When The Destiny Smiles...

They talked after that meeting once only, as Akanksha's voice of rejection was simply intolerable to him, (although she managed not saying any rude words). Akshat did not call her again, so did Akanksha. They even did not discuss the reason.
With the days passed the memories did not dim (they were still sweet for they accepted the rejection), just the frequency reduced.Actually Akanksha rejected him and he did not get a chance to accept her. physically each one of them was rejected but mentally they were struck with each other. They made a lots of friends in between, tried to figure out further possibilities in them, but never and no-where they could achieve the same intimacy.
Still sometimes the thought of each other when struck their heart, they wanted to see each other, but the self-respect, attitude and above all to respect others feeling (in their case - rejection) was what inspired them and they did not talk at all.

But what if destiny was blessing them, and was determined to make them see each other once again.
The years rolled by, four years, no more no less.
Akanksha was in hyderabad, was working in a multinational company. She wanted to switch over the technology she was working upon. and hence was under selection process of some world class company.
It was 3rd of april 1:00 pm. and today was the last 12th HR round. all 11 round she had completed. Almost all the 32 selected candidates were sure to get through (as it was just a formality).
At her call, she entered the cabin, and wished all the people in the panel, shook hands to all of them.
and the last person whom she shook her hand with was ,,,,,,,,, Akshat ,,,ahh,,, how much changed. The sweat could be seen on her face. her hand was cold in Akshat's hand itself.
He obviously could observe this and he talked something with the panel, and he went out of the cabin. After 10 minutes he came back, checked out her resume, and just appreciated her casually. he said- your hobby of scratching chalk seems different. :) he signed her appointment letter, and passed it back to other people of the panel.
They in turn congratulated her. Now Akanksha's face was ghostly white. they told her that the joining date is 10th April, and she was needed to complete all formalities by 8th of april. She was already lost, 'spaced out' was her situation. yet she managed to say 'thankyou' and she got out of the room. took an auto rick-Shaw said- Marwah Tower and stopped herself exactly on her bed, in her room at 6th floor. She looked at the watch once again It struck 2:05 pm.

"What a change life can make..." with in an hour. She did not take her lunch even when she also did not had the breakfast in haste. Thoughts thoughts and thoughts of him only, and she did not know when was she slept. when she awoke at 8pm , she was famished, went in the kitchen and cooked pasta for herself. and made a glass of Horlicks-milk, switched on her laptop and connected broadband. automatically g talk was opened,( because of settings).
she made her tag busy,and had her food in peace.
Then made the tag available, few friends pinged and asked about the news, congratulated her and vanished.

It was 10 pm something made her clicking on settings, and then on blocked connections, and she unlocked the 'reach_akshat@gmail.com'.
He was not signed in. Those eight months in flash came once again before her eyes.
and after 15 min he was online. The tag available. She kept looking at his picture.

It took her 30 mins to decide and gather the courage needed to ping a 'hi' on his screen.
In a while she saw those three magical words 'Akshat is typing' . The horror and the eagerness made the feeling of her unpredictable.

Akshat: hi
Congratulations!! :)
How have you been?

Akanksha: Thank you. :)
Everything is all right at my end.
say about you!
Akshat: The same as you. :)

and then a horrible silence swept over them, so on gtalk. for 15 mins they did not know what to say.
Finally Akshat Broke the silence. They started talking about the project in the company, slowly after talking one hour they were once again in coherence.
They said Bye to each other at 3:00 am, even when no one of them wanted to.. but had to. As they talked talked and talked, and unknown joy and satisfaction swept over them. The joy of Akanksha's voice and chirpiness was back, and they talked as they used to. No more uncomfortable they were with each other. No more horror and no more fear.


