I LIKED HER BECAUSE, I DISLIKED HER! (2)

I happened to meet her whom I actually didn’t want to meet. I happened to accept her as my scribe again.

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 It was 2008; I was doing my +2, seated for English exam and anticipating another scribe on that occasion. As I expected, one girl came and sat before me and was quite for a minute.

“Hi, you are Vinoth right?” asked me after a minute.

I was about to say “yes” but something has stuck me and prevented my lips to open. I was baffled completely because the voice was not familiar to me. I started rehearing her voice but couldn’t find it clearly.

At last I replied “yes—but—“

“Don’t you remember me? I am Ramya!”

“Ramya?”

“Yes, came and wrote exam last year for you!”

“I know one Ramya sister who has written English 2^nd paper last year for me,”

“Yes, it’s me!”

I was cogitating about the past and fastened my mouth for some seconds. Promptly I came to my consciousness and answered her back.

“Yes sister, how are you?” I asked her blandly.

 “What is she going to do today? Be careful Vinoth, Be careful.” My mind cautioned and scared me.

“Fine.” She replied in a casual manner.

“Sorry your voice is changed therefore I couldn’t recognize you.”

Seriously her voice had been changed and slightly became base.

“Not an issue da.” Said she then we started concentrating on question paper.

Unlike before, I did not have any fear this time. Last time when we met, she didn’t utter a single word except reading the question paper. But this time I could notice that she was literally fluctuated. We were sharing about ourselves to each other during the exam.

Since the exam was for 100 marks, we were able to manage the offered time. Though I felt awkward in the beginning, I was normal later. We almost finished our exam, but I didn’t want to go out. She didn’t want either. She started speaking as if she was very much closer to me. I asked her to leave one question deliberately.

She asked me “why?”

I said “if anybody asks us we can say that we are yet to complete.”

She smiled and continued by asking about me and my life. I was answering her continuously but afraid of asking about her.

Slowly our conversation drifted from personal to general.

“Do you watch movies?” asked me surprisingly.

“We people never miss any movie.” Said I and put an end to her doubts.

“Your favorite movie?” again she asked me with an absolute curiosity.

“Santhosh Subramaniam.”

“Really! I watched that movie nearly 20 times!” she replied me with uncontrolled emotions.

Yes it’s true; that movie is worth enough to watch for many times for I might have watched it obviously 25 times.

I said, “Yes sister, nice movie no? I also watched it 25 times and feel like watching again.”

Meanwhile I asked her a question for I slightly felt comfortable with her.

“How do you remember me sister? That too you’ve seen me once in your life!”

“I don’t know how, but I remember you. Moreover, you answered well on that day.”

She continued further “what is your actual rank in your class?”

I was completely stunned by hearing all those things from her lips. Soon recollected her question and opened my mouth to respond. But she was even earlier.

“Can I guess?” asked and didn’t allow me to speak.

I simply nodded my head without giving any verbal reaction.

“I think either first or second. Am I right?”

I was once again speechless and this time didn’t even nod my head since she was true.

Yes readers, those days I used to secure first rank in our class.

“Hello, say! Am I right or not?” she interrogated me with a small piece of prediction.

“How?” I asked her back with tone of mystification.

“I guessed!” she said quietly along with happiness for finding it correct.

My mind indulged in so many questions. Seriously friends, I didn’t know whether my mind was asking me or I was conducting the test to my mind. Nonetheless the questions were really put me in deep confusion.

Initially I thought that certain questions do not have answers to be found. But later I comprehended that every question has its own answer. It is our duty to find. Some people have discovered, some of them have been struggling and others are neither bothered about the questions nor bothered about answers.

Surely I didn’t fall under the third category because I had to answer some of the question at that time for I had questions with me.

“If she likes me this much then why did she ask me like that?”

“Did I mistake her? Or did she change now?”

“It looked like she insulted me. Would she have been simply asked me ‘didn’t you study? Was it a casual asking?”

“Did I really dislike her? Now why do I like her?”

Eventually I got the answer for all riddles. Yes I came to a conclusion that I did not dislike her rather I was scared of her because she asked me like that.  I also assumed that she disliked me by having that casual question as an evident to my side which forced me to keep away from her.

At last we had one question spare to answer. But it was related to exam. I didn’t have any idea about the answer. In order to test her intelligence, I asked her

“Sister you also might have studied this know?”

Surely I did not try to seek answer from her, at the same time I wanted to receive her reaction since I felt that she was also friendly with me.

“Nothing comes to my mind Vinoth; otherwise I would have given some ideas.” She said and started musing about the answer again.

I also understood that she is not a person who brags about once own self.

