27th December 2004;6.00 p.m.:
Five years back,hundred odd students had walked through the stone arches of one of the oldest institutes in the country known for its high quality of education.Eighty of the bright minds would walk with their heads held high with a degree that was going to throw open the doors of the best paid jobs anywhere in the world.The valedictorian was nearing the end of his speech.He was a bright student and had won the honour by the virtue of his academic track record.Eighty black robes rose as one,cheering and applauding the speaker.Flat topped hats were flung in the air as the batch of '98 celebrated its passing out.Nilima got up from her seat and gazed at Mac beside her.Both of them grinned sheepishly.They had made it through one hurdle and were determined to get through the rest of them together.The day before,Mac had proposed to her.And she had accepted.For a moment she thought what Adi would think of it.She wondered if he knew.Relations had soured between Adi and Mac to an extent where neither could stand the mere presence of the other.Adi and Nilima had become total strangers to each other.Once-upon-a-time best friends had turned their faces and minds away from each other.Adi was politely clapping along.The past three years had taken their toll on him physically and mentally.Academically he had emerged trumps.A wildcard entry that had proven itself.On the personal front however he had nothing worth envying.Enstrangement from Nilima had robbed him of his laughter and capacity to look at life with rose tinted glasses.Mac had stoked his insecurity.Sometimes he thought that the fault was his own.These thoughts hardly mattered now.Wish as hard as he could,nothing sort of magic was going to revert the status quo.Nilima had walked out of his life and he was left wondering whom to blame.She had asked him countless times what was the problem.He kept brushing off her questions because he would have to tell exactly how he felt about her.and for some reason he did not want to.Now he wished he had.Things would have been different.His distancing himself from Nilima had brought Mac closer to her.He had delivered the coup de grace three years back.Memories of that evening still made his eyes watery.To top the situation he was not a social animal and preferred spending his time either alone or with Nilima.With Nilima gone,he found it hard to socialise.Two years had already passed by and his batchmates had found people who shared similar tastes.In a sea of people who had drifted towards each other he was a misfit and suddenly found himself alone.He plunged headlong into his work and allowed it to occupy all his waking hours.Slowly but painfully,memories of the good times with Nilima faded away.News of Mac's proposal had reached his ears.He had frozen for a moment clenching and unclenching his jaw,his hands balled into fists.As the catatonia passed,five years of sweet and sour memories flooded his mind space.They were still running through his mind like a bad print of a movie as he made his way through the stone arch for the last time.Nilima watched the gaunt frame of Adi as it went into the setting sun framed by the imposing arch.Tears ran down her cheeks as she watched the straight back of her friend for the last time...
The End.
