No matter where you are in your life, you may regret choosing the wrong love.
You may repent of some bitter deeds you committed in the past.
What is it like if life luckily gave us a second chance? Can those issues be resolved at least then for a better life?
For instance, what about love in middle age?!?!
"And those are the various software models. This ends our first module", declared Dr.Alok, pressing the remote's button to display the last slide on the screen behind. As the students sighed and closed their notes, he walked back to the lecturer's desk and closed the PowerPoint presentation, summarizing, "Guys, let's do a quick recap. We discussed what software is, the characteristics of software, and an introduction to a few models. Any doubts?" A guy with nerdy round spectacles and sitting on the third desk raised his hand.
Dr.Alok gestured for him to speak out, as he packed his laptop and smiled at the fat chubby last bencher who hurried to disconnect the adapter. "Sir, will we learn more about the RAD model?" The professor smiled and nodded, clarifying, "We will be discussing each of the models very much in detail in the subsequent module." As the studious guy sat back, the professor patted the notorious backbencher and announced, "Guys, you will have a quiz tomorrow."
"No!", "Please!", cheered the anxious students at which Dr.Alok chuckled, wondering, "One thing that never changed is the test phobia which has been prevalent for the past twenty-eight years just like my Nisha's love for me!" The students pleaded while he blushed secretly which his favorite student caught and teased loudly, "Oh! Our sir is in love!"
"What!", exclaimed Alok, pulling the nosy student's ears and pointing his index finger to divert the girls aww-ing at him, "Study well for your quiz tomorrow. The marks will be counted for your internals." As the students returned to mourning, Dr.Alok released Bunty and spotted Ishitha folding her hands and frowning at him. He touched his smartwatch to note that there were two minutes left to eleven that morning.
"Guys, do you have Ishitha mam's class next hour?", enquired he, at which Bunty shook his head, replying, "Sir, we have our soft skills session for placement training." The girl on the first bench nodded and added, "Prabhu sir's hour." He waved at the class and ignored their chorus request to postpone the quiz.
No sooner had he stepped into the corridor that Ishitha caught his hand and dragged him. "Ishitha, what happened? Where are we going?", he asked. She faced him only to frown again. He had a hard time balancing his laptop and the adapter cable only in his left hand.
"Dr.Ishitha Mathur", announced the golden nameplate, in bold black font. The board was pinned to the cabin's door. Ishitha opened it and walked inside. She made Dr.Alok sit on the cushioned rolling chair on the other side of the table. "What are you up to?", enquired Alok, shrugging and chuckling cluelessly at his colleague. Ishitha turned off the lights in her cabin and adjusted the curtains so as to cover the glassed windows on either side of her table.
"Fuck! Are you planning to perform some black magic on me? Darkroom is so damn creepy!", commented the curious Alok, looking around with his meek brown eyeballs rolling hither and thither.
Meanwhile, as the sunflowers bloomed and yellowed the green lawn of the Sunflower Residency, Sandhya, in a brown cotton sari, opened her flat's door. She was about to bend and take the newspaper on the mat when Raftaar gestured for her to stop. She smiled and nodded as he bent and handed it over to her. She patted his cheek, thanking and acclaiming him, "So sweet of you, beta. Haven't you gone to work yet?"
"Aunt, afternoon shift today. So, I am free in the morning", replied he. She invited him inside and gestured for him to take a seat on the couch in the hall. She filled a glass with the jar on the dining table. "Please, aunty, I don't want anything. Don't strain yourself to serve me...", said he, at which she laughed, offering him a glass of water. He shrugged and drank it, commenting, "Phew! Ladies and their hospitality! Aunty, please, not for me!" She smiled and asked him to drink peacefully.
"I just offered you a glass of cold water. What's the big deal? You never visited us, being your nearest neighbor. Are you settled now, beta? How is Delhi?", enquired Sandhya. He nodded readily and shared, "Yes, getting adjusted to the new city better now. Thanks for helping me find a maid and the milkman too. We couldn't speak much after the first day when I shifted. Thanks for the coffee and snacks you offered and helped me the entire day, aunty, otherwise I would have starved!"
She smiled and nodded, as he laughed. "When is your family planning to shift, beta?", enquired Sandhya, at which he shook his head, revealing, "No, aunty. I will live alone here..."
"Oh!What about your wife and children? When are they coming?", asked she, at which he laughed, asking, "Didn't Nisha inform you?" As Sandhya shook her head, Raftaar clarified, "I am unmarried, aunt. My five younger sisters are all married and settled overseas. I am done with my commitments, sold our haveli of Ludhiana, and shifted here as I always wanted to live in Delhi..." He sighed, sharing, "After my sisters left, I didn't want to stay alone in our haveli anymore and decided to shift to my favorite city. I thought that Nisha told you..Looks like she is busy with her work."
Sandhya shrugged asking if he indeed never married. He laughed and repeated, "Not at all, aunty!" His mobile vibrated and he left, requesting her, "Sorry aunty. I will talk to you later. It's my customer's call. I must answer. Bye!"
They waved at each other after which Sandhya realized, "This is my last chance to somehow convince Nishoo and fix her life. Raftaar seems to be the boon sent by the almighty for my Nisha. Otherwise, why should an unmarried middle-aged guy stay next door? No Nisha, don't be obsessed with Dr.Alok anymore. Can't you see that he is settled with Payal? He loves her and will never leave her. He just can't love you. I don't know why! And such questions can never be answered! Love is weird. Anyways, I see you talking freely and spending good time with Raftaar since he shifted here."
