She loved him, he loved her & they lived happily ever after – Part 2

 

Narrated earlier…

I was narrating the interesting two decade old love story of Pramod and Susan to our friends.

 Pramod was studying in an engineering college.

He had a huge crush on Vandana but his love was rejected by her as she had no intent of falling in love with anyone. Education was of high priority for her.

Susan, a very beautiful and balanced girl liked Pramod and told  me about her love for him.

Narration continues…

It was six in the evening. Pramod came to my room. I scanned him from top to bottom. I had never seen him looking so handsome. He had taken bath twice in the day for the first time and was dressed neatly. I looked at his slippers. They were torn at the back.

I told him “Wear my sandals. They are much better”. He thanked me and after wearing my sandals walked away.

In about half an hour’s time Pramod and Susan were walking together in the extension area where not many people were around.

“So, Vandana is more beautiful compared to me?” Susan asked.

Pramod replied “Please Sussie do not embarrass me further. It was infatuation. I have immense respect for her after this. I want her to concentrate on studies and wish her a very good future”

Susan remarked “Hey Pramod, hold on. We are not here to fall in love and neglect studies. You know very well that I am second in my class.”

Pramod laughed and said “Please promise me not to talk about Vandana anymore. To tell you the truth I always liked you. I was hesitant as you come from a very rich family”.

It was getting darker. Susan started walking closer to Pramod and held his hand. It was like a jolt for Pramod. He had never held the hands of a girl. He held her hand tight. They walked further on the road and she placed her head on his shoulder. Pramod was in seventh heaven.  He stopped and with tears in his eyes said “Sussie, promise me that you will never ever leave me.”

Susan looked into his eyes and said “I shall never ever leave you. My upbringing has been very good. We value human relations very much. I like you not for your looks. I like you as you are very true at heart. In fact I see a child in you which appeals to me. Promise me that you will never leave me even if it comes to opposing your community people”

Pramod held her hands very tightly and replied “I will tell my mother about this during my next visit to Dharwad. I do not have the guts to tell my father. I know my mother will accept this unconditionally. She is an angel. She will in turn convince my father. You will know in days to come that once I commit myself I will not go back. I am soft at heart and will never ever ditch anybody”

Susan had tears in her eyes and said “ I know that you are like this. Please study well and get a good job. You should take care of your family. I anyway am doing well in my studies. We shall take up with our families a year after completion of our course”

The next few days were very exciting in their lives. Every day evening Pramod used to go to the ladies hostel and go out for a walk with Susan. They would stop at eateries and have the street food.

Soon they became the talk of the college. It was obvious as Susan was the most beautiful girl around and Pramod was quiet popular.

I was observing them daily and praying that nothing wrong should happen in the cute love story.

That day in the afternoon Pramod came running to me and said “Did you see the wall of the college?”

“No but what happened?”

“Come with me and see it with your own eyes”

He dragged me to the wall and I saw what was written there.

Someone had written “Pramod Dsouza + Susan Kulkarni” on the wall.

I told him “Take it easy buddy. It was bound to happen. Everyone knows about you guys. Someone has played a dirty trick on you”

“I am worried about Susan”

“Do not worry about her. I know she is a very bold girl. She will face it well”

Daniel  was a far relative of Susan and was her classmate. He also had a secret crush on her. He was not happy with the developments. One day in the college canteen I overheard him talking ill of Pramod. I intervened and warned him to keep away from Pramod and Susan.

That night at around 2 AM there was a knock on my door. I opened it. It was Daniel. I was surprised.

 I asked him “What now?”

He told me “Jaggu bhai wants to meet you and Pramod”

“We shall meet him in the morning. But why now?”

“If you do not come he will come to the hostel and beat you guys”

In about twenty minutes time me, Pramod and Daniel were in Jaggu’s room. He was a senior student whom we used to call as founder member as we had lost count of the number of years he had spent in the college.

