PINK ROSES...

I looked at the beautiful bouquet of pink roses. It was the best gift I could afford, the best gift that I could give her…on my very first Valentine’s Day…

I stole nervous glances at my wrist watch as I waited for Evangeline. At any moment from now her car would come to a halt at the other side of the street, wet and slippery with the drizzle sprinkling from the sky since last night. A cold wind picked up every now and then and strengthened into a breeze. A sharp screeching sound joined the opera of the slow sleepy traffic. Evangeline emerged out of her car and started crossing the street to reach me, smiling. This was going to be the start of my very first Valentines Day, my dream date…



Evangeline was any man’s dream. Everything about her was stunning. Her majestic beauty, her elegant grace, her intelligence, sense of humor and compassion…Evangeline was the most coveted girl in our college, yet most of the boys who worshipped her could never find the courage to even have a descent talk with her. Add to that the super wealthy background she came from. In short she was an idol of perfection. But that’s the mess of it all. You could admire her, dream of her, worship her, but you could never have her. She chose her companions carefully, of her own free will, and her demands were really high.


And me? Well I am the kind of creature Evangeline would never even look at. I mean its only fair if a girl like her ignores someone whose life revolves in the pages of a book, who wears glasses with a few cm thick black frame, whose sense of fashion can give anyone a nausea, a total out-of-the-out outcast!!! So as per the law of nature she never knew I existed, until one day a few weeks back, days after breaking up with her latest boyfriend, she met a cute but good, cool but intelligent, smart but sympathetic guy and finally fell in love with him.

Evangeline met the new-me the changed-me. The “me” who had a crush on her months back and slowly started to change, the “me” who now wore contacts, the “me” who scored an A on a test but didn’t stick to books all the time, the “me” who now knew something about being a member of the cool brigade, the “me” who mixed the soul of the good guy with the crest of a cool guy, the “me” who any girl would have to stop and stare for a moment, including Evangeline…

The drizzle finally stopped. Evangeline crossed the street and gave me a gentle kiss and a warm hug. She seemed so happy. I just gazed at her blankly with a knot in my throat. This was the beginning of my dream date, the icing on the cake of a perfect love story.


I found myself standing at the empty second floor corridor, dimly lit with the soft orange rays of the setting sun still eclipsed by thin layers of gray clouds. This is the place where I met her for the first time as a sophomore. Well I never actually met her, I sort of bumped into her.

A rainy February fourteenth. The clouds had started to part; toady was an early day off. As I looked down the railing overlooking the college ground I saw couples holding hands, single partners waiting for their other half, chocolate boxes, flowers, presents, shy smiles and soft laughter. The preparations to the beginning of a romantic evening. A fear crept over me, will she come? I had called and asked her to. Just a while back. She must have been surprised it’s been so long since I had called the last time.

“Hi! What is it?”

A soft voice broke the momentary silence. I turned around, a little afraid, but feeling a lot more guilty. She was smiling, it was the sweetest smile god has ever created.

In a burst of boldness I handed her the bouquet of pink roses with a small Valentines Day card.

Her smile vanished. She was surprised and looked at me with wander, trying to understand what was happening. Everything was so sudden, so unexpected.

“Take them please, they are for you.”

That’s all what I could manage to say. Surprised but confused she took the present. And then carefully took out the card attached to the Bouquet. She read it slowly and looked at me more confused than before.

“What about Evangeline?” she asked.

I put my palm against my cheek and rubbed it slightly. And despite all the storm that was waging inside me a giggle escaped me,

“That girl is really strong, she knows how to hit a boy…”

She looked down at the card and read it again .As she read it a soft glow lit her face, a slight smile touched her lips again. I could see a glitter in her eyes . Not knowing what to say she said the only thing that came to her, the first thing her heart whispered to her soul,


“Thank you”.




I got tired of not being a part of what college life is all about. Few people can be as successful to change as I did. I changed without loosing myself entirely. And I loved the new me as well. I wasn’t going back to being who I was. Evangeline was the prize I received as a result of my transformation, I got what I wanted. And Evangeline got someone worthy of her, I guess.


At the beginning Evangeline was a craze that got hold of me. The first time we went out, the first movie we saw together, the first few weeks. She was an obsession. Evangeline was the only thing that .I could think about and I didn’t want to loose her.


I started cutting classes to be with her. If my books could talk they would stop talking to me as a protest of the ignorance I gifted them. My grades slipped.
But who cares I had Evangeline. I had everything. I forgot completely about who I was, who I had been. I forgot to discriminate between what I should do and what was going horribly wrong..

And I forgot the first girl I had liked, the girl I had bumped into at the second floor corridor, the girl who eventually became my friend. The girl who was always bossing me around and lecturing me to not skip my breakfast, to change my bedtime from dawn to night so that I wouldn’t snore all day in half the classes, the girl whom I borrowed so many books from but never gave half of them back, the girl whom I taught how to write an sms, the girl who loved me for who I was to her, not for the way I fitted or misfitted among others, the girl who got swept away by the rush of light Evangeline brought with her.

As the weeks went by I realized something. The more and more time I spent with Evangeline, the surer I became of the fact that Evangeline in flesh and bones was totally different from the Evangeline my imagination had made a portrait of.


But my friend, she had seen me change; let me change, trying to make me realize I was harming myself, for the sake of a wild obsession. Whenever she tried to talk with me about what I was doing my expressions would say to her_get lost. Ultimately I don’t know when but she got lost, silently.

When I realized she was gone, the pain I felt, made me realize that at the end of the day I never loved Evangeline.

The pain gave me the courage to confess to my conscience, whom I loved…






“ Sometimes in life we change…for the good, for the bad…

You saw me change…you let me change…

But I changed too much… I’m sorry….

I love you….”


This is what I had managed to scribble on the card.

...as she read it a soft glow lit her face, a slight smile touched her lips again. I could see a glitter in her eyes . Not knowing what to say she said the only thing that came to her, the first thing her heart whispered to her soul,


“Thank you”.


And I whispered what my heart screamed through my soul….

“ Do you…? “

She just looked up at me and smiled, the most beautiful smile god has ever created.