#59 …when someone is jealous with your befriending other guys.

"Who is Abhinav?” Sumit asked as soon as we met. He had come to pick me up to attend a friend’s birthday treat.

“A long lost friend.” I said impressing on the word friend.

“But you never spoke about him earlier?”

I hadn’t expected Sumit to reply with that tone on my query. He seemed hurt to find out that I knew someone else as well in his very college without his knowledge and that I had found someone like Abhinav worth befriending. I could even hear the tone of his silence. Had I used any other guy’s name the reaction would have been same. He always treated me as a priceless gem and was angry to see his very own junior sharing it. He was the lion of his den.

Actually this morning I had called Sumit to find out if he knew Abhinav, studying in his very college. My sister had just befriended him and being an elder sister, I was simply trying to keep a check on her friends.

“I am not supposed to keep you updated with my friends list.” I said amused at his concern.

“But I am supposed to keep tab on who you mix with.”

“And why?”

Though he didn’t reply I had my answer.

#58 …when you don’t need words to talk.

Its amazing how you can speak right to my heart

Without saying a word you can light up the dark

Try as I may I could never explain what I hear when u don’t say a thing...

Our friendship had a strange beginning. We both had been waiting for college admissions in its campus. It was getting dark with few people around. Suhas came up to me to ask me to go home for the day as it wouldn’t be safe for a girl to hang late that night in the deserted campus. We walked together towards the exit as we introduced ourselves. Though I didn’t get admission, I got a friend. We both took admissions in separate colleges and sparsely communicated. Once he invited me to attend his college fest. I attended along with a friend of mine, Micks. As the round of introductions took place, I noticed there was something going on between his friends. They were exchanging glances and it wasn’t hard to guess that it was all about me. I decided not to bother. Suhas wanted to show me around his college, so I turned to Micks to ask her if it was okay with her.

“How long are we to stay here?” Micks asked.

“But we have just reached. May be another half an hour. Any problem?” I asked a little worried to see her hurry suddenly.

“Its ok. You just stay by my side.”

“Allright. I will.” I said still confused at her behavior.

“Is everything ok?” Suhas asked with his eyes.

I answered similarly “Yes”.

His friends again surrounded us. They put forward questions one by one. It was the first time his friends were meeting me. It was very much awaited. From the conversation I gauged it was the first time ever that Suhas had introduced a girl in his group. And that was the very reason for the entire excitement. They were keen to know what was special with me. I started feeling a little uncomfortable myself with the increasing realization of the very fact. I nudged Micks. Suhas must have seen that for he immediately said, “Its late now. I think you both should head back home.” There was the typical “ahem-ahem” from his friends. But I was caught unawares. I was surprised the way he was reading all my acts and expressions. I needed no words.

#57 …when you get goosebumps on someone’s touch.

Living as a paying guest in a state where none of us had any relatives knotted us in a bond stronger to family-ties albeit for the short period that we stayed together. It was common for us to share every little bit with each other. Few of us were working and others still in university. One day while we were starting to get apprehensive over Divya having not yet returned, our doorbell rang. When we opened the door, she stood there dumbfound lightly embracing herself. After a few mins when she didn’t move, we had to break her trance and pull her in. She smirked, sat on the bed, knees up and close to chest, arms around her legs and went back to her dreams. Something was wrong. When we finally kicked her out of the spell, she showed us goose bumps on her bare hands. We all surrounded her for the upcoming narration of an exciting event. Oh! Gals love that! While she was waiting at the bus stop outside her university, Rajat happened to drive past her. On realizing she was waiting for bus, he raced the car back and invited her to drop her home in his car. Rajat! Well, he was the heartthrob of her batch and she claimed to have fallen in love with him on first sight. When they reached her PG, he came out and hugged her good bye. Though it was a common gesture among friends in her college, why lessen the adrenalia.

#56 …when you look back at someone to see if he/she is looking at you or not.

We had just reached the fest ground. It was the final day of our annual college fest, Xavotsav. Being volunteers with no responsibilities, we had reserved ourselves good seats for the show. There was a guy in our college, Soham, who claimed to have love interest in me. I was well aware how these love interests changed with changing seasons and therefore paid no heed to him. In the middle of the show, my friend nudged me. With gesture she asked me to look 45degrees north west to my seat. I caught Soham looking at me. He was sitting with his gang. On meeting my eyes he quickly looked away. I checked a few more times and caught him similarly. At the end of the show, while on our way back home, my friend said she had seen Soham continuously looking at me since the beginning of the show. It was then that she decided to draw my attention. Though I was still not sure, my friend was convinced about Soham’s genuinity. 

#55 …when someone starts climbing your priority ladder.

