" Hi Rahul.. This is my new number. Sheela here.. how r u? Loooong time!

" I a
m Arun Kumar, doing my 2nd year engineering and living in a hostel in one of tho
se million engineering colleges in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. I had just received an
SMS with the above text at around midnight. Basically being a barren land when
it comes to girls, I was not sure how to react to that message. It was pretty ob
vious that the message was not intended for me but I didnt want to let go of thi
s opportunity. A thousand questions ran through my mind as I looked at the SMS f
or the 197th time in 5 minutes. Should I reply saying Im not Rahul? Should I cal
l that number? Should I ignore the message? What if its an attu piece? Damn! Ive
never strained my brain so much in my life. Finally I decided to temporarily ig
nore the message. Firstly, I didnt want to portray myself as too desperate by re
plying immediately, and secondly, it would give me time to think.. After a lot
of deliberation, I decided to reply next morning from class. Hi Sheela.. sorry
for the late reply.. had slept yesterday.. Im doin great.. wazzup with u? Yes, I
had done what Madhavan did in Minnale. I knew I was no Maddy in looks, but how
would she ever find out through a phone? Nervous and struggling to concentrate i
n class, I waited for a reply from Sheela. After a wait of around 20 minutes whi
ch seemed like an eternity, I received an SMS. Hey! Im good 2...slept so soon?
? I thot guys in IIT hostels dont sleep so early! Anyways, no problems..:).. whe
re r u now? Bunked class? Its been ages since we spoke.. I guess we didnt talk a
fter the school farewell?? IIT. A mini explosion took place in my heart. IIT e
nga naa enga? No wonder she had messaged Rahul after a looooong time! But I deci
ded to carry on. Confident machi.. confident I said to myself and replied: Yea
h guys in IIT hostels dont sleep early. But you know Im not one of those nerds ;
).. and yeah.. a looong time indeed..madam suddenly became super-busy after scho
ol :P Somehow, my hands automatically made me use smileys. Pretty soon I recei
ved a reply and we started exchanging messages at a faster rate. Ha ha! Me and
busy? No way! And you not a nerd eh? Then how did u get to IIT in the first pla
ce :P? Still trying to find out the answer. I actually asked my professor afte
r I joined here. He said shit happens once in a while.. I guess that answers it
;) LOL. Im literally rolling on the floor and laughing uncontrollably. HAHAHA!
came the reply. Was it that funny? Anyways, a part of me felt proud and happy
to have made a girl laugh. The confidence urged me to continue. Chuck that. H
ey btw..wazzup with u? What you doin these days?Im sorry I forgot.. you know IIT
guys tend to have short term memory loss ;) Ah..but i thot you were not the t
ypical IIT guy?? :P Im like you.. in the process of wasting 4 years of my life..
I mean Im doing engineering..but not in the IIT! LOL I had succeeded in my fi
rst step - to get some details. But why was she LOL-ing? Whatever. I decided to
LOL too. Thought it would sound rude otherwise. LOL. Yeah I guessed you would
be doing engineering.. and Yeah not many people waste their lives in IITs ;) Its
reserved for the special (un)lucky ones! Haha! You are in IIT and you are com
plaining? But its logical - guys in IIT are never satisfied.. thats why you end
up in IIT in the first place! I went and stood near a mirror. The person from
the other end stared back at me and had a million expressions. Some of them bein
g : * This face ku IIT too much. * This face ku IIT too much. * This face ku I
IT too much. * This face ku IIT too much. * Have you ever seen an IIT campus? *
Have you ever seen an IIT campus? * Have you ever seen an IIT campus? * You stil
l have 3 arrears left. * You still have 3 arrears left. * You still have 3 arrea
rs left. But I decided to carry on. Confident machi..confident. Oh what a br
ainy girl..you deserve to be in the IIT :P No thanks. Im happy this way. And h
ey btw.. how did u find out that I would be doing engineering too?? Oh..that..
Its only natural for anyone to jump into engineering after 12th standard right?
Especially for girls..enroll in some engineering college.. slog for 4 years... o
utperform the boys.. draw margins in assignments.. submit assignments a day in a
dvance.. block 2-3 jobs when the guys struggle to get one.. and then finally giv
e up the jobs to marry some rich guy from America.. this is the life-routine for
most girls in Tamilnadu right? :P Ooooohh.. why dont you give some figures ab
out how many girls take up engineering... how many go on to get jobs.. how many
get married to America maapilais? That would be interesting..:P You think Im
captain Vijaykanth or what? ;) I am weak in those statistics! LOL. You are a f
unny guy. Anyways.. i got to go.. nice convo after a long time.. bye bye It wa
s indeed a nice convo, not after a long time - but for the first time. I just re
alised that I had spent almost the entire morning session in messaging her. Ther
e are a few ways to check if your kadalai session went well - First, you should
lose track of time. Second and most important: you should not remember what you
spoke. I succeeded in both and found myself smiling - for no reason. *********
******** The next few weeks saw me completely addicted to my mobile phone. I t
ook it everywhere I went. Literally everywhere. You usually have an entire lifet
ime to waste when you are in an engineering college and I made maximum use of it
. My daily routine was simple: 1. Wake up in the morning and either send or rece
ive messages like : Morning Coolness, Rising Sun, Singing Birds, Melting Dew,
Along With This Little Heart Wishing You A Very Glorious Good Morning. 2. Go t
o class and continue messaging 3. Go for lunch. 4. Send/receive messages lik
e : Give laugh to all but smile to ONE. Give love to all but heart to ONE. Giv
e life to all but live for ONE.. Have a cool evening. 5. Continue messaging
6. Continue messaging 7. Send/ Receive messages like: In this lovely night, I
pray to the sweet moon to protect you through the night, The wind to blow away y
our worries, and, the twinkle stars to guide you the way, Sweet dreams and Good
Night. Who are you messaging at 2 AM da? Raj, my roomie asked me suddenly. T
aken aback, I stuttered and replied Not messaging da.. playing a game on the pho
ne.. not getting sleep so just killing time Ooooho.. sounds very convincing..