On 10th when she joined the company, they met on lunch. The first thing she noticed was- a miracle sort of thing..
Akshat was a bit taller. may be 5'6" or 5'7" (how come ..her brain asked.. and answered ''the long looks (the famous tablets to increase height)"
Immediately she checked out the heels of his shoes, yeah flat they were.
Next thing she noticed was the 'confidence', she noticed it in their earlier meeting also, but it had not much scope to consider that.
He was looking healthier even, fairer in complexion, his curly hair truly were attractive this time.
Ahh! what a shit she was thinking ,,, she whacked herself, stood at her place as he came to her table, and they sat together.
The lunch was delicious.
As they talked, the same maturity and understanding, which impressed Akanksha once was again taking hold over her.
Akshat too could not stop himself looking at her beautiful face, specifically the way she talked, her slang, pet words, and the childlike laugh.
Everything was seeming perfect today, for the first time,,,seriously Damn Perfect. and this was when they realized that.."No, they were not the wrong match, rather they were the perfect".. the thoughts and talks knew no end. And both of them decided to let the river flow, for they yearned for this intimacy last 4 years.
They exchanged their address card after lunch, and when they left the table there was no more height gap in between them. No more rejection even in thoughts, and the guilt of rejecting another also vanished. The world was joyful once again.

After three months together, They accepted that they loved each other. and they confessed a lot other things as well (which already were known to each other) as they were the soul-mates. Akanksha told him that she was shocked at his height at first meeting .. for she always wanted to marry him.

"MARRY.....ME" Ooh my God...... My God's Godly Goodness.
"seriously" as Akshat said these words she looked at him puzzled.
and he gave back a smile and said
"THANK GOD" you too wished the same.
and yes because you already proposed me, its my responsibility to make you happy.. like always it had been.
So I say" yes " akki . (he gave her a cute nick name)

Her eyes first broadened, she blushed then and then tears started rolling down her cheeks, She said .. "Sorry.. for what I did Akshat"
He took her face in his hands and said ....You already paid for it.
Now come on get out of here. Let us have Ice-cream.

Akshat smiled, and He was looking the most handsome man of all, as Akanksha was her princess.
He bought her favorite flavor, but today she wanted to taste his (flavor) hence she exchanged the ice cream. (Actually she doubted if that flavor of ice-cream had the power to make someone mature and understanding.

Ahh!!! Silly thoughts of her. She looked at him, once again and then kept her head on his shoulder.... and they walked.
Their world was complete.

G-talk se H-talk tak!!

hi, how are u doing, my angel. :)
never mind but because this is the convention so asking for 'ASL' plz.
... yeah Before that I am Akshat from Banglore.

As this message flashed on her screen, she was puzzled to see if she could receive the messages from a person who is not added in her friend list even without signing in any chat room.
She was checking her mails on yahoo, (new version-chat enabled). Finishing all mails, she inspected the id from which she was receiving the messages. It said- reach_akshat@yahoo.co.in, She got a smile as it resembled with her id( reach_akanksha@yahoo.co.in) and she decided to reply
hi.
I am doing fine, Akshat. Thank you.
May I know what this "ASL" means.


Akshat: :) thanks for replying, you took a long time, so I became hopeless for response.
A-age
S-sex
L-location

Akanksha: OK.
A=20
S=F
L=Kanpur

Akshat: A=21
S=M
L=Bangalore
E=B.Tech. 3rd year

Akanksha: E(akanksha)=E(akshat)
:)

Akshat: wooh, thats great. from where.
well I am doing it from RBIT, Bangalore.
My branch is CSE.

Akanksha: My branch is also the same, am doing it from HBTI, Kanpur.
:)

Akshat: Wooh.. can we be friends :) !! ?? I want to talk to u more, if u don't mind.
It feels good talking a person of ur kind. right!!.

Akanksha wanted to ask him, that how a message from unknown id flashed on her screen, but it skipped out of her mind.
She liked the boy's manner of talking, although she never went in chat rooms or never added an unknown id in her buddy list, but today she did.

She was not used to of yahoo chat,so she told him, that he can reach her on gtalk- reach_akanksha@gmail.com
and said 'Bye' for now.
He replied, "see u soon :) ".

Next day when she was online on gtalk, she received his invitation, for an unknown reason she was happy clicking 'yes', with a hope to see the green signal with available tag. But He was not. But then the mail notifications popped up a mail by him. She opened the gmail, and read the mail, thouroghly.

Hi Akanksha,
Hopefully you would have recognized me, :)
You can choose adding me.
Thank you.
Have a Good day!!
bye.
Ak$#@t...
with an attachment of a song-- "jungle jungle baat chali hai " , The mowgli- Jungle book.

