CHAPTER 12- LOVE IS IN THE AIR

I was trying my hardest to get Preeti to like me but to no avail and out of nowhere God gave me an opportunity. The Yuva Sangh- a non-profit organization that worked for the development of the youth through various programs was organizing a two day camp for hiking and trekking at a place called Gun rock. It was a really beautiful place filled with hillocks and valleys and greenery everywhere. It also had the best spot for rappelling down a hill. Unfortunately Hyderabad has really expanded far and wide now and there are no guns or rocks left there anymore and all you will see there is a concrete jungle.
It was the ideal place to fall in love with nature and with each other. The Gang was going, so was I, like we always did but this time Preeti and her friends were coming too and I was really excited about it. It would mean I could spend two whole days with her, turn on my charm and make her fall truly, madly and deeply in love with me. I did my best to impress her by being really cool and pulling other peoples leg. I thought I was really smart to do that and I would win her over and to an extent I did because she changed places and came and sat closer to us in the bus with her friends. But my superiority complex was shattered when the faculty taught us how to tie different types of knots and I couldn’t even get one right, I still cannot. My bubble was completely burst when they taught us how to tie a harness and I needed at least six goes to get it right. Kaalu was the first one to try out all the activities. He did rock climbing really easily using the three point technique the faculty had demonstrated to us and when it was my turn I was clumsy and slow and I hurt my elbows and shins but what hurt most was my ego being shattered. I realized then that everybody has some or the other talent in them and I should respect them and learn from them. But my pyar ka bhoot hadn’t died down yet I was still trying my hardest to impress Preeti. In the evening during the camp fire I did a stand up spoof on all the expressions and rumblings I had seen and heard from the group when they were asked to rappel down a cliff or squeeze through a gap between two rocks and made everyone laugh till they cried and I finally could see my hard work reaping some rewards. When I was having dinner with the gang, Preeti’s friend Shruti approached me and said she wanted to talk to me about something,

Shruti- How was your day today?

Me- I had a lot of fun. (while on the inside I was still coming to terms with being such a jerk for so long)

Shruti- How are the elbows now?

Me- Its nothing, being a sportsman am used to such minor injuries (still grimacing with pain every time I moved my hand from the plate to my mouth to eat)

Shruti- Well, you were really funny during the camp fire.

Me- ah! That was nothing (trying to act modest but blushing with pride)

I was getting restless because this conversation was going nowhere so I finally asked her what was it that she wanted to talk to me about.

Shruti stumbled and mumbled and finally asked and I quote “We were wondering which one of us you do not consider as your sister?”

I wanted to burst out laughing and say there’s no way I would consider any of you as a sister because I think all of you are totally smoking hot. But better sense prevailed and I thought over it for a couple of minutes and said –“Preeti”, she gave me a huge smile and walked away. I thought I had finally made my feelings known to her and it had been much easier than I had imagined. I did not share this with the gang as I wanted to hear it from Preeti before I told anyone and besides my experience of sharing a secret with my friends and expecting to be a secret was unrealistic. The whole night I couldn’t sleep as my heart was singing with joy. The next morning I was the first one to get ready and I waited with bated breath for the girls to come out from their rooms so that I could see Preeti and give her one of my best heavily dimpled hugest of smiles. But when I did that she stared at me with never seen before hatred and anger. I couldn’t imagine what was wrong. I was really curious to know but we had a lot of activities lined up and I couldn’t get a chance to talk to her till noon. Finally at the lunch break I managed to get some proximity to her and she told me that she had only considered me as a friend and nothing more than that and if I ever tried to talk to her again she would complain about it to her dad and get me beaten up by him. My heart started to feel really heavy as soon as I heard those words, my heart beat was racing, my legs felt lifeless and numb. This trip was not going as I had expected. My elbows and shins were injured, my ego was hurt and now to add insult to my injury my heart had been broken too. I tried to put up a brave face and told her I had never thought of her that way and she had mistaken my intentions and moved away from her with my tail between my legs before she made a big scene and stripped me of my self respect or what ever was left of it. I had been rejected even before I could propose. Love was in the air but unfortunately that was the only place where it was.