Rendezvous with 'Her' - Part 1

“Yeah sure!”, she said. I could not believe this was actually happening. For the first time, things were actually going the way just like I wanted them to go. You might say it wasn’t such a big deal, but to me it was. I had been dreaming of this one moment, and waiting for it to come true for three years.

This is the story of a guy’s first crush ever. But unlike usual crush situations, this one persisted, for a very long time, and brought about changes that completely changed the guy’s life forever. I am that guy. And because I know that many of my school guys will be reading this, I’ll change the name of the girl whom it is all about. For now let’s call her ‘Priya’.

It hadn’t been this way always. I was a regular guy, who attended classes regularly, wore simple clothes, talked less, had a decent academic record and no presence when it came to sports or any other bodily activities, who used to weigh 108 kilograms, but always thought that it doesn’t matter how you look. I was a guy who’s set of priorities never had the words ‘Fashion’ and ‘Girls’ in it. I was the ‘brother boy’, the guy who any girl’s parents wouldn’t mind their daughter having friendship with, because they know that this guy is like a brother, and this is what the girl thinks too. But ironically, I was too shy to talk to girls of my class either.

But it was the year 2002 that brought the change. I was in class 11^th. We were supposed to host a farewell party for our seniors. I was told that I had to partner with Priya for compeering. I had seen this girl before, she had been there since class 1^st, but we never talked, and neither did I feel the urge to. She came, we met and we started working on the task we had got. For the next one week, we used to sit daily to write our scripts. But gradually, these meetings changed to hours of daily talking and laughing. She was so much fun, I never realized how time passed talking to her. She had always been there, I wonder why I had never noticed how beautiful she was, how beautiful a smile she had, how she was the most awesome person ever. The way she used to talk, the way she smiled all the time I talked, the way she used to look at me, the way she used to move her hands in the air to express herself when she talked, each and everything made me more and more crazy about her. But then there was Kunal(name changed), the in-charge of the compeering group. One day he came out of nowhere and asked, or rather ordered me to switch groups with him, and to compeer with some other girl. I said I didn’t want to, but he didn’t listen. And then he said, “Is it because of Priya? You like her don’t you? That is why you won’t let it go, isn’t it?” This was pretty easy to guess because 80% guys in the school were after her (the rest 20% had girlfriends). But how could I, a fatso nerd who was no match to Priya, accept that this was true? And so I laughed and replied, “What? Are you mad? No! Of course not. You want to change groups? Let’s do it.” I hated Kunal for this. For the next week, till the farewell program, everyday, I used to look at Priya all the time, taking care that no one notices. But that one week made me realize how I felt about her. I started believing that she was my first love.

I saw other guys talking to her all the time, as if trying to hit on her. I believed I was not like others, it wouldn’t suit me hitting on or trying to impress someone. But the more prominent reason was that I didn’t have anything that could impress her. I was way out of shape, wore big glasses, wasn’t good at any sports, in other words, I had nothing a girl would like. But I was decent at studies, that was my only possession. And I felt that if I could get through JEE and go into an IIT, that would surely impress her. I decided to work hard day and night, but I got to get into an IIT. And I did so, for two continuous years. Everytime I got tired studying, I’d think of Priya, and that this was my only chance to…, you know. She would act as a driving force for me, and then I would study again. Not that I wasn’t career-oriented, but she was a much bigger reason than that.

In class 12^th, I was unexpectedly made the head-boy of the school, and given a gold-medal. I thought this might help in impressing Priya, and it did, but not to that extent. She was a friend till now, we talked every now and then. But now she was a friend who took academic consultation from me. “That’s it?”, I used to think. “Is that all I get for all that I’ve done? She now asks me for notes, but is that it? Why can’t she chat with me like she does with all the other guys, crack jokes, hang out and have fun? What’s wrong?”. I got the answer pretty soon. There was a picnic, and as usual Priya hung out with the so-called “Cool dudes” of the class, and I was sitting there, talking to myself. After the picnic, I saw the photographs, and then I realized what was wrong. I was so fat! And then I had thoughts of joining the gym, but preparing for JEE took most of my time, and so gym wasn’t an option. So I continued my JEE preparation, more vigorously due to the recently developed thoughts.