He was drunk. He looked at me and said “Hey you mediator. What do you think of yourself? You want to snatch the girl from Daniel”

He then looked at Pramod and said “You go and do pooja in the temple. You have come here to study and stop poking your dirty nose elsewhere. From tomorrow if we see you with Daniel’s girl, you had it”

I was sweating. I never had such experience before. I kept quiet.

Pramod could not. He said “What will you do? Who are you? I will meet Susan. She is my girl. I do not care who this Daniel is”

Jaggu became wild. He got up from his chair went straight to Pramod and slapped him hard. Pramod fell down. Tears came in his eyes. There were red finger marks on his white cheek.

 I looked at Jaggu with anger and shouted “Are you human?”

At this stage Jaggu’s friend got up and gestured me to go out. He lifted Pramod and escorted us to the door and told us to go away.

Next day Susan came to know about this. She went running to the Mechanical department. Shastri sir was taking Turbo Machinery class. She peeped in the window. She could see the red marks on Pramod’s face. She could not hold back. She started sobbing.

Shastri saw her. Susan noticed that Shastri Sir had observed her. She ran out of the department.

She went to the telephone booth in the college and called her brother Samuel. Samuel was a successful businessman in Mangalore. He would go to any extent to keep her happy. On hearing the story he promised her that he would reach her college in a day.

 

The next day we were sitting on the lawn near the college. Samuel was sitting with his friend Purshottam, a local thug. Daniel was standing in front of Samuel. He was shit scared. Samuel warned him pointing his fingers to him “Keep away from Susan. If I hear about you again your hands and legs would be broken .This is a promise made by Purshottam.”

Purshottam added “Samuel anna do not worry about the college thug Jaggu. He is a very small guy. Susan is my sister. I will ensure no one will trouble her henceforth”

I walked up to Samuel and said “Anna please understand that Susan and Pramod love each other very truly. They need your blessings”

Samuel gestured Susan to come closer to him. He hugged her and kissing on her forehead said “My angel sister whatever you do is OK with me. I shall talk to father at the right time”

I looked around. There was pin drop silence in Sujan Chandy’s house. Everyone was fully immersed in my Narration about the love story of Pramod and Susan.

I got up and said “The story ends there. You all know what happened later.”

Mini Mathew clapped. Everyone clapped. Mini had tears in her eyes and she went to Susan, hugged her and said something in Tulu language which we could not understand.

Ranjan spoke “I always had a doubt. I wanted to ask Pramod and Susan”

“Please ask us” Susan said.

Ranjan continued “Did Pramod covert to Christianity or Susan became a Hindu?”

I did not like his question.

Susan smiled. She walked towards  Pramod.

She held his hand and replied “We are Indians first and will remain Indians till we last. Religion is strictly a personal thing for us. Other things do not matter.”

Everyone including Ranjan got up and started clapping in appreciation.

She loved him, he loved her & they lived happily ever after – Part 1

  

We were having a get together at Sujan Chandy’s house. Chandy and his wife Mini Mathew were the perfect hosts.

Susan, Pramod’s wife got up and went to the table where Mini was busy arranging the snacks to be distributed. They both became busy talking to one another in their mother tongue Tulu.

“Please stop talking in a language we cannot comprehend. If continued I shall start off in my pure Malayalam” Chandy said.

We all broke into laughter. The ladies settled down in their respective seats.

Mini said “We  have very good bonding as family friends. I would like to know how many of us had love marriages.”

Immediately Chandy, Ranjan and Pramod lifted their hands. Rest of the males kept quiet.

 Ranjan commented looking at me “Strange isn’t it? A character like you not falling in love and having an arranged marriage”

I smiled and looking at my wife said “Who says it is not a love marriage. The only difference is that we staring loving one another after we got married”.

“So sweet” Susan commented.

Mini added “I agree that ours was a love marriage. But we both belonged to the same community. The real thrill was in the love and marriage of Pramod and Susan. One is a Hindu and other is a Christian. How did it start in the first place?”

