The Tale Begins

Gradually, days flew by and we were elated at the news that our classes would be conducted in our campus and our University buildings. That was the beginning of our third semester after a long two months’ break. New classrooms, new furniture, and a renovated library – all added to the charm of the college, and moreover, the enthusiasm amongst us. It was much later that we realized that this charm would gradually fade away, and for reasons justifiably so. Sociologists generally refer to a term called ‘panoptical structures’ while studying the structures of prisons and correctional homes. Despite the marvelous design and gorgeous exteriors, students generally felt claustrophobic while attending classes or simply hanging out with their loved ones. Guards seemed to be omnipresent despite all efforts by the students to avert their presence. Obviously, there was a genuine reason to be unhappy.

Every student in the batch, after having completed the first couple of semesters, felt comfortable and identified themselves to be NUJSians. Not to my amazement and surprise, Atul wasn’t amongst them. Once I happened to ask him the reason for his apparent displeasure.

‘ Atul bhai, what seems to bother you all the time, man’, I asked candidly.

‘ hmm…’

That didn’t give me a satisfactory answer, or did it? I thought to give it another try.

‘No, I mean, hardly have I seen you happy and contended with your surroundings here. I understand we’ve never been in this kind of an environment before, and so, a natural discomfort is quite obvious. Yet, I guess, we need to reconcile to the fact that all places are not the same.’

I thought adding a pinch of philosophy might just succeed in drawing an answer from this perennially mysterious chap. And to my utter amazement, an answer came. But the answer was the most shocking and heartening one I could have ever imagined.

‘Am in love’, came the reply. This was a shocking answer anyways, but what was to follow was even more gruesome to digest.

‘I don’t know why am telling you this, probably ‘cause you are one of my closest friends.  Infact, you are the only friend I have in the guy’s hostel.’

‘Don’t beat around the bush, come to the point..’ I said impatiently. This was a phrase I had learnt at law school, a sign of lawyers craving for the essence.

‘It’s Mitali. We have been seeing each other for quite some time now. I guess, you might not know her. She’s not from this college… from NIFT.”

National Institute of Fashion Technology or NIFT had its campus just opposite our’s. We used to have a gala time standing in the balcony watching the fashion shows and lovely ladies walking the ramp. NIFT was quite famous for the beauties that it hosted and guys, in rem, used to throng the area in search for their lucky day to talk to anyone of them. Well, amidst the mela of Sushmita Sens and Angelina Jolies, there were a few exceptions, I guess. Other NIFT girls used to disown them, so ‘ugly’ and ‘unpresentable’ they were at times. Infact, these exceptions came to limelight more than the others for the looks that nature had hurled upon them. Quite cruel this world can be, I used to think taking instances of these girls.

I later found out from Atul that Mitali happened to be one of these unfortunate one’s whose looks could stand out in a mob of a million, just by its sheer repulsiveness. I immediately recognized the girl from the description he gave of her. However, be it for the friendship I had with him and for the phrase that one genius had once framed, ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’, I maintained a revered and diplomatic silence. But, Atul didn’t stop then.

‘You know what, I don’t care a damn if people here laugh at me. I have fallen for her and she too loves me dearly. She’s the loveliest lady on earth for me and that’s all what matters.’

I understand that love is blind, but the epilogues that come along with it sometimes irritated me. Atul was doing just the same.

‘I have hated this place since day one. You know very well that I’m not one of those in the crowd. I believe in myself and my ambitions in life are completely different from anyone of you guys who succumb to the institutional structures.’

Being contextual is yet another lesson that law school teaches. You digress from the issue at hand and the hell befalls. But as usual, Atul ‘cared a damn’ for any of these ‘law school teachings’ and his repartees were just a consequence of the same. What had ‘succumbing to institutional structures’ to do with Atul falling in love with the ugliest of girls around!

‘Anyways, let’s keep all these talks aside. Tell me, when did you start meeting her and when did it all happen. You must have had a bit of fun, isn’t it.’ I wanted to add a bit of humour in the conversation and had no intentions otherwise. But very obviously, it fell into the ears of the wrong person at the wrong time.

‘What do you mean by that? My love for her is pure and has nothing to do with physicality. Do you understand that…and never repeat this mistake again. Yes, I have been meeting her for the last couple of months and fell in love sometime during those days.’

The last couple of months were vacations I thought. So, did Atul come all the way from his hometown just to meet Mitali and fall for her? But then, I didn’t have the guts to ask him that and let him do most of the talking. There are times when you should allow a person to speak for himself without interrogating him. The more you question him, the lesser will he speak content.

‘While you obsessed students were busy spoiling your lives interning in law chambers and NGO’s, I spent time with Mitali and discovered the greatest desire in my life. She might not be the most beautiful girl on the planet for you guys, but she’s undoubtedly the most soft-hearted person I have ever met in my life. The best personification of elegance, charm and candour, this is Mitali.’

During this tete-e-tete with Atul, I for once, tended to believe in the age old story that there’s always someone in the world who has a partner awaiting his or her arrival. Even an as unimpressive girl as Mitali did have someone for her, in the form and shape of Atul. And Atul, on his part thought that Mitali was the chosen one for him.