It is often said that happiness is like a butterfly, the more you try to chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder. So, the principle is not to chase the butterfly which of course, is just as hard to achieve unless you know that the butterfly is forever yours as you have been raising and nurturing it since it was a caterpillar. As far as my story goes, since I'm not much of a nature lover, though the person about whom I am about to write surely is, so raising a caterpillar was out of the question. So I decided chasing it instead and went a thousand miles in it's pursuit, and trust me guys, though I caught it for an infinitesimally short period of time, but for the while it sat on my shoulder only because someone was walking next to me, the one word which can properly describe what my heart felt for those 11 hours and 30 minutes, to be precise is 'ecstasy'!
Let me tell you how--
It was 6 in the morning, when I stepped down from a rather crowded yet comparatively warm railway compartment, to a much colder and breezy station platform, the first step on which sent a shiver down my spine and for a moment, the entire tiredness and sleep, which had been eluding me since last night, thanks to my over excitement, disappeared completely. Yes, I was tired courtesy that 30 plus 2 hour long chase and yes, I was sleepy because as idiotic as you may call it, I had been singing 'happy birthday to you' lying on my berth continuously since midnight. Little did I know, that two and a half hours later, I would be rewarded for doing absolutely nothing; that two and a half hours later I would be at the pinnacle of ecstasy; that two and a half hours later, all the worldly sorrows that had been encompassing my soul would temporarily be diverted to some unknown land, because two and a half hours later, I would be there- next to her.
It was her birthday, and we had been unsuccessfully trying to plan out things, gifts, surprises etc, all of which, would either turn out to be not feasible at the end, or due to the inherent nature of the birthday girl herself, would cease to be a surprise. But then, the way that day turned out, thanks to three of her very close friends without whom, this note would have been just another note and not a dedication, left me in complete awe. I know girl, that I wasn't even remotely close to fulfilling your expectations; that my entire plan was more about words than actions and I know that I could have done much much more but I wasn't able to, but as long as you have those friends of yours around you, that pretty grin on your face would always have an 'evergreen' tag along with it. Anyways, continuing on, I had two hours for what they call a 'preparation time', of course, not for exams, as I have it while I write, but to prepare myself as to how would I react when she sees me out of the blue standing right in front of her with excitement written all over my face. Well, I had an ample number of scenarios going on in this pretty much useless brain of mine and was continuously murmuring something to myself with the other passengers along with the monkeys, which happened to be a trademark of that railway station, looking at me suspiciously. But at that moment, my heart was too carefree to care about anyone or anything because all my eyes were looking for whenever they saw a tall girl on the platform, was my best friend who was about arrive at around 8:30. I was in a dilemma as to whether closing her eyes from behind would be a better idea or should I just appear all of sudden from the crowd of passengers and in a very normal and un interesting voice say, "Hi". Well, all of this was brutally and remorselessly murdered by this spoilsport of a girl, who had, thanks to my stupidity, found out that I was actually coming and the expression which she would have made if this surprise actually remained a surprise, which I had asked her friend to capture instantly, was far from coming.
It was around 8, and the cold weather which was unsuccessfully trying to act as a roadblock in my road to serenity had started to give up and had subsided a little, when I met a guy, whom later on I realized was one of the most humble, cheerful and openhearted guys that one would ever come across. I mean the way you welcomed a total stranger with that ever so inviting attitude and the manner in which I was treated for the time I was planning these things and of course when I was there with you guys left me humbled. Thank you for treating me like I was one of your very own mates and making me feel far more than just comfortable, because trust me, I'm such an introvert when it comes to talking to or gelling up with new people. The girl knows it very well. The hospitality that I received in an unknown college, of unknown people except a few, was way above awesome. Mutually agreeing to the well known fact that cricket unites any two guys in this country, we started our conversation with me asking the obvious question,"Score kitna hua?" The next half an hour was spent on discussions about cricket, school, college and of course how stupid and dumb the birthday girl was when they suddenly announced that 15273 Up Satyagrah Express was about to arrive on Platform no. 3!
