An Evening’s Untold Love

                                                                                                         Salt Lake, Kolkata

                                                                                                           27^th August, 2012

An Evening’s Untold Love

Maidul, a boy of sixteen hails from a lower middle class family resides at a slum area in Calcutta with parents and seven siblings. He is lanky, thin, dark, curly haired with rustic look but daring and soft spoken. He loves music, fanatic about cricket and Sourav Ganguly in particular. His father, an account in a private company could hardly manage full family meals in a day. His elderly look mother, a sick lady, is suffering from so many diseases for years long.

Maidul has a hidden dream to be an effluent engineer and feed the family sumptuously. He is appearing for school leaving final examination. As the examination is knocking, there are no regular classes in the school except few practical classes at least once in a week.

In a cold and windy late noon, he finished final practical class and left school on his way to home. As usual, he walked almost a mile and reaches the canal ferry ghat. It was too crowded then with only one ferry running. The moment ferry landed, the thick crowd waiting in the bank started jumping just not to miss it again. Maidul in a cracking voice tried them to hold just to allow passengers on board to get down first. But, who listens to whom. It was a total mess. Shockingly, one lady with a baby in her lap fell down in knee deep water. She was somehow escorted by the young ferryman on duty. It was a rustic state of affair the way people got down and get in almost in a hostile manner. A few even got injured. Maidul was helpless to control the situation. Some local fellow sitting near the ghat casually came out saying, it is a daily affair. 

The ferry got filled up within a minute. The situation was horrifying as the ferry started tilting due to overcrowd on board. The ferryman requested some passengers to get down. But, there was none to listen. Ferry got stranded. The ferryman became ruthless and forced few elderly passengers out within his hand shake distance. Then, he blew whistle…..the commuter boat started moving.

While Maidul was trying to push himself inside he could spot on a very slim cute teenage girl student at the last step of ferry ghat with hapless eyes as she was about to miss the trip. Maidul immediately extended his hand to pull her in the ferry. She appears to be in a fix and took a little time to reciprocate. At last, she was down to the earth and finally stretches to hold his hand when it was late. In a do or die situation in the just moving ferry, Maidul could pull her on the board and both escaped narrowly to fall down in canal bank in tilting condition of the ferry. But, all books came out of her bag and found limping over boat’s top plank; a few found to be floating in water after a hit and bounce back from the edge of the ferry. Her eyes were tearful as the floating ones found to be moving away of anyone’s reach in the fading twilight. Maidul has failed to reverse such a shocking lost situation. However, he instantly collected all other books then rolling over the plank. While putting back the top cover of one such scattered book, a sweet name “Richa Roy” with beautiful inscription of handwriting was, at a glimpse, found glittering in the front page. Maidul tried his best to clean those books with both hands using his shabby hankie. Richa was looking wishy-washy and down in the mouth may be for loss of few books. When Maidul approached to push those books inside the bag, she became edgy and speechless. She responded Maidul timidly to push those books inside her school bag with a bit emotion of myriad gratitude. She was utterly depressed within herself, perhaps, due to the mishap. What impediment may come on her way, she did not forget to pay her sincere gratitude to Maidul in a soft, gentle low voice saying, “thanks…..”. Such a gesture of Richa touched Maidul. He also reciprocated with a curtsy nod when the ferry was in the midway canal. He felt extremely delighted as if floating in the paradise dream land in search of platonic love. Sweet eye swap memories with Richa for last two years on his way to school were gently sloping in his mind as a slow motion action replay. Those are mind blowing astounded memories with passion and untold romance; a very much personal warm feeling that cannot be shared with anyone except….. 

Maidul was wondering why today’s incident did not happen at least a year back. His untold unilateral love could not be vented out to Richa for last two years though both attended the local ferry regularly on their way to school. It was a one way affair. Maidul used to have a hush-hush look everyday with main focus on the activity of Richa. She never responded. It did shake Maidul much more and he was desperate to shoot the breeze with her. His approach was relentless with a ray of hope for an ambitious result may be today…..tomorrow…..day after or some day. With such a sweet dream he never absented from school though Richa maintained her own school time schedule including leaves as and when necessary. In such repulsive occasions of leave, Maidul felt very gloomy spending the day without any covert look to Richa. He could not even concentrate his classes in the school as if there is a zilch absorbing his so called mind-boggling memory. That particular painful day was found to be almost void in his progress of study in school.

               

Love is a way with words that has been on paper and spelt out by so many since time immemorial when, there have been endless fairy-tales about this particular passion and yet my hero Maidul is so keen on this untold unilateral platonic love with Richa that even a tremor got defeated to make him tired of this for last two years. We could portray Maidul’s untold platonic love only as reverence because it was almost for last two years Richa had not even smiled with her attractive impressive lusty eyes or caringly spoke a few words with him during all that time.

A gusty surface wind started blowing out of the blue twisting the ferry mouth from the handshake distance of other bank of the canal. Young ferryman somehow managed to anchor the ferry around a grouted log in the ghat. The nearby area has covered with dust thick and fast. The twilight faded further to frozen darkness. It was difficult for on board passengers to approach near the bank of the ferry ghat. The young ferryman extended his hand to help elderly, women, and kids down to the step of the ghat. As usual, few tried to jump from the edge. Richa was waiting in the far corner like Maidul. At last, she got down with lot of panic in her eyes holding gently the extended left hand of Maidul then standing on the flat step of the ghat. Then, her bright eyes showed some sort of comfort as if the passing threat of insecurity is over. She leaned a little bit and graciously expressed her gratefulness to Maidul in a soft gentle voice. Hurriedly she moved forward towards the main road. Maidul replied with poise, it’s o.k. and followed Richa along the main road at the same pace. His last million dollar ambition to have a chat with Richa did not find to be on the same wavelength as Richa was almost running down the road in the dark evening hour on her way home. Soon, at the junction point of the nearby island crossing Richa disappeared in the left track while Maidul slowed down to have an eye swap of Richa’s fading shadow so long it was visible along the road from the left corner. There was expression of grief in his unmoving eyes as if the sun has set for ever from his dictionary of love.   

Foot Note: It’s a Simple Love Story written by Debabrata Dey between 14 - 27 August, 2012 for participating in a contest arranged by Penguin India who are hosting a contest under Title "Love Stories That Touched My Heart" .