Hello ladies! Here is more of college romance for you! This is a massive chapter hence I am posting it in 2 parts! Updating chapter 3 part 1 for now, part 2 will be up very soon!! Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed penning it down for you!
If in case you do enjoy, please be kind enough to leave a feedback! And on that note,Happy Reading!!
Chapter 3 (i) - Murphy's Law
Swara was sitting just outside the main door of her Baari', hugging her knees to her chest. It was raining heavily outside and hence the quadrangle was breezy, she shut her eyes and enjoyed the misty breeze on her face, it calmed her. The sound of the raging storm outside helped in silencing the storm inside her. From the far depth of their house, she heard the unmistakable sound of her alarm, heralding midnight. Her heart raced, as she ignored the alarm and stared at her phone hopefully, would he call?
She looked at the empty house behind her, Ma and dida had to go to Bhopal. Her paternal grandmother was seriously unwell, and Sharmishta had decided to go and take care of her. Dida was afraid, if Sharmishta went alone, she might decide to stay back in Bhopal again, now that dida's health was better, so she went along to motivate her to return.
Slowly the alarm went on snooze, and Swara got up with a heavy heart to go to bed.
***
As she entered college, she saw them - standing and reclining on the boot of Lucky's car. Lucky was holding Ragini by the waist and smirking at her. Sanskar was standing close by and doubling in laughter at something Lucky probably had just said. Swara sighed and walked in a different direction. Who was she kidding, how did she expect Lucky to call? Clearly he was busy in his own life! Ever since Sanskar had joined college, he was inseparable from Ragini and hence he always started joining Swara, Lucky and Ragini everywhere. Swara would have put their annoying first meeting at rest and befriended him, had he actually been a nice man, but Sanskar was not. He was arrogant, snobbish and thought very highly of himself, the way he would look at Swara, it made her feel like dirt. She still remembered the initial days when they were hanging out together, Swara wasn't comfortable in his presence, so she spoke less. Lucky never noticed this, and Swara never told him anything. Once they were eating in the canteen and Swara didn't have change on her, so Lucky had offered to pay for her. Swara had agreed without thinking - this had happened many a times between them and when one ran out of cash, or didn't have change, the other paid. Of course they settled it later - hence when Lucky went to pay, Swara sat there in the table with Ragini and Sanskar eating her samosa, when she had heard Sanskar's loud whisper to Ragini, "You know nah Ragini, these girls from middle class families, they are such gold diggers, see she can't even pay for samosas. Your Lakshya has plans of funding this charity case for life or what?" and Ragini giggled in response and then quickly looked at Swara to check if she heard.
Swara was brutally hurt at their exchange. True that she wasn't as well off as Lucky, Ragini or even Sanskar, but that didn't mean she was a gold digger. They were well off too, but after her dad's passing away, her mother had raised her without taking financial aid from either of her families, she single handedly took care of all the costs, so they didn't see much lavishness, even though she herself belonged to a well to do line too. As tears threatened to come out of her eyes, she left the canteen hurriedly leaving the food behind. When Lucky returned, he was surprised to see Swags had gone. Swara had thought about all the small ways Sanskar demeaned her, right from the time he commented on her "cheap fabric" made clothes, to her "picked on discount sale" sandals, to her walking back home "because even rickshaws were expensive for some". Swara had decided to set her foot down. She had called Lucky that night, and told him that she didn't like Sanskar, and if he wanted to be friends, then Sanskar had to leave the group. Lucky was taken aback, but he had considered the option in his head. But then Ragini's face came in his mind, she would be hurt to let go of Sanskar, how could he hurt her? "Swara Sanskar is a nice guy and if he has nothing against you being in the group why do you have issues? Anyway he is Ragini's best frined and she will be very hurt if I ask him to leave!" Lucky had said. Swara almost stumbled in shock, Ragini was so important that even her comfort wasn't worth it? "Lucky Sanskar and I can't be on the same side" she had repeated, holding her breath, his answer would make or break their friendship. After a long pause, Lucky spoke, "Sanskar will stay Swags. He has to. He is a great------" but Lucky couldn't finish, because the call was disconnected by then.
Ever since then, it had been two months now that the once best friends rarely even looked each other in the eye. And the group now consisted of Lakshya, Ragini and Sanskar. Swara stayed with her music and studies in college and after college, straight went home. She had made a new friend in the library recently, her name was Parineeti, and she was a senior. In college Swara spent time with her, she was a quiet girl who was already engaged to a senior guy in their college named Adarsh, and he by fluke turned out to be Lucky's cousin. Swara often got news of Lucky and Ragini from Parineeti. It seemed they were going strong because Parineeti had told her that Lucky had introduced Ragini to his family and they loved her, especially Lucky's mother. Swara smiled remembering Anu aunty, it had been ages since she visited her.
***
Lucky was sitting in class with Ragini and Sanskar, when Swara had walked in. He glanced at her and could tell she was a bit upset. A part of him wanted to go and ask her what was wrong, but a more dominant part stopped him. If Swara could snap ties so easily, then he didn't need to bother. Swara on the other hand didn't notice the trio, and went and sat at her corner. Sanskar who happened to follow Lucky's line of vision when he looked at Swara, could also tell looking at her face that she was upset, but he wondered why. Lucky kept mum throughout the class never glancing at her again, but in his mind, all he was wondering was, why did Swara look upset?
