We all have encountered desperate people around us who increase our stress levels while providing entertainment to our friends. These are the kind of people who make us realize the importance of goal-oriented and matured individuals. This story is of one such really desperate guy called Jaspreet Singh Kalra.
Jaspreet is a native of Delhi and is a hardcore punjabi by heart. He believes in keeping himself fit and is heavily influenced on making his physique like one of the many body-builders/wrestlers/actors. He recently came over to Mumbai to spend some time here at his aunt’s place in Goregaon and the story begins there. So, Jaspreet used to live in a well known society and the building was well known for the posh lifestyle of its occupants.
One of the occupants is my good friend, Ashlesha Bhogle. Ashlesha has been living in that place for many years now and has encountered Jaspreet now and then. They used to exchange pleasentries or atleast a wave of the hand when they met. Ashlesha had a habit of keeping a jar of water outside her window solely for the birds to drink. This jar (for some reason) was made of glass. So one day, Ashu happened to drop the jar from the 8th floor (where she stayed) on a Mercedes. And this Mercedes happened to be of Jaspreet.
Ashu was feeling nervous. She was a guilt ridden person. If she did a mistake, the mistake would really eat her up until she apologized and the concerned person accepts her apology. She had happened to ask my opinion on the matter and I had suggested to go ahead and apologize to the guy and finish the matter by saying that any damage done will be reimbursed. She was still not sure but went ahead with it.
She went down to the lobby of her building and was waiting for Jaspreet there. This was the time for him to return from his gyming sessions. Ashu was waiting and picturing every possible scenario in her mind. Then he arrived, his tee all sweaty and his face exhausted. Ashu asked him to wait but he insisted on taking a shower first. Ashu was not interested in waiting any longer, so she asked him to just let her finish what she wanted to say quickly after which he can take leave.
He accepted her proposal and they sat on a bench and no sooner did they sit, Jaspreet removed his tee and heaved a sigh of relief. Ashu was a bit taken aback by this and was wondering how to react. Seeing her uncomfortable, he put his tee back on and asked her whether she would like to join him in his car. She refused again citing the fact that she doesn't have much time. Jaspreet started a conversation asking her about her life and she replied as requested and with that reply she blurted out that she had broken her glass jar on the top of his mercedes.
The guy started laughing and asked her to relax. He told her it was no big deal and that he was anyway finding a reason to dump this car to buy a new mercedes. (Yes, you heard that right and it really happened. Meanwhile,I am waiting for the skullcandy earphones to get cheaper :( ). This was Ashu’s turn to feel relieved as she thought this would cost her a lot. But, due to the extreme river-heartedness (darya dil) of Jaspreet she was excused. Jaspreet asked her no. just to keep in touch with her.(She will regret this later as many of us have) She went home a much happier person and as soon as she reached home, Jaspreet pinged her saying that she doesn’t look good upset and nervous. Ashu didn’t know what to reply so she let it go.
The next morning Ashlesha went about her daily routine of preparing for her UPSC entrance papers. But it was becoming a bit tedious to continue and so she invited a few of her friends to come down and play badminton with her. The heat was already starting to make way towards the ground of the buildings and into the apartments of the fellow residents. Soon, Jaspreet woke up and couldn’t stand the idea of not being part of the game.
Jaspreet went down and joined them. After finishing the game, he asked all of them to join him in having breakfast outside. Few of them went home but a few stayed including Ashu. They all went to have breakfast. During breakfast, Jaspreet was describing his job in Delhi and his educational background while others pitched in about theirs. As the breakfast ended and all were heading home, Jaspreet had made some new friends he could hangout with later.
This breakfast session with Ashu was followed by a series of whatsapp chats and facebook tags. Ashu had quit her job to prepare for UPSC and here, she was dealing with a guy who was not letting her prepare. He even went so far as to asking her as to why he can't tag her on FB posts anymore. She couldn’t keep it in and confessed that she was getting distracted by all the tagging and chatting and wanted to focus on her studying. The guy got a bit dejected on hearing that and told her that he only wanted to be her friend as he had only a few guys in that department.
Ashu might be a stern person but like every girl she had a soft side. She asked him to be less distractive and she won't mind talking to him when she had time. Now we fast forward to last week when Jaspreet was about to leave for Delhi. He asked Ashu for a whole day to hangout with her. On one hand, she was a bit apprehensive because she had a lot of studying to do but on the other hand, Jaspreet was leaving in a few days and she didn’t want to disappoint him.
She agreed to his idea but also made it clear that he can’t stay at her place the whole day but they will chat online. And during this time, the chat between me and Ashu was negligible. I had no idea what was going on and had I known what was happening, I would have warned her against this idea of his. Anyway, they went ahead with the proposal spending a whole day talking to each other, knowing about each other and having a good time. At the end of the day, Jaspreet asked her to accompany him tomorrow to the airport when he leaves.
Ashu agreed reluctantly to this and asked her friends to accompany her to send Jaspreet off. So, the next day, Ashu and her group accompanied Jaspreet to the airport and were talking to him all the way. Her friends were waiting outside at the baggage counter while Ashu went with Jaspreet till the waiting area. She was looking at his passport when suddenly Jaspreet looked into her eyes and said “I will wait for you”.
This came as a shock to her, as she didn’t expect such a reaction from Jaspreet over her gestures. And she never in anyway insinuated that she wanted to be involved with him. Jaspreet left after saying this leaving Ashlesha blank and poker-faced. Her friends came searching for them and asked her where he went. Ashlesha wasn’t in a condition to reply (Filmy over-reaction), so her friends called him to ask where he went. When Ashu came to her senses, she asked where he was and her friends replied that he boarded the plane and was crying when they spoke to him.
Ashlesha went home and was emotionally drained. She didn’t know how to react. In her heart she was a really filmy person but in her mind she was always a practical person. (And btw, she hadn’t told me this incident until the next few days) She was confused on what to do and how to counter this roller-coaster. She unfriended him on FB, blocked him on Whatsapp and other social media. She went to his aunt’s place and paid for the damage she had caused to his car. And finally she decided that she was never going to encourage such people again and cut them as soon as they start.
Haven’t we all come across such people who within a month want to become your life partner or just a casual dating companion. People love fast food so much that with the advent of social media, they are pulling off fast romance. Such people want everything quickly but they forget the basic thought that anything that begins quickly ends quicker. Everything requires a foundation to be built around which you can pile on build something beautiful. Everything from business to friendships to relationships requires time and space. Never encourage people who don’t give you your required space and distract you while you are devoting your time to more important work.
Beautiful things come to those who wait and let things take their course.
(P.S People have started reading my blog hoping that it isn't their story thats been published. There is a crazy child in all of us :P )
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