*** Say it again ***
PART 1
He had met her five years ago. He was in his last year of college, she had just joined. He still remembered how she'd looked on that day - oily plated hair, she wore a plain light green salwar kameez, a blue dupatta. Her notebook was hugged tightly to her chest, and she was looking around fearfully.
" My. freaky. cousin" his brother's then girlfriend, now wife, Rashi Shah had grumbled in irritation later that day.
She didn't look so freaky, he'd thought. But he had no intention of having this discussion with Rashi. So he'd just raised a questioning eyebrow at her, but had not bothered with details. But Rashi never shut up, when she had started grumbling about her cousin, he had slipped away.
He had never spoken to Rashi's cousin for the first few months, but he often spotted her in the hallways, moving from one class to other, and she was always invariably surrounded by catcalls and sniggering.
He almost felt sorry for her, but he hadn't bothered to stop the jerks. A few more months passed by as strangers.
One day, he'd found out that his then girlfriend, Anita, was cheating on him. After punching the bas***d senseless, he'd stormed out of the blasted empty classroom that he'd found them in.
No one dared come in his way. They all scurried away, taking one look at his twisted face. But she had had the nerve.
"Ahemji" a soft voice had called him. He immediately stopped - No one ever called him ji around here. He whirled around to find her looking at him fearfully.
She jumped back a little on seeing his face twisting in anger. She timidly held out a book, "Ji, this is yours" she said.
He glanced at it - it was his diary. He muttered a harsh 'thank you', snatched it out of her hand and stormed away without giving her a second look.
And that was how they first met. That was their first 'conversation'.
A few days later he'd had to stay back late in college for his final project. It was quite late when he was leaving. The college was deserted but for the drama team who had stayed back for practice.
He had found her in the parking lot, sitting alone and glancing at the college building every two minutes. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't even thanked her for his diary the other day. He walked up to her, damn; he didn't even know her name. He cleared his throat. She looked up at him and jumped back in surprise. Quickly shooting up from her seat, she stammered, " Ji ' W-Woh mein, I'm waiting for Rashi ben"
He glanced at the books that had tumbled from her lap when she'd shot up like that. He bent down to pick it up, "Rashi is at drama practice" he told her, handing her the book.
She bit her lip, "Oh!" she said, looking downcast. "Theek hai, I'll go home by myself" she said, "Jai Shree Krishna" she folded her hands in greeting and turned around.
She didn't look too confident. "Suno" he called out. She stopped and turned, "I'll drop you home"
Her eyes widened at that, "Nahi. I - I'll take a rickshaw" she looked and sounded alarmed. He wondered if he was that scary.
He shook his head, "It's too late" he said firmly. She checked her watch, bit her lip more and then looked up at him doubtfully.
He smiled at her, "It's not a problem, um -"
"Gopi" she said a small smiling forming on her tensed face.
"Gopi" he repeated, without waiting for her he walked to his car. She followed him silently and slid into the passenger seat.
The first few minutes passed in absolute silence. He usually spoke very little, and given his current mood he fully intended for whoever it was with him to shut up. He didn't want to talk and he didn't want to be talked to.
But till date, he hadn't figured out what it was about Gopi that they had spent the entire 45 minutes to Rashi's home talking. He remembered that it has started with her soft voice breaking the silence. With her charming hesitation she'd said softly, "Ji -Thank you". That had reminded him that he'd been a jerk the other day, and he'd proceeded to thank her for the diary.
But he had intended to stop there. Again, he didn't know what magic the girl had possessed that he had blurted everything about Anita to her. About how he and Anita had been childhood sweethearts, about how he was going to marry her and about how she had cheated on him.
For days he'd chastised himself for being an idiot - for trusting someone he didn't even know, and blurting things out like that. Mostly, he'd been irritated with himself for losing control like that.
But in the months to come he had realized that Gopi was a warm person; anyone could open up to her. She would never judge you by what you had to say, and that made her very easy to talk to.
That was exactly what he had needed then. Someone to talk to. He didn't have any friends in college. He kept to himself. He was moody, he was reclusive. He'd only had Anita, and she was gone now.
Gopi had listened patiently, not saying anything. At that time, he had thought that she was wise enough not to say a "its okay" or offer him advice. He had thought that she knew he only needed a shoulder to throw away this burden.
But he had been wrong, when he'd asked Gopi a couple of months later, she'd laughed and told him, "Ahem Ji, I didn't know what to say"
But that wasn't true; she had told him something he carried with him even today. Just before getting down from the car she'd looked at him with a smile and said, "Trust KanhaJi, he knows what he is doing"
After that day, in their years together, whenever something had gone wrong, she was always there with her optimism and complete faith, so much that after a point, even he had started believing that.
While getting down, she'd folded her hands in greeting and smiled up at her, "Dhanyavad Aham Ji. Jai Shree Krishna"
He raised his brow, but returned her greeting, "Jai Shree Krishna" he'd paused for effect, "Gopi Ji"
She looked at him with wide eyes, a giggle escaped her throat, she tried to turn it into a cough - failed, and then turning red in embarrassment, she muttered a hasty good night. Turning around, she ran into her home.
He'd watched her in amusement, and then gotten into his car. Just as he was about to drive away, he noticed her at her table, writing something - very furiously. She stopped for a second, frowned and slapped her forehead.
Suddenly, she looked up and saw him. Again her eyes widened, but she smiled at him. He nodded and smiled back before driving away.
And thus began their story.
****
I hope that was enjoyable. I tried the whole reminiscing thing for the first time with this story. I hope I was able to do justice with it.
Mrids
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