Few Things Left Unsaid (17 page)

“Amit what will you have?” Riya asked him.

“Nothing I won’t eat anything. I don’t like junk food.”

I knew this answer. I took out all my frustration on him

“Abe b******d , are you insane? Or are you crazy? Are you a gladrag winner or are you Salman Khan. Whats’ wrong with you. Eat paav bhaaji along with me, don’t act smart.”

Riya kept looking at me. She was shocked to see me shouting at Amit. We looked at each other and smiled. Riya also laughed. We had paav bhaaji and Pani Puri. Riya wanted ice-cream also. I wonder why girls are crazy about ice cream. Maybe they like to waste their boyfriend’s money.

“Hey Amit, come we will go for a walk.” Neha shouted from far.

“Thank God she realized that even I was here. I thought she would enjoy herself as she wanted and then we would leave.”  I could sense what Amit must be feeling.Riya pushed Amit and told him to go. He left. We were on our own. Swapnil and Anup were still in the water I thought. I could not see them. I thought maybe they had gone for a smoke. Even I felt like it. However, Riya was besides me. I ignored the temptation.

Even we went for a long walk. Holding hands, looking at each other, leaving world behind and just love all around…Romance filled the air. I was walking so close to her that we hardly had any space in between.

“Jaan how much do you love me?” Riya asked me.

I went down on the knees again and said

Last time I proposed to you in front of five people, today I propose you in front of 1000 people. I love you and its growing rapidly day by day. I still feel currents when you touch me. I still feel it’s my first kiss whenever I kiss you. I love you. I love your luscious lips. I love your caring nature. I will drop a tear in this sea. The day when someone will find this tear from the sea, I will stop loving you.  
We hugged each other. I pinched her cheeks.

After sometime, we left. Neha and Riya wanted to go shopping to Nariman point and Colaba. It was about 3pm. 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 Colaba 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 both the girls did not like anything. We boys decided to go somewhere else. We told Neha and Riya that they could continue, we would join them in sometime. We left towards tapri.

“Amit you really don’t smoke or you said it because Neha was there with you?” Anup asked him.

“I am serious. I never tried and do not want to try.” He replied.

“Superb yaar. Why do you require money then? No smoking. No boozing. No junk food. Neha has got the cheapest boyfriend in city” Swapnil said it and we all laughed.

“Amit, whats your 1
^st
sem  result.” Swapnil asked him.

“3kt. BEE, MECHANICS AND MATHS 1.”

“How can you get a kt? I mean you must be attending college and classes regularly. You don’t have any time pass like we have.” Anup said

“Oh stop it yaar. Stop talking about fucking engineering.” It frustrated me.

After some time Riya called me and said that their shopping had finished. We went near the shop where they were standing. I loved the chappals she had bought for herself. She had also bought one t-shirt for me. It was cool. She gave me a sweet smile

“Thank you jaan. I love you a lot” I put my hands on her shoulder.

We went to Mc Donald’s and had a burger each. It was already 6pm. We decided to leave.

“How are we going” Amit asked.

“Do one thing, you, all go, Riya and I will come by Taxi directly.” I looked at Riya and she was surprised. I just wanted to be alone with her. I wanted to end the day spending some time with her.

They agreed and decided to go by train. They left.

“Any surprise?” she asked me with eyes wide open.

“No jaan. I just wanted you and me to be together. Nothing else. Let’s leave” 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 also to come to your house and tell your Mom you were roaming around with me?”Riya smiled at me.

“Don’t worry. I won’t forget it this time.” Still Riya kept the bag beside her. Riya started asking me about our future.

“Jaan, I want to marry you.” She kissed me on my lips saying this.

This is her common trick to fool me and make me accept whatever she wanted. However, marriage? I had thought from the first day that we were moving rather fast. How could I marry so early? This was not possible.

“Jaan please.” She requested me. “Are you going crazy jaan? What marriage and all? Is it a joke? It’s not that funny.”

“Do you mean you will not marry me? Is it so? “She shouted at me. Who could make her understand it was not funny.

Finally, 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? What happened to you now? Its late Aadi…”

“Shut up and don’t argue.” I kissed her on her lips. That’s the best way to keep someone’s mouth closed.

