Fool

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 9; the ninth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Act I

"You are a fool!"

I glared at Rajan. He’s my best buddy, he is supposed to support me and instead here he is calling me a fool, looking at me as if I'd gone mad. Well, actually I was mad...madly in love.

"You cannot be in love with a person you haven't met." he went on.

"But I've met her..." I tried to explain.

"When I use the past tense of 'meet' I am referring to the occurrence of an audible conversation between two individuals over a considerable period of time. Sitting ten feet apart in the college canteen and smiling at each other for a second does not count as a meeting, Anish." He interrupted

"But..."

"No, telling what time it is does not count as a meeting."

"And..."

"...The time she asked you to pass her the salt? That's not a sign that she likes you."

"Rajan, you are such a pessimist." was what I was about to say but I was speechless before I could say it, because at that very moment she walked into the canteen.

The adjective 'beautiful' would seem a lowly word to describe how she looked. 'Radiant' or...or maybe 'Exotic' would be more appropriate. The grace with which she moved from the entrance to the table just a few feet away and sat on the bench was mesmerising.

"Anish!" Rajan yelled as he slapped me across my face.

"Whaddahell..."

"Ogling at a girl is rude, disrespectful, even if you have a stupid crush on her." he said solemnly.

"How many times do I have to tell you, man? It's not just a stupid crush; I'm seriously in love with her." I tried reasoning with him once more, frustrated by his lack of understanding.

He only rolled his eyes, stole a glance at her and leaned towards me and whispered, “Look, I have a lecture that starts in ten minutes so I gotta go. Just remember, you are a kind, considerate introvert. She is a rich, spoilt, sexy looking brat. She does not deserve you. So don't try anything stupidly romantic and make a fool out of yourself in front everyone, OK?"

"OK. Maybe you're right...it's too early to make a move." I replied resignedly staring at her all the while, while he slung his backpack on his shoulder and hurried off to the lecture hall.

Act II

As I stared at the canteen entrance long after Rajan was gone. Soon my mind began to wander and thoughts started creeping in. Thoughts like - Love is strange...It makes you want to do things that you know make no sense and yet...It makes you want to forget that anybody other than the two of you exist...Sigh!

My string of thoughts were broken by a loud noise of breaking glass. I looked in the direction from where the noise had erupted. The noise of breaking glass had now been replaced by squeals of anguish from my lady love. It seemed that one of the minions that the canteen guy kept to do his bidding (which consisted mostly, or rather only, of serving the students) had spilt juice on my lady's beautiful salwar.

My damsel was in distress, I should be at her side defending her, protecting her from that scoundrel. But even before I could walk over to the scene from my seat to execute my chivalrous plan, the squeals of anguish had turned to angry yelling. About two minutes into the yelling spree I realised I'd frozen in mid stride and my mouth had fallen open, I closed it and slowly turned to sit back on my bench.

The yelling continued in the background but now the 'damsel' was no longer in distress while the 'scoundrel' cowered in agony. I was engulfed once again by my thoughts, though this time they weren't the lovey-dovey type. These new thoughts were more tumultuous, more commanding, these were the thoughts of the 'rational' me.

"Now are you convinced? Or do you still need any more proof that the 'love of your life' is a bitch?" the rational me asked.

"But...but, this can't be..." was my dumbfounded reply (because of what I had witnessed)

"Oh please, don't tell me that you are a wimp and a blind one at that!"

"But he ruined her dress..." I began to argue rather weakly.

"Oh Yeah! Sure." the rational me said sarcastically,"The poor fellow didn't even get a chance to explain. Even a guy accused of murder gets a trial and a chance to speak for himself."

I pondered on what my rational mind had just expressed. Then Rajan's words came back to me - She is a rich, spoilt, sexy looking brat. She does not deserve you. Yes, he was right, I was right,well at least the rational part of me was. The reality had been staring at me right in the face and here I was ignoring it, she wasn't right for me, she'd never been right for me. I looked at her again from the corner of my eyes, she was still screaming at the waiter in a voice so shrill, I was surprised that the window panes and glasses in the canteen hadn't shattered yet. She was not Miss My-Only-Love that I had thought her to be. Oh my god! She was Miss Cruella Deville. I remembered all the times in the past she had ignored me, cursed the poor fellow in the administrative office and even laughed cruelly when a guy had fallen and hurt himself while trying to scale the wall. Rajan was right she did not deserve me, I thought in disgust.

I sighed once again, this time in relief. I made a mental note to thank Rajan when I met him in the next lecture for his invaluable advice and to remind him that I was not a fool, I was smart enough to realise the mistake that I was about to make. I shuddered, I could not even imagine what could have happened hadn't I witnessed what occurred here today.

Act III

All these thoughts were still flashing through my mind like a badly edited film when a petite, musical voice interrupted them,

"Hi...Anish? Am I right?"

I looked in the direction of the voice and found myself staring right in her face. I was too dumbfounded to reply all my hatred and rationality disappearing into thin air.

"Y-Y-Yes" I stuttered.

"I was wondering if I could borrow those notes that the prof distributed in yesterday's lecture" she asked in that magical voice of hers.

"Oh, s-s-sure you c-c-can." I replied, retrieving the notes from the bag and handing them over to her in less than half a second without taking my eyes away from her face. Her beautiful face was glowing like an ethereal beacon, her perfectly almond shaped eyes were hypnotizing. Those soft, rosy lips of hers said something that never reached my ears, I was too busy looking at her perfect features.

This was it. I had always been right from the start, she was the only one for me. How could I have even thought otherwise, I shuddered at the thought. Our unprofessed love was not a figment of my imagination, we were meant for each other.

I made a mental note of telling Rajan about our meeting but I knew he would not understand. He had never been in love. And love was never a rational thing, hence that meant my rational mind was not qualified to comment on matters of the heart either. Screw both of 'em.

"You are a fool!" my rational mind had regained it senses.

"Yes," I said,"Foolishly in love."

***

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