Glossary
Anamundi - Anamudi is a mountain located in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the highest peak in the Western Ghats and South India, at an elevation of 2,695 metres (8,842 ft) and a topographic prominence of 2,479 metres (8,133 ft).
Munnar - Munnar is a town and hill station located in the Idukki district of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala. Munnar is situated at around 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) above mean sea level, in the Western Ghats mountain range. Munnar is also called the "Kashmir of South India" and is a popular honeymoon destination.
Source - Wikipedia
“Do you have to go, Farrokh?” I asked him yet again, willing myself not to cry and failing entirely. It was heartbreaking for me to think that I wouldn’t be seeing him anymore whenever I wanted to and that we had to share our love over a cellphone and FaceTime. No matter what anyone says, long-distance relationships are tough and get tougher over time. You miss the little cuddles, hugs and snuggles that come with a relationship of three and a half years. You kinda remember the time when you were shy to share the same cup of tea with him, and suddenly felt its warmth flowing throughout the body. You reminiscence of the first time he touched your hand, and you feel a shock of electricity running through your body.
You want to experience all those priceless moments with him once more, just once more. Just once more.
I don’t know about you, but I was definitely in one of those situations. My mind kept going back to the first time we saw each other in college… and we were nothing like the way we were now. We were young and innocent, and we started out as friends – just like any other regular couple. And, today we were about to face one of the worst things that could come with a relationship – separation.
Those days.317Please respect copyright.PENANAHRnY8LQpj6
Some random college day. I was wearing a powder-blue shirt with dark jeans and had my hair up in a regular ponytail. Armed with a tan-coloured sling bag across my chest, I was desperate to have some fun and enjoyment in life. I had always lived a cloistered life at home, with Mom constantly arguing with my veliya amma about something or the other. Sometimes, I found my days at home to be very trying… and I longed for someone who had the time and patience to listen to what I have to say. Mom tried her best to be there, but she was always too busy with work to talk to me. I couldn’t really blame her to be honest, for I was indebted to Mom in so many ways. She was the reason that I hadn’t been pulled out of school and married off to someone I’d never seen in my life. Mom was the only reason why I could wear jeans, and get highlights in my hair in different colours. I’d always wanted to get my hair coloured, but I was a little scared of Mom’s reaction. She wasn’t into fashion at all, and I meant that.
However, the day Farrokh entered my life changed everything.
“Zemirah, hey!” someone called out my name, and I turned. The perks of having an unusual name, you could always tell that you’re the one being called in a corridor full of screaming college kids.
It was Hemangi, my best friend (who later stabbed me in the back by trying to get Farrokh for herself. I couldn’t really blame her, to be honest – he is that amazing) who had come up to me, huffing and puffing.
“What happened?” I asked her, curiously.
“I’ve been trying to call you for centuries, what’s wrong with your phone?”
“My phone? Let me check – “
There were some ten missed calls from Hemangi.
“I’m sorry, the phone was on silent mode and I – “
“Forget about that, listen!”
She looked excited, too excited for some reason. I had only known her for the past six months, and I was still getting to know her. With her neatly parted hair and geeky glasses, one could never imagine her to have an eccentric streak in her mind. She looked a little deranged at the moment, to be honest.
“How could you not tell me about this, Zemirah?”
I looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“What do you mean?”
Hemangi’s expression changed, and she looked serious.
“Are you telling me that you have no idea about this?”
I was getting irritated.
“Look, if you have to say something, just get on with it. I’m getting late for – “
“Have you heard of Farrokh Major, from the Engineering department?”
“Nope, who is he?”
That’s when I met Farrokh, my senior and from the Engineering department of our college. He was cute, I would have to admit. Rectangular glasses, slightly crooked teeth and a goofy smile… that was what had attracted me to him. He was supposed to be the topper of his batch, but he had never spoken to a girl in his life. I was intrigued. In spite of my family’s constant disapproval, I was someone who had happily mixed with boys all throughout my life. In terms of personality, I was just like any other girl – a ray of sunshine mixed with a little rain, as they call it. Being something of a rebel, I was interested to know more about him, despite the fact that students from the Arts & Commerce section did not readily interact with their Engineering counterparts.
As rumour had it, Farrokh had seen me as tagged in a photograph of one of his friends – and he was instantly attracted to me and wanted to meet me. I tell you, social media has become such an important part of our relationships… to the extent that it can change your life completely.
Well, it did change mine.317Please respect copyright.PENANA6vkM6ycOgt
“So, you’re telling me that I should go talk to him?” I asked Hemangi. Talking to boys wasn’t new for me, but talking to someone who was head over heels in love with me – that was new territory.
She looked shocked.
“Of course not! Boys always make the first move, or else you’ll look desperate.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Well, I do want to meet him.”
“Well, he doesn’t have to know that!”
“You’re unbelievable. We live in the twenty-first century, grow up.”317Please respect copyright.PENANAj5tbEvZxZP
As contemplated a million times throughout the day, I logged into my social media account and had a good look at my profile. It was just like any other nineteen-year-old girl’s profile – with details of her education, a few photos with friends and cheesy posts about how handsome Taylor Lautner was. I still had the hots for him, to be honest. And, if you don’t know who Taylor Lautner was, you should just go and jump off the Anamundi point.
