Chapter 1: The ball is in my court
‘May I come
in?’ I asked before entering the room.
‘Yes, and
please take your seat’, came the reply.
I obeyed.
‘Let me
walk you through the interview process we follow here. It’s going to last not
more than 10 minutes. We are going to be the ones who will do the talking for
the first 2 minutes. The next 8 minutes are all yours. Did I make myself
understood?’ asked one of the interviewers while the other was silently
observing me.
‘Yes, Sir’,
I said even as I was analyzing what I had just heard.
‘You have
decent academics and impressive live projects, so we won’t waste any of our
precious time testing your technical competency', he started.
‘You have
mentioned creativity as one of your strengths and storytelling as one your
hobbies.
He is going to ask me questions on storytelling! This is my
area. I cannot screw this up. The ball
is in my court. Bring it on.
‘But for
the candidate we are looking for, being creative is not enough. He needs to be
spontaneous as well’, he started’, he continued.
'Where are they going with this?' I narrowed my eyes.
‘Have you
ever been in love?’ the other interviewer finally gave words to his thoughts.
I was taken
aback by his question.
‘No’, I
said sounding fable. ‘No, Sir’, I reiterated, clearing my throat.
Now, that sounded more confident.
‘Great. So
tell me the story of your first love in the
most interesting possible way. You have 8 minutes to impress us’; he said
looking at his watch.
‘Sir, I
said I do not have a love story’, I
clarified.
‘And that’s
exactly why I am asking you this question. This paper in my hand says you are
creative. I need you to prove it’
‘You can
start in 10 seconds’, he concluded.
I closed my
eyes in introspection; 10 seconds later I started my narration.
***
Chapter 2: The story of my first love
Date:
December 7th, 2007;
Location: St. Paul’s High
School.
I was
waiting outside our Headmaster’s room, and it was not a pleasant place to be in,
especially for a student. But I was not alone.
‘So why are
you here?’ I asked the girl who was seated beside me.
Her teary
eyes met mine.
‘I was
caught copying in the Math test’, she confessed.
Two minutes
of awkward silence later she decided to talk.
‘And you?’
she returned my question, her eyes still wet with tears.
‘Pretty
much the same. I was allegedly
copying in the Math test’, I winked.
‘Allegedly?’
‘Then what!
Only a fool would confess it. No offense meant huh!’ I said.
For no
particular reason she did take offense and started crying even louder.
Uff!!! Girls!
***
‘Ms.
Krithika, why are you crying?’ Headmaster had asked.
‘It was a mistake;
I will never do it again. Please forgive me’, she said.
Headmaster
had made many futile attempts to put an end to her crying.
‘Okay, I am
deducting 10 marks from your final paper as a punishment. You can leave now. Do not repeat this mistake’,
he said.
No sooner
had Krithika left the room, than the Headmaster turned his focus to me.
‘You
Mister, I am deducting 10 marks from your paper as well’, he waited for my
reaction.
Haha! Didn’t know I’d get out of this mess so easily! 10
marks is all it costs!
‘And 1 week
of apprenticeship under the school Librarian. He is planning to dispose the old
books and order some new books during this vacation. He could definitely use
your helping hand. You need to report to him daily at 0900 hours for one week
during the Christmas vacation’
‘What! But
she didn’t get any apprenticeship!’ I blurted out, conveniently ignoring my
manners.
‘Now, that’s
the reaction I was expecting from you! Krithika had confessed her mistake and
promised not to repeat it. You did neither’, he said.
So, I am not getting any brownie points for the display of
confidence?
‘But
sir..’, I started.
‘You can
leave’, he conveniently concluded the discussion.
***
‘Never knew
our school had such a big library’, I announced.
‘It is a
state of the art library. We have academic reference books, encyclopedias,
novels, comics, and magazines. You name a book and you’ll find it here’, the
librarian informed. As he was describing the library I noticed that it was
deserted.
‘This is going to be my worst Christmas vacation ever: alone,
in a library’, I thought, not knowing that my life was about to
change that very same day.
After
working for a couple of hours I wondered if this was the most boring work on
earth.
When I was
half done with my work, I realized that the library was not completely deserted
after all. There was a girl sitting in the corner of the room, surrounded by
stacks of books.
Who in their right mind visits a library during vacation!
Suddenly, I
realized that she could actually help me kill my boredom. It was then that I
decided to venture into something I had never done before.
