Most of us have memories of school and college days and we all cherish to ours dearly more than anything else. Small secrets, our first infatuation (often felt as first love or love at first sight) happens during this time. Everything is very rosy and romantic when the same happens and we actually have a heartbeat competing the Bullet Train of Japan when we see our “love”.
My College Diary is inspired by a friend who used to actually maintain a Diary those days with small tit bits added every day including what we share in the college canteen to which bus we took home. My post here is a version of the same with some effort to paint it pinker with me playing the central role (I am playing his character since I would not want to embarrass him at this age by declaring his little secret). It’s a mix of the college diary and my feelings now when I see myself then. So sometimes you will find me speaking on myself during the narration. I am sure he will smile after reading this.
My memories are many and rosier than others I guess. I probably was the only one who would fall in love the first time with every beautiful girl I saw in the college in my first year. New college, new locality, new faces, new fragrances always were a turn on. So many funny things happen to you when you have such a “large” heart which can accommodate many. I was good in looks (At least I believed so all the while) and I was outspoken. I was a good Orator in school days and had the confidence of approaching anyone and introduce myself unlike other shy guys who kept things in their heart and probably regret it even today. Neither was I like the backbenchers who are happy passing comments only and do not actually have the guts to speak up their heart. So I considered myself much stronger a contender than them when it came to matters of heart.
Girls those days were more attracted to sports persons rather than the academics probably because even girls wanted to enjoy their freedom of being in the College and move away from the class room for a while. Since I was good in Cricket and that too Batting, I would always be the one to bat one down. Whenever we had these inter class matches, the girls would crowd around to cheer the boys. This made my job easy and I would try my best to impersonate the classy shots and style of Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri and it used to work a lot. I had already fallen in love with over a dozen beautiful faces by the time the college Picnic was planned and had managed to be friends with all of them. So I was a popular character by the time we had boarded the bus going to a beach for an overnight stay.
Since Overnight stay has always been a problem for girls, only the bold came. The studious types were probably refrained by their parents from coming. Why are we talking of girls, even some book worms of same sex skipped the picnic!! Nevertheless, we were there at the venue by 9am and all ready to have fun. Like always all dived into the waters and had fun for almost 3 hours till we all were drenched and dead tired. We all came out of the waters only when the hunger pangs were unbearable. We had carried some food and some was arranged by the college. We all dived in and sat in small groups to dig in the food. I kept watching the beautiful faces while eating and imagining myself with them on the seashore, stealing glances quickly ensuring no one notices me. A normal day so far…the change was about to come.
Post lunch and after relaxing for a while, the girls asked us boys to make two teams and play cricket on the beach. The game was to be decided by the girls, the teams were to be decided by the girls, the umpiring and the commentary was to be done by the girls….we were only supposed to play. So the entire Order was changed and I was sent in to open the innings. Like always I took it the onus on me to be the solo guy to impress all the beautiful damsels present there and as luck would have had it, I actually started paying well. The ball was coming on the bat much slower than when we play on college grounds and I batted with ease and comfort. It gave me plenty of chance to show off and a Big show off that I am, I took full advantage of the same, with the non-playing girls cheering and motivating me on every classy shot. I was in full flow blowing kisses and waving to the girls, responding to their cheering and was basking the limelight I was put in to. What I failed to notice was a few of the girls actually “fell in love” (Infatuation it is as always) and their look became a love drowned stare. I noticed the girl umpiring was one of them and she took a second more to declare a four or a six after I had hit it because she had her eyes glued on me. I realized this much later and knew that I had finally managed to make a few hearts beat. Little did I know what was in store for me in the short future of that picnic. Nevertheless my team won the match down hands down and I scored an unbeaten 126.
We all were dead tired and post the sunset, we had only strength for some Antakshiri ( a game played with chain of songs picking the last alphabet of the finished song to start a new one- very popular those days) Since it was our first picnic out and the college staff had already retired to sleep, the small little adventures were ready to be done. A few boys had managed to smuggle in a few bottles of Whiskey and quickly the necessary arrangements were made. Boys in this age are the most notorious and want to make everyone taste a sip of the “daaru”. So Coke bottles were used to camouflage and drinks were poured in the same and then distributed in glasses. Once a boy or girl takes the sip and complains of the soft drink not being a soft drink, all other pile up on him/her..”Chal na, abhi le liya na already, abhi finish kar” ( Since you already took a sip, now finish it off) and in 99% cases the poor boy/girl agrees to finish it.
Some of us were really tired by the day’s activities and went off to sleep and others still sat around a small camp fire we had made finishing the drinks they had. I was hit by the single glass of the “coke” pretty well and was just warming myself up near the fire when I should have first sensed trouble!
The girl who sat on the second bench of my own class and whom I had given my heart on the first day of the college came and sat next to me. After a small chat she bluntly told me “I love you”. My heart started the race with the bullet train of Japan (and probably beat the train by many miles) the whole tipsy feeling which I had after drowning the drink was gone. I was sitting bolted up not knowing what to say as this was the first time some beautiful girl had said this to me (Little did I know that time that this is all infatuation). Before I could react she blushed and ran away. I was stark awake now, the aching bones due to the whole day in water and the cricket match was gone. I was not in a position to think as my mind was blank. I was trying to think how I fell in love with this girl the first time I saw her and was trying to remember the incidents when I may have impressed her. My eyes were closed and I was trying hard to focus.
Suddenly two soft hands were on my eyes and someone had held them from behind me. I put my hands on those hands and they were indeed soft and I realized I was not sitting on the sand. I was probably 4-5 feet above ground level going up slowly and the law of gravity was no longer applicable to me. I laughed at Newton for a second even then ( I thought I had beaten his Law) as I told myself I am not coming down now…
As I slowly removed the soft as silk hands from my eyes and turned to look at the girl who had just said “I Love you”, I nearly felt my heart come of my mouth, my jaws dropped and I shot up into oblivion faster than a NASA Rocket Launch.
We had the most beautiful girl from the commerce stream who had probably got the maximum roses in the college and who had may boys running after her standing barely 4 inches away from me. The look in her eyes said it all. She was head over heals on me right now and was looking at me with dreamy eyes. With a husky voice enough to bring back the dead to life, she whispered in my ears “I love you” and with a small peck on my cheek she withdrew slowly into darkness behind the campfire glow…
I remember being in suspended state in the outer space till early hours of morning and landed on mother earth just before Dawn. Though the landing was safe I was still dazed and in a confused state. All these days I had tried to give my heart to all the beautiful apsaras of the college and no one took it, and now here I was with a life turning cricket match post which I had not one but two girls saying the same thing to me in a span of about 10 minutes and sending me to space by their words. What do I do? I was utterly confused. The whole of the previous day activities physically, the drink and then the two 10,000 volts Electric Jolts with a “I love you” had left me drained out of strength to think further. I retired to my room and crashed out telling myself that I will take a call on this only when I wake up the next day and continue writing my Diary….
‘This post is my entry for ‘My College Diary’
– Uttpal K
I would like to invite my fellow bloggers to participate in ‘My College Diary’ Contest.
My Yatra Diary… along with collegedunia.com is very excited to host ‘My College Diary’ contest: Cash Prizes Worth RS. 10,000 to be Won! for the all the stories that you have got to share.
Uttpal K
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good website
Thank you Jyoti… 🙂