Weird and Wonderful

Chapter- 8

Year - 2011

After the Math class, Swasti and Kritika were running on their way to the Chemistry coaching class. Ami was absent that day.

“I’m getting tired, Swasti. Let’s rest for a while,” Kritika said, breathing with difficulty.

“No, we can’t stop. If we make it in time, I am going to download the songs from the latest movie of Ranbir for you,” Swasti said, without stopping. Kritika let out a groan. Swasti had seen another poem of Rachit in the Chemistry class the previous day but she could not read it as she was sitting on another seat. Now she did not want to miss a single chance of reading Rachit’s poems.
Finally they reached the class.  But as Swasti went towards her desired seat, a girl put her hand on the seat and said, “You can’t sit here, this seat is reserved.”

Kritika said to Swasti, “Come, let’s find another seat.” But Swasti didn’t move.

“There is no rule of reservation in our coaching class,” Swasti said to the girl.

“I won’t let you sit here. This seat is for my friend. Can’t you sit anywhere else?” The girl said in a sharp voice.

“Can’t your friend sit anywhere else?” Swasti said, putting her bag on the desk.

The girl put her hand on the seat and asked with a wicked smile, “Now where will you sit?” Swasti held the girl’s hand and put it on the desk.

“I will sit here. What are you standing for Kritika? Come, sit here!” Swasti said. Swasti didn’t like quarrels but if someone tried to mess with her, he/she must better watch out!

Finally Swasti got to read the poem she had fought so hard for. The title of the poem was- Dreams.

Dreams-innocent dreams-like white clouds, hovering over my mind
Without these the world seems so void
Of course they're stupid, no real purpose they show
far from ambitions, as simple as brook they flow.
People say they're a waste of time
but dreams ring in my mind as sweet as chime.
Though unreal; they anchor me during turbulent waves of mistrust & betrayal;
They save me from worldly acquaintances of purpose.
They don't demand anything from me-Unconditionally they give me joy.

My dreams are meaningless to world
and
world is meaningless for them.
All I can say is that
my dreams make me what I am,
whether it's real or imagination...

“It’s beautiful!” Swasti said.

“What?” Kritika said.

“I mean that the poem is beautiful,” Swasti said, irritated by Kritika’s lack of interest in the poem.

“But I have another thing which is bugging me,” Kritika said, lost in thought.

“And what is that?” Swasti asked. She was in no mood to listen to Kritika’s talks about again.

“This guy, Rachit Chauhan…he must really exist somewhere,” Kritika said, almost whispering.

“Now, what kind of statement is that, Kritika? Obviously, Rachit is a real person.”

“I mean, are you not curious to know more about him? Don’t you want to see what he looks like? Don’t you want to meet him? Are you content in just reading his poems?” Kritika said.

Until then, Swasti was content in reading Rachit’s poems. She had wanted nothing more. It was a kind of very different relationship with a person where her soul was speaking to his. But all of it was metaphysical. But now she wanted her relationship to be real. She wanted to see Rachit for real so that she could prove to everyone that her feelings were not the result of daydreaming. She wanted to prove to everyone that Rachit was real and so was her love for him.

Swasti knew that she had to find out Rachit but she didn’t know where to start. Kritika had asked everyone in her van about Rachit but no one had ever heard his name. Being the most social one among the three, Ami asked the students at coaching about Rachit but no one knew him. It appeared that Swasti’s search had come to the dead end. But there is no dead end in life!
One day, when Swasti was leafing through the brochure of her coaching class out of boredom, something caught her attention. In the achievers’ list of the year 2008, she saw the name- Rachit Chauhan. She looked at the toppers’ list again. Rachit’s name was the top of Foundation Batch Achievers of 2008. In front of his name, there was written- Rank: 81 College: IIT Kanpur. So Rachit was in Kanpur itself! Swasti couldn’t wait to tell the news to Ami and Swasti.
“Wow! Rachit is in the same city as us,’ Kritika was literally jumping at the news.

“It’s great news. Has the name of Rachit’s school been specified?” Ami said.

“No, but what’s the need of it? Now we know that he studies in IIT Kanpur, it would not be difficult to find him out,” Swasti tried to assure, soaking in happiness.

“But the IIT campus is so vast. It would not be easy to find him there,” Ami reacted.

Ami had a point. But Swasti didn’t let that fact bring down her spirits. At least she now knew, where to start.
Now, every time, Swasti was imagining about Rachit. Would he be tall or short? Something told Swasti that Rachit would be tall. And she was sure that Rachit was lean. She didn’t like those muscular types! And Swasti wished that his hair was long in front, covering his forehead, just like Akihito. But Swasti could not decide whether Rachit wore glasses or not. Glasses would suit to his intellectual temperament. Rachit...Rachit... Rachit! How wonderful would be that moment when Swasti would see Rachit for the first time! Would it be like the movies where violins play in the background and the time stops? No, that would not be cool, Swasti thought. There was no room for clichés in their unconventional love stories. For the first time, Swasti’s dream was going to be blended with reality! For the first time, she was going to see the person she loved!