Looking for answer
Part 1
[Note: Please be noted that, this is just the English version of the post that I wrote in my mother tongue. Please click here to read in Nepali language. And yes a huge thanks to Mr. Prashant Ghimire for transalting.]
The next
evening, after posting Lumbini Diaries, my phone rang. I didn't pay much
attention to my phone as I was eating and left my phone to be charged. Lately,
I didn't get any phone calls from anyone so important. The phone rang one call,
two calls, and three calls. I was amazed as to whose phone was ringing and I
was scared. Frightened, I picked up the phone, the number was new, and a voice
came from there, "Hello brother, how are you?" Somehow that voice
sounded familiar but ah I couldn't figure it out and replied "Hello,
Namaste. Who am I speaking to?”
From there, I finally recognized Ashish, but my curiosity was not over yet. I
was even more surprised than curious, because he called me almost 3 years later
although he and I had been living in the same house in Kathmandu for two years.Our
contact was getting weaker after I left Kathmandu. At the same time, I asked
"How is my daughter in law?"He said in a sweet voice, "Hmm
brother, I don’t know what to say...Neither I knew nor did she. Where did the
wind come from and where did we leave forever?" I could feel nothing but
pain and separation in his voice. Again he said, "Brother, can we talk for
a while?" And in response, I put the phone down saying let's talk online
after a while. After an interval of about half an hour, I opened the messenger,
while Ashish had already texted. He had texted saying “brother, yesterday, I
had read yours’ “Lumbini Diaries.” I didn't know that you could write like
that.” I sent a text with a tongue biting emo to explain if it didn't look
good. From there he said, "After reading your post it reminded me of my
girlfriend and I also started writing, but I couldn't do or write
anything."
Then, he
wanted to make a request which would not put me in a difficult situation.Before
I could answer, "You have to write a love story of me and my
girlfriend" he texted. In reply, I said, “brother, thank you very much for
thinking me of such potential but don’t let your love story fade away by giving
me that work. No brother, I know you can. He would reply to my every responses
in such a way that I could not answer. And in the end he persuaded me to write,
but in my mind there was a complete fear; how to write, what to write.However,
I started asking him about relative questions and he kept answering. He started
his story:
Thus, that
day was my first day in college.
After
finishing 12th class, I entered the capital for higher education. Even though
festivals had come to an end, in my mind, the joy of festivals was not over. I
clearly remember, on the 14th Ashoj, I entered the MinBhawan in that cold
weather with a sticky bag.On the first day of college, there were no friends,
sitting on the last bench, I was feeling a little lonely. Other students
continued to arrive. Some would look at others and smile, meanwhile, others
would introduce themselves and shake hands. I, a person who has never left
home, was tormented by loneliness.Anyway, I didn't let myself down without
explaining myself first about my objectives to be in the capital. On the first
day, there was only an introductory program in the college. From the second day
onwards, the study gradually gained momentum. My daily routine was limited to
college in the morning and sitting on the roof in the afternoon. As days passed
by, I got more and more friends. My first semester ended between my study and
travels. I wasn't really friendly with girls because I was afraid to talk and
shy to communicate. But whenever I used to see her, my heart used to be filled
full with joy. I was happy to see her and it seemed meaningful to live, but I
couldn't express my thoughts to her. And at the time, the technology wasn't
that simple and convenient as well.I used to use MIG application at the time
but she hadn’t, so there was no way to communicate. Since we could not talk
much, I couldn't even get to ask for a mobile number. As time passed, we got
closer, sometimes under the pretext of notes, sometimes in the name of assignments
given by teachers. Since, there would be a lot of group work in our studies,
the teachers had formed a group of 5-5 people. Yes, the same group was a
special excuse for us to get close. Coincidentally, we were both in the same
group. It was because of the group discussion that I was able to talk to her
and we got very close under this pretext. Maybe it was in the middle of the
second semester, I had to go to a company and do a survey. Our group chose
Unilever in Kamaldi. The boys who had just arrived in Kathmandu were more
focused on traveling than studying, so instead of going to the field, some of
them persuaded me to finish the assignment. And when I told Drishti about
