A Peculiar Date

I was increasingly becoming more and more irritated as the days passed and it was pretty much expected. Lockdown was quite difficult to lot a lot of people. Covid took away a lot of things from people, family, business, friends, even though I didn't lose anything physical, I was losing my sanity because it was over 8 months since I last saw my partner. And the thing which made that duration seem even longer was that we were fighting terribly, the last time I saw and met her, in addition to that after a few months i would not get a chance to meet her for years to come( I was leaving this state and going to Delhi for Joint Engineering Examination). She was in the same mental state and wanted to see me at any cost before I leave and the timings for the meeting seemed almost magical as we were having our 1st anniversary (the day I proposed her). I thought this meeting will heal up all the issues we were having and it will finally give me mental strength and peace needed to leave her behind as I leave for Delhi.

Also the meeting was seeming magical not only because of our anniversary but also because the factors that had led to the meeting being possible. In normal conditions meeting her outside of class was impossible since she lived in heavily guarded campus where you cannot enter without proper reasons (being a roadside Romeo did not qualify as a proper reason for sure). But this was not a normal situation as her father broke COVID protocols, they had to shift out of the campus to a village and this village had absolutely no boundary.We fix the date but there was another issue, village was still far away and I did not know how to ride a bike so I decided to call my friend and he agreed to come he owned a dashing bike (well obviously gifted by father)and since I had helped him multiple times his name was the first to pop in my mind. I waited patiently for the day to come and day before the decided meet up, I call my friend to confirm me timings but he wouldn't pick even after multiple calls, no answer I was helpless now as he ditched me in last moment.

I was mad and was quite angry as I am the kind of person who never backs out of promises (and thus foolishly expect others to do the same). Meanwhile out of blue my best friend Aniket called me. Aniket was one of the most loyal friend I ever had though I always took him for granted as I thought he lacks any major resource to provide help(this is biggest issue with us, we always underestimate our true well wishers power and run after lustre of the snakes rather than loyalty of these well wishers). This was true as he came from a very poor financial background. He sensed the sadness in my voice and asked the reason for it upon telling he told me not to worry his neighbour has just bought a bike and he would come with him and help me complete the mission. This was unexpected but pleasant I also asked him if the meeting plan was fine and he gave a green flag. I asked him this because he spent entire life in this area while I was an outsider only for a year and a half. Now all I had to do was lie to my parents which was the the most difficult part of the whole affair. I have been the most ideal kid a parent can dream of, sure there have been few ups and downs but mostly ups. I was excellent in studies, never involved in any fights, teachers loved me.

But I went off limits when I fell in love with Aashi. I was all hers from the moment I saw her and by god’s grace she accepted me in the few months to come. But my parents were unaware of all this specially my father who himself was the most honest, innocent man I ever met he never had a pinch of doubt on me. My mother though was sure there was something going on and it was well expected as I spent way too much time on phone and most probably one of my asshole cousin snitched on me. I have been wanting to tell this to them but was shit scared because i thought they would kill me as they belonged to very conservative Bihari background plus a relationship in class 10 was way too much for them. So even though it killed my heart, I still kept them in dark. Next day I told them I was going to visit waterfall with Aniket and somehow my mother guessed that was not going where I was telling I would go(most annoying of all the superpowers my mother had) she told my father to accompany me but father told her she was imagining things and allowed  me go easily.

On the way I bought chocolates for her, which felt pretty weird because Indian guys would prefer to eat a full meal than spend money on chocolates even if they love them (So ladies you know your man loves you if he buys them for ya) and Aniket arrived and for some reason he was even more well dressed than me(bruh, its my date not yours). Anyway we got moving and after a decent time we were about to reach. We decided to meet up in the Temple. We chose this location as we had nothing wrong in mind we just wanted to meet and talk once before the long departure to come. At first I couldn't see her so thought she left os i was a bit late but then I spotted her in sanctum of temple, we saw each others and she greeted us. She told me to wait while she completes her Puja (she was pretty religious, quite contrast to me at that point of life). I was waiting patiently and out of blue i see a guy in late twenties approaching me. He looked furious and asked me from which area I belong to. I told him my colony's name and asked him what's wrong. He started yelling things like how dare you enter our village.