We reached Dadar. I gave the driver the fare and asked Riya to walk along with me. We were near plaza bus stop. I told her where we were going.

“We are going to Siddhivinayak temple”

“Why, now? We could have come some days later. What  was the need now? What is going on in your mind?”

“We are marrying” as I said this she was shocked. She went cold.

“Jaan...I was not that serious. How can we marry?”

“Why, don’t you want to marry me now? If you want to then come along with me. We are not doing legal marriage. However, we will take seven promises in front of the God as in a marriage.
7 phere.
 I have decided what will be the 7 promises. Are you ready?”

She kept on looking at me for sometime and then gave a huge smile. The world was in her eyes. I could feel the way she held my hand had changed in a few seconds. It was more matured. I loved the moment. We reached Siddhivinayak temple. We entered the temple and took the blessings. Pandits do not allow anyone to stand near the image for a long time. They just pushed us away. We sat on the marble inside the temple.  I asked her permission to start. She agreed. I told her to remove her gold necklace.

MARRIAGE BEGINS

I said

We will make 7 promises in front of the God. Then we will be husband and wife unofficially. Is it fine?

She agreed. I took her hand in mine.

Promise 1. We will always be together.

Promise me jaan; 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 too promise it.

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.

Promise 2. We will never fight.

Promise me even if we go wrong in some decision or have minor disagreements in future we won’t fight. We will always love each other and make each other smile. No fights I also promise it.

I promise Aadi… I will never fight. Even if I think of fighting, I will stop talking  to you but not 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 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 sweet times we spent in past. I too promise it.

I promise Aadi… I won’t let our love fade. This will never happen. I just can’t think of it. 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 I am lying to you or anything else, you will put that thought out of your mind. You will always trust me. I too 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 too 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 between 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 relationship. I just want you in my present and future.

Promise no7 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 even, I promise I will complete my engineering and get placed in some good company.

I put the gold necklace round  her neck. She cried. This is the moment a girl waits for. This is the moment, which comes once in a lifetime. But for us it will be 2 times. We were standing in front of the God, happy together and with so many promises. Even the God would have had no choice but to accept us.
Our relationship has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. We took one more step ahead in our relationship….

Aditya gets married to Riya unofficially.

                   
BEGINNING  OF THE END

                                           E
xam time again. This time I wanted to study hard. Seconf Half of the year is dangerous.There are chances of getting dropout They can make your life hell. I had heard this from seniors. I was almost done with every subject this time including First semester papers. Even Riya had studied hard. We wanted to show folks at home that our relationship would not affect our studies. Riya had promised my Mom. She always forced me to study. She used to study herself so that I could study with her. This time even submission were smooth. I did not face any problem from any professor. This increased my confidence. I wanted to show mom what Riya could do in my life. Everyone was studying this time. Everyone was serious.

One after the other papers came and went. It was our last paper. Maths 2. The toughest paper in semester 2. However, I had studied for it. I had done a few topics of differential equation and rectifications. I was confident of passing. We had decided to drink the whole night after this paper. I had said this to Riya also. She gave me permission. After all one year in engineering was over. We should celebrate it. I did not allow Riya to join us. If girls were with us, then Poptates Restro Bar was the only option nearby. We wanted strong beer and not draught beer. Therefore, I told her to stay back at home. I promised her that I would meet her day after tommorw.

The paper started. It was not that good. It was a typical paper like every year. Tough. Still I had written, as much was needed to clear the subject.We came out of the classroom.

“I can’t believe it’s the end of one year in engineering. We will go to the second year.” Anup said.

“Seriously, even I can’t believe it’s the end of 1
^st
year. Let’s get naughty tonight with lots of bottles and cigarettes.” This was the first time I was going to drink. I had never touched beer earlier. I was excited. No guilt feeling this time. It was the end of 1
^st
year.

“Bachha, be within limits. Don’t drink too much. I don’t want you to get used to it. Please promise me you won’t drink too much.”

“Ok sweetheart. I won’t. Promise.”

We left home. I told everyone at home that I was going to spend night at Sameer’s place. Our plan was to drink until 1am and then sleep at Sameer’s house. His parents were away for 2 days. It was the night of fun. It was the night for my first drink.