Withered Rose II

And she stood there in tears! This was not how she pictured it; she had foreseen a life of togetherness headed towards forever and now two years and a whirlwind of a romance later, it was all over. She sat beside him probably for the last time on the beach. She told him it’s time they moved on but it was she who was hurt most.

It’s one of those things Tariq admired about her. The free spirited and ‘in the moment’ living Anitha Basu; who until a moment ago was his girl friend and wife to be. At 17, it did seem like they had it all planned out. He would go to medical school, become a doctor and then comeback for her; then they would get married et al. In the mean time she would stay and go onto to finish her BA in journalism and also convince her parents that Mohammed Tariq was the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Tariq stood there frozen as he recollected the way she smiled with those dimples when he professed how madly he was in love with her. He had even met her parents and found favour with them; had they known his intentions they would have clobbered him though.

Anitha’s parents had moved from Kolkata to Chennai years ago; she had gone to St.Bede’s Higher secondary from Standard VII onward. It was then that she met Tariq, the fat rich kid from Chennai. He always reminded her of ‘rasagulla’, her favourite Bengali sweet; he was like plum pudding with thick rimmed glasses. Tariq was an intelligent kid and was always a topper in class; the roundness of his face was testimony to the successful leather business his father and elder brother ran. They had known each other since the year she joined but it was in XI that she began seeing changes in Tariq. How he laughed at her dumb jokes and looked away each time she looked at him. She liked him alright; he was everything she was not. Anitha was a strong girl; her love made her blind. She truly loved Tariq; but in time she grew up and he did not. After all how many ‘high school’ sweet hearts stay together.

She went on to attend the Queen Mary’s college in Chennai. And she had begun to enjoy the life there. She missed Tariq very much; he had gone to a Medical School in Canada. Though he called often too, she rarely answered his calls. She wanted to begin anew. And then one day in college he came, initially he was some random senior at her college...

Indranil Malik had the most awkward hello she had heard. He fumbled many time over, she found it funny. And when she called him, Sir; like all seniors were addressed he blushed! She found him to be amusing. It was later that she heard of Indran and how he was the ‘goody-goody’ icon of the college. He was just a year senior to her. The awkward hello soon turned in a coffee and then one day he blurted it out...