The story so far : Prakarsh tiwari is a physics student at Presidency where he meets Anushka Bhattacharya , a zoology student . He falls in love with her , but all of a sudden , one fine day she leaves for Delhi …….
WHY I FELL FOR YOU ???? part3
Some love stories need a second chance…..
The centrifugal evaporator (also called the Ayela) at the Department of Biotechnolgy , IIT kharagpur is the second largest in India. It was where we were slogging it out for the last six days.
“I think that the centrifuge parameters are wrong .” I retorted ,wiping the beads of sweat on my forehead.
Amit stared at me and then after putting much thought he said , “You know Prakarsh , I think you are right , foreign porn just does not feel good these days , I like the desi girls more.”
I looked at him with disgust. “Amit , I was talking about centrifugation .”
“Fuck centrifugation .” he replied .
We were in our fourth semester of post graduation , and I still had no clue why I always got stuck with Amit and his pervert , at times desperate sense of humor. But I understood his problems . After watching girls at Presidency canteen , you always develop a taste . But when it came to girls , IIT kgp was never known for its class or variety . Infact it was a common saying that there were more peacock heads in the adjoining forest ( on your way to Sarabhai complex) than girls you could befriend at IIT kgp . The ratio of the average number of peacock heads you could locate at night on your way to Sarabhai hostel to that of the number of beautiful girls you had an acquaintance with was called a boy’s ‘frustration ratio’ . The average Kgpian just about survived with a frustration ratio 5 . In case of Amit , the ratio was a staggering 9.
Such was life at IIT Kgp , so mechanical that even simple emotions like love (or the lack of it)needed to be understood in the form of ratios.
I on the other hand never had such ratios to trouble me with. Somehow I never felt for any girl ever since Anushka left me . It was as if I was not capable of loving someone anymore . After graduation , I cleared my JAM examinations to pursue my Msc . in Biotechnology . I was always fascinated by how physics helped understand bio processes better . Right now Amit and me were working on finding the spring constant of DNA . Yes when I first heard it from my project guide , I myself was surprised . But then it became apparent . DNAs being helical in structure , had properties of spring . The bases attached to it only modified its helicity and tension . After finding the constants we were to submit a report to the Department of Biotechnology , Delhi for further research .
“Prakarsh , you need to prepare a preliminary report of your centrifugation findings by tomorrow . A team of zoologists are coming from Delhi .” said my project guide ,Prof . D. Ashoke.
“Ok sir .” I was awake all night making a presentation of our findings. Amit was awake all night watching a very different kind of presentation , on his Macintosh in a bid to decrease his frustration ratio .
I always preferred the Sahara Restaurant for our breakfast since it was the closest to our hostel. Amit always preferred Tikka since it was the farthest from our hostel and hence had a lot of non Kgp girls . Amit always wore his IIT Kgp T- Shirt on such occasions . “Brands work dude . And no brand can be as big as the IIT brand.”
While we were munching our Dosa at Tikka , a bus arrived there . Few students descended from it and everybody present at Tikka started ogling them .
After I paid my bill , I was taking my paraphernalia , when Amit caught hold of my arms .
“Prakarsh look . Its Anushka.”
I turned back to find that at a remote corner , Anushka was sitting, munching a sandwich , talking with a group of people who were listening to her vey attentively. I felt a strange sensation in my heart . I cannot describe it but it kind of made me feel both good and bad. I made my way to her corner . Time had not changed the way she looked . Beautiful , serene ……. and yes soothing.
“Anushka?” I exclaimed hardly making an attempt to control my excitement.
Anushka looked up . She took a second to acknowledge my presence and said , “Prakarsh , I never ever imagined I would see you here .”
“Me too .” Amit said.
“ So what brings you here ?” I asked . I had a presentation to give to a team but I did not care.
“ We are here to study centrifugation effects , Department of Biotech , Delhi .”
“OMG….. I am the one doing the centrifugation experiment . We can work together .” I smiled . A strange thought crossed my head.
I always believe that you can only love someone if you are destined to . When Anushka left me I realized may be our love story was not destined to be …. And I knew that I never wanted to fall in love again. Now as I was talking with her in Tikka , I realized , may be I was wrong , perhaps destiny wanted me to feel so miserable without her, that I cling to her with my life , once I meet her again .
I took her ( and their team ) to our laboratory , and showed my work till date. In the evening , I took Anushka to Gokhale’s , my favorite eating hangout . At times during our conversation , I wanted to ask her the real reason why she had to leave Kolkata . Maybe she had a family problem , or some other issues which she did not feel like burdening me with. All of a sudden , I realized that I had forgiven her . She had not dumped me . She could never dump me.
At night , Amit told me something he had told me two years ago .
“ Some love stories need a second chance .”