That announcement sent an immediate jitter down my throat and I was immediately upgraded to the super-sayen level of excitement. We had asked a local vendor about the position of the coach S-2 and the plan was him going on to receive her and keeping her engaged, and in the meantime me trying to run and surprise her from behind. The stage was set, I was waiting on the stairs while he was there on the platform when the train entered and with it my heartbeats were in resonance with the sound that the wheels made against the railway track. I could literally feel my pulse increasing and my legs trembling when suddenly something disastrous happened! The coach stopped way ahead of the expected position which meant that I had to run quickly and cover a comparatively longer distance before she turns around and finds me. I did exactly that and with stealing eyes and continuously trying to hide amongst the crowd I started marching towards her with occasional attempts to hide out under the chairs or beside the water coolers. But then, the birthday girl was too good and too spoilsport for me to actually reach her. Instead she found me, and yeah, I knew it! :-|
But then, that pretty smile, on an even prettier chink face with oily hairs which she was barely able to manage took those scandalizing moments away almost instantaneously and replaced them with utter joy and ecstasy. I saw her smiling from a distance and immediately stopped running and started to walk rather casually with a broad clown like display of my dentition, happy, elated and at the same time spellbound and speechless. Though I had a million words to say and a million things to do but at that moment I preferred to remain silent and just admire; just look at her, because I knew that eleven and a half hours from now, I would again be in a long queue, unless God finds time for my prayers, and graces me with such an opportunity again. Finally she broke the ice and the first words which she uttered were something like-
"Kya be? Ekdum udiya (as she likes to spell it) lag rahe ho!"
I don't know when was this pic taken, but that smile there was what I had come all these miles for!
With her luggage, which predominantly and expectedly consisted of eatables, kept carefully in the auto, the three of us set out for her college and for all those 45 minutes of the journey, I still couldn't believe that I was finally there sitting next to her. I mean, she would understand this part better as to why I keep saying this, and why I keep telling everyone that going there to her was nothing short of a dream come true! Such was my level of excitement that I was continuously blabbering random stuff all throughout our way to the college such as 'How Ghaziabad resembles Gorakhpur' and 'How people in my hostel drink less water and more beer'. It took me time to recover, but I finally did when she left for her hostel after reaching her college and I accompanied her friend to the boys' hostel. Meanwhile, I also had a glimpse of the college, the details of which are going to make it even longer, so I guess, I will avoid it.
About two hours later, after having a quick shower and partially compensating for the back pain which had chained me ferociously, we, i.e. me, her and her four other friends, were all set for what proved out for me the kind of six hours which I would obviously forget only if I suffer from amnesia. I had got loads of things to talk, to discuss, to ask, to tell, to laugh, to cry but I preferred keeping quiet and relishing the moment of being a tiny little part of her big day; a tiny little percentage of her smile; a tiny little half of her wishes; a tiny little note in her diary. You know girl, we obviously blabber a lot on phone, and at that moment I rather did not want to waste time in talking, to be frank, rather I just wanted to sit and observe. Observe those little things that you do, the way you kindly invite and slap your friends, the way you play with their hairs, the way you give those looks and say those words which probably no one understands! I was looking keenly as to what makes you happy; whether it was Kamlendra's humor or Aman's photography or Baniya's headphones or Animesh's taunts, but then, I realized that we were all a part of it and the fact that we were all there that moment would have probably made this mysterious scorpion grin a little. With some talks, a few jokes and continuous chants of 'Moti' we reached GIP, the venue as decided by our very efficient plan manager.
