Every day I would reach home by 5:30 PM. What other better job than chat with a guy?!!
Praveen’s Yahoo Messenger Name was Kimi Praveen. Oh yes. He was a die-hard fan of Kimi Raikkonen.
As soon as I open my Yahoo Messenger, there will definitely be a message waiting ready for me to read..
@KimiPraveen: What plans for today?
@Me: Nothing. Just Chatting with you
And we kept chatting, chatting and chatting through the days….
He would tell me loads and loads of stories about Raikkonen in the dead of the night, and I would be sitting and chatting, not realizing the clock was ticking away.
We talked about college, our school days, our teachers, our families, well, almost anything. We just had to talk.
His father worked at the Indian Railways, and they stayed in the Kodambakkam Railway Quarters, his mother was a house wife, his sister, Cetlin, was a software engineer, married and had a kid.
He was always there on yahoo messenger. Whenever I logged in he would be available. Praveen lived and breathed the Messenger!!
He would explain: “Oh, I am jobless. I always keep surfing the net, always there on Yahoo Messenger and Orkut. What other better business ;)”
I also found out that Praveen was a chess player, an accomplished chess player. He had won several inter-collegiate matches. Then how come he has lost in the inter-departmental matches? “Over-confidence” he replied.
I told him of how I had seen him at the bus stand on the other day.
He replied: “Oh. I too saw you. I too didn’t know how to come over and talk to a girl I had never spoken to before, that too in a public place. So, I didn’t”
After that, every other day, we played on Chess.com
Praveen played amazingly. He would defeat me in less than10 mins. Seeing my deplorable position, he taught me from the English opening, the Kings Indian Defense, Larsen’s Opening, Latvian Gambit, Napoleon Opening, Ruy Lopez Opening, name it, and he knew it. I enjoyed every bit of the time spent on the learning.
We bunked college and went out for movies. – Anjathe, ‘Saroja’, ‘Abhiyum Naanum’.
During the interval of ‘Anjathe’ movie, Praveen softly and suddenly took my left hand in his. I thought probably he was disturbed about something, and thought of soothing him. I slowly and comfortingly placed my right hand above his, trying to give a reassuring touch, when suddenly, he took both my hands in his, and said, “No matter what happens, I will never leave you. I cannot live without you anymore. You are everything. You mean the world to me. Life without you is impossible. I know that I am a Christian and you are a Hindu. I will convince my parents no matter what. If needed, I will convince your parents too. I love you Karthika. Will you marry me?”
I could not say anything. I wanted to say so many things, but words failed me, I wanted to say, “Praveen I love you too, just as much as you love me”, but I couldn’t. Not knowing what to do, I allowed my head to rest against his chest for a while. Time flew; I don’t know how long, I don’t want to know how long. I don’t know how many people saw or how many people watched. It did not matter at that moment.
I have a friend who is beside me no matter what, a boyfriend who would do anything for me, and I have secured a job. Dreams soared up. I was going to earn my own money and start studying French on my own. Syntel had said training would definitely be in Pune. I would go there and study French without having to ask for parents’ permission. I was going to master French like no one else, I would visit France, find a job there,
Somewhere within my head, Red1 reminded me that:
“You shouldn't be doing this to yourself. This is just shitty pipe dreams. France is way up there and you're in here... and that's the way it is”