XL was grinding with SIP, assignments, Ensemble, CS, NFS taking away most of our time with no time left for brooding. The month of November arrived and as part of the creative writing competition in Oktoberfest I was given the topic “Love is a delusion that one woman differs from another”. This one line changed my outlook towards the two main people in my XL life. Why was I ignoring Neha for Pooja? Just because I loved Pooja? But I liked Neha and if not for my adamant stand on love, I would have accepted her. After all, she was no different from her twin sister. The fact was that it didn’t matter if I loved somebody. What mattered was whether somebody loved me.

Four months have passed since Oktoberfest and now I am happily committed to Neha. I, Neha and her elder sister are still the great friends like we were before. I have accepted my love towards Pooja as just another passing cloud.

p.s.: All characters here are fictional :)

- Vineeth Ravichandran, P08062

Labels: Prose, Stylus

good looking twins in XL! That would be a new one ! :)
Should remind the admission committee to look out for twin chicks :P

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