“But don’t expect yourself to be third time lucky . Grab this chance ”, he concluded.
One week passed and I realized something . Anushka had matured more than us, both in terms of looks and behavior . If anybody looked for the enthusiasm and joy that characterized her presence , then he would be disappointed. But then , people change with time , and so had she.
I noticed that there was a guy in her team with whom she talked a lot more than she did with others . Infact there would be times when she would ask him if she could eat a certain delicacy or not . At times the man himself would ask her not to go out someplace which she badly wanted to see. Infact after two weeks I noticed that the man was always beside her .
“ Is that goat his boyfriend ?”, asked Amit .
“Umm… how can I say that, Lets hope not .”
Only during mornings we used to get time together . Then I would talk my hearts out .
“By the way , what is the guys name ?” I asked her during one of those morning breaks .
“ You mean , Manish ? “ she replied , but did not say anything further . The conversation died down .
“You know , Anushka , I wish sometimes that you had never left .”
“ I wish that all the time ”, with that she gave her billion dollar smile.
I realized that in the evenings , I saw less and less of Ansuhka . Sometimes I saw her in a car , with Manish driving . Where did he take her ? And how come he had a car? Did Anushka love him ?
There were a hell lot of questions and I did not have an answer to any of them .
One day while working on the DNA proteins , I asked Ansuhka , “ I saw you going somewhere in a car last night.
Anushka was lost for a moment. But then she replied, “ Oh , that . Yes , he took me to a restaurant . Yes , I remember , it was the VEGGIES. Cool place.”
“ How could you eat there ? There was a rock concert going on at the nearby JNAN GHOSH STADIUM . I mean with so much of noise and all .”
Anushka gave a fake smile . “ He he , well we realized that only after we had ordered you know , somehow we managed.”
There was just a little flaw in her answer. Rock concerts were not allowed at the Jnan Ghosh Stadium at nights.
……………………………………………………………………………….
It was Friday . I was making good progress in my project . I couldn’t say the same about my love life. In the evening Anushka told me , “ Prakarsh , today I need to leave early , I have to go to see my aunt .”
“No problem . Where does she live ?” I asked .
“I don’t know the exact address. Manish knows .”
In the evening as I saw her leaving I looked at Amit and put forth a question .I knew he was the last person to seek an advice from , but then desperate times call for desperate measures.
“ Is it wrong to follow a person you madly love.?”
Amit looked at Anushka through the glass window , then he looked at me .
“Some other time I would have said yes, but Prakarsh , remember, this is your second chance” and he
threw me the keys of his Enfield.
………………………………………………………………………..
The wind was very strong that night . As it hit my face , I realized that perhaps today , I was on the verge of losing everything . Today I would learn the truth .
When Manish’s car stopped , I was surprised . B. C Roy Hospital was not the place to take a girl. But what surprised me more was that Anushka was not in the car .
I waited for him to get inside the hospital. When I entered the hospital , I could see no sign of Manish .
I moved to the second floor . There were many rooms along both sides of the corridor . I peeped into the rooms , taking care not to invite anybody’s attention. As I reached the room at the end ,I saw Manish move out from the room into a cabin. I was about to move near the cabin , when Manish stepped out of it . I jumped back . When I heard Manish’s footsteps on the stairs , I heaved a sigh of relief. I slowly moved near the cabin . The name plate that hung on the door surprised me . DR. MANISH SEKHSARIA. Manish , a doctor? I went inside his cabin . On the centre table was a file . Three words were written on it . PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL . I opened the file , it contained loads of papers . I caught hold on one . It ran.
Patient’s Name : Anushka Bhattacharya
Parent / guardian : Mrinmoy Bhattacharya
Doctors / Referrals from : Dr. Manish Sekahsaria
Treatment on : CML ( also called Chronic granulocytic leukemia)
Stage: Blast crisis
Present symptoms : 1) night sweats
2)swollen spleen
3) petechiae
Recent tests conducted: Bone marrow Aspiration , platelet count.
Medicines administered : Hydroxyurea (Hydrea)
Gleevec
Sprycel
Tasigna
………………………………..
I did not understand a lot of things written on that paper. However I did know one thing ….. the blast crisis stage of a leukemia is not curable…..
I also understood one more thing….. the reason why Anushka left Kolkata two years ago…….
…………………….
Next week Part 4 and its everything ends…….
Because some love stories don’t need a second chance…
Pls post your comments here and not on orkut … thanks…
I hereby want to thank FOUR people
Ranjan Laha , for scraping me and asking about when I am going to post my stories.
Tuhina Agarwal , for making me feel like a great author all the time.
AND to my seniorS at IISWBM Neelam and Suchismita for telling me how much they liked this story .. I thank them all … it makes me feel that atleast I am doing something right…
