College Crush

It was the second year of MBA. We became seniors and were eagerly waiting for our juniors. I would mostly hang out with my friends Swapnil & Shailu. Both were college toppers and extremely intelligent unlike me. None of them would attend lectures but ultimately they would top in exams. On the other hand, I would attend all the lectures from the beginning of the semester. I would go all dressed up with a tie and would show a high level of professionalism. Looking at that my teachers appointed me as a class representative. Sadly they didn't know, that was a mere shallow initial enthusiasm. Later the same teacher would ask the class that where was your CR as I would stop to attend class. I and Swapnil were dedicated to swimming. We had a big swimming pool on our campus and every day at 4pm we both would go swimming for 2 hours. Those 2 hours was the only time when I would see Swapnil active. Else he was happy staying in his room under his blanket. While Shailu would wake up at 5am for running then also playing basketball in the evening. He was the most active among us. One evening we planned an introductory session for our juniors. All the juniors would come one by one on the stage and would introduce themselves in detail. To make it more fun we appointed three judges from our class to select winners in different categories. Swapnil was one of the judges. That's what he was good at. Judging people.

The event was going good and everyone was enjoying it. Then came a girl wearing a pink salwar suit to introduce herself. She had long curly hair, walking confidently towards the stage with a beautiful smile on her face. She started introducing herself, her curly hair was blowing in the wind from the fan in the room, her smile was magnetic, she was an academic topper, the whole room was stunned by her speech. I found her interesting. I wondered why all toppers come in my life. All our juniors were intelligent, smart and very friendly. We would often hang out with each other like friends. The senior-junior vibe left quite soon. One day Shailu told me and Swapnil that there was one girl among juniors with very beautiful eyes. So the next day we went to see who was our friend falling for. We found out soon that she was already in a relationship. But he really liked her. On valentines day we pushed Shailu to give her a red rose. Even though he knew there was no hope. But he did give her rose right in front of 50 students near the college fountain. There was pin-drop silence when he was giving the rose, everyone was looking at them. Then he said, "You have very beautiful eyes." And suddenly everyone shouted & celebrated like we had won the world cup. Later we all became good friends.

Meanwhile, the girl I liked was already a topper and I was aware of my intellectual level. I would talk to her sometimes in the library. One day she told me that she was facing difficulty in understanding MIS subject. It was a technical subject. So with overconfidence, I said, "Oh, that subject. I will teach you tomorrow, no worries. I have taught that to many." It was just to impress her. She was very happy for my help while I was happy that I would be getting time to be with her. Honestly, I was very very bad at MIS. So I came running to hostel searching for Swapnil. I explained to him everything and requested him to teach me MIS so that I could teach her. He looked at me in despair somehow knowing the future. He tried really hard to teach me in simple words. Still, it was hard to grasp everything so I started making notes and memorising his sentences as it is, without understanding their meaning.

Next day I went to the library and there she was sitting adjusting her curly hair. I reminded myself that I was expert in MIS and approached her desk. Soon I started teaching her with fake confidence completely forgetting that she was a topper. To my surprise, she kept asking me all the difficult questions about MIS for which I had no answers. I was acting all cool while inside there was an earthquake happening. All my borrowed knowledge was falling apart. I tell you these toppers just can't listen without asking questions. I was speaking something about MIS which I had no clue of. She was also looking at me with the same clueless eyes and playing with her beautiful curly hair. She realised what was going on but she didn't say anything. I think it was amusing to her. Just like when a goat comes to a lion to teach him how to hunt. I and Shailu soon realised that there was no hope for our feelings. I remember our last day on the campus after giving the last paper. I and Shailu stayed in the hostel for one extra month after our exams. There was no one in the entire college and hostel except both of us. There were so many memories from that place. Both of us would just walk around in campus remembering our friends. Two years just flew like that. Later when these two girls got married, I & Shailu had a moment of silence (RIP) while talking on the phone. How weird and immature we were! Now when I look back I feel grateful to each person I met on that campus. They have enriched my life in some way or another.

I Wish If I Could Live Those Two Years Again.