Soul Meet: Accidental Encounter

Running down the corridor at DU I bumped into this girl who fell over. My friends laughed as I apologized giving her a hand while she adjusted her glasses. Then she swept her hair from her face and our eyes met. It’s been four years. I was thinner and she was perhaps a bit plump. Those glasses were missing too. But that face was unforgettable.

“Pratap?” “Ajabdeh?” We spoke in unison as our friends smiled confusedly.

“You two know each other?” One guy asked a little amused.

“Yes. She...” I nodded.

“We...” She looked at me and paused.

“were friends?” her friend asked.

Were we? I didn’t know. Yet the only day I spent with her was the most memorable day I had in her city.

“You are here for any courses?” I asked her. She shook her head.

“The inter-college debate competition.” She smiled. “I am studying in Chandigarh.”

“Oh, I see.” We started walking down the corridor, followed by our groups of friends.

“So, I guess I have to go now, the debate is in an hour.” She smiled.

“Sorry about the ... umm... I didn’t see.” I apologized.

“It’s okay.” She dismissed my apology. “It was good to see you, Pratap.” She started walking away when I felt that I had to stop her.

“Hey Ajab,” I called out as she stopped. “What are you doing after the competition?”

“We have a flight tomorrow.” One of her friends quipped.

“So, you guys can hang out with us for lunch.” One of my friends offered.

They agreed. She smiled at me and left, promising to meet us at the canteen in two hours.

For the next two hours, which felt like the longest of my life I kept staring at my watch during the lectures. Then we rushed to the canteen to see them sitting there with tea and samosa.

“What happened at the competition?” One of my friends asked.

“We lost,” Ajabdeh replied plainly.

The gang got busy planning a day in the city. Ajabdeh seemed awfully quiet.

“If you don’t want to go... you can skip it.” I offered with a faint smile. Maybe she was upset with the loss.

“I don’t socialize much.” She shrugged “Especially with strangers.”

“Really?” I smiled amused “I thought you take them around your city.”

“Only one.” She smiled at me through her geek glasses. “I think you people should carry on.” She said to her friends, picked up her handbag and waved me bye, to leave.

I ran after her and stopped her at the college gates.

“Ajabdeh wait!” She stopped and turned. “Can I take you out to dinner? Just the two of us?”

My heart thumped in my chest as her smile faded. I didn’t want to come across as a creep but I didn’t know how to say it right as well. This was the first time I was asking a girl out and...

“Yes.” She smiled “I will like that.”

“Great! I will pick you up at the hotel then, and we can drive to someplace nice.” I smiled.

“I would like to Dutch.” She insisted.

“Deal.” I smiled as she stopped a rickshaw and got in, almost like she was a local.

“He asked you for dinner?” My sister frowned on Skype. “he knows you are engaged right?” My hands stopped at the luggage.

“How does it matter?” I frowned. “He didn’t ask me out on a date, just a dinner.” I reminded her. Or was it a reminder to myself?

Don’t get me wrong here; Siddharth is a gem of a person. Well settled, and polite. His family had known ours forever. Their offer for a nuptial wasn’t to be rejected. But something was missing. As much as I tried to convince myself everything was fine. And somewhere, meeting Pratap, someone who knew the carefree person I was in school, made me feel free again. I wanted to feel that way. But Heer was right. He should not get the wrong signals. So I decided to tell him that I was engaged and moving to Belgium the next year.

She walked out at the reception, grabbing a good few pairs of eyeballs in her simple yet elegant jumpsuit.

“Sorry, I didn’t pack enough clothes for...” She shrugged.

“You look beautiful.” I smiled opening the door for her.

I could not place why she looked worried. Did my compliment make her feel awkward? I cleared my throat twice hoping she would speak but she didn’t.

“The Japanese cuisine here is very...” I tried small talk.

“ I am engaged.” The words blurted out of her mouth quite fast.

“What?” I was a little taken aback.

“I am engaged. We will get married next year and I am moving to Belgium.” She spoke in a hurry. I smiled.

“Congratulations.” I said, “So do I get an invite?”

“You want one?” Her eyes expected a no. Her face looked a little disappointed.

“Yes. Of course. It is not every day that people find love.” I shrugged. She seemed a little pale at my stare.

“Is everything all right Ajabdeh?” I asked a little concerned.

“Yes. Yes. Let’s have dinner.” She smiled.

I turned back to the porch to see him wave me goodbye with a smile on his face. I waved back with a faint smile and rushed inside the hotel. His words haunted me.

“So, when are you getting married?”

“As soon as I get my graduation certificate.”

“Well... How is he?”

“He is nice. We have known each other forever, I couldn’t ask for a better partner. He proposed with this.” I showed him the rock on my finger.

“Hmm...”

“So you will come?” I asked him again as he seemed absent minded.

“Huh?”

“For the wedding... I...”

“No. I was joking.” He shook his head firmly as I stopped and our eyes met. “I will probably not be here as well.”

“Oh, I see.” The rest of the evening was fairly silent. We ate the food, discussed our friends and I said its time I return to the hotel for an early morning flight.

I came back home with a heavy heart, I didn’t know why I didn’t feel like asking for her number.

Instead, I typed her name on the Facebook search hoping to find her. Nothing. It was not much of a surprise to me that she wasn’t on any social media. I would have been surprised if she was.

I had lost her, one more time.

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Of Faith and Fate

Series Announcement! Historical Fictions are special, so here is one, short but special tale close to my heart after a really long time! This story is a special one because it is completely historical fiction with very little connection to the fan fiction I have written previously. However, I have maintained the sequence of events, reading history books on the context. This is not a story of a man and a woman, their love and trust. This one is about the tests time often puts people through, forcing them to change. My protagonists in this one are hence, two princesses of the same age. Ajabdeh Punwar or Ajbante Kanwar Baisa, as she is locally called is the princess of a very significant district of Bijolia in Mewar. Bijolia lies in the seat of political events, at the border of Bundi and Mewar. Having her lineage from the mighty Chauhans, her forefathers once ruled Mewar. Her father is an officer in the army of Mewar under Rana Udai Singh and she is a lady of princip...

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RAABTA

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