She liked the song, as it drove her back in childhood memories.
At night after dinner, when she came online again, Akshat too was online, with a 'busy' tag, and the pic of writing hand.
But in a while he pinged her, they chatted and chatted a lot. and after 2 hours of chatting, it seemed they can become very good friends.
And so did they do, and after that they chatted almost every night, almost on every topic.
Akshat told about his hobbies as playing guitar,(He also has formed a college band, with his friends), He liked to collect different kind of pebbles, and had a beautiful collection of it. He was an enthusiastic player.

Akanksha liked cooking, singing and dancing. She also used to make beautiful designs on chalk pieces by scratching it with the help of needle. Akanksha's favorite game was badminton, she also liked chess.
Akshat had a younger sister, studying in class 12th, while Akanksha had a younger brother studying in 10th.
Akanksha's father was in bank, and Akshat belonged to a business family. Both were MBA aspirants, and both had same area of interest in Computer subjects as well.
Their chats were sometimes focused on the discussion of Internet technology, programming languages,networking, algorithms, other times on DBMS, College project, at times also on back-biting of teachers and boasting of their selves that how they fooled their teachers on copies.
They also talked about few recipes, as Akshat was so keen of food.
Both of them liked traveling a lot, hence their chats were also consisted of descriptions of the places they visited.
Sometimes even they shared the horrible and mysterious dreams they saw. These chats knew no end.
On Akanksha's Birthday she received a 100s of scraps at her account on a social networking website.
Akshat had a great collection of songs, great sense of humor as well, so he used to send situational songs and beautiful mails to her almost everyday.
On friend-ship day, Raksha-bandhan, Teachers Day,Dushehra, Diwali and Children's day the good wishes were exchanged with enthusiasm and love.
No one knew when they became a habit to each other, If the buddy at the next end was late even by few minutes, One started being nervous and eager to know the reason. Although they never expressed, but it was showed in the expressions they typed.

By nature Akshat was slow, understanding and mature, while Akanksha was enthusiastic, demanding and innocent.
It went 5 months by and by, and today when he told her that he has got through campus selection in HCL, Akanksha wanted to wish him and hence asked for his no. They talked, and she found his voice deep and soothing, while he liked the joy of her voice. She spoke the same way as she typed, the girlish expressions, with a lots of chirpiness. But she too had a deep voice when was serious.
There were times when Akshat was so depressed and She helped him perceiving the situation differently.

We also must give credit to "Reliance 495/- plan" which brought them even closer.

It was February, the valentine's day, they wished each other, with lots of yellow rose e-cards.

But one thing , that both of them never could understand, why they were becoming voracious to listen others' voice.
Eight months of their friendship with the 'change in meaning and purpose of it' passed by now.
Now they used to share all the problems of their life only with each other.
As his/her number used to flash on their mobile screen, it knew no bounds of joy to the receiver.


Did they see each other?? Oh yes.
Akanksha was a long legged lass, with curved figure and sweet mouth. Lips particularly thick and beautiful. The doll of Afghan she looked like. hair short but cut and arranged fashionably, She was so keen of posing, hence had a large collection of her pics.
Akshat did not like to be framed, but he did it for her, and mailed the photo. He was a grave face, spects made him appear thoughtful too.

But apart from the photographs, they set an imagined persona resembling with the faces they saw in photos, in their sub-conscious.
Every time they felt touched with the thoughts of others, they wanted to see each other, definitely had a hidden desire of romance, actually they were up to, but nothing was accepted in words. Its just that things kept going on.

Every next day they took a leap,shared more between them, and the intimacy was such that one used to estimate others thoughts before his/her mind reacted. They were in synchronization, in coherence.

As the days passed by, They yearned more and more to see each other.

Finally It was march 2, Akshat was participating in Tech-kriti, the annual technical festival of IIT/Kanpur. Both of them bounced with joy when he told her that he is representing his college, and hence got the travel allowance from the college.
Now the calls and chats were at their peak. Their days and nights, Heart and soul all filled only with the thoughts of each other. They were lost in anticipating what would she/he say when they would meet, what would they be wearing while meeting. What a lot other things they were going to tell each other. And above all they were dying to see each other in person ( whom they have dreamed a lot ), from whom they were sharing almost everything of their routine from last eight months, with whom they had explored their lives once again, the person who made him/her change his/her attitude and the perception about life, whose words could soothe like balm, That angel friend.