Its common to see changing priorities with changed circumstances and passage of time. And it is these changing priorities which sometimes answers some of the most confusing questions in our mind. We were still in college, Nandita, my best friend and me, when I had one such experience. There was no one or no thing more important to us than our friendship. Even our families laid back whenever our friendship surfaced. It was common for us to top each other’s priority list. Suddenly when the secured position got a hint of dwindling, it was obvious for me to react. For the first time in my life, my phone calls to her were kept on hold, for the first time I wasn’t the first choice as her movie companion, for the first time I wasn’t the first one to know of her secrets, for the first time she.. The list was endless. And she would have no answers to any of my accusations. She herself seemed confused. In the beginning, everything was hard to digest. But with time the maze opened up. She realized she was in love. All the puzzle pieces themselves started falling in place. 

#54 …when you start copying his styles, admiring his values, talking of him, quoting his words.

Siblings of the same age best know each other whether or not they show it. My brother knew me inside out. We were always competing to leak each other’s secrets to be in Mom’s favorite list. It was those days when Armaan’s family had just shifted in our neighbourhood. Armaan was an influential guy, atleast in my life. I don’t know when or how it happened but suddenly I was copying his styles, admiring his values, talking of him and above all quoting his words. The last act sought immediate attention of my brother. Being a year elder and a little more matured, he was reading something from my behavior which I could not. He could easily identify the changes in me and the source since we almost spent the same time together with him. Infact he even blackmailed to tell it to my mom. To tell what I didn’t know. I didn’t even know how it’ll affect her or me, I was just terrified of the fact that I was being blackmailed. Then he explained it to me that I had started liking him, infact loving him. Though I was conscious now, I simply couldn’t avoid copying him and his phrases.

#53 …when you start getting frantic calls on being late to return home.

I was out with my friend watching movie - late night show. My friend Sakshi had come down to Kolkata on some official purpose and after lots of lies, excuses and cajoling to her bosses, she had managed to squeeze some time out from her hectic schedule. Its always fun reminiscing good old times with friends whom time and fate may have flown away but their memories and thoughts still hold firm roots.  Movie is the third best option for gals to spend time with their buddies after gossiping and shopping. Considering the time and mood, we opted for a movie. The story was on the climax when the vibrating of a mobile suddenly broke the zest. Reluctantly we both checked for our mobiles. It was mine. The screen read, "Home calling". I knew what it was for. I sighed. On receiving, I hurriedly told my Mom I’ll take another half an hour and hung up. 

“Moms will never grow up,” I said aloud and both of us giggled.

Then she told me, “You know I have always envied this.”

“What?” I really didn’t understand.

“This form of love. I always wish someday someone will bother to find out where I am, why I am late and the stuff.”

I got what she meant. Loosing her parents at an early age to some accident, she had grown up in hostels. Her relatives bothered enough to provide her with the finances but not beyond that.

Next time on seeing "Home calling" on the screen of my phone, I thanked god.

#52 …when there is music in the air.

As soon as Rohini, my elder sister entered home she dropped her tote at the door and took Mom by her arms and started swaying. She was humming as well. It was an unusual sight considering her shy temperament.  All of us, Mom, Granny and I were a little shocked. Not paying any heed to our awe-stricken face, she continued her Walsh with me and then even with Granny. We had just waved off the issue considering it an off-season downpour, when she returned from her room in the same spirits. This time she was playing on an imaginary keyboard with the style of a seasoned artist. I don’t know where she was getting the sound but she seemed to be enjoying some music. Later that night I found her asleep with a diary in her hand which revealed all secrets. She was in love! I remembered that scene from KKHH when Kajol and Shahrukh were dancing on some imaginary beats in the middle of some forest camp. It seemed so artificial then..

#51 …when you find nothing impossible.

He was very well aware that it wouldn’t be easy to convince his parents to accept his girlfriend to be his future wife, to convince his girlfriend’s parents to accept him as their son-in-law considering their different creeds, to find a suitable job and prove himself responsible, to find a suitable home for them to shift after their marriage, to make preparations for his wedding singlehandedly, to adjust to the new life that his marriage will bring and lots of such other complications. Infact many of us had told him it would be impossible and thus to give up the whole issue. But he was too determined to consider anything impossible. He was ready to fight the challenges and win his love.

#50 …when you wanna grow old with someone.

Growing old is inevitable and an experience in itself. When you decide who you want to grow old with, you allocate an important phase of your life to somebody’s company. This philosophy is generally not envisioned by the youth. But when my friend once told me that she has found who she wanted to grow old with, I had no doubts about how strongly she must have been feeling for him - his oldage partner. Its love discounted by those many years. Only love can make old age, one of the difficult rides of our life, so pleasant.

#49 …when you learn to say sorry.

