Love story 1967

Chapter 2

When I compare the love affairs of today with what I experiences, I get a cultural shock. The kind of love, affection, commitment and loyalty extending to an incredible surrender level now appears to be a fairly tale. Except Sundays and public holidays, we spent five to six hours every day. It was supplements to never ending telephone calls. Our subjects never ended. I am deliberately not mentioning her name for discretion and dignity.

I formed an organisation You Manch to hold some cultural activities. I appointed her as its president and myself became the general secretary. The first event was organised at Gandhi Peace Foundation (GPF), courtesy my friend Chandrahas, who was the son of its secretary Radhakrishnan. All India Radio had floated a new channel called Yuv Vani to promote young talents. Kumud Nagar, Kamla Shastri etc were its producers. I approached them and started reviewing art exhibition and writing plays for them. It was my first 5 break with the AIR that has lasted till date.

I organised a press conference to assess the impact of Yuv Vani. Senior journalists like Saeed Naqvi attended it. I addressed it along with her. It was flashed in the media, the next day. It only my enterprise to organised events, reach out right people and create an impact.

I was friendly to an American student, doing his masters in economics from Delhi School. He had a flat in Mukherjee Nagar which proved to a handy rendezvous for our trysts. He was such a close friend that he would give keys of his flat to me to have a whale of time. He tried and but failed to get a friend. He was tall and burly, the only son of a rich American businessman. He even sported a beard. That must have put off any girl, he might have approached.

We discovered another interesting hide out. It was the terrace of Arts Faculty in the north campus of Delhi University. She had her classes from Dr Nagendra, Savitri Nigam and other stalwarts on the ground floor. After that we would go up to the terrace and used the space surrounded by littered broken furniture. Luckily, no one followed or stopped us from using this space. It was a novel idea which we never shared with anybody.

Once, we decided to travel to Agra by Taj Express and had great fun. Such journeys brought us closer. In fact we looked for new ideas and places for fun and enjoyment. One morning, she called me to say that her parents were going out and the house was at her disposal. I invited another friend and his girl friend who later became a lecturer of English in Miranda House. We decided to shift to two separate rooms. While we were lost in our sweet dreams, the door bell rang. Lo and behold, the parents had returned.

We put up a brave face and she courageously introduced us as a friend and two cousins of hers. No one doubted. But it was a narrow escape. When I look back, I realize that our marriage was out of question because of triple failure in my graduation and the consequent gap between her and my future prospects. She was about to complete her post-graduation and her parents had started looking for a match for her while, I didn't know what I would do. In any case, there was no possibility of my settling down in some job. And even if I have a break in journalism, it won't fetch me a starting salary which could encourage me to approach er parents for marriage.

Eventually, she got married to an Army Manager who was more than ten years older than her. She wanted to invite me but I declined to be a guest. Instead I spent the night at a friend's house sulking and regretting my massive failure. But see her courage. She continued meeting even after her marriage. She even wrote a letter from her Honeymoon in Darjeeling. She wrote about her visit to Tiger Hill.

Mehta's girlfriend and later his wife, Veena Thakur, whom everybody called tomboy because of his daredevil image suggested why not to invite my newly wedded girlfriend and her Major husband. They came and had lunch. I engaged him in an conversation like a long lost friend.

I can't reconcile to this approach about an affair which lasted for five years. I did nothing else in that period. She also just finished her MA as she was expected. She could have become a lecturer like her elder sister but perhaps I wasted too much of her time. I couldn't enter into such a relationship with any other person after that. I still treasure those moments with fond memories.

One day it had to come to an end. After her marriage and met her for half a dozen times. I even took her to Agra once again and she didn't resist. One of such dates were at Annapurna on Janpath. We met, had coffee and parted. That day and today, We never met. There was no formal bye-bye. No parting kiss. No tears.