And It was 17th march when Akshat was in Kanpur, at 11:40 pm, He called her and told that he was in Kanpur. In enthusiasm and Anticipation She did not feel sleepy tonight. The sleep already was off from Akshat's eyes too.
Whole night the situation of both of them was the same. Each and every chat and calls they shared went through their thoughts once again, like a flash back. Few of the things which had impressed them, like Bold and Italics they flashed more brightly in memories.

At 4 am Akanksha slept finally, while Akshat could not as he could not stop himself thinking of her.
But he too slept at 7 am in the morning as his body could not help him any more but brains still were thinking of her.
and he saw a dream.
"She is wearing a pink-white Salwar suit, a jovial face, and the divine walk.. she came closer to him and gave him a gift.
The gift contained five pieces of chalks on which the designs of Ganesha, Nat-raj, a girl dancer, flowers, and hearts were scratched and painted beautifully.
And then he sat down on his knees, and asked for her hand, said (with all the truthfulness and depth of his heart) that he had loved her from the day she was in his life, and wanted to love her throughout his life, and finally he proposed her too.
She gave her hand and accepted him and bowed down to kiss him......"
and suddenly he opened his eyes.. "Ohh .. shitt!!.. I was dreaming was", all he could say with a blush.
He looked at the watch, it struck 11 am. He had to meet Akanksha at campus restaurant at 12:30......

He quickly unpacked his luggage, and went for a shower. It was 11:30 by now, and He was famished so had to had some breakfast .He was staying at Hall-3, so went there at cafeteria, and had Maggie (his all time favorite). As Akanksha's no. flashed on screen, for the first time his heart skipped a beat. She told that she was on her way and will be there in IIT anytime. Said see u then and then cut the phone. it was 12:10 pm of 18th march, He was sitting under the banyan tree, the one that was near to campus restaurant. She called her again and told him that She had taken a rick-shaw and coming to restaurant, just wait her outside.
He was becoming more and more nervous as Akanksha was expressing herself enthusiastically.He tried respiration, but it did not seem helping. He walked back and forth a bit and then sat again under the same tree, looked up,looked down and then kept looking at the people who were going inside the State bank, that is on the left of that banyan tree, and finally he set his eyes from where he was expecting her. It was 12:20 pm by now. He saw a rick-Shaw coming in his direction. He looked at the girl.. oh, it was a lady.
finally he saw Akanksha.... she was busy taking money out from her purse. She got down and paid the rick-Shaw, looked around, and exactly in front of her was standing Akshat.
A boy of height 5 feet and 4 inches, the same studious face with spects on his nose, a more stylish frame, she observed.Complexion a bit darker than she saw in photo. and hair not that cute and curly as they seemed in photograph.
Akshat too saw his curiosity in person... A girl of 5 feet and 7 inches, bright and beautiful, straight hair (longer than he saw in photo, hair style was also changed), a cute mole on her chin (this he did not notice in photo), she was wearing a dark blue low waist jeans, and a white cut sleeve top.

Coming out of this hypnotism, Akanksha said 'hi', and asked him -"should we go inside", with a smile, that made him realize that he too needed to come out of the dream,
They went inside, but Akanksha was no more enthusiastic, Akshat too was nervous for he could see the glow of her face already dimmed.
Akanksha neither was speaking the same voice as he used to listen over the phone, nor the same words and language as she did.

But still he managed. He kept talking about studies and project, about his event in Tech-kriti etc etc.
They ordered for the lunch. And they had it in a horrible silence with fake smiles.

Akshat could feel the rejection by now, and Akanksha could not stop herself rejecting him ...
as he was nothing what she imagined, what she wanted. She was feeling cheated and He was feeling like a fool.

Finally they came out of restaurant, at bill, Akanksha insisted paying half, her voice was no more sweet.. rather it was bossy. She was commanding the meeting.
She told him that she had to go for shopping with her momma..so she had to leave soon.
He bought her ice-cream. He knew her favorite one.
They walked together with ice cream and each other till IIT Gate.
Akanksha bade a goodbye to him,
he said - nice meeting you, see u again.
She just said - Bye, gave him a final smile, and boarded herself in Tempo (the most popular convince in Kanpur).

