A Real Love Story: My entry for the Get Published contest "All That Glitters.."

Is it all over? As I look up at the sky from the terrace of my apartment, I see white clouds dotting the entire sky. It was the same when I saw, as I entered the last class before exams in the sixth semester of engineering. It was the same when both of us drove out of town and lay down on the stones near a mine. The evil sky wore the same look as I set my foot on Delhi’s soil. It was the same when we had our first getaway out of Delhi. It was the same when I came to Pune, for her. And it’s the same sky now. Laughing at me, mocking at me, annoying me with those white clouds. Why isn't the sky plain and simple? Why isn't Life smooth and endless? Then I looked down at the street. Dotted sparsely with random people. Who would never care of me, I thought. No one ever would. Who am I, after all? I gave it a final look. A Life, that would be taken, at last.

A boy, who has a mind as constant as the Humming bird, and a heart as peaceful as Mount Etna. A girl who has been raised on the stereotype values and traditions of the country. And their Love, as calm as the buoy on the ocean. A story spanning three years, a story having withered the long distance relationship as well as the live-in relationship, a story facing the challenges of the ever changing world of today, a story dotted with numerous traditional challenges, a story that looks ordinary on the surface but is a web of some spicy moments coupled with trifles and compromises and pretensions, a story that has endeared, till now.

Love, that experienced its first flares as chance offered an ace, when I talked with her for the first time. Chance would return favors again, when I first met her in a few days. Chance would finally strike the bull’s eye, when I proposed to her on a cold wintry night in December. Time and tide didn’t stop her from rejecting a job offer and shifting in to Delhi. Nor could they stop me from jump-shifting to Pune. But its choice – not chance – that determines your destiny. Did the choices return as favorable chances? Did we live our dreams as well as ‘us’, happily together? Did I live on after that day?

Love, as they say, isn’t always a hunky-dory tale of a pint of sorrow and a peck of joy. Love isn’t also, as they say, an adventurous tale with huge uphills where there is glory at last. Sometimes, there are persistent snuffles in a small but endearing love story too. This is my own story, where Love and Life find enduring moments to hold on to.

This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.