the long wait

I was waiting for her near the Garuda Statue. It would have been about 15mins., but I felt as if I have been waiting there for years. In a way, thats not totally untrue.It has been for some years now- ever since she flew to US 3 years back. May be I was nervous. I perspired more than ever. She sounded very confident and happy over the phone...as usual.
That made me more nervous.....
I dont knwo whether it was love at first sight. I hate to think so.Infact I dont believe think that a 7 yr old would be able to diff. friendship from love.I hated the thought of someone dismissing our love as a childish infatuation. We grew up together. Amrita was my best buddy, my childhood friend .We where there for each other in our joys and sorrows since our childhood.
There isn't anything in my life which I haven't discussed with her.And I strongly believe its the same with her too. Many a times I have wondered how much similar we were. We had the same taste of music, movies , food, dress etc. (hope she doesnt find out that I started eating non veg. just for her). We both were die hard hindi movie fans.We made sure that every friday, wherever and how ever much busy we are, we would not miss discussing the movie released that day.She was a huge fan of Sharukh just like I was of Kareena.And like many she hated her. Everytime she mentioned Sharukh, I made it a point to mention the name of Kareena that used to infuriate her. I enjoyed pissing her off, she looked more attractive with a reddened nose and staring eyes. Except for such trivial compromises and adjustments, we were just perfect together. We have never told that magical 3 words to each other......we knew that we were made for each other.
Oh! I forgot to mention the glaring difference we had. I was a momma boy and Amrita was a tomboy! I was the most introvert person one cud ever come across. "Its all because of you" She used to complain. "You are too much an introvert that others get the feeling that I am outspoken and extrovert".Though I didn't agree with it completely, if I look from her perspective, she cannot be blamed for thinking so.
All wasn't well in our love story. I still wonder how can two families who have been friends for decades can turn against each other just over a small strip of land! . Had we told our parents about our love before , I am sure they wouldnt have objected and it would have been a perfect ending for a perfect love story.......only if!
I wish my parents were not professors. I was too much disciplined and awed to even meet their eyes , forget about saying something like this against their wish. I wish I was as strong willed as she was.When her parents sent her to US for studies, it was she who convinced and consoled me that it wasnt all that bad to happen. She believed that parting for sometime would calm down the issue for a while and she was optimistic that we could sort out the problem later (many a times I wondered whether she was the superior gender among us.Well I dont mind losing out to her!)
It was her 'mail a day keeps the worries away' that kept us going. She never made me feel that she was thousands of miles away from me. "Its you I am concerned about" she used to say. She knew me better than me. She reassured in every mail that all we had to do was to wait for 4 years before she returned.Even when her parents were vehemently persuading her to get married, she managed to sway away all those with some excuse which only she could come up with.
In the mean time, though I tried to keep myself from getting into all the legal complexities of the case, I couldn’t help myself realizing that we were drying up financially. The fact that I am still a student (even while doing doctors i need to go to college!) didn’t help our cause. Nor their situation was good, but was definitely slightly better than ours.
When she returned, the first thing she did was to call me up to meet her near Garuda Statue. Though she didn’t mention anything, a tone of assurance made me feel that she sounded confident of convincing her parents.
That made me more nervous....
"HIIII".......she yelled as soon as she spotted me. It was a pain which I didn’t want to bear any longer.
"Hi Ami", I sounded feeble.
"What happened, Abhi?” her smile vanished in a second, "you look disturbed"
I felt there was no point in justifying myself. All I would have told her was about our financial crisis and how my uncle came forth with the proposal of his daughter to bail us out. But if those could make sense only to my parents and uncle,what is the point telling her.

"Is everything alright?" I heard her as I was trying in vain to come up with some words.

"I am engaged".

(Product of the long acting sessions we used to have in undergrad. Dedicating this to the 'actor' amongst us. Its just for u PC !!! )

AVS