Then I didn’t want to continue that and asked her to tie the paper because I understood that mistake was on my side and not hers. I felt unhappy for misunderstanding her virtually since a year.

At last both of us decided to leave the exam after having some extra conversation.

“Bye Vinoth” she told before leaving me.

“Okay sister” I replied without knowing that she was giving me temporary farewell.

Prabhakaran, one of my class mates, came to me on the next day.

“Vinoth did she come to you for our previous exam?”

“Come man, about whom you are talking right now?” I asked and let him sit.

“Ramya” said after sitting beside me.

“How do you know that?” I asked him with bit of surprise.

“Today, you know what happened?” he asked me back without answering me.

“Answer to my question first Prabhakar.” I requested him and expecting something from his lips.

“She came to me!” he replied and put full stop for my patience.

“Then?”

“Then what? We wrote exam happily!”

I didn’t say any word after that since my excitement came to an end. Of course I was not happy with her in the beginning but later I had a good opinion about her. I didn’t know that she would make me like her much.

“What a jovial girl she is?” said he and continued further

“It was not like an exam indeed.”

I was sitting still as a statue and not responding much but listening to him for a while.

“She told that she had come before and that too for you.” He told me in a casual manner.

“Yes she came.”

“Did you hear us in the exam hall?”

“Yes man it was unusual that you people were very loud today.” I kidded him which he couldn’t understand.

“It was because of her.” he blamed her as if he never talked to anyone before.

Prabhakar is a nice person and very opened minded. His ultimate aim is to make other laugh. Sometimes they laughed by him sometimes they laughed at him. He is always good at communication. Moreover, he had never been shy like me.

“I trusted you, please continue.” I asked and let him speak for some more time.

“Hay! Seriously! I am not lying hear! Believe me!”

“Then tell me something to believe!” I intentionally stimulated his anger.

“We were discussing many things such as”

“Yes I know! I know you were discussing on inflation, Mumbai bomb blast, and so many things. Am I right?” I interrupted and seriously made fun of him.

“Listen to me vinoth.” He bayed at last but I continued.

“Did you find the terrorist gang behind this?”

“No man listen to me she talked about you a lot.” He said and stopped.

“But I am not belonging to any terrorist gang Prabhakar. Then what is there to talk about me?”

“Don’t play Vinoth, she likes three boys very much, she said.”

“Oh. Interesting! Who are they?”

“First one is her school mate Pravin.”

“Okay then?” I asked him and waiting eagerly for him to unleash the name of the next person.

“Then she said that she admired you more.” He said and paused for a second. But I couldn’t believe his words at the moment. With quivered lips, I asked him again.

“What did you say man?”

“I didn’t say anything, but she said!” he replied with laughter.

“Okay I believed” replied sarcastically and perpetuated “then who is that third luckiest person?”

“It’s me! She said.” This time he was seriously expressing his joy through a sustained laughter.

“Its look like ICC ranking man. Then who is number four?” I asked by recollecting Vadivel comedy.

But without being aware of it, he replied, “no, she mentioned only three of us.”

“It seems that you didn’t write your exam well. Isn’t it?” I asked him vehemently.

He knows very well that I will surely snarl at him if he doesn’t write his exams well.

“No Vinoth, seriously telling, I attended the entire question except few.”

“What does it mean by except few?” I was very serious at that time.

“Nearly ten to twelve marks.” He said and kept quiet.

Then I was relaxed and got hope that he will surely pass.

“Vinoth, I accept, I was talking much to her, but I wrote my exam really well.”

His serious reply made me believe him.

“Okay now say whatever you want to say.” I calmly asked and let him speak without any interruptions.

He started, “first we introduced ourselves, then finished all the one word questions, then she told that she had already come and written for you. After that we shared our likes and dislikes. While, she said that she likes three boys and all those things.” He continued she is very much interested in movies and comedies like me. Therefore we were sharing few jokes in the middle of the exam all of a sudden both of us started laughing thank god invigilator didn’t scold us.”

“Do you know? I called her by name.”

“Oh! You can call any one by their name prabhakar. Even third year students will be younger than you.” I replied sarcastically.

He further said, “She also told that she had tried to come to you, but somebody was occupied with you.”

“Oh. Then what happed?” I asked him.

“I thought of getting her phone number, but the time didn’t permit us.” He said when the bell was ringing which made me ask it again and he repeated the same sentence. Then we moved for our supper together. Unusually our hostel food was nice on that day.

Although I didn’t express the state of my mind about her when I was with him, as readers, you would have fathomed everything. Yes,

For the very first time I felt like seeing her and understood that I really started liking and respecting her.

Will continue.

Comments are welcome