A Phone, A Pal, and A Story – Part 7 -By Anu

It was 25th May, 2005

I met Nani at Durgam Cheruvu. He is such a nice guy with who cares much about me and my feelings.

He took my hand and guided me to the park on the bank of that lake. I could see many couples sitting there… and I am sure most of them were lovebirds :).

We had a tough time finding an empty bench in that park and finally Nani saw a bench which was almost invisible to outer world. He said that we would sit on that bench… but I hesitated to go there as I kept remembering Priya’s words that guys would take advantage of being invisible to others… I said “Nani, why can’t we sit here in the lawn? Do we really need to sit on a bench to talk?”. Poor guy.. without a word, he sat on the grass in the lawn and I did the same.

We kept quiet for a moment and I was waiting for him to break the ice. When I looked at him, he was staring at me. I could see a lot of love towards me in his eyes. I smiled at him and asked about his office.

He asked to keep office, studies, parents, and the world away because it’s the moment of his life where he met his first love for the first time.

He complemented that I look more beautiful than I looked in the photograph. I blushed and said thanks.

I guess most of the guys are possessive at their women. Earlier I didn’t know the reason behind asking me to sit on the hidden bench. But after a while I strongly felt like running towards that bench along with Nani.

A group of boys (probably they were some engineering college guys) was roaming around the park and passing some bad comments towards the couples they encounter. Being offended by their comments, all the couples sitting on the lawn were leaving the place. Before they come to our place, I told Nani that we would go to the bench which the bad boys could not see.

We went there and spent some time… all the time Nani was fascinated by my looks and my skin tone. He asked about the soap I use… when I asked why, he told that he would use the same to get the same skin tone I have :). At that moment, he looked like a kid to me. I took his arm and gently pressed it. That time I determined to not to lose this nice guy at any cost.

After our first meet, we met for 4 more times in Hyderabad. Twice at his office in Hitec city and two more times at Durgam Cheruvu.

June 7th, 2005

It’s just one day before the day on which we had to go back to Vizag. I was not able to digest the fact that I had to leave Nani. On the previous day we met at Jubilee Hills Peddamma Temple and he gave me a sweet gift along with a beautiful greeting card. I was all tears while waving him good bye 🙁

June 8th, 2005

We were all set to start to Secunderabad Railway Station. Nidhi, Priya, and myself started to the railway station before the stipulated time to check the reservation status of our berths. My Dad and all my relatives said they would reach by the scheduled time. While we were in the bus, I got a call from Nani and he wished me a very happy journey.

We reached station by 2:30 PM and to my surprise, Nani was waiting for us at the reservation counter. I jumped in joy by seeing him. He came to me with a naughty smile and winked at me.

Priya and Nidhi went to the machine to check the status of our reservation and we sat on a bench. We talked about an hour and finally they both came with some biscuits and water bottle.

My dad and relatives reached the station by 4 PM. Nidhi and Priya went out to receive them and we both were in Train compartment. After a while, Priya called me and told that they were approaching the compartment.

Before we part, I gave him a tight hug and planted a kiss on his cheek. I could never forget the spark in his eyes when I kissed him..

We both exchanged the best wishes and he left the compartment with a heavy heart… he stayed till the train starts from the platform and we parted with tears in eyes.

We reached Vizag by next morning and I called him and acknowledged our safe journey.

After our meet, our bond had become much stronger. After a couple of months, he told that he wanted to see me again.

Generally my parents would go to our native place on every month-end to visit my grandparents.

So I thought that it would be the best time for us to meet . I took my friends’ help to arrange the accommodation for him and invited him to Vizag.

He came to Vizag twice and we both spent good time visiting all places in and around Vizag. One of my friends had arranged accommodation for him.

It was his third visit to Vizag. It was 29th Sep, 2005.

We didn’t know that it would be our last meet.

We both went to Rishikonda by my friend’s bike. There we both sat on a stone and were looking at the beauty of the sea. There were many people who were there for site seeing.

Suddenly I could feel that somebody from the nearest group was watching both of us. I told the same to Nani and we left the place.

That was the day on which the luck started to play with our love and lives.