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We reached home at about midnight. Sneha was already. Thank God, I thought. Now didi and I could talk easily. The whole story had become so riveting that none of us wanted to sleep. I had no college the next day. We continued from where we had left. This time in whispers.

“You didn’t tell me if you two exchanged mails only or started talking? I assumed you talk a lot from the kind of discussions you have had.” ”Yes, didi. We started talking gradually. I called her first time on her birthday, the seventh of February. In fact, that’s the only reason why I bought a cell phone.”
“So, bills must be burning your pocket, Romeo.”
“Don’t ask, didi. Most of my allowance goes there. But she is the one who calls for longer periods from her home.”
“Okay! Great. If se talks to you so much on STD, one thing’s for sure, she likes talking to you.”
“I guess so!”
See brothers, all’s pretty and promising. But have you ever talked romantically?” she asked, examining each details of her specimen.
“Yes, but very lightly.”
“Like?”
“Like, discussing what qualities we would like in our partner, then jokingly calling each other perfect for each other as we have so many similarities. And yes, since nobody else in the world finds us tolerable, why destroy two innocents’ lives, better marry each other. That’ll be a humble social service.”
“So, no boyfriend for her, too?”
“Luckily, no.”
“Any previous relationship?”
“Luckily, no.”
“Hmm, you’ll have to be more romantic and direct.”
“Okay. But it’s been really good so far. And that’s because my intention was never to woo her. It’s true, I loved her the first time I saw her. But then the distance was a big deterrent. I had thought about her a lot initially but finally came to ground. I mean there was no way I thought we could be together. Practically impossible. And, then, it is lovely to be good friends with her. We gel so well. And it is really nice to talk clean all the time. And I like it this way.”
“So… now the distance has reduced or what?”
“Well, I have been thinking…” in fact, that had been the only thing on my mind. “She comes here about twice a year. So… sometimes I feel… I like her so much and can wait for her but at other times I feel it will be a bit too much.”
“Too much, as in?”
“As in, didi, my college years are racing past me and I haven’t even dated a girl. Most distressing, didi. Sometimes I fell like a terminally ill man, with just two years of life left, who wants to make the most of them. Hence the quick need of a girl, who is nearby. It is a race against time.”

I wondered, now, how immature and foolish I was to say all that. how ignorant I was of love – of its real meaning and power. Still, I mention it in hope that some of you will learn from what my didi said in response.
“Race against time! My foot! What do you want, brother, a timepass?”
“Hmm, everyone around is happy doing it. But isn’t it rotten to have a girl once you are done?”
“I am proud of you, brother. We need more men like you.” “But didi… sometimes out of frustration… I do feel… what the heck! Why waste all these years? If timepass is the only solution, so be it.”
“What if someone does that with me or Sneha or Palak?” Well, what could I say to that? the very question had kept me in check for so long. I ken the answer too well. I would like kill that boy, better say bastard.
“I’d kill that bastard, didi. Sorry for the profanity.”
“Now, what do you say?”
“Well, didi, I know that and would never fool a nice girl. But these says you do find girls who want no commitment… they are no less nowadays.”
“You are incorrigible. I tell you what; call a call-girl if you are that frustrated.”

I was speechless, again. And shamed. What am I looking for? I thought. A nice girl who loves me. I knew that I could never be happy with superficial relations.

“Why are you dumb? Look, I tell you what. You boys want girls for fun or maybe as a status symbol. It’s like a banner announcing proudly ‘Come, look, I have a girl. I am a stud.’ You think we are something to be flaunted. But we are not things,” didi roared, “You idiot, how can one be happy in a relationship if he is not in love? Time is not running past. Use your head. Dating is not the only thing. You don’t meet everyday. You talk on phone too and most of the time that only. It is a form of intimacy. So if you love Shreya, enjoy the times you talk to her. Wait for her. But only if you love her,” she shot like an AK-47 and I could only stare blankly.

These womenfolk, I tell you, make one think a lot. Men would be nothing without them. Curious species, indeed! How they can think that much… all that pretty heavy stuff for us men. Some great man or, perhaps, woman has wisely said: “Women, the mysterious,” and I don’t have the audacity too, to find out what goes inside their head. So I just nodded appreciatively and said:
“True, didi, true. That means I should forget Gayatri?” “What about the idea of spending a whole day with her, Tejas?” That hit me hard. I hadn’t thought about it. I mean a date of ontwo hours was fine, but a day with her! I’d rather sit the whole day in Prof. Chattopadhyaya’s unbearable ‘Evolution: How Monkey became Man’ class than hobnob with a girl who names her dog after her crush. There are limits to insanity.
“Most disturbing, didi. We have nothing in common. It was just her pretty face I liked.”
“So, I hope to have cleared all your doubts.”
“Yes. Gayatri is out?”
“What about two days with her, alone?”
“Yes, yes, out she is, didi. But Shreya is so far.”
“You have to wait for every good thing in life, child.” Sometimes they do seem apt, these adages.
“But I don’t even know her feelings for me.”
“Leave that for the moment. First tell me, do you love her or not.” “Well, didi… All I can say is that I haven’t found a better girl and she seems perfect for me. I like her very much and I think I love her too.”
“So, idiot, forget about other girls.”
“And what about… her liking me?”
“Ask her.”
“What!”
“Yes, ask her. There’s no point living in doubt. Ask her if she likes you or not.”
“What if she says no?”
“She won’t say no outright. She’ll just say she never thought about you that way.”
“Whatever, but that means no.”
“That doesn’t mean no, brother. That also doesn’t mean she has never thought about you that way. That just means she is not that sure about you right now. We’ll deal with that later, it won’t be that bad. But you have to ask. Show some courage.”
“But didi… she is very pretty and I…”
“You are smart, you idiot.”
“Are you serious, didi? Can she like me, what about these pimples?”
“All I can say is, if I were the girl, I would never have said no.”