Beyond love: Like we are meant to be

By Rohit Shenoy

A young boy has lived most of his life in the Middle East and grown up in a male dominated environment. Not only is he totally aloof from members of the fairer sex, even the school he went to was an all-boys school. The only connection he relates himself to, is the annual holiday trips he would make to Mumbai every year with his parents and younger brother. He completes high school and comes to Surat, for Engineering. He enrolls himself into a life filled with books, zest, energy, uncertainty and excitement. He convinces himself that he is going to make the most of the dishes on his platter. However, the Gandhian state brings in pleasant surprises to the lad and introduces him to the most beautiful chapters of adulthood. Is he moving too fast?! Will his life change forever?!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Notion Press
• Release date: Aug 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9789384391645

Book preview

Epilogue

Prologue

‘Come over to this side in the evening, my friends want to meet you.’

‘Why would they want to meet me?!’

‘I don’t know. I have been telling them quite a lot about you and your blogs. They know about you and how wonderful you are. Now they are all quite excited and want to meet you. I’ll bring them to the coffee store outside my lane. Just come once and say hello to them! After that, we can go for that dinner as planned.’

‘Well alright! I’ll be there.’

Akira was always the most popular one in her friend circles. Studious with her work, helpful by nature and just cheerful to be with made her a favorite amongst the people she would hang out with.

Her female friends, roommates and juniors in particular, always had keen interest in her private life. They admired her and looked up to her for her temperament, positive outlook towards life and smooth ability to balance things.

‘My friends think you are a superstar. Like the most perfect gentleman.’ Akira said that evening after our brief encounter with her roommates.

‘It’s all because of you. You’ve projected me as a more than exceptional boyfriend. So I guess, the credit goes to you.’ I blushed.

‘You know, I want a special gift from my exceptional boyfriend on my birthday this time. I want you to start writing a novel. I keep reading your blogs and I love the way you use your words.’

‘What? I can’t be a professional writer. I don’t think I have that kind of sensibilities.’

‘You do have the sensibility. You just need to convince yourself to do it. Imagine how amazing it would be and how famous you could become!!’

Akira was certainly all pumped up and excited with the idea. I, on the other hand was not was very convinced.

‘But baby, its one thing writing an article or a blog, and another thing to pen down an entire novel. I don’t think I can do something that huge.’ I said, trying to be realistic.

‘Nothing doing. You are going to start writing a novel and you are going to gift me the first copy on my birthday this year. You have some genuine talent. Make use of it. I will proudly get to tell the world that my boyfriend is an author. And a damn good one too.’

I admired Akira in my own little way. To me, she was this exquisitely beautiful girl, who was very talented, smart, yet simple and homely. I always considered myself more than lucky to have her in my life. And as they say, the right people define important decisions that one takes in his or her life.

‘Chill. Just put down your thoughts. I know you are capable of it. You’re already a hero in their eyes. I just want the world to recognize it too. I want them to see you as a promising story writer.’ she said.

That day, Akira not only managed to convince me to write a novel, but also ignited the all-important spark within me.

Chapter 1

SVNIT Surat, Aug ‘08

We were all allotted accommodation on a three sharing basis in the first year hostels. Besides a bed for each one of us, we also had a dedicated cupboard and a study table at our disposal.

My roommates to start with, Nithin and Rohan were just like me. All from us from NRI backgrounds, we would easily relate with the kind of upbringings we had had. Adjusting to the new kind of environment and each other’s daily habits of sleeping, eating and studying helped us to connect in an open-minded manner.

As the days went by, we met 4-5 other students who fell in our category and steadily, we all formed a fun, healthy friend circle.

Saurav had spent his schooling years in Saudi Arabia before he had decided to pursue his engineering here in Surat.

Kaushik and Rishi had known each other since childhood since their families were actively involved in the Gujarati Association Committee in Kuwait. Thanks to their Gujarati genes, we were sure to be treated to exotic food and fun lifestyle in these four years of college.

Andrew was the youngest kid and the only son in his family based in Doha. He was the most flamboyant member of our group. With the best sense of dressing and carrying oneself, he was always approached by people who needed fashion advice.

