Via Pune

Shrini is waiting at the airport along with one of his colleagues, Mr. Sushil. Well, they both work for a software company in Bangalore and are about to fly to Mumbai to attend some client meeting. As Shrini is from technical team and Sushil is from the business team, they doesn't know each other quite well and interacted  only on few occasions. It's been an hour they checked in and their flight is already delayed by couple of hours. The monsoon is in its extreme form and it seems rain God is much more interested in Mumbai this time. Functioning of most of the flights to Mumbai have been affected.  It’s quite irritating to wait like that and on top of that, all of a sudden the airline authorities is making a bizarre kind of announcement now. Oh! shit, what the hell? Due to bad weather their flight will land at Pune airport instead of Mumbai. They haven't clarified anything about the accommodation of the passengers yet and only announced about the departure from Pune to Mumbai, the next morning.  Shrini looks terribly confused and is starring at Sushil. But why Sushil looks so happy? In fact he’s smiling at the moment. 

Shrini asks Sushil "Should we ask our Travel Desk guys to cancel our tickets and book a different one?"

Sushil replies with a smile "It’s OK dude. Actually the announcement came as a blessing for me. Well, I’m from Pune and my parents stay out there along with my sister. Our house is also quite near to the airport and we can stay the night out there and can fly to Mumbai tomorrow morning"

It seems Shrini doesn't know what to say, also he doesn't have any other option either and says "That would be cool and I hope your parents wouldn’t mind our surprise visit?"

Sushil replies "What are you saying dude? Everyone will just love to meet you"

They reached Pune by 7:50 PM. It’s raining cats and dogs out here. Sushil’s house is just few minutes drive from the airport. Wow! They got such an wonderful house. Sushil’s parents look so happy to meet his son. His father is a retired army officer and looks like a true gentleman. They are enjoying a wonderful gossip and Sushil’s mom serves them very yummy and tempting "garmagaram pakodas", along with hot cups of tea. Sushil’s only sister Shruti, is doing her PHD in Micro Biology and it seems, Shruti’s friend Anindita is also staying with them since almost a year. Well, they both are very close friends since their college days and Anindita is also doing her PHD in the same subject. Both the girls went to attend some function at their institute and will return home only by 11 PM. Sushil wants to have dinner together and he's very eager to meet his childhood friend in their neighborhood. Shrini wants to have some rest and Sushil’s  father takes him to the guestroom and asks him to rest out there. After changing his cloths, he's now simply sitting on the bed. He’s little uncomfortable in an unknown house and is looking all around the room. His eyes pauses at a nearby wardrobe which is half open. He could see some books and goes nearby to have a closer look at them. Wow! She’s got a good collection of novels. He could also see a photo album and it seems, he’s more interested in it now. As he opens the album, the first random photograph he looks, started to accelerate his heartbeats a little. He’s losing his mind and it’s saying loud and clear "She looks like Anni, his school mate since their nursery days" He could also remember her real name, Anindita Chatterjee.

Shrini is very curious now and is looking at other photographs inquisitively. She looks so different from her childhood days. Is she really Anni? And then, he finds his own school day photographs on the album, including a couple of his single photos as well, taken at their final school picnic day. Instantly Shrini is losing all his control and the goose bumps started to erupt all over his body. His heart seems to be little heavier and even his eyes started to get kind of moist. Some of his school day images flashing randomly deep inside his mind. He could also see Anni’s childhood photographs and is really excited about how she would react once she enters the house, possibly in another hour. He's extremely happy, but very confused. One question is disturbing him a lot, why the hell she kept his photographs on her album and that too in a serial order? It's been so long, almost 10 to 12 years and they didn't have any sort of contact after they left school. Also he couldn’t find any of his guy schoolmate’s photographs out there on the album.

