The Last Day


The final day of college, the final exam. It was like any other day. Everyone looked the same and everything felt the same. The college was completely immersed in the hustle and bustle of the strenuous few minutes before the morning exam. And there she stood leaning onto the boot of a car with her lovely gaze going through the prose of an open book that rested on the boot. Like any other day, I saw her. It never felt like it would be the last time I would see her in the same black and white striped uniform. The last time I would ask her whether she had studied. The girl who was everything for me for the past four years raised her head then and smiled at me. The smile that I would miss for a long time. She walked to me in her characteristic lovely gait. The normal answer left her lips that she doesn’t think she will remember anything. I went away, ending the usual morning session that had become a routine.
I saw her right before the exam, walked upto her and said an all the best in the best possible pseudo attitude that I could muster. She called me “Jaada” just like she would any day. The exam hall felt the same. The stupid exam also felt the same. But what was different was I didn't feel like leaving the hall. The college was a structure that had awarded me a lot of painful memories also some very few sweet ones. I hated it like no other. Every day was a burden for me except for Her and a few of my best friends who had carried me through all my moodiness. I had been an island within an island for the past four years with only a few people having access to it.
I looked around and finally left the hall when the bell rang. The bell that I would hear in the same manner for the last time. She came out, had the same characteristic bottle of water in her hand which she offered to me on the slightest of gesture from me. Again, for the last time. She had to see a doc so me, her and a friend of mine left without posing for a class photo. What is there in a photo right?
I knew I will never come to this place again. The place that I frequented every single day of the past few years whether I liked it or not. But still I felt no sadness. I was thinking whether I will miss it sometime. My friend was joking about some of the most horrendous teachers that we hav had. We all laughed. And before we knew it we had traversed the 12 or so kilometers from the college to her house. A place that brought chills down my spine. But it was ok to drop her there today just like I had done during some special occasions like the college day.
She brought me the badminton racket she had borrowed earlier. She then said bye turned, smiled and waved. The wave was like none other, the smile was like none other. Then it hit me. It hit me like a pile of stones. My chest felt heavy and a lump was making its ascent up my throat. I felt like crying but tough guys aren’t supposed to cry, not in front of someone else, even if he is a friend. So I suppressed the emotion that welled up in me.
Everything was rushing past me like a blur, the first time I saw her, the first time we went out, the proposal which came after we started going out. It was just a formality. This made me smile. The numerous fights. The numerous times I hurt her. Everything had come to an end and I wished for the first time that it would all come back just for her sake. But that is how Life unravels and man is impotent but to go with the flow.  

No comments:

Post a Comment