“Thank you bro. ye sab tere waja se huwa. But please do call her. She wants to thank you badly”, said my cousin Sam over the phone yesterday. How I wished I was there. This is the drawback of living in the US. But nothing could stop my train of thoughts. The year old flashback filled my eyes while I stood at my patio sipping coffee.
It was exactly a year before when I had visited my hometown Byadgi. I had stopped believing in love then; at least until that weekend. I have a very big family back home. But I am close to two of my cousins. Sam and Shahid. It’s like whenever I go there, they abandon everything and come running to me. Sam is my father’s 3rd brother’s son. He is my age; looks very handsome, a graduate who does business. He is naïve. I treat him like my younger brother. Shahid is again my father’s immediate brother’s son. He is a school dropout and much notorious to say the least; he is five years younger to me. He is like Sarkit if I am Munna.
That Sunday we three went to the top of the hill and were seating on a rock. The wind was thumping across our face and we could see the entire town from there.
“Wish we had got some beer” said Shahid opening the sachet of Manikchand.
“Vo ‘Yes’ boli last month. Since then I have gone mad” Sam prodded me.
I didn’t respond.
“Please help karna, kaise proceed karna bolko” he sounded enthusiastic.
“I don’t want to talk about love, relations, girls etc. I am bugged. Jo dil mein aaye vo kar” I didn’t care.
“Nai ba. Ino dono seriously love mein hain. Shaadi ka bhi plan kar dale” Shahid showed sympathy towards Sam.
I turned to Sam and asked “Are you serious?”
“Yes. We have decided. But I can confirm only when I meet her”
“What the fuck? Are you mad? Why haven’t you met her yet?" I was confused
“hahaha uss ladki ko ye bhi maloom nai ki how Sam looks” Shahid gave some crucial info. I stared at Sam. He then explained to me.
Sam was a simple and shy boy. He had never interacted with any girl before. But sooner he had learnt that those days every ass**le was falling in love, he didn’t want to be left behind. He saw his sister’s classmates’ group photo and started liking a girl. With lots of guts he started messaging her. They fell in love in due course of two to three months. The girl hadn’t seen him. She had said that even if he looked 'Johny Liver' she would still love him. hahaha Sounded funny. The reason they didn’t meet was, they were scared to death. It was quite understandable. They both belonged to two different small towns where people were too orthodox and narrow minded. If her parents saw her roaming with a guy they would judge him. If his parents saw him going around with a girl then they would definitely judge her.
“Phone laga” I said to Sam
“Kisse?”
“Teri ladki ko. Ask her to take a bus and come to the highway bus stop” I said
“Unhe bahut darti. She won’t come”
“Tell her to tell her parents that she has to rush to the college for some certificate problem. Aur usse bol ki, agar vo tujhse pyar karti hai to abhich aaja. You are meeting her now” I said
Sam called her and after couple of minutes cut the call and gave a half hearted smile and said, “You made me tensed now. Ruk ruk. I need to change”
“Pehli date hai to ready hona maangta hai na” Shahid chuckled
We took our bikes and left the hill. Sam got ready in 15 minutes. Shahid was always ready. He doesn’t even change while going to bed. We took our bikes, bought a rose and some chocolates. Highway was nearly 5-6 km from the town.
“15 minute mein reach hoti kathe” Sam shouted sitting behind me.
“Sajid, usse gaadi challaane de. He should look hero in front of her no?” Shahid gave his idea.
“Unhe isse ab tak nai dekhi. How can she figure out?” I explained. Then I got an idea in my dirty head. I turned to Shahid and asked him to meet her saying he himself was Sam. Sam supported the plan. We wanted to see the fun. Hearing the idea of going and confronting a girl, Shahid pissed in his pants. Hence I agreed to meet her. I took Sam’s phone and slid in my pocket.
I stood at the remote bus stop. Both my cousins hid far behind a vehicle. There were hardly people around. Then I saw a tall, thin burkha clad girl getting down from a bus. I could hardly see her eyes, feet and hands. Sam had told that she was in her early twenties, had completed diploma and was looking for a job. He had also told that he addressed her as ‘honey’.
I went and stood next to her. She took out her phone and dialled Sam’s number. The phone rang in my pocket. I took it out and showed it to her. Since I can impersonate voices it wasn’t difficult for me to mimic Sam.
“Hi Honey. It's me; Sam” I said as romantically as possible. I continued “achchi lag rahi hain aap”. By the way it sounded funny complimenting a woman wearing a burkha.
