First Love..!!!!

The sun rose pretty fast in the month of June in Doha and it was almost 5.30 when Abbu came to pull my blanket and rush me to toilet. Wasiq was lying next to me and signaling five minutes more please. I haven’t seen anyone who wouldn’t love to sleep extra five minutes more than their alarm time. After finishing with the Morning Prayer, I packed my bags for school. The first term examination papers where to be distributed and to my luck Dr. Khurshid was my class teacher in charge, I always knew my marks beforehand and it wasn’t something of a surprise for me unlike my class mates.

The hugs and hi-fi's started right from the entrance gate till the door steps of 10th A. Zaheer, Pratik and I always had a morning walk together to the school, Arif and Vaishak Joined us at the school gate, and Nigel, Nakul, Rameez, Jojo, Mobin, Saleel, Ali, Misam all joined on the way to class. Days of results passed by pretty fast as most of the students like to keep it as a saccharine memory for long time.
The summer vacations poured in and almost all my friends had fled for India and I was asked to attend science tuitions as my results weren’t exemplary, it’s always a tensed time for almost all the Indian parents when their wards study grade 10th and 12th. I was to attend Mrs. Meera’s classes for science that was a subject that gave me the worst nightmares in life till then, Four to six every alternate day eve and I thought I had enough reasons to think my summer was spoiled.
The early days in class were pretty boring, I was to sit alone and there were no other boys in the class, it was at five that the door bell rang at Mrs. Meera’s residence and since nobody turned up and I found myself gazing at a cute smiling girl covering herself from head to toe with her black Abaya, her Hijab beautifully covering her face, she smiled and the innocence in her smile swept me off my feet, feeling a little surprised to see me around she asked “ You too here..!!”
Zaheer joined in after his short cricket tour of Pakistan, and so did Ali and Misam, and for once I started getting back my summer which I thought I had lost. Mrs. Meera used to ask me certain things I did while I shopped, while I walked the streets and for once I felt I was being watched by someone. I was curious to know the source and then I noticed Ammi talking to a girl dressed in salwar kamiz at The Bida park and was shocked to see the same girl for whom I opened the door. Things soon became crystal clear and the source got revealed. Soon pranks started being played on both the sides and I used to walk up and down to the tutor when she sat with the girls in the other room to have a look at her, and she turned her head down each time I stepped into ask a doubt. It was Geline my friend Salman’s girl friend who was the link to the beginning of our friendship.

Oh yeah I forgot to reveal her name, well let it be unrevealed behind her Abaya, Soon school reopened and Salman became my full time agent and so did Geline for her. Mobile phones weren’t a common mans essential then, so I did not find one in my pocket, it was the landline that connected us, but it was pretty difficult for both of us because it was to be kept secret from our parents and soon Thursday evenings became the scheduled time for calls as our parents would go shopping. Miss calls on the land line became common and Abbu used to get furious when he picked the phone and there was no answer at from the other side. Life changed and so did I feel I was in love for the first time with her and never did she say a NO. Salman’s foolishness caused one of the love letters to leak and the affair was soon spread among our friends.

Months passed by and boards arrived and it was the school time I was alone at home and we spend hours on phone although not continuous, the other side used to give beep sounds when her mother stepped in at times. We discussed everything that any youth of the age would, from living habits, books to even our chances of a life together. A famous movies song had a line which said “the prince and princes of the storey would reunite and for that they lighted lamps together “, which we thought would hold true in our case too. We hardly met, never touched each other, it was all our eyes that did the talking when we ever met coincidentally at the junior wing ground. Board exam results came out and for my parent’s surprise I scored pretty good, and I always thought two ladies behind my success in school life was Ammi and her.
She was asked to leave for India for her further studies and for the first time in life I enjoyed the pain of detachment, I missed the phone calls that woke me up in holidays, I missed the smile I got from the bus that crossed the gate while I entered, I missed the face that always turned back and gave a sad look when the school got over, I missed the sound on the other side whenever I answered a call. I felt left out in the crowed, but always felt it is few months and she would be back and with little sadness in mind I waited for a call that said “ hmm..hmm.. salam alaikum..”.

To be continued.


TRK