She coughed grumbling, "I too am getting old. I can't leave my daughter like this. She too deserves a happy married life although it's quite late now at forty-eight. Enough of your rejections and persistence till now. It's only my rule now, beta. She has been arguing that she won't move on, can't love anyone else, and will always love Alok for its so-called love. This won't continue anymore. I should save her."
She drank a glass of water, promising to herself, "I don't care if I force you and become a strict mom this one time. But, I must fix your life at least now. I have tried convincing you enough all these years but not anymore! I have lost patience, Nishoo. It's all for your well-being that's it."
On the other hand, Ishitha suspended a coin from a small string of around ten centimeters. "Shut up!", she instructed Dr.Alok as she swang it from left to right and vice-versa. "Alok sir, focus on the coin. Focus only on its movement and follow its path of motion. Think of nothing else but observing the coin and concentrating." He shrugged at which she raised her voice, "Come on, cooperate with me. No more questions."
As he looked at the coin and moved his eyes to catch it up, she began, "Follow the oscillations and answer me. I am your master and you are my slave for the next few minutes. A slave is only allowed to follow his master's order. Focus! Focus! Focus!" She smiled, acclaiming, "Good going."
"Now, answer my questions", ordered she. Dr.Alok's eyes didn't go anywhere else except on the pendulum's simulation; he shrank his eyes and witnessed the coin through his glasses.
"What's your name?", asked Ishitha.
"Dr. Alok Sharma", replied Alok, as the coin's reflection fell on his spectacles.
"What do you do?", interrogated Ishitha.
"I am the HOD of the Research Department and a faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at Rishi University", replied Alok.
"Very clear response. Who am I?", Ishitha threw her next question.
"Dr.Ishitha Mathur", answered Alok.
"How am I related to you?", asked she.
"You are my colleague", said he.
"Who was the guy you patted in the class?", asked she.
"Bunty", said he.
"How is he related to you?", asked she.
"My student in the Software Engineering class", said he.
"How is research related to you?", asked she.
"Research is my profession and my passion too!", said he.
"Why do you lecture students?", asked she.
"It's my career. I am a professor", said he.
"Why do you need your career?", asked she.
"It's my only livelihood", said he.
She pointed at his laptop which he had placed on the table and asked, "Why do you need the laptop?"
"I need it to prepare presentations and notes for my classes, communicate with the other HODs, my colleagues, play games and also prepare codes for labs", elaborated he.
"OK. Why do students need labs?", asked she.
"Labs are the only practical hands-on sessions essential to boost a student's technical skills", elucidated he.
"Why Nisha?", asked she.
"I can't live without her anymore", said he.
"Why so?", questioned she.
"Because I love her!", confessed he!
She blushed and threw her mouth open. She was so lost that she dropped the instrument that helped her hypnotize him and finally dig out the truth. Dr.Alok stood up and blushed to himself.
"Sexy!", exclaimed he, screaming like an excited boy setting out to buy his dream bike. "What did I just tell?", asked he, smiling and raising his eyebrows at Ishitha.
"Congrats!", screamed Ishitha, shaking her hands with his and concluding, "That's all, sir! You love Nisha, your Nisha medam!" The colleagues hugged each other as tears accumulated in Alok's eyes and he thanked her, "You solved my biggest dilemma so casually. What a surprise! I am glad to have a thoughtful colleague like you. Cool!"
Ishitha laughed at him, mocking, "I seriously wonder why you guys in love find it so hard to realize the beautiful feeling. Man, not everyone gets a chance to dance under the rainbow of love. Congrats, again! I feel happy for you!" He rushed outside. Ishitha slammed her forehead and switched on the lights to continue her paperwork on the laptop.
Dr.Alok blushed as he ran downstairs, ignoring two students who greeted him with a good morning. He caught his knees and breathed hard, as soon as he reached the tiled basketball ground. Although it was empty and enclosed by a green net in the four corners, his heart was filled with love, love, and love for Nisha. He looked up at the bright sunny sky and thought, "Thank you great heavens! Thanks for keeping me alive even after Payal ruined my life and I, a bad father ditched my own son. I now realized that you kept me alive so that I could feel this emotion making my heart beat with a different rhythm today."
He stood straight, opened his arms, and closed his eyes at the white sky. Dry breezes were incident on his face turning it a little pinkish with his lips widening and mouth left half-open. He yelled to himself, "I love you, Nisha." He shook his head, repeating, "I love you. I love you. I love you very much, Nisha medam. Yes, I have finally realized my love for you after Payal left me and I literally spared a second to sit and think about it although too late after you proposed to me."
The scene of young Nisha proposing to him beside the bakery outside their college flashed in his mind. He imagined himself removing his mask, blushing, and replying back at her, "I love you too, Nisha medam!!!" and hugging her firmly. He also saw her crying tears of happiness at that very moment.
"How I wish I had accepted you right back then, Nisha. I wish I had the power to rewind these twenty-eight years, exactly to the very moment you confessed your feelings for me", hoped he like a little boy wanting to catch a star in his hand and mesmerize it. He opened his eyes and sighed.
"I cannot miss you anymore, Nisha medam. I love you. Yes, I love you too!", murmured he.
Wohooo!!!Alok saar is finally sure of his love for his Nisha medam! However, Nisha's mother is planning something else. How will Alok and Nisha's love story shape up now?!
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