She raised her head, looked at me for a millisecond, and then put her head down. I saw the flow of tears from her eyes. She started crying. I got scared.
“kya huwa? Something wrong? Did I do anything wrong?” I asked her confusingly
“Nai. Kya bhi nai. Nothing?”
“phir? Why are you crying?”
She was quiet. Then she said “aap finally aaye na. isliye”
Then I realized, those were the tears of joy. But I felt horrible that she had to shed her tears for a waste guy like me. Then I looked at her hands. She was fiddling with them. I glared at them closely. To my surprise they were slightly shivering.
‘Jeez! this girl really loves this Sam’. I felt guilty
“dekho, I am sorry. Really sorry. Ye ek prank tha. Main Sam nahi hoon. Unhe wahan hai..” I ran from there. Thank God that I hadn’t given the rose to her.
Sam came out giggling and asking “kya boli? Kya boli?”
I didn’t laugh. While he was about to move towards her, I said “dekh, she loves you. Please uska dil mat todna. Please don’t leave her. Agar tu usse shaadi nai karega to, I will never help you again” I didn’t know if he understood me then.
He went to her. I stood away with Shahid. After five minutes a bus arrived. It was heading to Haveri city. Sam called on my phone and yelled “come. Tumhe dono bhi bus mein chalo”
I said “no. you people get in first”
They got into the bus. I neared the bus. Sam took the window and she had sat next to him. He was cursing me slyly for not accompanying him in the bus. Finally when the bus moved he waved his hand. I signaled him about the rose. He signaled back saying he would give later.
“Don’t forget to hold her hand you idiot” I shouted.
I and Shahid stood there back. He suggested if we should go and have some beer. I refused.
After one hour, I got a call on my cell. It was a girl
“Assalam alaikum bhayya”
“Who’s is this?” I didn’t recognize the voice
“It’s honey” she replied with a smile. I felt she must have smiled. You feel it when someone smiles on phone.
“oh.. how are you? Kahan hain tum dono?”
“Humein yahan coffee shop mein hain”
“Cool. Phir. Aap mujhe maaf kare na? Sorry, It was a prank”
“It’s ok bhayya. Actaully thanks for helping us meet”
“Arre Bhaayee hai mera. Suno. Tum dono baat karo. Isme darne ki kya bhi baat nai.
Phir decide karo. Ye tumahri zindagi hai. Once tumhe confirm karo to shaadi karani ki responsibility meri. Agar tumahre dad kuch panga kare to…”
I wanted to say “Agar tumhare dad panga kare to ek kheencho kaan ke neeche detun”
Instead I said “Agar tumhare dad panga kare to main unke pair pakadko request kartun”
“Bahut bahut Thanks bhayya.” She sounded happy
I smiled at her innocent happiness.
“suno, vo idiot tumna rose diya ya nai abhi tak? “
She gave a pause and said shyly “diye”
After couple of months I touch based with them to know their decision. They said they would love to marry each other; in other words they loved to marry each other. Then I asked each of them to convey to their respective parents.
Like any other bollywood movie the hell broke loose. Till then no one had ever had a ‘love marriage’ in our family. For the next six months there were denials from both the families. The other day Sam called me. He was in tears. He said his girl was depressed. I had almost sensed that he was about to give up. I told him, “You would know the price of first love only when you lose it”
Then I traveled to my hometown again. I, Shahid and Sam’s sister had a secret meeting and we decided that I would convince Sam’s parents, my uncle and aunt and Sam’s sister’s would persuade his GF’s parents.
Meanwhile Shahid tracked and threatened couple of Arranged-Marriage kind of guys who had seen her and agreed to marry her. Her parents wanted to get her married ASAP.
Sam’s father loves me a lot. I went to him and asked ‘Chacha, do you want a daughter in law or do you want your son? The choice is yours”
He melted finally. Sam’s sister cajoled the girl’s parents. It took almost few months.
And yesterday was Sam’s engagement with his honey. The wedding would be after few months I guess.
I really have no idea why I helped my cousin. I don’t know.
The best experience in the world is to fall in love and the most painful experience is to separate from one’s love. My cousin had experienced the best thing and I didn’t want my lovely bro to experience the painful part then. May be my happiness lied in making him happy. May be the pain which kills you every moment, I thought my cousin and his innocent girl didn’t deserve. I don’t know.
But today I am the most happiest person in the world. Today was the only day when I forgot my own pain.
This is about the sweet love story of my cousin. I call it sweet because there’s ‘honey’ involved :-)
By the way, Shahid too called me and said, “how about some beer?” hahaha. I love this Bastard!!
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