Once Upon a University Campus

Love Locks

Some hours are magical, but magical hours tend to slip away faster than the rest. It was one such magical evening for Annika. Everything had turned out as perfect as it could have been, as if it were magic, as if someone above planned it to the T. The weather turned out to be warm and nice, a waxing moon had peeped out of light clouds long enough for Annika to soak in the charm of Montmartre. The bronze cobblestones, the alleyways, the illuminated basilica, the night view of Paris, the golden Eiffel tower at a distance, the food and more than anything else, the company she had for the evening, everything had been perfect, just perfect. It was indeed an evening she would cherish for a long time, an evening that had consumed the last ounce of energy that her body could afford to spend. But her heart had been insatiable.

Mr Outside had waved her goodnight at the lobby of the hotel. His room was on the other side of the wing. He had watched her turned towards her wing before he left for his own room. Annika had paused and turned back as was their unsaid tradition once before she turned into the corridor that lead to her room. Her steps had been decidedly slow. His beautiful hazel eyes, his smug smile as if he knew, she did turn to look back, occupied her thoughts as she snuggled under her quit. She had quite conveniently forgotten about the conference. His compliment kept ringing in her ears for a long time despite her aching legs and her tired body. Was she bright? Happy she always was, and will continue to be, may be... But was she beautiful? Anyone finds her pretty? Does he..... That night she dreamt of sunflowers.

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Last day at the conference. Everybody seemed to be in a rush, some to finish up and head home, some to take care of unfinished businesses, some to leave their impression, some to connect with impressive people. Annika was finally able to attend Mr Outsider's round table. It was on renewable energy and the economics of it. Renewable energy was a strange paradox. Though free, renewables needed more expensive investments to harness them than conventional energy. Pricing it was always a challenge. Sun is free but not solar cell, it was a difficult task to convince people to pay for the initial high investment. The session was all about pricing renewables. It was a very interesting round table. Everyone at the table seemed to have a pet renewable of their own and tried to convince everyone else that their favorite was better than the rest. One professor was bent on nuclear energy. He was vehement in his putting his forward his opinion that nuclear was the way to go, France had already shown the way he proclaimed.

There was a bitter debate. People backing solar energy criticised his stance over the disposal of hazardous nuclear waste among other things.

Annika's hand shot up. She got so carried away by the exchange that she had unconsciously overcome her hesitation and had a few things to say. That moment it became immaterial that everyone in the room was looking at her, including a pair of hazel eyes. It did not bother her any longer that that she spoke no french either. She just said what she had to say in the language she knew best. That nuclear energy for country like India was problematic because important cities including the capital fell in seismically active zone. And that any untoward incident would be disastrous given the high population density.

There was silence after she spoke and sat down. A few other people spoke after her. The round table might have appeared acrimonious but after the debate, those who spoke the most vehemently were seen laughing and sharing jokes afterwards.

"This is how conferences worked" concluded Annika as she gathered her things to leave. This definitely was not how she had envisaged her debut at an international conference. These two days she had been unable to speak out except briefly for her presentation. How was it that overnight she had found her voice again ? She wondered if his presence had anything to do with her getting over her nervousness. She trooped out of the conference room lost in that thought when she heard that unmistakable voice.