show me your phone.. Ill also play the game.. even am unable to sleep Battery
low machaan.. got switched off just now.. gonna sleep now..gnite, I said and imm
ediately deleted my inbox. There was no way I could tell my friends what I was
up to. There are some drawbacks of being a gethu gang ( member in college - you
were not allowed to talk to girls. Friends would first tease you. Then warn you
not to trust girls. Then ignore you. Then abuse you. The guys in hostel would t
hink I was some villain and leave me out of their plans. I was not going to let
that happen to me. Hey.. gotta go now..ill be dead if my friends find out im m
essaging a girl so late in the night..dont ask me why.. thats how these idiots a
re in hostels :(.. do not reply.. ive deleted my inbox.. will msg you tomo.. gni
te! I sent her an SMS before sleeping. The addiction got worse each day. I ign
ored food, I ignored sleep, I ignored my studies. All I cared in life was the SM
S from her. I succeeded in almost everything - I got to know about her, I got to
know about Rahul, I made her get addicted to her mobile as much as I was to min
e. But there were a few questions which I couldnt find answers to. Firstly, is t
his love? Secondly, is she an attu figure or good figure? Thirdly, how and when
am I going to tell her the truth? The second question didnt really matter beca
use I was too addicted to her anyways. The only problems seemed to be the 1st an
d 3rd questions, and there was only one way I was going to find answers to those
- ignore her. Time would solve my confusions, I thought and started ignoring he
r. Yes, I decided to stop sending or replying to her messages from then on. It
was easier said that done though. My hands would itch to grab the mobile and se
nd her a message - especially when I was sitting bored in a stupid lecture. The
first 2-3 days were very extremely difficult. I would get a forward or two from
her, which I read and ignored. If the first few days were difficult, the next 2-
3 were unbearable. Hey.. wassup?, Hey..too busy or what? showing off that you
are an IIT-an to me eh? Thought you were not one of those nerds? ;) , This is wh
y I HATE IIT!. These were a few messages that I got from her. She would never re
ceive a reply. A week passed, and it was getting clearer to me that I couldnt
live without her. The first question was answered. Call it love. Cal it friendsh
ip. Call it whatever. I wanted to talk to her. But the week also taught me an im
portant thing - that I cant continue this for long. I HAD to tell her the truth.
But how could I suddenly give her such a shock? What if she stops talking to me
? What if she goes to the cops? A million questions ran through my mind when my
phone beeped. Hi.. look I dont know what happened to you all of a sudden.. i
ts been a while since you contacted me.. I dont understand why you are avoiding
me..but let me tell you one thing.. I dont think I can be normal without messagi
ng you..I dont know what else to say.. all I can say is plzzz reply! Miss u :(
I was happy and sad. I was happy that she missed me. I was sad that I had put h
er through this. An important question had just been answered. She indeed felt t
he same way I did. But there was an important and unanswered question. How will
she react when I tell her the truth? After all, I was neither Rahul nor an IIT-a
n. Continue acting - told a part of me. Tell her the truth, said another. I deci
ded not to think. I took my phone, closed my eyes and typed as fast as I could.
Look Sheela.. I have a confession to make.. I dont know how to say this. I am
not the guy who you think I am. I am not Rahul. My name is Arun Kumar. I do not
study in IIT. I am just another engineering student in just another engineering
college like you. I realised the very first day you messaged me that I was not t
he intended recipient but decided to carry on. I know I was being cheap, but I d
idnt think it was wrong. It started as a timepass thing but it became much more
than that over the weeks.. I dunno if you are fair. I dunno if u r fat. I dunno
if u r good looking. I dunno if u r ugly. But I do know that I dont care. All I
care about is YOU. And yes, I do know that I love you. You can choose to swear a
t me. You can choose to reject me. You can choose to accept me. But please do no
t choose to ignore me...(i dont know what smiley to use).. I sent the message.
I didnt bother to read it again. My eyes remained close till I heard the next b
eep. Look Arun. I too have a confession to make.. I dont know how to say this.
I am not the girl who you think I am. I am not Sheela. I am Raj - your roomie.
Please come immediately to the next room.. all of us are waiting for you :D :D :
D