Of Crushes and Blushes..!!
I don’t exactly remember when I saw her first time..But I am sure she was my classmate at least since 3rd standard!
This may sound weird that a boy likes some girl at such an early age but trust me it happens with almost everyone, be it a boy or a girl..
Let me tell about myself in 3rd standard- I was one of the toppers of the class(I’m being honest here) famous for bagging prizes almost in every competition, very sensitive , used to cry even if some teacher puts me out of the class even for 5 minutes , I was the class leader for boys , interested in cricket, had a soft corner for girls (which is not surprising) , blah blah blah!
About her- Her name was Aarti. She was one of the toppers of the class, famous for bagging prizes almost in every competition, very sensitive , used to cry even if some teacher puts her out of the class even for 5 minutes , she was the class leader for girls, interested in drawing and complaining about boys!
So as you can see both of us were alike and different at the same time. She was my competitor in studies and looked attractive. Not to forget, I think I was attractive too since many girls approached me for some or the other reason. Many of my classmates used to hate her in their words but had a secret crush on her in their hearts. And I was one of them! I still have no idea how many girls had a secret crush on me :D
It was a time when telephones were popular and mobiles had just arrived in Indian market. Owning a telephone at home itself was a big deal. I thought I was lucky just to have a glimpse of her daily in class. I got many opportunities to talk to her since we both were class leaders. From outside she looked like she was very proud, rude to boys and very straight forward. But when I talked to her I realized she was down to earth, caring about everyone and very polite. These were the qualities which attracted me towards her more. She had cat eyes to magically pull everyone towards her.
Sometimes I used to borrow her notebook just to talk with her and make my other friends jealous. Sometimes crushes make you a better person. I used to complete my homework every day just in a hope that someday she may ask. Most of the days the homework served my friends and other girls and sometimes luckily she would ask me for homework. That moment I used to snatch my book from my friend and give it to her and she used to smile on my reaction. Then I had to go back to my friends and hear dialogues like ‘Everything for a girl and nothing for a boy’ or ‘Girl asks something and this boy just obeys it’! It all seems so stupid now, but attraction makes you do stupid things sometimes. Funny days!
One day our class teacher was absent, so both of us had to control the class. But that day everyone was making so much noise and we were not able to control it. We were trying to tell everyone to talk in a low voice so that other classes don’t get disturbed. But to our bad luck the noise levels were high and at the same time our Headmaster visited our class. He was angry on both of us for not being able to control the class and slapped both of us on our face and left after instructing the class to maintain pin-drop silence. I just ran to my desk and sat crying for the whole period. Even Aarti did the same too because it was a hard slap and that too when we had nothing to do with it. I felt ashamed because I could not hide my tears and its human tendency to cry if hit at such age. Later Aarti came to me and told it happens sometimes and advised me to take it in good spirit. I smiled at her , she too smiled and left. A smile which I still remember!
We were writing 5th standard final exams and to avoid students from copying our class teacher made a new rule. She made combinations such that in one row a boy sits in between two girls on same bench and in the next row a girl sits in between two boys! It was an interesting tactic to avoid copying. And surprisingly Aarti was made to sit in between me and my friend. Yes! She was sitting beside me for 3 hours!! I was so happy that I forgot a diagram on rotation of crops and the time was nearing end. I had answered all my questions and was sitting there staring at blackboard trying to remember the diagram. Aarti noticed me and asked what I was thinking. I told her I forgot the diagram. She immediately snatched my paper, drew the diagram in no time and gave back my paper smiling at me. Wow! This was unexpected. I just smiled and thanked her for her kindness in helping me, her firm competitor in exams! And that year I secured 1st rank, just 2 marks more than Aarti ! I felt so bad that she missed her rank just because she had helped me. But she was still happy and smiling for getting the 2nd rank.
These smiles and smiling back continued until 7th standard. On the first day of 7th standard I got a shock of my childhood.. She was leaving…Leaving our school and joining a Government Competitive school. Yes, she had got a scholarship and had cleared the written test for the competitive school where very few talented students get admissions. And here she was, on last day of our school saying goodbye to all of us by distributing chocolate and pencils to all our classmates. She came to my desk, smiled at me and gave me a chocolate and pencil. She said ‘I’m going , bye! All the best for your 7th standard board exams!’ I too smiled and wished her the same and said Goodbye with a smile on my face and tear in my eyes. I realized here goes my first crush!
I didn’t get any news of her till my 10th standard. By then I had lots of small crushes which ranged from hours to days.. Someday I heard Aarti was not feeling well so she could not attend her 10th standard board exams and will be repeating her 10th standard. I felt sad. I thought she was so intelligent, she would fare well in any exam. I just carried on with my life thinking I won’t meet her anytime.
When I was in 12th and preparing for my board exams I heard from my friend that Aarti has taken admission for 11th in our college! I was curious and looked in 11th class if I can see her. But I could not see her anywhere. I thought maybe she hadn’t come to class that day. Later I was so engrossed in studies that I completely forgot about Aarti being in 11th class.. I finished my board exams and got admission into an engineering college and continued my life. All 4 years of engineering I concentrated on my studies and got placed in a software company. After completing my engineering I had 6 months time to join the company. So I returned home for vacation.
Facebook was becoming popular and was now a part of every youngster’s life. I was looking at friend suggestions in Facebook and suddenly Aarti’s name popped up! Here she was again running into my mind, I wondered doesn’t she feel tired after running into my mind for so long?! I thought for a while and sent her a friend request. I looked at her profile and she looked pretty. Those same cat eyes refreshed my childhood memories. She was studying medical in Belgaum. Great, I thought..After some days I had been to Belgaum to visit my University to take some certificates. While waiting for a bus, I noticed a girl on a white scooty, she looked like Aarti! I just stood there staring at the speeding scooty and there she was gone! I just thought to myself that it might be someone else and forgot about it.
After some days when I logged in to facebook I got a notification that Aarti has accepted my friend request. Atleast something good happened! I just sent her a message ‘Hi..How are you ?’ and started playing GTA. I had not logged out from facebook. Later when I finished my game I saw that Aarti had pinged me ‘Hi..Silent boy! How are you?’!!! But now she was already offline! I cursed myself for playing the game for so long! I just sent her a message saying ‘Sorry! I was gaming and forgot to log out !’ :(
The next day I got a message from someone. It said ‘ Hi..Its Aarti here..My facebook account is hacked and I’m not able to access facebook.. Even my gmail account is hacked. I won’t make a new profile again and please don’t accept any friend request from my name..!! ‘ I had no words.. I tried to somehow restore her facebook account but one of her friends had hacked both facebook and gmail accounts. So there was no way of restoring it. I replied to her friend ‘Hi, Aarti’s friend here. Please give her this message.. ‘ Hey don’t worry about all this. Have a great life. All the best.. Take care.. Bye…!’’. That was the last time I interacted with her. I realized ‘Opportunity knocks at your door only once and If you are not there to open the door then it does not come back again and just forgot all that happened and continued my usual life. Whenever I login to Facebook I see her name in friend suggestion, but I know it’s the same hacked profile bearing her smiling picture. But it just keeps bringing back sweet memories of my past. I just ignore it and continue with my work.
That was all about my first crush! I can say that ‘I too had a crush story’ like all others but it was a lot different than other stories…
I have changed her name here for confidentiality reasons,but my school friends will easily identify her.