Chandy continued “Pramod you are very good speaker on stage. Why don’t you tell us about your love and marriage?”

Before Pramod could open his mouth, Susan got up and came towards me and keeping her hand on my arm said “Pramod will not tell you our story”

She looked at me and continued “He will narrate the story. He is a good Narrator any way. He was with us all through the journey in our Engineering College”

I looked at my wife. She smiled and said “Please carry on and let us know”

I started my Narration.

Almost two decades earlier

Room number 226 was filled with students. It was the chosen hall for all competitions. It had a nice podium and good acoustics fit for those times.

Pramod was standing outside the room and was peeping through the window searching for someone. I was conducting the event and had a list of speakers. Pramod was the next speaker. The topic for the debate was “Will computers replace humans and result in unemployment?”

Susan came to me and said “Already three speakers have finished and after Pramod four more will remain. We should be able to wind up in the next forty five minutes. I looked at Pramod. He was searching for her in the audience. I understood my friend’s anxiety.

 I patted on his shoulder and said “She is sitting in the third row to the left”

I walked up to the podium and announced “The next speaker is Pramod Kulkarni”

Pramod started speaking. It was fantastic speech and most of the time he was looking at Vandana Joshi. Pramod had a huge crush on her.

I came out of the side door and saw Susan standing near the window. She was looking at Pramod with all admiration. I looked at Pramod. He was speaking looking at Vandana. I realized that there was a triangular admiration story going on.

The next Sunday afternoon lunch at the hostel mess was good for a change. After having food I was feeling bored. I locked my room and walked to Pramod’s room. He was lying on the bed reading a sports magazine. His room wall had about 50 photos of Steffi Graf pasted. I shook him up and asked he if would join me for the evening show of the new movie “Pushpaka Vimanam”, a silent movie starring Kamal Hassan.

Pramod said “No am not interested. I heard that the hero will not be able to convey about his love to his lady in time and at the end he loses her”

I replied “It is only a story man. By the way why are becoming so sentimental about it. Are you in love with any girl?”

He blushed and said “You know her”

I realized that our man had gone many steps ahead and said “have you told Vandana about it?’

He replied “No I have not. I tried many times but could not. Something prevents me from doing so”

I patted him and said “Pramod listen to me. Loving a girl is fine. Think of your family also. Your father is a high school teacher and your mother is a tireless house wife. You have a sister who will very soon be ready for getting married. If I am not wrong the future of your family depends on you and your future job. Please bear this in mind”. I got up from his cot and walked away.

One month passed and it was raining that evening. I looked out of the window of my hostel room. Not many vehicles were plying on the road. There was a knock on the door.

“Come in” I said.

Pramod pushed the door and barged into the room and fell flat on my cot. He looked very upset. I realized that he was drunk. I walked up to him and told “Hey friend how come you are drunk so early?”

He looked at me. He eyes were very red in color. I could see tears in his eyes. I was concerned. He immediately hugged me tight and started crying “It is all over”

“What is over?”

“I have missed her”

“Vandana did not accept you?”

“I went to her hostel today in the evening and asked her to join me for a cup of tea. We both went to the restaurant. I got all the courage and told her I was in love with her ”

 He continued “She looked at me and said that she had no such intention towards me and she had come to the engineering college to study and not fall in love. Saying so she got up and went away”

I did not understand what to do. This guy was fully depressed. Pramod turned out to be a real nut. He did not propose to her in the right way. Who will take a girl to an Udupi hotel order for two teas and tell about his love for her?

I patted on his back and told him to take some rest and went out of the room.

Two days later I was walking towards the canteen in the college.

 Susan came to me and said “Where is Pramod? Not to be seen for two days.”

I told her about his talk with Vandana and how she had rejected his love.

Susan looked disturbed “Why should he propose to her? He is one in a thousand. He will get a suitable girl”

I always had a doubt about Susan’s soft corner towards Pramod. I thought I should speak to her.

I told her that I would be coming to her hostel in the evening.