I tried to calm him down but in vain. Suddenly, I noticed around 40-50 villagers gathering around the temple and some even had sticks and chains. (yes 50 people to greet me what a grand welcome for the king).I though of calling my father but what would he do? He was far off in the office and since I lied about the whole thing it would be impossible to make him understand plus  was afraid he might snatch and break phone .By this time Aniket returned. He tried everything in his power, but people specially that guy was furious and at one point he even tried slapping me which he missed and I in rage abused him in Hindi  the worst possible abuses(you know which one) I was stupid to do this while being in a 2 on 50 match witch opposition playing in the home ground and a crowd extremely mad and hostile toward me(thanks to Aniket he apologised on my behalf at that moment I was mad on him for apologising but later understood he was the most sane one in that situation). I realised where this was heading and decided to use my brain. I told him will you be satisfied if I make you her me rakhi? He told yes and I choose a white thread for that ( so white in Hindus represent breakage/mourning so this would signify breakage of any situation where we could be brother and sister,  obviously I was not gonna become mama of the children I dreamed to become father of but of course that illiterate didn’t know this )he seemed satisfied and we somehow manage to escape the extremely dangerous situation being unscathed, we knew this was far from over and it was going to be even more difficult for Aashi, as she is a girl and in our culture a girl is in love considered characterless(I blamed myself for the situation she would be facing now).

I reached home but I was burning with high fever because of the adrenaline. I started receiving threat calls from multiple people and it was getting too much for me, my classmate who lived in that village called and told me what have you done? that guy is a criminal and why did you take my name (Aniket did this in hope of escape). I was afraid they would come here and create a ruckus as they were aggressively asking my address. My mother obviously realised something was wrong because i looked pale with fear. I with heavy heart told her entire incident, I had to because i needed them prepared if these guys do come to pay a visit. I already did the mistake of lying them once and did not wish to continue it. My mother was in utter fear of possibilities(and she was right I may as well have returned on stretcher or may have not returned at all ) and my father was in extreme disbelief. I too broke down, why? Because i was disturbed by what happened? NO, I broke down because i was disgusted of the fact that I broke my parents trust.

I was sure they would beat me up, yell at me, abuse me and I was ready for it but on the contrary my father hugged me and asked if anyone touched me there I told him no. They told me I should have never lied to them and go to an unknown area where anything could have happened and he told me to give my phone to him and few hours later I received another threat call which my father handled very well(he is in paramilitary) by telling him he has recorded the call and he will have him beaten up entire night in lockup if he every dared to call again. I had to cutoff from Aashi and used to be afraid of any vehicle that crossed my house for weeks to come.

While the incident cause a lot of stress and pain to me and even after years of this incident I am still afraid to go meet her (she feels the same on a way stronger note as she handled way worse reaction from her family and neighbours some of them even slut shamed her asked her parents to marry her off but luckily her father understood I meant no harm as I chose a temple to meet but she still faced lots of restrictions).

I did realise a lot of things due to this incident. First my parents are far more understanding than I thought they were and second I could never be happy by betraying their trust.

Though at first I was furious with my luck to get me in this big trouble while all I wanted was to meet my love but as time passed I realised the incident did me a favour and make my entire perspective change towards my parents. I understood they are my biggest asset and I need them by my side for any success I desired.

I did still had one doubt though, on that day nobody saw us coming to the temple so how did the guy know we were there and arrive with all the force? Well I did manage to find the answer for it. It was Ashi's so called childhood friend who planned the entire thing, he hated me ( because he saw her way more than a friend) and wanted me humiliated. I already warned her to cut him off and she did but as they were neighbours for the time she was in that crooked village she told him about our meeting and he curated the nasty plan of his. Though I wanted to break his face(not because of my humiliation I could bear that but for the embarrassment he caused to my love) but thought he is just a sore fucking loser and does not deserve any bit of my time. Aashi blamed herself for this after knowing the perpetrator but I told her It wasn’t her fault that her childhood friend valued humiliating his childhood friend’s bf more then his friend’s dignity.

Months passed, pain wavered, lessons solidified and I left with tears for Delhi leaving Aashi behind as she was to continue there till 12th.

It’s been years and I miss her badly, and sooner or later we will have a very well-deserved date, but this time I will have my parent’s blessing and will choose a much more literate area for our date.(Yeah, not an area with a bunch of so-called Samaj Sudharaks (self-proclaimed) who did nothing more in their life rather than to be the biggest of hypocrites possible)

My changed perspective and understanding towards my parents love for me,Aniket’s loyalty and courage and strength of Aashi to handle the entire situation herself and not blaming me once for it honestly made the pain of that incident worth it and these newfound feelings made me realise how lucky I was when it came to my family, love and my best friend.