When I read about J and K, I invariably think of OT because he remains the only person from there who I had any close contact with. But I didn't talk a word about Kashmir with him, for unfathomable reasons. May be because he was the final year student and was on campus only for 4-5 months after we met and he had other things on mind like exams and going away and all that. But I do wish now that I had asked him something. Anything at all.
We first met as part of Office Committee during my first college fest. Pal, L and I were the freshers in it and while all the senior boys were very nice to us and it was a great 3 days, OT was something more. Library was second home to L and me those days and I remember OT joining us on many of the evenings. He looked quite typical of the place he came from and had a girlfriend who we were in awe of for her looks. But when he came and sat with us in the library after seeing her off, we maintained a respectful silence on the subject. I think he once made an oblique reference to it mentioning the North-South divide but L and I couldn't offer any solution anyway.
He was very affectionate to me and treated me almost like a kid. Not in so many words but may be the way he patted my head and how comfortable he made me feel. Of course we hardly talked in library and if he took us out for a coffee and snacks, he would tell us stories from the day and past. Except for my cousin R, no boy had ever been like that before and to come to a new place and find such kinship in a stranger was not what I had expected. I accepted his kindness simply, was naturally fond of him and was anxious to see him happy; I could sense that he had some worries in his romantic life, further studies and his would-be job. I remember one night during the exam season where he came to library in a bad mood, the paper hadn't gone well. I wanted to make him feel better but didn't know how and finally asked him desperately if there was anything I could do. He looked up at me with knitted brows and said sarcastically, "can you dance?". Well, I couldn't. Thankfully he recovered soon without it.
It was the year after he left that I finally found the answer to a nagging question. OT's state junior and friend VK, who would come along with him till library, hardly ever joined us there. Not only that, if I bumped into him in the corridor or stairs or anywhere else, he behaved as if he just didn't know me and worse, his look was as if he meant, "be away from me!". I thought well of him and he seemed sociable enough otherwise, so it was baffling. Then Pal met OT in Bangalore and it seems he told her that VK thought OT was jeopardising his romantic life because of me. He had asked OT to stop hobnobbing so much with me! What the hell! I wish we could all get together and have a laugh about it but it didn't happen. VK continued to give me bad stares till he left the college.
We first met as part of Office Committee during my first college fest. Pal, L and I were the freshers in it and while all the senior boys were very nice to us and it was a great 3 days, OT was something more. Library was second home to L and me those days and I remember OT joining us on many of the evenings. He looked quite typical of the place he came from and had a girlfriend who we were in awe of for her looks. But when he came and sat with us in the library after seeing her off, we maintained a respectful silence on the subject. I think he once made an oblique reference to it mentioning the North-South divide but L and I couldn't offer any solution anyway.
He was very affectionate to me and treated me almost like a kid. Not in so many words but may be the way he patted my head and how comfortable he made me feel. Of course we hardly talked in library and if he took us out for a coffee and snacks, he would tell us stories from the day and past. Except for my cousin R, no boy had ever been like that before and to come to a new place and find such kinship in a stranger was not what I had expected. I accepted his kindness simply, was naturally fond of him and was anxious to see him happy; I could sense that he had some worries in his romantic life, further studies and his would-be job. I remember one night during the exam season where he came to library in a bad mood, the paper hadn't gone well. I wanted to make him feel better but didn't know how and finally asked him desperately if there was anything I could do. He looked up at me with knitted brows and said sarcastically, "can you dance?". Well, I couldn't. Thankfully he recovered soon without it.
It was the year after he left that I finally found the answer to a nagging question. OT's state junior and friend VK, who would come along with him till library, hardly ever joined us there. Not only that, if I bumped into him in the corridor or stairs or anywhere else, he behaved as if he just didn't know me and worse, his look was as if he meant, "be away from me!". I thought well of him and he seemed sociable enough otherwise, so it was baffling. Then Pal met OT in Bangalore and it seems he told her that VK thought OT was jeopardising his romantic life because of me. He had asked OT to stop hobnobbing so much with me! What the hell! I wish we could all get together and have a laugh about it but it didn't happen. VK continued to give me bad stares till he left the college.
No comments:
Post a Comment