THE BOY WITH THE DREAM

8

The conceit of conceits, all is conceits, and there is nothing new under the sun as Solomon had said more than three thousand years ago. Man loves a woman. Man loses woman. Man gets a woman back or gets a replacement and the circle goes on but a man doesn’t stop his relentless pursuit of finding the love he had been dying to experience. All our life we run after one thing then another in a relentless pursuit of achieving something that does not even exist. Why there is no ‘the end’ to this cycle where there would be nothing but utter and pure completeness? Ninety percent of all my life I have both seen and heard the stories of people bumping into each other, falling in love, staying in love, and then drifting apart. Mahogany is not only a human’s tendency, but it can be observed in animals too. Maybe with some slight variations on the same theme, yet there I stood spell bounded, unable to form a sensible sentence for maybe...just maybe I was falling in love.

“Watch it! You have ruined my creation, Surya. It took me three weeks to make it.” I heard the girl whine as she hurriedly bent down to collect the scattered drawings from the floor and I stood there gazing at the delicate woman, making sad faces repenting at her loss.

“This is still wet. Oh, God! It took me a whole three weeks. Hard work of day and night went into nothing. Ahan!” Sonia shook her head frustrated with the lack of response as I stood there dumbfounded for I did not know how to respond at the moment.

“Umm…It’s still beautiful. I am sorry I did not see you coming. I was…not looking.” I stuttered as I joined the girl on the floor to help her collect her ruined belongings. I was honestly feeling bad for tempering her hard work of weeks, but milk had been split over the floor and I could do absolutely nothing.

“You should have seen me coming. I was right in front of you. How can you not see me? Were you lost? It would take another three weeks to complete it. I am gonna get a straight B in art. That’s awful.” She continued talking as I told her how sorry I was again and again as I helped her put the rolls in the case.

“Hey, Sur! You coming…Uh, Hey, Sonia! What are you two doing?” Ayaan came jumping as he swung his arm around my shoulder, peeking at the ruined sheet. I noticed Sonia squirming uncomfortably at her place as she took her backpack to leave. She mumbled a hushed ‘nothing’ and tried to walk past us, but stopped mid-way when Yohaan made her halt her steps. “Uh…Hey, there!” Yohaan waved sharing a look with Ayaan as the boys joined our conversation.

“Umm…hello?” Sonia mumbled, tucking a strand of hairs behind her ears. She looked at her watch and then at us before asking to be excused with a sad face.

“What’s wrong? Did we miss something?” Samuel asked looking to and fro between a beat-root Sonia and me for any signs of mishappenings.

“Nothing.” I shrugged off, coming for Sonia’s escape after noticing her discomfort around five tall and well-built boys who had formed a semi-circle around her. “I bumped into her and ruined her paintings. It was watercolor. Ugh, I don’t know…I think it’s beyond repairable.” I finished looking ashamed which I was as I stared at the ruined masterpiece.

“s**t! It’s due to the week. Isn’t it? Mrs. Brain’s one? Right? I just complete it. Gonna bring it for approval tomorrow.” Samuel shook his head, cringing. He never got along with Mrs. Goregia Brain, the art faculty but his passion for the same made him endure absurd behavior nonetheless.

“Yeah…I had a B minus in the previous one. I think it’s going to be the same. She is going to start an oil painting by the month. I don’t think I will be promoting.” Sonia spoke worried, enhancing the feeling of guilt in my heart.

“I am sorry,” I said. “I did-”

“Oh, he is and he is going to make it all up by helping you. You might do not know it, but this guy here is a phenomenal artist. His paintings get auctioned in the annual fair every year and he has been personally trained by Iva-” Sankar started but I cut him off saying it was nothing for which I was cut off by the boys who promised Sonia that I was indeed a trustworthy artist and would love to help her in re-doing the ruined work and it would be even better than before in no time. Further, Sankar invited Sonia to my house for the assignment in the evening for which she denied initially, but ended up agreeing for the sake of her grades.

“Okay then, I will meet you by four?” Sonia confirmed, making me nod my head giving in. I would have to hide most of my paintings before her arrival that meant quite some labor and I would have to inform my parents of the arrival of their ‘Picture girl’ as well so they would not end up embarrassing me. God, what have I got myself into?

She walked off smiling at my thoughtfulness leaving four grinning moron behind her.

“You have fallen in love with the girl, buddy,” Ayaan said, leaning on my shoulder as I gave him a bewildered look.

“Woah! It isn’t like that. She is just-”

“No need to deny it, dickhead. We have seen it and tbh man, there is no need to feel guilty for it’s natural to fall in love with someone. Besides, the chick is sexy.” He added making me smack his head.

“You don’t say this! I may like her but love…Naah! Not possible.”

“I know buddy, I can understand your condition I was there too. I was confused as well but I realized that it was all fine. I was thirteen when I fell in love. It’s quite okay with you too. Don't make it such a big issue. You have no need to avoid your feelings, no need to feel frustrated just feel the moments, feel the happiness confess your feelings, hold her hands it will feel heaven. You know it took me two years to confess my emotions to her but when I did it, it was awesome some unexplainable magical spell.” Yohaan said passing an encouraging smile and the boys nodded their assent.

Am I in love with, Sonia? I asked my soul after the continuous persistence of boys for any sign of hesitation. Although, somewhere deep down I knew the answer, yet I wanted to listen to it. The answer was clear as water, it was a big yes from my heart, the clarification made me happy, and I smiled in contentment.

“Good luck, Sur.” Sankar smiled. “Hours locked in the same room. Too much can happen.” He patted my back as they started walking to class the warning bell rang off.

There was dangerous calmness in the atmosphere after the hallway turned empty as the whole day went by attending classes and pondering over from everything to nothing yet I could not come up to move my muscles an inch. The birds were flying back to their nests. The dawn was screaming facts of the day. So much has happened in so little time yet it all seemed unknown to me. Some seem true and real and some were false and fake but the day had turned my world upside down.