Shrini could recollect his school day memories and especially about Anni.  Well, she used to be a cute looking girl and had limited interaction with the guys. He could remember how his friends used to tease him about Anni. Many believed that Anni had a soft corner for him, but then there was nothing official about that. Shrini could also remember one picnic incident where her friends pulled her legs, while they were enjoying their meals along with some mouth watering fish curry. They teased her as "Dear Anni, you should forget fish and start to eat Sambar, as in future you would have to eat sambar regularly"

Well, Shrini’s actual name is Srinivasa Narayanaswamy and unlike him, both his parents used to be typical South Indian. All of a sudden Shrini could hear some sound at the main door and he's puts the album back inside the wardrobe. Well, the girls already arrived and Shrini could hear Sushil’s voice, as he's calling and asking him to come to the hall. Shrini goes to the hall and could see the ladies. As Sushil introduces him to his sister Shruti, Anni is terribly confused and continues to stare at him. Now Shruti is introducing him to Anindita. Shrini says "You look quite similar to one of my school mate and her name is also Anindita, but we used to call her Anni" 

Anni's mouth is wide open and she starts to scream "OMG!" she covers her mouth with both her hands. She is trying hard to hide her excitement and after a while she says "Shrini, it’s you. Never thought we would meet again. So how you doing?"

Shruti is also very excited and comments "Wow!  So you are Shrini. What a pleasant surprise. I have heard so much about you from Anindita, right from my college days"

Shrini is feeling little shy at the moment, but he’s extremely delighted to know that even Shruti also knows about him. Well, they chatted for some time and then had their dinner. After dinner, Sushil went to sleep and Shrini, Shruti and Anni continued to gossip. After about an hour Shruti also went to sleep. But Shrini and Anni continued to chat and in fact, they gossiped the entire night. They really cherished their school day memories that night and then early morning after breakfast, Shrini and Sushil left for the airport.

Few days later, after returning to Bangalore, Shrini starts to call Anni quite regularly and use to talk for hours. He thinks about Anni all the time and also likes to chat with her during the office hours as well. Sometimes, when she doesn't reply to his texts for a long time, he becomes little anxious and kind of depress. He wants to be somehow connected with Anni all the time, but sometimes also feel little shy about his frequent phone calls. Well, Shrini have no idea what's going on inside Anni's head? He feels little embarrass about it sometimes and even though it's quite painful for him, but he doesn't call her for a couple of days on such occasions. But then after few days of silence, Shrini usually receives a call from Anni and  she would say "What's up Shrini? You didn't call since so many days" After talking for few minutes, Anni usually use to interrupt and say "Shrini, now you please call me back. My balance is very low and I haven't received this month's stipend yet"

Shrini even use to visit Pune almost every month and whenever Anni asks him about the purpose of his visit, he always say that it’s official. They came quite close to each other and it seems they even understand each other very well. They both enjoy each other's company so much. Even though, they have a very friendly kind of relation, but Shrini considers her much more than a friend. Anni is such a beautiful looking girl and Shrini is so shy and confused. He thinks that Anni consider him only as a good friend and nothing more than that.

But then, one evening Shrini takes her to a mesmerizing candle light dinner. It’s such a romantic place and the calm and melodious violin music at the background is making the environment so charmingly pleasant. Anni is feeling little uncomfortable and asks "Shrini, what kind of place is this?"

After a few sips of wine, Shrini puts a tiny gift-wrapped box on the table. He’s little nervous and says to her "Well Anni, I don’t know how to say? I also don’t know how you would react? I want to gift you something"

Anni is very curious and approaches her hand towards the box. As she touches the box, Shrini holds her arm soft and calmly. Anni looks into his face and they both are starring at each other’s eyes. Anni asks "What happened Shrini? You sound so different tonight"

Shrini replies "Accept this gift only if.. Only if..."

"Only what Shrini?"

Shrini builds his confidence and says "I will be the happiest man on this planet, if I could be able to marry you"

Anni is going kind of crazy and says "What? What are you saying?"

Shrini replies "Yes Anni, I don’t know what to say? But I’m very much in love with you and want to stay with you for my entire life. Will you marry me?"

Anni calmly grasps the box and as soon as she opens it, she’s delighted to see a beautiful ring inside. She starts to laugh and what the hell? She is laughing much louder now, but unable to hide her emotions, as her eyes already filled with water. She holds his arm tightly and replies "I'm so happy to accept this gift from you Shrini"

Image courtesy: google images

This post is written for Indiblogger’s "Platinum Day of Love" contest, in association with Platinum Guild International.


                                            "Platinum, precious metal for those treasured moments"