Like a River - Mayur FF part 4 - page 13

She left me.... She had to leave....She dint want to....She had to...

She left me pining for her....

No, dont get it wrong, We dint make promises of love to each other, we simply kept our feelings to ourselves.. Well, I did, If you ask me what she felt, I dont know, sometimes I think she loves me, at other times I feel she doesnt love me. Before you ask me, let me tell you , our lives were very different from that of a normal guy and a girl. We are actors in a daily soap, we played characters who were in love with each other. Youth show, daily soap, low production values, so we had to put our heart and soul and long hours into the work to make the final product work. We did, we always did, we were sincere to our work.

Oh I forgot to introduce myself and the girl in question. I am Mayank Sharma, actor in a daily soap, happy go lucky guy, simple, sincere, dedicated and with a unique quality of landing into trouble by being honest. Ok, maybe.. I cant be defined as happy go lucky anymore..? What caused the change you wonder..?

The girl in question, Nupur Bhushan, my exact opposite, a simple girl, a very talented actress, very reserved if she doesnt know you and wont stop talking once she is close to you. She has class, a certain ladylike grace. She is traditional yet modern. she is everything I love in a woman and more.

Our story? Long story, we officially met on the sets of the show, though we have known of each other even before. We cant say we hit it off instantly but onscreen we were an instant success, we were talked of because we shared a great chemistry and honestly we were the best actors on the show. Before we knew it we were popular, strangely, the girl though very shy when it comes to strangers was very comfortable with me. I ensured that she was never uncomfortable. We never became great friends, just then, but we shared a great working relationship.

It was during one of those out door trips that I really got to know her (and she got to know me!) better. I realised, she just took time to open up, once she does, she is the warmest person to know.

We became friends slowly and steadily, it took time, but it happened. Our extreme comfort often led to rumours of our dating, that always created a little uneasiness in us. It was a little strange we were popular people, yet we were normal human beings as well, it always made us uneasy.

Now when I think about it, I can think of only one reason, our chemistry, it was not just something you saw onscreen, we shared a great chemistry in real life as well, owing to this, we actually maintained a distance from each other. It was scary, it was sometimes very difficult to act normal when we were around each other, ofcourse she was always more composed that I ever was, yet I could read the reactions from her side as well, and it all spelt one thing - hazardous. We had our careers to concentrate on.

It was then that it happened..What you wonder? The Big fight, we were getting close , I was even flirting with her (inspite of my heart warning me often about the chance of not being in my control any more..) and we were feeling closer than ever..and everything just went haywire, some misunderstanding, many arguments (oh I never mentioned to you that we are both very strong personalities, though we dont clash much, when we do, its disastrous) and many big fights later, we were not on talking terms. Onscreen we were doing just fine, we were professionals afterall, but offscreen, our vibes were colder than the siberian winters. She avoided me, I tried to irritate her to get a reaction out of her. (This was a terrible blow for my popularity but I dint care!) She wouldnt budge.

After a while, I realised I couldnt let go of her so easily, I missed her. I tried my best to convince her, but all invain, I had hurt her way too much. Then it happened, we had to do a passionate scene, the scenes were intimate, it required her to trust me implicitly and I cant even begin to say how happy I was to know that she did, she had complete faith in me and I dint break her trust in me. I handled her with care, like she was the most precious possession in the world for me. The truth is, she was! She really was the most precious possession in the world for me. If you ask me if I realised it then, I cant really say..may be I did? Maybe I dint?

We had to separate in the show, it was the demand of the script and it was unfortunate that at that stage I had to be away. I missed her badly, I put it down to being used to having her around. When I had to meet her after a long break, as I saw her rush into my arms, my heart melted, I think that is when Mayank Sharma became the character of Varun and stopped differentiating the real from the reel.

We had a long talk, sorted out our differences. Strangely, around the same time, Nupur Bhushan had also turned into the character she played. Onscreen and off it, we were Varun and Isha..who were madly in love with each other. We dint give importance to our real identities, Mayank and Nupur...