Traditionally, we are all supposed to visit a temple on our birthdays, and that small gap was fulfilled by a rather big Ganesha statue which was the first thing that she observed when we entered the mall premises. Well, perhaps that was the only interesting part, because for the next few hours we were all aimlessly revolving around this magnanimous area with the birthday girl getting utterly bored. So the obvious next step to relieve this girl out of her boredom was to resort to that one thing for which she would literally fight and knock you down any day even if she smells you trying to snatch her share. Yeah, right- FOOD! We decided to have lunch at a pretty awesome Punjabi Restaurant. Yeah, it worked! That properly smoked (as she likes to call it) buttery piece of chicken and those variety of pickles brought an instant smile, as expected, as she carefully shielded her plate from the rest. We ate to our heart's content and I was rather shocked at the number of chapatis that these guys had the potential to consume!
And the next moment, this-
Let me tell you how--
It was 6 in the morning, when I stepped down from a rather crowded yet comparatively warm railway compartment, to a much colder and breezy station platform, the first step on which sent a shiver down my spine and for a moment, the entire tiredness and sleep, which had been eluding me since last night, thanks to my over excitement, disappeared completely. Yes, I was tired courtesy that 30 plus 2 hour long chase and yes, I was sleepy because as idiotic as you may call it, I had been singing 'happy birthday to you' lying on my berth continuously since midnight. Little did I know, that two and a half hours later, I would be rewarded for doing absolutely nothing; that two and a half hours later I would be at the pinnacle of ecstasy; that two and a half hours later, all the worldly sorrows that had been encompassing my soul would temporarily be diverted to some unknown land, because two and a half hours later, I would be there- next to her.
It was her birthday, and we had been unsuccessfully trying to plan out things, gifts, surprises etc, all of which, would either turn out to be not feasible at the end, or due to the inherent nature of the birthday girl herself, would cease to be a surprise. But then, the way that day turned out, thanks to three of her very close friends without whom, this note would have been just another note and not a dedication, left me in complete awe. I know girl, that I wasn't even remotely close to fulfilling your expectations; that my entire plan was more about words than actions and I know that I could have done much much more but I wasn't able to, but as long as you have those friends of yours around you, that pretty grin on your face would always have an 'evergreen' tag along with it. Anyways, continuing on, I had two hours for what they call a 'preparation time', of course, not for exams, as I have it while I write, but to prepare myself as to how would I react when she sees me out of the blue standing right in front of her with excitement written all over my face. Well, I had an ample number of scenarios going on in this pretty much useless brain of mine and was continuously murmuring something to myself with the other passengers along with the monkeys, which happened to be a trademark of that railway station, looking at me suspiciously. But at that moment, my heart was too carefree to care about anyone or anything because all my eyes were looking for whenever they saw a tall girl on the platform, was my best friend who was about arrive at around 8:30. I was in a dilemma as to whether closing her eyes from behind would be a better idea or should I just appear all of sudden from the crowd of passengers and in a very normal and un interesting voice say, "Hi". Well, all of this was brutally and remorselessly murdered by this spoilsport of a girl, who had, thanks to my stupidity, found out that I was actually coming and the expression which she would have made if this surprise actually remained a surprise, which I had asked her friend to capture instantly, was far from coming.
It was around 8, and the cold weather which was unsuccessfully trying to act as a roadblock in my road to serenity had started to give up and had subsided a little, when I met a guy, whom later on I realized was one of the most humble, cheerful and openhearted guys that one would ever come across. I mean the way you welcomed a total stranger with that ever so inviting attitude and the manner in which I was treated for the time I was planning these things and of course when I was there with you guys left me humbled. Thank you for treating me like I was one of your very own mates and making me feel far more than just comfortable, because trust me, I'm such an introvert when it comes to talking to or gelling up with new people. The girl knows it very well. The hospitality that I received in an unknown college, of unknown people except a few, was way above awesome. Mutually agreeing to the well known fact that cricket unites any two guys in this country, we started our conversation with me asking the obvious question,"Score kitna hua?" The next half an hour was spent on discussions about cricket, school, college and of course how stupid and dumb the birthday girl was when they suddenly announced that 15273 Up Satyagrah Express was about to arrive on Platform no. 3!
