Closure

Closure



                                                                                                        -Ram Prabakar



“Dude, GET OVER HER”, Rakesh yelled at Midhun for the umpteenth time that afternoon.



They were sitting at the corner most tables in the canteen. Rakesh was visibly angry at Midhun but all Midhun did was dig the fork into the bowl of noodles in front of him.



“Are you trying to save the world by planting a tree in your noodles?”



“No, but…..”



“Then stop digging and start eating, we don’t have all the time in the world.”



“This was her favorite dish”, tears rolled down his eyes as Midhun said it.



Rakesh just picked up the bowl and threw it in the bin. He was impulsive, he had always been.



“Stop being a fool. Let’s go c’mon.”



The class room was bustling with voices, new faces, new places, new friends and new teachers. It was the first day of college. Midhun and Rakesh were sitting next to each other on the first day. Everything was strange and new for Midhun. For the first time in seventeen years he was sitting in a co-ed classroom. Up until that point, boys school, boys hostel, boys tuition and boys everything was what he had known. The women who made up a part in his life were considerably less and if his family was taken out of the equation there were none.



Fairly enough Midhun was stunned to see boys and girls talking in a very calm and casual manner. Talking to a girl face-to-face was one of the unfathomable mysteries in Midhun’s life.



When a boy like Midhun is suddenly and forcibly put into a class with girls, the inevitable will surely happen. So there he was sitting and looking at those girls as though they had been teleported from Mars, much to the annoyance of Rakesh who was sitting next to him.



That was when the teacher started calling out names form the attendance register. Now this happens in co-ed classes all over the world. As each girl answered her attendance, the boys made a mental database to match names and faces. So did Midhun. This went on for a fair amount of time. When Midhun heard the name of the next girl he was looking to include in his database, he looked up at her and time ceased to flow. The “yes ma’am” she said seemed to last for an eternity. She appeared like a goddess to him. She was dressed in a red salwaar and the way she said “yes ma’am” was the heavenliest thing he had ever come across. His database just crumbled to the ground. Now there was only one face on his mind and that face had a name, a beautiful name, Sanjana.



Midhun always wanted to go up and talk to her. But the boy’s world that he had lived in always seemed to hold him back. So every time she crossed him he always stood helpless, absent mindedly gazing at her like a kid at a large bar of chocolate.



Rakesh conveniently became the sink into which Midhun poured everything. He talked about her at coffee, class, breakfast, lunch, dinner, practically all the time. Rakesh was a good friend; he always pretended to listen to everything that Midhun said.



By and by came the day when Rakesh could take it no more. And he did something totally out of the blue.



“Hi Sanjana, I’m Rakesh, my friend Midhun has been trying to talk to you for a long time.”



“He can talk to me; I’ve got nothing against it.”



“See there is this problem, he can’t bring himself to talk to girl, so if you don’t mind……”



Sanjana gave him a small smile and half nodded her head acknowledging his request.



“Hi Midhun, I’m Sanjana……..” Midhun looked up in disbelief. He looked past her to see Rakesh and gave him an expression mixed with gratitude and kolaveri.



The following part has been fast-forwarded for obvious reasons and is left purely to the imagination of the reader.



They talked, connected, poured their hearts out, burned a hole in their cell phones and inevitably fell in love.



But one fine day……….



“Midhun things won’t work out between us”



“No, wait we can find a way to make it work”



“We have too many differences and differences are always trouble”



“Isn’t love about getting over those differences?”



Sanjana got up from the stone bench they were sitting.



“That, Midhun, is friendship and you have it confused with love, sorry, we won’t last. Goodbye”



And just like that she was gone.



Midhun was devastated. But Rakesh was there; he had always been there. Midhun had a shoulder to cry on. The routine was back. Midhun was in an emotional trance and Rakesh once again became the sink. The sink reached its limit at the canteen over a bowl of noodles.



“Dude, GET OVER HER”



“Easy for you to say”, said Midhun as he pulled out his wallet to pay the bill.



Sticking out of his wallet was the origami bird that she had gifted him.



“She gave this to me as a symbol of her love”, Midhun started wailing.



“That is the limit. Midhun look up, look at me, do you think she is worth all this crying? Do you think she is going through the same state of mind? Honestly I think the answer to both those questions is ‘no’. For all that we know, you might just be a passing cloud. This may or may not be true, but it is a certain possibility. This is the first girl you’ve spoken to and the pain will be nasty. But think of everything else you could do. Crying is a symbol of weakness and it is of no use to anybody. And get this into your thick skull, she is gone, G-O-N-E, gone. So get over her, stop wasting your time and do something useful.”



Midhun looked at Rakesh like a savior as he paid the bill. They came out of the canteen and started walking back to the hostel. The origami bird lay in the dust bin, next to the bowl of noodles.