A love story !

I had been thinking to write about this love-story for the past one week but somehow could not manage to fit it into my current schedule. Today I happened to watch “Little Manhattan” at the request of a friend and the memories of those days became afresh.

I was in 4th grade then. I won’t call myself an all-rounder, but I was quite good at studies as well as in extra-curricular activities. I remember participating in 3 different song and dance programs in the Annual Function of our school. Due to shortage of time in between those programs, I even had to change my dress at backstage with two boys of my class holding a sheet so that it doesn’t become a free show for the public. Those were the days when I didn’t feel any different from the ‘boys’. Actually, most of my close friends have always been boys.

As far as class rankings were concerned, the position holders remained more or less the same. Pats being 1st, Kash always came second. There was competition for the 3rd position between Madz and me. We were all good friends, but I was more close to Kash and Madz.

Then one day something odd happened. One of our teachers, as soon as he came to the class asked Pats, Madz and me to stand up. My memory is a bit blurred as far as that moment is concerned. I don’t know how, but I came to know that Madz had confided in Pats that he ‘loved me’ and ‘wanted to marry me’. And it was Pats (why did he do that???) who gave this piece of good news to our teacher. Don’t remember what happened to Madz thereafter. I was surprised to know about Madz and his confession, not understanding a bit of what ‘Love’ actually means. Madz was a good friend and we used to share the same bench often. I liked him but I had no idea why he said something like that.

Personally I didn’t pay any heed to this matter until lunch hour when my friend Nils convinced me that the incident was an insult to me and that I should complain to the Principal. And there I was in the Principal’s Office telling her the whole story. Did Madz get shouted upon? Did he cry? How was he punished? All these questions remained unanswered for me. Madz and me hardly talked after that incident. As the academic year ended Madz took admission in some other school.

After another year, I changed my school too. It was a pleasant surprise to me when I saw Madz playing with a group of boys in the school field. Sometime later we even bumped into each other but we didn’t talk. For the next 5 years we remained in the same school without even a single conversation. After that we lost touch.

19 years after that fateful day (just a week ago), when I got to know of his feelings for me, I found him once again. This time, both of us being a lot more mature, the first conversation had to be over this matter. That incident has been the highlight of our relationship. Both of us had a good laugh, thinking about that day. We have come a long way…

Love is strange!

If the person involved is a 10 year old school-going kid, give it any other name. But the definition still remains the same, "something which makes us select an ordinary person and put him/her at an extraordinary place of our life" !