That announcement sent an immediate jitter down my throat and I was immediately upgraded to the super-sayen level of excitement. We had asked a local vendor about the position of the coach S-2 and the plan was him going on to receive her and keeping her engaged, and in the meantime me trying to run and surprise her from behind. The stage was set, I was waiting on the stairs while he was there on the platform when the train entered and with it my heartbeats were in resonance with the sound that the wheels made against the railway track. I could literally feel my pulse increasing and my legs trembling when suddenly something disastrous happened! The coach stopped way ahead of the expected position which meant that I had to run quickly and cover a comparatively longer distance before she turns around and finds me. I did exactly that and with stealing eyes and continuously trying to hide amongst the crowd I started marching towards her with occasional attempts to hide out under the chairs or beside the water coolers. But then, the birthday girl was too good and too spoilsport for me to actually reach her. Instead she found me, and yeah, I knew it! :-|
But then, that pretty smile, on an even prettier chink face with oily hairs which she was barely able to manage took those scandalizing moments away almost instantaneously and replaced them with utter joy and ecstasy. I saw her smiling from a distance and immediately stopped running and started to walk rather casually with a broad clown like display of my dentition, happy, elated and at the same time spellbound and speechless. Though I had a million words to say and a million things to do but at that moment I preferred to remain silent and just admire; just look at her, because I knew that eleven and a half hours from now, I would again be in a long queue, unless God finds time for my prayers, and graces me with such an opportunity again. Finally she broke the ice and the first words which she uttered were something like-
"Kya be? Ekdum udiya (as she likes to spell it) lag rahe ho!"
I don't know when was this pic taken, but that smile there was what I had come all these miles for!
With her luggage, which predominantly and expectedly consisted of eatables, kept carefully in the auto, the three of us set out for her college and for all those 45 minutes of the journey, I still couldn't believe that I was finally there sitting next to her. I mean, she would understand this part better as to why I keep saying this, and why I keep telling everyone that going there to her was nothing short of a dream come true! Such was my level of excitement that I was continuously blabbering random stuff all throughout our way to the college such as 'How Ghaziabad resembles Gorakhpur' and 'How people in my hostel drink less water and more beer'. It took me time to recover, but I finally did when she left for her hostel after reaching her college and I accompanied her friend to the boys' hostel. Meanwhile, I also had a glimpse of the college, the details of which are going to make it even longer, so I guess, I will avoid it.
About two hours later, after having a quick shower and partially compensating for the back pain which had chained me ferociously, we, i.e. me, her and her four other friends, were all set for what proved out for me the kind of six hours which I would obviously forget only if I suffer from amnesia. I had got loads of things to talk, to discuss, to ask, to tell, to laugh, to cry but I preferred keeping quiet and relishing the moment of being a tiny little part of her big day; a tiny little percentage of her smile; a tiny little half of her wishes; a tiny little note in her diary. You know girl, we obviously blabber a lot on phone, and at that moment I rather did not want to waste time in talking, to be frank, rather I just wanted to sit and observe. Observe those little things that you do, the way you kindly invite and slap your friends, the way you play with their hairs, the way you give those looks and say those words which probably no one understands! I was looking keenly as to what makes you happy; whether it was Kamlendra's humor or Aman's photography or Baniya's headphones or Animesh's taunts, but then, I realized that we were all a part of it and the fact that we were all there that moment would have probably made this mysterious scorpion grin a little. With some talks, a few jokes and continuous chants of 'Moti' we reached GIP, the venue as decided by our very efficient plan manager.
Traditionally, we are all supposed to visit a temple on our birthdays, and that small gap was fulfilled by a rather big Ganesha statue which was the first thing that she observed when we entered the mall premises. Well, perhaps that was the only interesting part, because for the next few hours we were all aimlessly revolving around this magnanimous area with the birthday girl getting utterly bored. So the obvious next step to relieve this girl out of her boredom was to resort to that one thing for which she would literally fight and knock you down any day even if she smells you trying to snatch her share. Yeah, right- FOOD! We decided to have lunch at a pretty awesome Punjabi Restaurant. Yeah, it worked! That properly smoked (as she likes to call it) buttery piece of chicken and those variety of pickles brought an instant smile, as expected, as she carefully shielded her plate from the rest. We ate to our heart's content and I was rather shocked at the number of chapatis that these guys had the potential to consume!
