The girl asked him not to meet her anymore, she even refused to talk with him on phone, he was addicted to her voice, her face, her smile and everything else and one cannot stay away from an addiction for long. All the boys had conspired against him and had reported a lot of things to her boy-friend with added flavors. They had exaggerated it to such an extent that her boy-friend had to come and meet him. They had created such a scene that he was looked upon with disgust by everyone, as if loving someone was a crime. How could she leave him with such an ease?
The love story began several months ago, when the preparations for the fifth semester were going on. The girl and the boy had become friends after four semesters. The boy had always tried to befriend her, but was never successful. The girl, Susane, was good in studies while on the other hand the boy, Pom, loved everything else other than studies.
The best way to make a girl your friend is to make her your teacher. She used to show him the tricks to solve the sums which were very much probable to come in the exams. After all they were they were all pursuing engineering, they knew the tricks of studying before the exam. They couldn’t even relax and exams began, during each exam Pom would go and see Susane and wish her good luck, which he needed the most. Exams were over in the blink of an eye and then it was the time to go home. They were then four hundred kilometers apart but distance did not bother them as they knew that they would not face any trouble, moreover they were not that much close at that point of time.
Facebook helped a lot to bridge the gap between them; they used to chat for hours, which couldn’t even be counted. They had gone gaga over each other. Sometimes Pom would be angry on Susane and at times she would be angry on his anger. Pom had already developed feelings for her and had started trusting her, same was the condition of Susane but she would not express it as she already had a boy friend that had got no time for her, she was a victim of distance.
Pom was not ready to give up, he had never wished for anything from her. He told her, “I don’t want anything from you; I don’t want you to love me, just let me love you.” He was very serious about her; feelings were increasing exponentially day after day. They were so much attached by then that they were not ready to anything but chat with each other.
It was then time for summer training. Susane was supposed to perform the training with her boy friend and it was somehow killing him from inside but he was not able to do anything. In order to keep himself calm he used to tell himself, “I am not serious, this is temporary,” but inside he knew that he was not able to resist the feeling. Pom asked her every day about the training. Soon the training came to an end and the vacations were also going to be over soon.
Their college had organized a fair and Susane was going to perform, so he had left for college as he did not want to miss watching it. Pom had also performed and the show was all over a success story. Pom had made himself proud by winning a prize in the debate.
From then on-wards they used to meet every day during the college hours. Pom was one of the most irregular and most tardy boys, but then he had become the most punctual boy and regular too. He used to get ready as early as nine A.M. and leave for college in the next hour. Pom reached the classroom ten minutes before Susane. This kind of change is easily observed and hence it was observed by everyone.
They used to stay together for the whole day, wherever Susane went, Pom went with her like Lovely Singh. That increased the temperatures of the haters but it was under control. Then began another drama in their college, NAAC was going to come for an inspection and Pom was the first boy selected for the team that would face NAAC, and she was also selected in the team. Every day they would sit for a meeting on how to face NAAC and as a result classes were not going according to the routine. They had to come to college as they had to attend the meeting and so during the free time they used to sit in the class and chat. “Good days do not last forever,” so was the case for them, haters started spreading rumors that Pom and Susane stay in the class in order to get close. Is it a crime if a boy and a girl stay in a classroom just to talk with each other? The worst thing about that place was the mentality, people did not belong to the same place but they had strange similarities. They had come from various corners of the state and the country but people with the same thought process had formed a union.
People started talking about them that too did not bother them. Year mates had started creating distance with them. They kept on meeting with each other and talking with each other. They used to talk for hours every day without bothering anyone but somehow everyone was bothered, what made everyone else unhappy? They could not find a clue.
Then came the day of the inspection. Everything was up to the mark, Pom had answered very nicely but once you have got haters, you can’t help. People said that he had not answered properly. A cultural event was organized for the NAAC visitors, Pom was the host of the evening and so he was held responsible for everything. Let me tell you how. After about five performances, one of the NAAC visitors called Pom and said,” Please end the show, we are very tired,” Pom said,” Ok sir.” Pom went to the madam in charge about the problem. Mam told to end the show with the best vocals of the college, but then Pom heard that Susane and group were going to perform next. He did not know anything about what had happened. After everything was over, Pom went with Susane and bid her farewell. Then he got to know that, people who could not perform had started talking. They were telling that since there was something between Pom and Susane, he had swapped their performance timings.
Pom did not like back bitching and neither did he like doing that so he went directly to those people and asked if there was any problem. He had made everything clear about his ignorance. The flow was not yet disturbed, everything was going on pretty well. He was in love and was very happy.
Suddenly after some days he heard that his year mates had called her boy friend and had told him stories about them. That was a serious matter of concern for both of them. No matter what, he was not going to leave her. They kept on meeting each other in the college. Pom had stopped talking with those boys who had reported. Susane and Pom were not doing anything wrong, Pom used to love her and in return he was not asking for anything from her, he used to like talking with her and liked her company. They were more friends than lovers; can’t a boy and a girl be friends?
On one sunny day, Pom was playing guitar with some friends on a ground, suddenly the phone rang, it was an unknown number, it said,” I am Susane, you come near the college, ASAP.” She was serious. Pom packed everything u, took a friend with him and cycled his way to the college. There he saw a bunch of year mates, who once used to be his friends, standing against him. That was not the concern for him, what mattered was Susane’s red eyes, her eyes were filled with tears. After seeing that he could not utter a single word, he thought that he was the only person responsible for that situation. He heard everything that her boy friend said without answering back. Pom said only one thing, “Yes, I love her,” when her boy friend had asked him. Pom had to promise Susane’s boy friend that he would never ever meet her or talk with her. He did everything so that she could remain happy without thinking about himself. He had thought that it would be easy to move on but he was wrong.
They are now in the same place, in the same class, but Pom has stopped attending the classes and she doesn't even see his face. Moreover she can’t even see his face or talk with him, otherwise reporters would report it to her boy friend and Pom doesn't want to create anymore problems for her, but it kills him from inside when he has to see her every day. Pom is now surrounded with clouds of depression with no sign of silver lining. Unknowingly Pom had stepped inside a Chakravyu; he doesn't even know what will happen next.
Cigarettes have become his companion now. Either he will get back or the smoke will lead his way to the graveyard. Still Pom says this is not the end yet, despite being isolated and stranded by his year mates. Another year follows, story has just begun.
