Compromise

It was 11:59 pm. He never really liked being called at that hour and his close ones knew it. He was waiting for their texts, nevertheless. He had grown to expect their texts. There were a lot of people, who made it a point to be the earlier ones to wish him. When he was an adolescent, he even felt proud about having people who took the trouble to stay awake just to wish him. Tick by tick, the second hand, the minute hand and most importantly, the hour hand were all moving towards the mark. It was 12 am. It was 12.01, when he didn't even allow the vibrations to complete, before picking his phone to see who'd managed to wish him first this year. It was actually a number, rather than a name, and he glanced at the words that were typed after a considerable amount of thought.

Happy Birthday Buddy. Hope you remember Me.

Now he got back to the number. He had changed to a new phone a couple of years back and he happened to delete a few of his 'old' contacts. But he needed no name to identify this person. There are certain things that get etched into a part of your mind, that never forgets, and for him this was one of them. The irony struck him instantly. He'd wished that he could forget him but he'd never really been able to. .

It was the first year of college. Aadithya was someone adept at blending into any crowd. He had no problem finding friends. People who made him feel comfortable at that new place and people, who he'd thought he could turn to, when he was at trouble. But he always managed to realize the hard way that, people were never what they appeared to be. Few of them , who had no shame in using him and few others, who acted like they were true friends. But not all were bad. He managed to find a few true ones as well. The ones that were still in touch with him. The ones that still made him miss college. One of them, was Sathya. Sathya was never taken to be a friendly person. People hardly liked him, before knowing him. Aadithya felt no different. For someone really delicate in the inside, Sathya had this rough and tough swagger about him. He was not openly rude to others but people managed to get on his nerves, a bit too easily. But Aadi managed to see right through him. He became close to him and started to trust him. Getting Sathya to trust him, was totally different. Even after 3 or 4 years he wasn't sure if Sathya liked him as a friend. Time took care of the differences in their character. It made them accept each other for what they were. After all, jigsaw pieces which fit together, don't always look alike. They did have their occasional misunderstandings which had gotten more infrequent and hurting over time. But one of them eventually gave in. Except for once. It had all started with a stupid argument that seemed to have no end. Both of them had refused to come out of their perspective. .

Ever so slowly, he looked at his watch. It was 12.10 am. Almost 5 years traversed through in 10 minutes! Although he managed to get more friends, Aadi couldn't deny the fact that he missed Sathya at times. He missed his mere presence which felt so comforting. He'd always considered Sathya as an elder brother he never wanted to miss. Even before he could realize it, his fingers had typed the text and were collectively waiting for one among themselves to press the Send button, which his thumb eventually did, at 12.20.

Incomplete . .

Bharath :

He was the kind that stood out in a crowd. Not for his looks; It was his attitude and mental presence that made p eople take notice of him. He had this knack of making people like him, if he wanted them to. And he had this weird obsession of wanting everyone to like him the way he was. He also liked people so easily, that he ended up hurting himself, because of his expectations . .

He liked her the instant he saw her. Asked later, he couldn’t remember what exactly was going through his mind, when he saw her. He felt there was something intriguing about the way she looked at him. He couldn’t be sure of whether she liked him or whether she despised him or whether she looked at him like every other guy. When he saw her smiling at her friends, he wanted to be lucky enough someday to have her smile at him like that. When he saw her talking to a guy, he wanted to switch lives with him for that single instant. He wanted to be the person she thought when getting up from and going back to sleep. He knew he was being silly with all his wishes but he just couldn’t control how his mind yearned towards her. He was amazed by how comfortable their eyes had gotten over time. But the confusion still remained. He did not want to turn into someone who disgusted her. He’d plan for days about talking to her but would be too circumspect about talking. He wished he could find out how she felt about him but he told himself that that could be found out only the hard way, by getting to know her.

Deepthi :

She kept to herself. She was not exactly anti-social but had difficulties liking people instantly. She detested attention even if it was positive. But she never was able to be harsh to people even if she hated them. But even though she kept to herself, people recognised her because of her looks. Her mouth didn’t have to tell others if she was angry or happy. It was pretty apparent from her face. Only one person had trouble reading them and she had no idea of telling him that as well . .

She normally didn’t look out for people when she walked. She was always lingering in the silent world of hers. But one face was becoming particularly redundant. She had thought he’d stop looking just like the other guys eventually did. But there was something about him that was different. Probably the way he looked at her. He was not casual about her and he was so bad at acting like he was casual.Without even knowing it, she caught his eye more often than she’d have wanted. It was like he was searching for someone deep inside her eyes. She felt special when he looked at her like that. But she wasn’t so sure whether she liked this complete-stranger who never talked. She’d have been better off ignoring him like the other guys. But deep inside her, she felt this was the guy that the girl inside her would love to talk to. She wanted to know what was so special about her. She wanted to know if he was like the others. She wanted to know ‘him’ and surprisingly, she wanted him to know her. .

P.S: Some stories are better left incomplete. I want each of you to imagine their future in your own way rather than me telling it.

Life doesn't care to stop!

September 9,2007 :

I remember walking, no actually running, up to the boarding point for my bus filled with a few nervous individuals and 2 or 3 groups of 4-5 students. First day didn't turn out to be much of a thrill but it was definitely a change in the routine for us all, for we had been waiting for nearly 4 months for life to move on from the boring summer!

September 9,2010 :

Now I was one of the students in one of the groups. Whenever i see a nervy junior i still remember how tensed i used to feel and it all comes back to me!

The past three years :

Being someone who found it hard to make friends easily, i did find the going difficult initially. Days when i used to look into nothing in particular, just reminiscing my school. It is amazing how when you miss someone or something, it is only the good things about them that keep pestering your mind. It was not like i loved High school from day one! And then things started to change. New friends getting ac

quainted, old friends trying to keep in touch, although only a few very dear ones last through this ordeal. I still find it amusing when a group of freshers get along so easily that they could have been friends for years. Life started to gain its pace. There were a lot of 'firsts' to be experienced. First hour bunked, first crush, first really embarr

assing moment and a lot of others. Out of nowhere we were bunking 2-3 hours a day, playing soccer in the ground and walking to the buses with ou

r heads held high as if we had just represented the college team. I still remember one such day when we had been playing and the Chemistry sir had caught up to someone in my class and asked him what we were up to! The answer the guy

gave still has me laughing. We were attending an '

AIDS awareness camp' apparently! And slowly the new friends started becoming THE friends while the weaker bonds among the old ones started breaking. . .

The soccer part will probably be one of the best memories i will have of college life. There definitely are other memories too! The Industrial visit to Kerala, driving to Rahman's concert happening in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and returning later than that, cheering CSK with close friends,

the NCC camp in Salem, getting ODs for pointless bunking of classes, late night outings to theaters, sleep overs, Symposiums and the Saree-clad girls i liked looking at, rushing to treats and personally, always being late, football in Bessy,Sister's reception and the list keeps going. .

Today :

And in a few months, all this will be something i can only think about! I am sure most of us will be out of touch in no time, although i hope i turn out to be totally wrong!

I'd have never thought i'd miss SVCE. And actually, it is true in a way. Am not going to miss SVCE in any way. Am going to miss the friends and if there are any, enemies, i earned in SVCE along with the countless memories i have of them!