I mean, look at her. This was her face even before the food had arrived. Imagine what would have happened after it did!
And dear Aman, I owe you a treat for this pic because you have no idea about the pleasure which this particular one gave me!
Our next destination was a rather famous coffee shop which had to be reached through a rather innovative road over walking bridge. The sun was about to set which made that location perfect for photography. So we decided to click a few. After this one was clicked, she immediately said, "ye photo bohot acchi aayi hogi." And me being rather dumb, was happy listening to this only to realize later what she actually meant when I saw this one-
I mean, yeah, with over grown hairs everywhere, I admit that I looked like a bear, but then at least I tried to pose well and all you had to do was this! (-_-)
Anyways, the next surprise, the cake, which we later realized was also a known one, was planned to be presented there. For the while it was prepared we had to keep her away from boredom, and those earphones solved the issue remarkably. She was busy shuffling the playlist and I was busy capturing her every move, but then me being a terribly horrible photographer managed to click even more disastrous ones. But then, for every such occasion, there is Aman. This was his click-
Apologies for disturbing the chronological order. This was taken after the cake was cut.
Meanwhile, I was getting restless, as there was a delay in the preparation of cake so tried my hands on innovative texting which again, failed. But then we had a God bestowed gift to fill up for that as well in the form of perhaps the second best pleasurable entity that she wants to treat her eyes with- Dogs. There were two of them, and not very surprisingly she was the very first one to observe them, and that very expression on her face was bound to be captured, but we missed it. Finally, the cake was ready and with the green signal I closed her eyes from behined with Animesh and Aman covering my palms so that nothing was visible even through the gaps between my fingers. (Little did we know that she had already figured that out)
When she opened her eyes, she found this-
And the next-
Though I have a base voice, and I usually don't sing that well, but then the pleasure that it gave me singing happy birthday in my horse like voice cannot be penned down here. Anyways, the cake was carefully bludgeoned which again, was too large for our already full stomachs to consume. We also had a small hookah party immediately after which was sudden and perhaps out of the blue experience for her. Except me and her of course, almost all the others were doing it pretty well but then came THIS GUY-
Father of Smokers- Bhai, RESPECT! _/\_
I mean, I had never seen someone drawing out patterns and exhaling smoke in projectile motion! o.O
Plus, the 'Party All Night' track in the background made the ambiance even more enjoyable, all of which, still, couldn't make the girl learn this art, as she would inhale in giant proportions which would magically disappear somewhere instead of coming out! We really had a great time there and perhaps this was the part which made her birthday a bit different.
We had to return now and the metro station was the next destination where the metro card, which one of my friends had given me before I left college came in very handy. A tiring day it was for me as well as for her (as we both had pretty long train journeys on the previous day) which was evident when she rested her head on the metro door and closed her eyes and for a split second I realized the fact that I had almost forgotten how beautiful she is!
We still had an hour to go before we reached college. It was getting darker and so was my heart, as I knew, that an hour later, I will have to leave. So finally, I decided to talk, to pour my heart out and tell her how much the past six hours have meant to me; how much I have cherished each and every second that I was sitting next to her; how loved I felt when she took my specks and cleaned it with her sweater(This may sound stupid, but then I'm a kind of guy who is not used to even the smallest tokens of love and care); and yeah, how passionate and desperate I had felt while I was planning it for her. Suddenly, the time had started to run out, suddenly I had loads of emotions but a few seconds of time, suddenly I wanted the time to stop or rather the auto to run slow, suddenly I had started getting afraid of returning back to the place which I hated the most and suddenly, the auto stopped!