It was evening and I reached the gate of the ladies hostel.

“Hi” Susan waved at me. She was ready and eagerly waiting for me. We started walking together.

“Tell me” She said.

“I would like to talk frankly with you” I said.

“OK” She replied.

“I have been observing you. You like Pramod?”

She was taken aback .She immediately got her composure back and said “I trust you fully as I look at you as a very true friend of mine. The answer is yes.”

“You love him?”

“Yes”

“Do you know his back ground?”

“I am not bothered about the back ground”

At this stage I stopped walking and looking at her said “I am very happy that you are in love with my dear friend Pramod. You are one of the most beautiful girls around and are very good at heart. He is also a gem of a person. But you should know that he comes from an Orthodox Hindu family. He has many domestic problems which are typical of lower middle class people.

You hail from a very rich catholic family and most of your relatives are abroad”

She did not agree with me. I promised her that I would speak to Pramod.

The next day I walked to Pramod’s room and said “Hey Pramod recovered?”

He looked fresh as he had taken bath after three days. He told me “I realized that my family is important for me. I will never ever fall in love with any girl.

My life will be fine if I realize that it is better to be alone than chase people who do not really care about me”

“Dude, take back your words. I have something in store for you”

“What is it?”

 I explained him about Susan. Pramod looked awestruck. Susan was the most beautiful girl in the campus. He had huge respect for her as she was very well mannered and he knew about her background also.

He held my hands and said “Please do not tell me that it is a joke. I will not be able to recover again”.

I patted him and said “We should look at those who love us, rather than those whom we love”

Pramod nodded.

I told him that Susan wanted to meet him the next day evening and wanted to go for a walk with him. Pramod could not hide his feelings. He blushed and ran into his room.

To be continued …

CRICKET INSPIRES

Pramod was dusting the chairs and the center table in the front hall of his house. It was an unwritten agreement between Pramod and Sussie that he would take care of house hold chores on weekends.

After dusting the chairs, he climbed on the stool and started cleaning the photo frames they had fixed on the wall. Sussie came out from the kitchen and said “Pramu dear, hot coffee for you”

Pramod looked at her. He was holding one photo frame in his hand and said “Remember this one?”

“How can I forget it? Mr. Lillee at his excellent best. It was this picture that changed our lives” she replied.

“Very true and I still keep admiring this person each and every time I see this photo. Look at his confidence. Nine slips and no fielder anywhere else in the field.” Pramod added.

He came down and sat on the chair. Sipping the hot coffee, he started recollecting the events that were related to the photo.

About two decades earlier…

“Pramod get ready. Your bus to Bangalore is at 8 pm and it is already 5 pm” Pramod’s mother said.

“OK Amma I am ready. I am packing my luggage and keeping the certificates and marks cards in the suitcase” he replied. 

His mother came into the room with a cup of tea and said “Pramod please do well in the interview. You know our situation very well. Your father is retiring as a teacher next month. It would be very difficult for us to make the ends meet with his meager pension. Added to that your sister Anusuya has completed her B com studies and we need to find a suitable man for her. We have all the hopes on you”

Pramod looked at his mother and said “Amma you know the situation. Not many jobs are around. I went to Pune as it is closer to Dharwad and tried for jobs for six months. I could not get a job. Now am going to Bangalore. Few of my friends already have jobs there. I will take their help”.

He mother started weeping “My worry is not about your job. It is about your love story. If your father Mr. Kulkarni comes to know about your love affair with Susan, it would result in a big drama.

That’s why I am keen about marrying off Anusuya faster. It would be difficult for us to get a suitable match for her after your marriage to a Christian girl.”

Pramod did not utter a single word. He was not ready to leave his  Susan for some silly reason. He touched the feet of his mother and went out towards the bus stand in Dharwad.

Next day at about 11 AM he was sitting in the front office of a construction machinery company. He had come there for a sales engineer job. His mind was troubled by the events that had occurred during the past few months.

