Life in Cinemascope
As a young girl of just 10 I had grown up watching movies like DDLJ. You know the ones where the protagonists ran towards each other in slow motion across the mountains and the sunflower fields, to fall into each other’s arms and forget the rest of world. Ah! Those stories that I grew up watching, those stories that celebrated love so much that people who didn’t find love felt pathetic and lonesome. True love wins all! (Ya, right!)That’s the message every director seemed to be giving and everyone in the audience seemed to be buying. Just like the many others I watched the movie with, I bought the message too. The only difference I guess being that they left this message back when they returned home but I grew up believing in this utopian view of love waiting for that one special person to walk into my life and sweep me off my feet. (Violins and the slow- mo running included).
So when Rajiv happened and cupid struck, it was just more than obvious that my world changed. I could actually hear the bells ringing and life just seemed so beautiful suddenly! Rajiv. I met him in college for the first time on July 8th. (Didn’t I already say that I was a romantic? Hence, the date.) He was an exchange student from Bangalore and was to study in our college in Pune for 3 months. Like the plot of many other movies that my “beloved” Bollywood had to offer, so did ours with Rajiv pulling my leg in class, in the canteen, out of class. From just teasing, we became friends and then love blossomed. At least I thought that was love. Courtesy: Rajiv. Every time he looked into my eyes and said ‘Naazish, You do know I love you.’ I would float in the air. How I loved being with him, by his side! So much so that I thought much of a future together. It was him I wanted to grow old with. And I thought he wanted to with me too. At least till a few days before he left back to Bangalore! He walked up to me, his face bereft of that childlike dimple and with the most straight expression that I had ever seen on his face over those 3 months, he told me that our relationship had to end. Long distance, he said would never work. He dint want to put me through it, he said. ‘But nothing will change Rajiv! You are just over-reacting!’ I cried, for which I was told to wake up and start being pragmatic for once. With this, he left. Just as unexpectedly as he had come. I pinched myself to believe what was just happening. No one had warned me this was coming! Why did Rajiv run away? Maybe there was someone else out there for me – out of the sunflower fields and in the real world. Cool, I thought as I sipped on the last bit of my coke and walked out of the airport.
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About the Author: Shradha Narayanan
