Those enchanted four and half years

Chapter 20

By now, couples formation was no longer a new thing in our batch. No one even bothered making their relationship 'official', unlike our first two historical couples. By now almost half of the batch was engaged, half of the girls and guys were hooked up with each other. Two couples had even swapped partners after three months of dating.Previously so-called 'brothers and sisters,' had also started hanging out together.As weird as it all sounds, it was all true. These committed couples would be together all along. They would come to lectures together, go for clinics hand-in- hand and have lunch together. And most of the time, they would be busy in 'PDA' (Sufee's short form for 'public display of affection'). Of course, it was a great entertainment for us to watch. But I always wondered whether this affection was the same when the two were alone or was it just for show – off?

Shabana had become girls' hostel's 'love-guru'. Any love related problem, contact Shabana, girls would say. Girls with all sorts of problems; latest crush ignoring them, or confusion over whether a guy was 'just friend' or 'something more than a friend', or boyfriend on the verge of dumping them, would go to seek Shabana's advice. Shabana in turn would patiently hear them out, listen to their woes, and give them a dose of her valuable advice. She would always begin with, 'from my experience.'

It was 14th Feb, Valentine's day also a Sunday. As our room had windows facing hostel gate, I, Sufee, Nayana and Sneha watched guys coming, girls with full make-up, exchanging of gifts between them, and their take-off on bikes for a romantic date!

"This is so frustrating! Even juniors are going on dates. And we are sitting here, in this rotten room!" Sufee said, frustrated.

"Aren't you going out with Amey?" Sneha asked me.

"No, he's gone to his hometown. Anyway, we never discussed any plans for Valentines day." I said.

"And we haven't found our Mr.Right yet. Who will we go out with?" Sufee said. "And how do we know who Mr.Right is? He might be sitting right next to me! But how do I know?" Sneha said. "Maybe bells will start ringing, you will hear violins playing, rose petals..," sufee had begun dreamily. "Come out of your fairy tale life Sufee!" Nayana cut her short. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't you all consult love-guru?" I said.

"Yes, let's do that," Sufee and Sneha replied in unison. I accompanied Sneha, Sufee and Nayana to Shabana's room. Shabana was getting ready for her date.

"Going out on a date?" Sufee asked sadly.

"Yes, but I always have time for my dear friends," she said, "Sit down, tell me." We sat down on a cot, and started looking at each other. What exactly were we going to ask?

"Why don't we have a boyfriend?" Sufee asked.

Shabana looked at us, confused. "I thought Ruta had one," she said.

"No, we are just dating, one step beyond friendship but one step before an affair," I said.

"We want to know, how do we recognize Mr.Right?" Sneha reframed the question.

Shabana's confusion changed to a knowing nod. "Yes, each one of us has a Mr.Right out there, as I know from my experience," she said, "but for identifying your Mr.Right, you need to keep your eyes open, your senses alert. By saying 'keeping eyes open', I don't mean literally, it means you have to develop that vision. For that you should first be clear about what you want, how do you expect your life-partner to be. I will give you a simple example. You go shopping to buy a dress. Now there are so many dresses out there. But still you choose one from them. That is because you have certain fixed criteria in your mind regarding how you want your dress to be, like cotton or silk, printed or plain, short-sleeved or long-sleeved, so on and so forth. Same applies to guys. You will be able to identify your Mr.Right only if you have you fixed criteria, and you keep your eyes and ears open and alert. And of course, by criteria, as in case of choosing a dress, I do not mean physical criteria," Shabana continued, "Rather than physical criteria, decide what emotional criteria your Mr.Right should fulfill, how should his nature be and what kind of relationship you want to develop. Once you fix your criteria, the guy who easily fits your in, will be your Mr.Right. And when you meet him, believe me he will immediately 'click'!" Did Amey click?,I thought. Not yet.