OS: O, Gum Hain Kissi Ke Pyaar Mein

Computers are so complicated, I complained.

What is complicated about them, Khushi, he asked something between a smirk and anger on his face.

 

I looked at him defiantly and said, why can't the alphabets be in order? Why can't we have A to Z instead of Q to M?

 

He laughed like it was the funniest thing ever and I was immediately pissed off. I slammed the laptop shut, got up and said, bhaad mein gaya kamputer aur bhaad mein jayiye aap, Arnav Singh Raizada.

 

I went and slept on my bed, my back turned against him. I knew he wanted to talk, apologise even for not being the patient teacher that he promised to be, but I was done. I don't know what made me ask him to teach me how to use computers. He was so impatient, always calling me stupid. I was not stupid.

 

Wait. I will show him, I decided as I drifted into wonderland.

 

**

 

I was watching Salman Khan songs on Youtube. Bless NK, for teaching me everything about the Internet so easily and so patiently. Take that, Laad Governor.

 

Gmail went ding at me then.

 

Hey, wifey, what you doing, he typed.

I smiled stupidly into the computer screen. Even just seeing the name Arnav Singh Raizada on a screen made me feel goose bumps. Thank God he couldn't see my face now. Wait, is the webcam off? Yes, it is. Good. Don't want him to think I am pining for him.

 

I am writing a letter, I said, to a boy, I added as an afterthought and stuck my tongue out at the screen.

 

Oh yeah, he typed. I could see his raised eyebrow at the other end of the screen.

 

Yes. A special friend from Lucknow, I added.

 

Pause.

Laad Governor ki bolti bandh, I thought and congratulated myself.

 

Write to me, he said, after what seemed like the longest time. I imagined his brown eyes turning into liquid, poring into me, part pleading but mostly with a sense of proprietary.

 

No, I said and he logged out.

 

**

Suddenly July in Delhi felt cold. The Salman Khan song was winding up saying, yours and my love story is a tough one, can't be described in a word or two.

 

Hmm.

I sighed and clicked on compose mail.

 

O, gum hai kisi ke pyaar mein dil subaah shaam, I wrote. Fingers hovering over the keys, I hesitated, wondering what more to say. That said it all, didn't it?

I hesitated for one painful second and then clicked on send. It was gone. Suddenly I was awash with so many conflicted feelings; love, nervousness, regret. I closed the laptop and just then there was an unmistakable rasp on the door. It was firm, yet soft.

 

Yup, the husband was home.

 

 

*** Gum hai kissi ke pyaar mein dil subah shaam = lost in the love of someone all day and night***