My cousin was fiddling with his mobile while we all were watching movie in the theatre. I would have waived off the issue had he not continued to do that at little intervals. Though he wasn’t disturbing me directly, but sitting beside me, he did break my concentration a few times. When it surpassed my irritation level, I snatched his mobile and kept it with me. After we were finished with the movie,  he quickly retrieved his mobile from me and dialed some no. The first thing that he spoke on phone was no greeting but an apology. Before I could drew his attention to this, he walked away talking. “Sorry” is one word I had never seen him using. My instinct was telling me that the person on the other side of the phone was not just another person but someone special in his life. While I was still wondering, I saw my cousin coming back. When he reached us, another cousin of mine commented on him about his being too busy with his girlfriend these days. When I inquired if there was any truth in it, I wasn’t much surprised when he himself spoke up about his being in a steady relationship with a girl.Only love can teach you to say SORRY if you missed learning it in kindergarten.   

#48 …when you become a poet.

I had just got engaged. It was one of our candlelight dinners that he frequently got arranged. That’s the best part about an Indian engagement. The soon-to­-be bride is pampered the most. I think it’s also the best part of a girl’s life bridging two totally different phases of her life. Anyway, so there we were sitting across each other on the dinner table and the order had been placed. My fiancé suddenly asks if I have got a pen. Since I didn’t, he called for the waiter and asked him to arrange one for him. He took a tissue from the stand in the middle of the table and started writing something. It did seem awkward at first, but then since everything seemed to be strange about him in the beginning, I decided not to pay heed. He appeared to be giving a lot of thought to whatever he was writing. After a few minutes, he handed the paper to me. It was a pleasant surprise. A two-line poem in my honour, that too in Hindi, a language he is very poor in. The broken words, the misspelling, everything looked cute then. As is said – Only the feeling matters!!

#47 …when simple lack of someone is more to you than other’s presence.

Piyush had invited all of us to his sister’s engagement party at his house. Everybody had agreed to go. On the designated day, Ria called up to say she was just apprised about a dinner party at her house on the event of her niece’s birth. She therefore would not be going and that she would soon call up Piyush to let him know of it as well. When we reached the party, Piyush was still waiting for Ria. Though he had spoken to Ria, he had made Ria promise to try her best to atleast attend his party for some time. Though all other friends were there at the party, Piyush seemed lost. Suddenly after some time he was nowhere to be seen. On calling him up, he excused himself by saying he had to go suddenly to the market to buy something for her sister. And after a while we saw Ria entering the party behind Piyush. The links were hard to miss for those who knew him so well. They became the matter of gossip for the evening and the days to come.

#46 …when it comes back to you after you let it fly.

Samir being a playboy, was well known in our college. But when the cupid strikes, no fact is too evident. This time Suhana, my friend was hit. Warnings, advices or goodwishes were no more working on her. She finally had to bear the brunt of not listening to us. Samir soon ditched him. But Suhana was not broken. She always said, “If he ever loved me, he’ll come back. And if he doesn’t, he never loved me. The relationship would anyhow someday end if there was no love.” Though she never revealed, we were sure she was waiting for him to return to her. It came as a big surprise to us when he did return and this time for good. Nobody knows what happened while he was away, but when he returned he was completely changed. A guy anybody would love to pair with. We all were very happy for Suhana.    

#45 …when your heart has reasons no one understands.

When Riddhi got married 3 years back, she was very happy. She had fallen in love with Rohit, her husband now, the very first time they had met. Her engagement period bore no hints to the catastrophe that was to occur. Soon after her wedding Rohit told her that she wasn’t his choice, but her mother’s and that she was more of an obligation to him than anything else. Riddhi never spoke up against the injustice. Eventually everybody came to know of the truth and even after repeated requests from her parents and continuous advice from us, her friends, to break the relationship and start her life afresh, she hasn’t given up. Till today she keeps trying to win Rohit’s heart. Her reasons are beyond any logic to any of us!!     

#44 …when you see the world in her eyes and her eyes in everything around the world.

Anant was the chocolate boy in our group. He had joined college midway after his father got a transfer here. He was some distant cousin of Sandy, a friend in our group beside Navya, Appy and Shiny. Sandy was the one who first drew my attention to Anant’s interest in Navya which Anant himself didn’t seem to have realized by then. They were from two different worlds and so it was difficult to accept what Sandy said at one go. We decided to put them through some tests which all the more confirmed our suspicion. It was time now to bring it out from Anant himself. We didn’t need to. The next morning Anant came up to me and asked me out. I was confused at first, but thinking it would be a good opportunity to talk about Navya, I accepted. The moment we were together, he said he needed some help. I was listening. He then said,

“There’s something wrong with me. I see Navya everywhere. In my room, in my car, when shopping, when watching movies.. Her eyes are so captivating. I sometimes see my world in it. In the beginning I ignored it, but the illusions are growing by the day. I am so confused. It cannot be love. You know she’s not my type.”

I didn’t need to answer him. He had his answers, just wasn’t ready to accept the truth yet.