I had to quickly pack up and get ready to leave as my returning train was from New Delhi. We entered the college premises and all of a sudden the girl stretched her arms wide apart and looked towards the heaven as if she was saying- Thank you God. But before I could capture this, she was back to normal. Again, a spoilsport! I rushed to the hostel, packed up quickly, checked for the next train to Delhi, saw off those guys whom I had made friends with and left the hostel. My heart was heavy, but I didn't cry, and even if I would have, it would have been out of happiness and not sorrow. She came out to see me off, with the broadest of smiles that I had seen throughout the day, with two magazines in one hand and my birthday gift in the other, and said, "Humko bohot din se padhni thi ye, accha hua tum gift kar diye."
I smiled and started walking towards the gate with her walking next to me in a similar manner as the day had started. I wanted to stop, wanted to sit and talk for my heart was still drenched as the butterfly had started to stretch its wings. I thought of asking Animesh if I could stay for a few more minutes but I knew that it was not to be. I placed my palm on her head and said, "Happy Birthday, God Bless you! Khush rehna!"
With these words I stepped out of the college gate where the auto was waiting for me. I turned around to see if she was still there behind the gate, but she had turned around (epic insult :P This wasn't a Bollywood scene, what were you readers expecting? ). With a heavy heart, I pushed myself inside the auto and the butterfly flew away!
Two hours later, I was sitting on my berth no. 44 in the S-11 compartment of 12802 Purushottam express, dead tired, hungry but at the same time with the feeling on contentment that at least I was able to be a part of that smile which I so dearly cherish on her face.
Regrets-- Yes, I have a few. Girl, I did absolutely nothing. Trust me, I had thought of doing an ample number of things but those plans were far from getting executed. And that happens to be my biggest regret. I mean I wanted to surprise you every minute with some small tokens which I had thought of, but couldn't prepare them. I did nothing for you. I had thought that I would ask all of your college friends to gather at one place somewhere in you campus and organize a small thanksgiving ceremony, but I couldn't. There were many things that remained mere words and not actions and I apologize for it. If your birthday was as good as it was, it was because of those two gems that you have- Animesh Srivastava and Manish Porwal. They were the ones who did everything, every single thing to whom I owe the next two paragraphs--
To this guy- Our Plan Manager
Bhai, plane zarur udaana, leking pehle MBA kar lo. :P Desh ko zarurat hai tumhare jaise managers ki. Aakhir plane bhi to desh ke liye he udaaoge na!
If you have to learn instant solutions to problems and last moment disaster management methods, he is your guy. Even I didn't know that the cake was to be presented there until he told me. We were discussing about the fact that she was getting bored and he said, "kahin bahar leke chalte hain and fir kuch karte hain." Nothing as such was planned, I think, when we left college but when we returned, everything looked like a well planned show! Also, if you have to learn how to be humble and how to have a correct attitude towards everyone, he is your guy. I mean, I have already told you several times, but I will tell you again that I was extremely humbled by the way you guys treated me and made me feel like home. Thank you.
To our Baniya-
The man behind the curtains, without whom the show would have lost its colour.
Though you were completely surprising me with you sudden and magical appearings and disappearings from the venue, I knew that if there was a plan to be executed, you were the hard worker behind it. I think it was those gifts which were delayed that kept you busy but you were busy doing it for her and that is what matters. Thank you for co-operating with a total stranger in the way that you did and welcoming me with open arms.
Aman- Bhai, dil jeet liya tumhari photo ne!
Kamlendra- Never saw you in school, but it was really great to meet you!
Lavang- Bhai, Respect!!
And yeah, Neha Di- Thank you so much! You were among the first people whom I approached for this plan and you friendliness took me by surprise. I really enjoyed talking to you and thank you for that suggestion of Birthday videos. Though I couldn't bring in the un-expected ones, but still, she liked it I think. Mission Successful! \m/
Finally, to you girl- What? Women are never satisfied, isn't it? You want more? I just wrote an entire note!
(-_-)
Apologies if I missed out on something, but know this for sure, that I still can't pen down how exactly I felt each and every second that I was doing it for you.
P.S.- (You know the words)