During his engineering days he was very popular amongst his batch mates and was very good in extracurricular activities. He had become closer to Susan Dsouza from Mangalore and this had developed into true love.

Susan’s elder brother Samuel was very supportive of their love and had taken the responsibility of convincing the elder Dsouza.

Pramod did not qualify for the two placement offers that came to his college as he has failed in few subjects during his fifth and sixth semesters.

The six months of knocking the doors of industries in Pune, handing over the resumes, attending few interviews and being rejected for lack of any prior experience, had demoralised him.

He was sitting amongst few other aspirants for the sales engineer job. He saw a sports magazine on the table. He took it and started turning the pages. As he was doing so one particular photo caught his attention. It was a photo of Dennis Lillee bowling with nine slips. He was surprised. He looked at the guy sitting next to him and said “This is called guts. He is so very confident that he has asked all the fielders to stand in the slips”

The person sitting next said “This also reflects the trust his team has in him. One should admire his technique and brilliance also”.

Suddenly Pramod felt a jolt in his body. He felt inspired and started feeling that anything is possible as long as one is confident and has the right technique and talent.

He had lot of problems in his life. Hunting for a job, retiring father, unmarried sister and above all love affair with a girl from other religion.

The photo and the small discussion he had with the person sitting next, motivated him.

“Pramod Kulkarni” the lady at the reception called.

Pramod walked confidently into the interview hall.

The Managing Director Mr. Harish was sitting on a big chair and he gestured Pramod to sit on the chair across the table.

He went through the marks cards and other certificates.

“Young man it looks like you were very active in extracurricular activities during your engineering days” he said.

“Yes sir but I did decently well in studies also” Pramod added.

“Decently well? You have been failing regularly from third semester to sixth semester. I think you joined your engineering course to pursue your extracurricular activities ” Harish said.

“I agree that I did fail in few subjects in between but I have completed final year with first class and missed distinction narrowly”

“Do you follow cricket? If so who is your favorite player and why?”Harish questioned.

With a big smile Pramod said “My all time favorite player is Dennis Lillee. He is technically the best bowler amongst his peers. I rate him the best as he is the only bowler who bowled with nine slips”.

“Oh really” Harish said and continued “Pramod, we are looking for sales engineers and not cricket fans”

Pramod confidently replied “Give me a chance sir and I will prove it. Sales job needs a person who is capable of talking and convincing his customers. Regular follow-ups and in depth knowledge of the products is needed for excelling. I am sure I can do it well”.

One hour later, Pramod was walking to the telephone booth in MG road in Bangalore. He was excited as Mr. Harish had promised him a job as a sales trainee.

Pramod called his neighbor in Dharwad, Mr. Joshi and requested him to call his mother. Within two minutes his mother came on the line.

Pramod shouted “Amma I have got the job”.

He did not hear any word from his mother. He continued “Amma, Amma are you there?”

He could hear his mother crying. She said “Pramu may God bless you my child. Let us complete Anusuya’s marriage and then you can get my daughter- in-law, Susan to our house”.

Pramod did not stop there. He said “Amma do you know that I got the job not because of my talent. It was one Australian who helped me”

“Who is he?” she said.

Pramod continued “He is my idol in cricket but God for me today. He is Dennis Lillee”.

“Pramod wake up” Sussie shook him.

“I am not sleeping” he replied and continued "I was remembering my job interview and the photo which inspired me"

He cleaned the Dennis Lillee photo and fixed it back to the wall.

He climbed down from the stool and kept staring at the photo.

Sussie leaned over his shoulder and said “Strange isn’t it? Two decades ago our life was entangled in so many knots of problems and at one stage I thought that we would never make it. Life has strange incidents in store for us. The chanced viewing of this photo by you during the interview changed the direction of our life”

Pramod smiled and said “Dennis Lillee is no God. He is just an ordinary mortal. He could inspire an otherwise demotivated me to such a large extent that I came out of my shell and boldly faced the world and succeeded.