When life gives you lemons ... is the story of Anshuman whose life goes through a period of turmoil in engineering due to a combination of destiny and his own volatile temper. On the verge of losing his career and the love of his life, he finally realizes his folly. But is it too late now?
I looked at myself in the mirror and it wasn't a very pleasant sight.
There was a small cut on my upper lip. My left eye was still a bit swollen. Over half a dozen bruises were visible on my face and neck. A band-aid was covering a small injury above my right eye-brow. I tried to raise my shoulder and a searing pain hit me. Unable to take it anymore, I collapsed on the bean bag lying nearby and put my face between my hands. A sob escaped my lips but thankfully my family was not around to notice it.
A few minutes later I was lying on my back and staring at the ceiling fan. My mind was absolutely blank. All I could think was how did things transpire in this way. Right before the commencement of the most important phase of engineering life, my life had fallen apart so briskly. How can I go to the college tomorrow and dodge all the unpleasant questions? How can I hide everything from my family returning from the other city tomorrow? And the most important of all ...
How can I face her now?
How did I come down to this? Where did it all begin? Yesterday? No, it all began some three and half years ago on a hot summer day when I had lost my cool just like I did yesterday. A barmy me putting all these things in motion.
THREE AND HALF YEARS BACK, THE MONTH OF JUNE
"If only I had not screwed up my Inorganic chemistry paper .........."
"Anshu" Rashi interrupted me "this is the 5th time that you have uttered that same line. The exams are done and dusted. The results are here and that is the reality. There is nothing you can do to change that."
I rolled my eyes. Rashi didn't like it a bit. She wanted to retort but then stopped herself. She then took a deep breath and started talking with all those hand movements that she used to make while teaching an important concept of physics.
"Anshu, regretting over what could have been done is not going to alter the reality. You need to make a decision with these results in mind."
"You?" I raised my eyebrows but my reaction didn't deter her.
"Yes, you need to make a decision. I have already made my decision and you know that"
"How can you so conveniently forget what we had mutually decided before exams, that we will be going to the same college. That was the promise that we had made with each other" My voice suddenly rose.
"The decision was to study together so that we could both score well and join the college of our choice. It is not my fault that you went for that stupid cricket competition of yours and ended up 500 ranks below mine" this time Rashi too lost her temper.
I was at a loss for words for few seconds. Initially, I wanted to counter her jab but then I realized that what she had said was absolutely true. I needed to calm down and approach the matter in a mature way.
"Rashi" I took her hand in mine "all I want is to be with you. I know I did a boo-boo. We both were confident that we will get a good enough rank to secure a seat in RV college but now that is not possible for me. But we both can get admission in SLC college. Think about it"
She raised her eyebrows "You're asking me to give up a chance to study in RV when you know I have worked hard to get there. How can you be so selfish? I'm not responsible for this situation"
I was taken aback by the bluntness in Rashi's voice. I was least expecting it. But I didn't give up and tried yet again to convince her.
"We have been together since class 10th. I really like you Rashi and I was looking forward to spending the best bits of my college life with you. That's the only thing I want"
"And it can still be done to some extent" Rashi said "RV and SLC are hardly a KM apart. We can go to our colleges together and even come back together. There is ........."
"So you're not going to change your decision?" my patience finally ran out "the computer science seat in this college is more important than me?"
Rashi looked straight into my eyes and after a moment said "My career is the most important thing in my life right now"
A loud sound of a steel glass hitting the floor multiple times reverberated in the room as I pushed it violently from the table in a rush of blood. Rashi was shocked at this sudden outburst of mine. She looked at me with those surprised expressions in her eyes and the very next moment she left the room. I didn't try to stop her.
I had never behaved in this manner before. It was as if I had suddenly lost control over myself. Though I regretted my outburst, I was still very angry with Rashi. She had her priorities sorted out and I was not her topmost priority. Even then I had a faint hope that things will turn around a bit. We still had seven days to fill up the choices for admission. There might be a change of heart.
How wrong I was!