It has been a three years to this story, Akanksha blocked Akshat after that meeting, while Akshat still is waiting to see the green signal blinking before her name on g-talk.
He still is waiting for those h-talks... the heart's talk.

The light of Love

They were enrolled in the same branch, his roll no. was 12 and her was 21. Jyoti was a normal looking girl, the Indian beauty, long straight hair, black, big, sharp eyes, the face was beautiful enough to notice and common enough to forget.
Snehil, too was a face next door, a 5 feet and 11 inches smart guy, spects made him look studious.
The story took place in the beautiful mountain series of Aravali, Rajasthan.
R.I.E.T., these were the initials of the college- Rajasthan Engineering Institute of Engineering and Technology.
The ambiance was good, the windows of hostel displayed the scenery of natural beauty.
The campus was small. yet occupied with all facilities.
The story started back in 2002, when in chemistry lab, Jyoti broke up test tube.
and she was so scared that she started trembling and crying, The boys by nature..( to impress actually) helping, Snehil came forward, and consoled her, and they got a narrow escape from the lab- assistant and went directly to the cafeteria.

The things kept going in between. They worked as a group in every project. and it was end-semesters of third semester, when they felt that friendship is turning into something else. 'whats that'.. both of them were afraid of accepting it as Love..... The thought made them doubting themselves.
But the things certainly were changing. The exams were over and it was a five day gap before last practical. The winters were at peak, the wind was hitting like arrows.
Although they used to talk on phone almost everyday, but today the needs were different.. she wanted to talk something else, wanted to know him personally, The sleep was off from eyes, the whole night went in his thoughts.
At the other end also the situation was same from last 3 months. He could not talk Jyoti properly, which ultimately drew her attention.
anyways .. today she called him for the first time, they talked banal and the phone was cut, The urge to talk was not satisfied. These five days turned in the most difficult days of their life. Whole days were gone only in thoughts of each other, dreams, brains, souls all were en captured in the same thoughts, the body felt dumb.

anyways,, the semester ended, The exams went good as both of them were good student. and they were gone home.At home also they could not depart themselves thinking of each other, rather more they thought of coming out of it, more they drowned.
New year when they were back to college, The ambiance was aesthetic but they were lost, They used to talk almost everyday, although both of them thought that 'from today I wont talk, better to stay in friendship only' but ..they could not stop themselves.

finally the valentine day came, a thought' to confess what was there in their heart' swapped .. but the fear of loosing an understanding friend held it back.
and hence the valentine day too went, although both of them came to know by now , that it was love and nothing else, for they cared each other, accepted each other as it is, and both were ready to improve for other.

Anyways it was 14th of march when he called her, and while they were talking banal, he got all the courage needed and said . that Jyoti,, there is something different about us. whats that I am still trying to figure out. Can u help me a bit.
It seemed as if she too was waiting for the same moment, she (like a Don) asked him to see her in evening in the park.

The winters seem to pink this evening, sky was all rainbow. They met in park, it was getting dark, she was looking exceptionally beautiful today, and he became pale.
They get seated on a bench. not knowing what to say. the heartbeats already high.

She said- yes, Snehil ,, say, what u had to.
He said .. No , u called me here..I thought u had to say something.
she said.. well ..I don't have to.

finally he said.." OK! Do u agree that there is something.. something else" ..
she said. yes, agree.
and then he said .. then you will tell what is this something else. she spread the cores of her eyes, and then narrowed back. she got pink with this unexpected proposal and nervousness slowly made her furious.
She said -- No ..I will not.
he said-- yes, you will. you will have to. well you called me here, u seriously have to.
she said ..all right, if I called .. so now i am saying that now let us leave for our hostels. b'bye.
and ah ,, what an attitude.. both of them left, wanted a lot to sit back, but they did not.


but the whole evening went uneasy .. she could not bear waiting- saying and listening those three words ..he also could not, but it was she who called ..and Snehil bounced back to his life.... finally both of them accepted what was there in their heart, brain and soul.

Its 6 years completed to this love story, last months Snehil was in Canada and Jyoti was in United States and Now both of them are finally settled in Bangalore with their jobs.
This 23rd November they are going to marry.

Sh@lini
9 November 2008.