Tulasi was the most beautiful girl of Achyutan’s college. He still remembered when he saw her first at the corridor, with a pile of certificates. It was her name, which was announced first by the principal. Achyutan was an intellectual guy by all standards, but his dark and short look always prevented him from being an extrovert, which the college-life ostensibly demanded. He was thrilled to see her in his classroom on the very first bench. Achyutan always used to wonder, about the feeling he had for Tulasi. Achyutan couldn’t make out a difference between love and devotion. He gazed at her in wonder with an open mouth, when she came to the library and sat just in front of him. He had seen many guys proposing her. Most of them were fair and handsome. Raghuvaran, the handsomest chap of the college, used to sing beautifully and Tulasi was one among his fans. Achyutan had also seen Tulasi talking to Raghuvaran in person. That was enough for Achyutan to fix their marriage in his mind.
Achyutan sighed and leaned on the chair. He closed his eyes and caressed his grey hair. He saw Tulasi, smiling at him. He too, reciprocated the smile. He hardly talked to anybody, but couldn’t utter anything when Tulasi was around. He never knew what happened to him when she was nearby. He used to stammer, shiver and went wrong in everything that he did. He felt guilty for thinking bad about Tulasi, when he saw her talking with Bhraman and Devan. Both the guys used to smoke and drink. Achyutan had seen Bhraman and Devan coming out of the Toddy shop besides their college. Thereafter Achyutan didn’t talk to Tulasi for long. He ignored her, when she came to talk to him. Tulasi never knew what had happened to Achyutan and why he was behaving weirdly. Achyutan realized that he had become possessive about Tulasi, but he feared to tell her. It would have broken Achyutan, if she denied his proposal.
Achyutan felt bad when once they enacted Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and he was given the role of Claudius, the villain. Raghuvaran played the role of Hamlet and Tulasi, that of Ophelia. He remembered the farewell party, arranged by the juniors. She was wearing a pretty white gown. She looked no less than a princess. He had planned and by-hearted the words in order to propose her. He rehearsed, and as he walked towards the hall, he saw and heard Raghuvaran proposing her. He remembered how much he cried on that day at home. He never told his mom, why he cried on that day. He wrote every exam monotonously, as if he longed to get out of the college somehow. He never went to the college again.
Somebody woke him up from his sleep. As he opened his eyes, he saw Tulasi standing before him with a cup of Tea...
(Linking this to Ultimate Blog Challenge)