Anything to keep me away from boredom! Desperate times!
I walked up
to her, and when I was close enough I noticed the girl’s ID card lay on an old
book.
I could
make out the words “Karenina” written on it.
Random Note: “If you've taken the trouble
of watching Bollywood movies you will realize that every love story essentially
has five stages. They are as follows:
i.
Initiation,
iii.
Separation,
iv.
Intimacy
and
v.
Termination”
‘Excuse
me!’ I said; thus initiating my first love story.
***
Chapter 3: Different stages of love
She was
covered in an old dress. It seemed as if she didn’t care how she looked. Had it
been any other day, at any other place; I wouldn't even have noticed her. But
today was different.
A few
sentences into the conversation I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to
touch her. It was true love’s first touch.
Never judge a book by its cover!
The initial
stages of the conversation were dull. I had to put in efforts to keep it alive.
But once we broke the ice, the conversation became more engrossing and
gripping. So much so that I even forgot to have my lunch that day. This stage
is what I call: attraction. In this stage you enjoy each other’s company so
much that everything else in the world seems boring.
The next
day when I reached the library, I saw her waiting for me. I finished my work in
3 hours and then spent the rest of my time with her. This routine continued for
the next couple of days.
On the
third day when I had arrived in the library, she was not there. I waited for
her for a couple of hours. I asked the librarian about her whereabouts.
‘She is
out. She will be back in a couple of days’, he said.
My
anxiousness got the better of me. Every minute that I spent without her seemed
like a punishment.
Slowly but
surely my anxiousness evolved into something more malicious: jealousy.
What if someone else started talking to her? What if someone
else started liking her? He must be touching her right now! I can’t let that
happen. She is mine.
Eventually my
jealousy turned into possessiveness! Her absence was turning me crazy.
This is the
stage where you actually realize that you are in love. This stage is called separation.
She was
back after 2 days, as promised. She looked untouched; as pure as she was when I
last saw her.
Fortunately my anxiousness was in vain. She was mine and only
mine.
After the
separation the vigor of our intimacy had increased exponentially. In this
stage, which I call as Intimacy, we got closer than I could
imagine. Things became really interesting. This is the most beautiful stage of
any relationship.
But all
good things come to an end. So did this beautiful relationship of ours. Once I
was done with her, we decided to move on.
This is the
most difficult stage of a relationship: termination. Once it’s all over you
are all broke and you are left with no clue about what to do with your life
anymore.
‘It must be
really sad!’ the interviewer said assuming that my story had ended.
‘For some time,
yes. Though I had countless number of love stories after that, the first love
is always special’, I started.
‘This first
love of mine enabled me to evolve as a person. It imbibed in me, a sense of
gratitude; I started thanking people more often than before. I never copied in
any exam after that. It imbibed some values in my life. And most importantly it
inspired me to never stop looking for my next love’
‘The limbo
of sadness ends once you find someone else: your next love. And once you find
her, the cycle repeats. Anna Karenina, written by Leo
Tolstoy: my first love’, I said.
‘Written by
Leo Tolstoy?’ exclaimed both the interviewers.
‘Yes! Anna
Karenina is a book written by Leo Tolstoy. She is not a girl’
‘So when
you said ‘Do not judge a book by its cover’, you were actually talking
about a book!’
I nodded in
agreement.
‘Karenina
was not the name of the girl on the ID card!!’ they exclaimed.
‘I didn't
notice the name of the girl on her ID card. The book on which it was placed had
all my attention that time. I took the girl’s permission and borrowed the book
from her table. I never saw that girl again’, I said.
‘At the end
of my apprenticeship I had suggested the librarian not to discard the old
books. And also thanked him for giving me this opportunity to help him. I later
learned that the librarian actually took my advice and retained all the old
books in the library’.
‘Anna Karenina was placed in the Classics
section of our library. She was standing on the shelf waiting to impress her
next reader. Only someone wise enough to look beyond her old damaged cover was
worthy of her love’.
***
‘That Sir, is the story of my first love’, I concluded.
‘You took 9 minutes to narrate your story’, the
interviewer remarked looking at his watch.
‘But it was totally worth it’, he smiled.
‘Thank you, it was a pleasure talking to you’, they
said.
‘Just
because I don’t have a love story doesn’t mean I can’t tell one’,
I smiled.
***
an art, by
Shashank