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 …