Weird and Wonderful

Chapter-10

YEAR - 2011

Swasti was busy solving the numericals in Physics when her Physics teacher announced, “There is National Physics Olympiad on 26 November 2016. Anyone who wants to participate in it must register themselves by filling these forms.”

Swasti was excited for the Olympiad but when the teacher announced that the centre of the examination would be Kendriya Vidyalaya at IIT Kanpur campus, her ecstasy knew no bounds. Finally she would meet Rachit! But what would she tell him? She could tell him that she loved his poems but would love be an appropriate word? No, she would say that she liked his poems. But the word like could not justify the feelings which Swasti felt on reading Rachit’s poems. Oh! Forget it! She would surrender herself to fate as she was sure that fate never betrays true love.

Kritika was over-excited at this news. “I would also participate in the Olympiad. I am dying to see how your Rachit looks like,” Kritika said although she had never participated in an Olympiad earlier.

“Count me in too because I want to see this Rachit-guy, if he is suitable for our Swasti or not,” Ami said, nudging Swasti’s arm.

“Slow down, my grandmas, I am not going to marry him at the day of Olympiad,” Swasti said blushing.

“But you will marry him, maybe after seven or eight years,” Kritika said.

Swasti did not know how she could survive the growing bitterness between her parents if her heart was not filled with hope of meeting Rachit. Time was passing at the pace of a snail. Swasti tried to forget what her father had said to her but she could not forget it. So she found a new way to divert her mind. Whenever her father’s words started haunting her, she started thinking about how Rachit would react after knowing how much she loved his poetry. She started writing poetry herself. It helped her to forget the fear of her parents’ separation. One of the poems she had written was:

Our eternal love
will always echo
in each atom of the universe
I will never forget
the days spent
holding your hands
the touch of
your feathery fingers
your starry smile
lighting up my dark world
your eyes brimming
with unending love
I will never forget you
even if sun forgets to rise

Finally, the day of Olympiad arrived. The warmth of the winter sunshine filled Swasti’s soul with hope. Swasti could not concentrate on the examination paper as her mind was busy daydreaming about Rachit. But the situation was same for Kritika and Ami also. They were also busy thinking about their friend’s crush. As soon as the paper was over, all three of them gathered in the school’s ground. Everyone was complaining about how tough the paper was and some studious students were boasting about the number of questions they had attempted. But Swasti, Kritika and Ami were not paying heed to any such things.

“Where should we begin our search?” Ami whispered as if they were going on a super-secret mission.

“I think we should search for him in the Computer Science department,” Swasti said.

“Why?” Kritika was ready with the question.

“Because his rank was 81 in JEE and all rankers usually choose Computer Science,” Swasti said.

“Swasti has got a point. Well done, my genius!” Ami said.

“If I am genius, then who is dumbo?” Swasti winked at Ami. Ami started laughing.

“But where is the Computer Science department?” Kritika was becoming impatient. She could not wait to meet Rachit.

“We should ask someone from KV,” Swasti said and went towards a teacher of the school. She was a young woman in her mid-twenties. Her demeanour indicated that she might help them.

“Excuse me, Ma’am, can you please tell where the Computer Science department of IIT is?” Swasti said.

“Yes, sure. Go straight, and after two blocks, turn to the right. After five blocks, turn to your left, and you will reach the Computer Science department. But why do you want to go there?” the teacher said with a warm smile.

“We have to meet her brother,” Ami said, pointing towards Kritika. Kritika gave a sheepish smile. Swasti frowned as she hated lies.

“After two blocks, take a right turn. Then after five blocks, take a left turn,” Swasti repeated to make sure that she would not forget the directions. She thanked the teacher.
All was well until they were stopped by a serious-looking watchman.

“Where are you going?” The watchmen asked them, blocking their path.

“We have to meet someone,” Swasti said before Ami could speak anything.

“Can he verify that you are known to him?” The watchman asked.

“No, he does not know us,” Swasti said with nonchalance. Ami’s mouth was open with shock. She knew that Swasti was stubborn whenever her principles were involved but she could not believe that the girl was ready to give up her only chance of meeting her crush for her principles.
“So, you cannot enter the Computer Science department’s premises as you don’t have anyone to verify for you,” the watchman said without any emotion. Only if he knew how important it was for Swasti to enter into those premises! But Swasti was not going to bargain her self-respect to meet her love. She knew that sooner or later, she would meet Rachit and she would wait for that moment no matter how long she had to wait.

“Why did you have to speak the truth?” Ami was complaining, “I was going to handle the matter. Could you not just keep quiet?”

“Don’t lose hope, Swasti,” Kritika said, “Even if you can’t reach Rachit, he will come for you.”