Nithin’s family stayed in Sharjah, which can considered a sister-city of Dubai. That meant that we always had each other’s company while travelling home on holidays.

Rohan, like Kaushik and Rishi was also a Gujarati who had spent his childhood in Kuwait. He was the best-looking guy I had met and also the biggest Casanova. Always on the hunt for pretty girls and their acquaintances, there was very little that he wouldn’t know about next girl coming towards you. He would proudly boast about having a string of girlfriends during his school days and while in college too, he always claimed to be in a ‘serious relationship’ with someone or the other.

We were all back after eating in the mess on a Sunday evening. The hostel gates had been ceremoniously closed at 7.30pm as per the in-time regulation.

The college committee had issued a letter with the list of holiday in the coming calendar year. It was a hot-topic for all of us staying in hostels because this list would act as our guideline while planning festival and mid-semester breaks. The management had surprisingly omitted some dates that marked important regional and cultural events in this year’s list. As a result, students were all, obviously disappointed.

‘Hey Saurav, just give me a missed call na..I don’t seem to have your number.’ Rohan said, while the rest of us were reviewing the holiday list in my room that night.

It was over a couple of weeks since being introduced to each other and Rohan was the last one to update his phonebook.

Saurav acknowledged Rohan with a brief nod before continuing with the ongoing debate.

Without anybody’s notice, I quickly picked up Saurav’s phone from the nearby table and typed out a mischievous message for Rohan. After all, he didn’t have the number saved. We might as well have a little fun, I thought.

‘Hello Rohan, you don’t know me but I saw you at outside the classroom block today and haven’t stopped thinking about since.’

Presuming that he had been messaged by another one of his stranger female admirers, Rohan was obviously filled with overwhelming delight.

‘Hey guys look, a girl is messaging me. It seems she saw me outside the CRC today and being the amazingly handsome dude that I am, she is already after me.’, He declared proudly.

Within a matter of seconds, the discussion on holidays changed into this mystery girl was. One by one, everybody in the room snatched Rohan’s phone and verified the text in the message and started letting out all explanations.

‘Arey, koi aur samajh baithi hogi tujhe..’, Kaushik argued.

‘Whoever this is dude, how did she get your number..!?’, Nithin asked a pretty logical question.

Noticing me just sitting and watching these proceedings, Saurav noticed something fishy. I signaled him to come close and showed him the message I had sent Rohan from his phone pretending to be a female admirer.

Having realized that we had found our latest ‘bakra’, Saurav asked the next question to Rohan with the most careful choice of words.

‘Rohan, how can you be so sure it’s a girl man..?! I mean it could be someone trying to play a prank on you. Aur waise bhi, you are a committed guy. I don’t think you should read too much into these things..’

‘So what if I am committed..?! It’s not like I am getting married tomorrow. And it is definitely a girl. You guys are jealous of me..hahahaha..’, Rohan tried to reason with all of us.

With Saurav now equally involved in this game with me, I carefully distanced myself to a corner of the room and decided to send Rohan another message with more details and intent.

‘My name is Rekha. I am in Electrical Engineering. I was wondering if you could come to meet me near the PMC now. I really want to get to know and you know..’, I typed out.

Another message notification added to Rohan’s glee as he opened and read this one aloud with everybody surrounding him.

‘How can I go now but..?! It is already nearing 8.30pm, past the hostel in-time?!’, Rohan looked at the rest of us with restlessness.

‘Arey don’t go anywhere now dude. Kal usko class ke baad kahin pe bahar mil.’, I suggested, trying to make my presence felt.

Seeing the sense and practicality of what I had suggested, everybody nodded in consent. Rohan, however would required a lot more reasoning.

‘No man. I don’t want to disappoint her. Let me ask her whether tomorrow is ok with her.’, he said while texting back to Rekha.

With all my pretentious instincts, I continued to try and persuade Rohan to meet Rekha.

‘Not tomorrow. I can sneak out of my hostel for half an hour. I am really keen to meet you now and