In an act of trying to impress Farrokh, I started deleting those stupid posts and some unflattering photographs of myself (some of them even had rainbow filters and unicorn horns – I could puke). After fifteen minutes of hard work, I had polished up my social media account into a decent, ‘un-childish’ and reasonably attractive portfolio of my life. I decided to change my display picture as well… or would that be trying too hard? Nah.
I looked decent in my display picture, a photograph with Mom from our recent holiday to Munnar. It was cold, and I kinda looked cute in my purple jacket and baby pink woollen hat – I guess that was good enough.
Next, I had a look at the photograph that introduced me to Farrokh. It was from our college fest, and I was with a group of friends – wearing a sparkly black dress with matching stockings. Woah, I did look gorgeous when I wore makeup and dressed well. However, would Farrokh would find me as pretty with my no-makeup look?
He has to.317Please respect copyright.PENANA7oW7FUAXlC
I searched for his name, which frankly wasn’t the most difficult job. And, I was impressed. Apart from being a stereotypical Mechanical Engineering student, he turned out to be an incredibly gifted painter. His paintings, most of which consisted of powder-white winter sceneries against a dark background, were absolutely breathtaking. Even his display picture was a piece of art in itself – quite literally. It was a watercolour painting of him painting a scenery – and he looked perfect.
We would make the cutest artistic couple out there.
And with that, I hit the ‘Send Friend Request’ button and waited.
For the next few days, I tried to avoid Hemangi’s annoying questions about whether I had met Farrokh. I hated it when people interfered in my personal business, and I wasn’t hugely close to her anyway.
Let’s say that we hung out together only because we didn’t have anyone else out there.
As luck would have it, Farrokh accepted my friend request after a whole week. Was he a social media recluse as well? I certainly wasn’t one of them, I loved being social and noticed by people. And so, I decided to throw caution to the winds and pop the question to him.
‘So, you like me, huh?’
He saw my message and paused for a while. Sure enough, he replied exactly after two long minutes.
‘Uh, it’s nothing the way you think. I was just interested in knowing you, that’s all.’
I smiled to myself.
‘And, is that why you’ve been asking for my number?’
Pause.
‘Umm, not really. I don’t know what kind of nonsense people have been feeding you, it was just a harmless crush as I would put it.’
This was my moment, and I had to make the best of it.
‘Are you free this Saturday? My classes will get over by five o’clock, but I’ll tell Mom that I’m going out with Hemangi.”317Please respect copyright.PENANAKZ6khwuhER
Saturday arrived, and we met at the small ice-cream café right outside my college gates. I didn’t need to be extra careful as I had carefully evaded Menon Ma’am’s eyes as I slipped through the gates, or maybe I was just too reckless for my own good. As promised, Farrokh was waiting for them with the same endearing smile on his face. My heart skipped a beat as I ran up to him, for that smile could have melted the hardest heart out there, even Mom’s.
“You’re here,” I breathed at last. He was wearing a regular long-sleeved orange shirt with light-coloured jeans, but he looked as charming as a prince to me.
“Yeah, here I am,” he smiled back, taking me in completely in his expression. His eyes were soft and brown, and he gave me a shy smile once again. Though I was wearing a simple mint-green dress with white flip-flops, he looked at me as if I was the most gorgeous girl in the world. I blushed a soft shade of rose under his gaze, and I could tell that he was proud of myself.
It was an unusual date – no fancy restaurants, no cheesy dialogues and no spending our pockets empty on the first occasion. Instead, we just chatted to our heart’s content – about every possible thing in the world. I told him about my messed-up family circumstances, the latest comic-book that I was working on and how I thought that his paintings were absolutely amazing. On the other hand, he told me about his incredibly supportive parents and a younger sister, who looked up to him like the Messiah.
I wished that I had someone who thought I was the centre of his universe, someone who loved and cared for me. Little did I know that I was already the Queen of Hearts in the eyes of Farrokh and that he cherished me like the most precious mal’akh in heaven.
We had hot tea with regular biscuits, and two ice-creams to top it off – simple but perfectly charming, in my opinion. It was as if each tick of the clock burst upon us like a ray of sun, lighting up the dark crevices of our lives with a brilliant glow. Those were some of the golden hours of my life, moments that I would bury deep beneath the corner of my heart as I struggled with the uncertainties of life.
We met a couple of times more after that and held hands for the first time on our fourth date. I noticed how peacefully his hand nestled in mine, as if it was always meant to be there.317Please respect copyright.PENANAMgSIV01ZI1
Three and a half years later, I found myself holding hands with Farrokh in the same ice-cream café. Time had passed by quickly, it was almost heartbreaking. I was crying silently, my head buried into the comforts of his orange shirt while he held his hand in mine. At that moment, I could have done anything to relive that magical day just one more time.317Please respect copyright.PENANAydENQSspJd