everything, she replied that she would go without any hesitation. This easy acceptance
of her was a courage for me and we decided to go next Tuesday. The day of my
anxious wait, Tuesday, arrived, we had decided to meet at Old Baneshwor at
exactly 11 o'clock. I took a bath in the morning, sprinkle the perfume, ate
food and made myself ready. At that time, I was excited more than anything. I
was enjoying more than I could while flying kites in Dashain. In particular, I
had to meet Drishti and open up my mind and feelings for her rather than a
college assignment. Time gave me the same opportunity. When I reached the
Constituent Assembly Hall after crossing the zebra crossing in Baneshwor, I
waited for a while, but the traffic in Kathmandu was not that easy. No vehicles
had a space so I decided to walk. As I was walking across Rameshwar Sweet Shop,
White House College and Ratnarajya School, many waves were hitting my mind till
I reached Venice Hospital. Looking at every couple I saw on the road, I kept
thinking that one day I will walk with my Drishti like this. I was so engrossed
in my imagination that I stumbled upon a man from another direction. The man
kept saying, "Don't you have eyes?" I went on my own way, the anger
of his abuse was conquered by the world of my imagination. I kept moving and
then I came across Apex College and a little further, there were many other
shops on the way, all of them are now forgotten though. As long as I was
walking that path, I could care less about the time. As I was walking towards
Old Baneshwor, I looked at the clock, it seemed that the clock had reached far
beyond my imagination. When I reached the Chowk, I was already late by 10
minutes. I said "I'm sorry. No vehicles had a space." She said,
"Okay, let's go." We got on the same small blue micro bus and moved
towards our destination. She didn’t look less than a model in the blue Kurta
she wore and the hair she left behind. But I wanted to make her the queen of my
life, rather than a model. I was inspired by the word "Pagal (mad)"
which she used to say when I first met her. The crowd at the micro was so
large, I just sat there. Micro bus went past Maitidevi's police headquarter and
reached Putalisadak where it turned right and moved toward "Ghantaghar.”
At that moment, we had already arrived at Ganesthan, Kamaladi and I closed my
eyes and prayed to God. She said, "So you are very religious huh." I
was trying to convince her that I had just prayed to God, but she threw a
punchline saying "Anyway, was it necessary to close eyes while
praying?" I replied with "I wanted my prayers come true." Now I
had thought that she would not ask any more questions, but she asked again,
"What did you ask for with God?" In other words, I wanted to ask for
you to be mine, thankfully it was just in my mind and I asked for good marks in
the exam, I said. Engaged in conversation, we reached Trichandra College. We
hurried down to stop the micro. After that, she said sarcastically,
"What's the matter with you; you even forgot about your destination as
well after getting to talk with a girl?" Although, I never wanted that
moment to come to an end, I said to myself. I thought she would stay with me
like this for the rest of my life and she would wake me up in the morning with
a cup of tea and tell me that it is already morning. One way, my mind said,
"Stop dreaming you fool" meanwhile another way, my mind said,” you
should dream on." On the way we came through, we reached the head office
of Himalayan Bank then Heritage Plaza and finally the office of Unilever. When
we reached there, we told about our objectives and purpose of visit to the gate
keeper. Then, he introduced us to one of the officers working in Unilever. After
presenting our greetings, and a short conversation, we asked the questions we
had prepared for our survey and said goodbye with a thank you. The clock was
ticking. On the way out, I asked Drishti if she would go home then. I thought
to myself that she shouldn't say yes because I was happy and enjoying to be
with her. I had such an awesome experience for the first time in my life. I
wanted to say the same thing with all my heart and make her my own forever, but
I could not open my heart which was full of fear.Honestly, I didn't want to
leave. Whether she listened to my heart or she was also feeling like me or she
really had a work to do, she told us to go through Makhkhan Street. I felt like
I had won the war on the inside. We walked across Trichandra College, then to
the police headquarters, walked over Jamal's bridge and headed towards Makkhan
Street.
Saying this,
Ashish's messenger showed "Active 15 minutes ago".The clock was
ticking and it was already 11 o'clock, I waited for him for a while but again
he didn't come online and I also tried to sleep and posted it without his
permission to surprise him.
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