I also remember the day when...

It was a hot and stuffy day in September. I had just started Medical school.It was four in the evening. With another friend in tow, I was rushing to catch the bus back home. We had assiduously avoided the group of 'Seniors' sitting on the Dean's Carpet- the oval lawn that marked the facade of MAMC.We were still 'facchas- freshers' and extremely suitable ragging material. We were keen to get out safely.

Just as we were stepping out of the college gate, we were called by the seniors we had been trying to avoid. Two 'boys', we later discovered, who were from the Final year. One lad was dark and a little stout. The other was somewhat fairer and very thin. Quite like Little Tommy Thin and Little Tommy Stout of the Nursery rhyme.

We, the 'freshers' did not know any names... So for the sake of description, we could label them X and Y.

A gruelling session began right there on the lawns. X ( Tommy Stout), roughly asks," Fresher, What is you name?" I am supposed to answer EACH question with a 'Sir' as the punctuation mark. "N, Sir".

X asks again," What are your interests?" " Reading, writing, singinig... " I start the usual litany and finish with a rather dry 'Sir'.

X is visibly displeased. Y is gently smiling, sitting on the grass with his legs spread out in front of him and crossed at the ankles, there is a strange sense of abandon and yet being reined in...legs reaching out... and yet pulled back in being crossed... I steal a glance. There is something very attractive about Y! I am a fresher! A senior who is ragging me- attractive? I must be nuts!

X barks," Fresher!" "Sir", I reply. "You do not seem to like the conversation we are having."

I do not know to this day what had come over me at that moment. I replied with complete confidence," As a matter of fact, I am not."

For a few seconds, there was utter silence. The air was thick with tension. X let the other girl go and asked me with over-emphasised politeness," And what, madam, is the manner in which you would like this conversation to go?" Again in a flash of rebellion or was it simply stating the first thing that came to my head, I replied, " I do not like the way in which you are talking. You are being rude and rough." Now I had stepped on a porcupine! " And what may be the right manner in which to address your Excellency?" the sarcasm was obvious.

I answered with simplicity that defied the complexity of the moment- "Like Y. He is smiling. He is relaxed. He is not being unpleasant".

Thereafter, when we became from four to two, I do not quite remember. I do remember being carted to the college cafe for a snack and coffee. I do remember being escorted to the bus stop. I do remember the chance and the not so chance meetings that kept happeneing thereafter. I also remember the discussions on Pride and Prejudice among other things. I remember being wished on my birthday in a very unusual manner. For someone who had simply ragged me, Y was becoming quite a part of my life.

I liked it. And yet I was afraid. I loved being with him and yet did not. What was the confusion? HE helped me choose the right books for the curriculum and the right instruments for the dissection hall. He was always there when I needed him and even when I did not know I needed him.

I also remember the first public phone call that he helped me make! I did not know when the coin needed to be dropped in and how it went in... in fact where did the coin go?

Gradually we became friends and shared pain and pleasure. We supported each other through our exam stress or our heartbreaks. We simply appeared out of thin air for each other whenever we needed to be with someone.

We talked and we discussed things as diverse as the meaning of life as well as the wonder of medical science. We would not realise where the time went... it just went by too fast.

Then we fought. Bitter and hard. We did not talk with each other for weeks together. And then we did. It was like riding a rollercoaster.

Finally, he got engaged.

I was stunned.

You never miss a real good thing untill it is gone...

All I wanted was a chance to say to him that he mattered. In life, however, there are no rewinds or restarts. No undo buttons. For the first time in my life I acknowledged to myself, THIS IS LOVE. MY FIRST LOVE. And I had lost it! I was doomed to lifelong heartache. Or would I get over it?

Then... studying in the library... he came to meet me...

I could not stop myself. I knew this was wrong. But if today I did not say it, I would never be able to say it to anyone with any degree of truth in my heart or my soul. " Could you not wait?" The pain was plain to see. I saw it his eyes. He turned and drove away into the horizon. I did not hope to see him ever again.

And... then... something else happened... he came back...

A lot happened thereafter... but today Y and I are man and wife. He is my fisrt and only love. I still am crazy about him. He still holds the same magic for me. We may not sit through the night like we once could and simply talk... but we are together and madly in love after more than twenty years of being together!

True love beats all odds.

True love is.