After the classes got over, Swara was leaving for home when she suddenly bumped on to someone and would have fallen down almost had he not held onto her wrist and balanced her back to place. "Watch where you're going yeah!" she heard the guy's voice before looking up, and mumbled a quick apology when she finally noticed his face. He was peering down at her, and for once he didn't have a scorn on his face. "Did Swara Bose just apologize to me?" and there, his smirk was back. But he was even more surprised when Swara didn't give a counter reply and left. He looked at her retreating figure confused, he knew it that she hated him, and with her sassy mouth, she wouldn't leave any opportunity at getting back to him, then today..as he looked at the ground, he found an ID card. He knelt down to pick it up - it was Swara's. It must have fallen when they bumped onto each other he thought and glanced at the ID card once more. Something on it made him look back again. Now he knew why she was upset. He decided to catch up with her and give her the card back before she reached the gate so the college guards didn't harass her further. She was low anyway.
***
Lucky was sitting in a caf with Ragini and chatting with her, when his phone beeped. He was about to look at it, but Ragini stopped him. They were alone after such a long it, it almost felt like a date, she wanted his undivided attention. Lucky smiled at her, and put the phone away.
***
Swara reached the gate and was about to produce the ID card from her pocket when she realized it wasn't there. She looked around and but it wasn't anywhere around, as she frantically begun to look for it cursing her luck, she suddenly saw a pair of hand before her holding the card. She took the card and sighed in relief. "You know you're a saviour" she said and smiled up to look at her helper's face. Once again she was surprised to see the familiar face of Sanskar peering at her. "You?" she asked surprised. "What, now you will return the card and rather pretend that you lost it?" replied Sanskar with a laugh. "No" she replied shortly before turning around. "Where are you going?" she heard him ask. She was surprised, why was Sanskar so pally to her suddenly, but she didn't question him further, she just responded "Home" and was about to go again when he spoke a third time, "Should I drop you? I am leaving too". Swara had had enough now, she turned around and asked him instead, "What do you want Sanskar? Why are you trying to talk to me?" irritation clear in her voice. Sanskar looked taken aback but he didn't scorn at her, "Why would I want something from you Swa"" but Swara cut him mid-sentence, "Well I refuse to belief that you are just innocently trying to help me. I am not judgemental Sanskar, but I know you. You're the reason Lucky and I aren't friends anymore. You wouldn't just come to help me out of kin----" but then Sanskar didn't let her finish. "That's enough Swara, just because I am listening to you, doesn't mean you can blame me okay! I was just offering you a ride because, in case you didn't notice, its dark now, and it is about to rain again AND if incase you don't remember, there is a transport strike today! So, if you are done with your investigation, can we go?" he asked angrily and a surprised Swara followed suit. What choice did she have?
As she sat silently in his car, he drove off, and no sooner did they start, big drops of rain started pelting down. "Close save huh?" Sanskar laughed, Swara nodded slightly. Strangely Sanskar wasn't annoying her that much right now. "Do you like rains?" he asked her after sometime, while driving by a park, as they spotted some children playing football in the rain. "Hate the rain" Swara replied nonchalantly. And she wasn't lying. Without Lucky by her side, the rain indeed seemed to have lost its charm. "See that's why we are at each other's neck! You don't like the right things in life! Try cutting chai in a chai dada's khudi(earthen cup) while in the rain, you will fall in love with rains!" said Sanskar jovially. Swara's head snapped up in surprise, his lines took her back to memory lane, *try cutting chai in the rain, you will fall in love with rains* once upon a time Swara had taught this to Lucky, only after that did they start enjoying the rains together! And today Sanskar was telling her the same thing?
Suddenly she came out of her reverie as the car halted, she looked up surprised as they hadn't reached home yet. She looked at Sanskar questioningly, and he indicated towards a tea-stall right outside. "Come" he said, his face lighting up with a bright smile. "No" she replied instinctively. "YES" his grin became broader as he pulled her out in the rain and strode towards the stall. As they drank tea, Sanskar spoke about his life in Jaipur, his friendship with Ragini, his childhood and his reason for moving to Kolkata. Swara watched him silently, this was a completely different man than the Sanskar she knew. This man in front of her was a nice man. Maybe Lucky always saw this side of his; hence he didn't want to snap ties with him. But then why did he behave so rudely with her she wondered, and why suddenly was he so nice and friendly with her now? He really seemed to love the rains, in the rain he actually ended up befriending his enemy.
Swara was so lost in her thought that she never noticed when Sanskar stopped talking and stared at her, watching her lost in her thoughts. Sanskar saw her clouded face and realized she was missing Lucky. He felt bad for being the reason for them snapping ties. He held her wrist gently, and she snapped out of her trance, "Swara, Ragini is a nice girl. Lakshya is very happy with her." He said softly. "I know" she said and nodded, but those treacherous tears were back at bay. Sanskar noticed this, and something inside him crunched. "Swara, I am sorry, I am the reason why your friendship fell apart" - Sanskar was surprised himself at the confession. Swara looked at him in tearfilled eyes, she realized Sanskar was really sorry for being who he was with her for so long, in that moment she genuinely smiled and forgave him. "Sanskar, it's not your fault. From how I see it, influences and causations are used in arguments such that people can later blame these for the decisions they take. But in reality I feel they are gibberish. Every decision of man, stem from a simple question, he wants something, or he doesn't. And Lucky didn't want it - our friendship" she completed with misty eyes.
Sanskar's head shot up in shock, he had heard similar lines before, "Everything roots from the simple choice of whether you want something or not. Just that." - he had heard it so long a ago, and he hadn't heard it ever since the speaker left him forever. He hadn't heard it ever since his beloved Kavita's demise. Sanskar looked up at Swara in new light, she was so similar to Kavita in many ways.
In that moment, he didn't know what urged him to say this, but he said it anyway, "Happy Birthday Swara!" and a surprised Swara broke into a smile, a genuine everlasting smile, that made her feel warm inside.
Anupamaa
Udne Ki Aasha
