Wednesday, 23 January
I went moon-gazing at the SAC (Student Activity Centre) today. I saw through a telescope for the first time! Also, got to know a lot. These clubs at IIT Bombay are really good! I still don’t know the difference between a lunar eclipse and new moon though. I know I can be really dumb when I can’t help it.I saw a girl today. I don’t know her name. She must be a volunteer or coordinator of the Astronomy Club, I have no idea. She is cute, seems like a really nice girl too. She came up to me for contact details- name, email id and all. I wonder what year or branch she is. I should have asked…
Sunday, 10 February
The trip to Vangani was just as expected. Awesome! 9 of us went. 8 from Structures + Nidhi Tiwari. Anang, Balaji, Gaurav, Babu, Manoj Sir, KJ and Ravindra Masal. Night talk with Ravi was very “enlightening”. Stars, stars, stars. 😛
I think I have a crush on this girl. I wish I had enough courage to speak to her.
Her name is A*****a
Hostel 10, Room **2
Phone number 98x xxx x704
That is all that was on the poster. She is a coordinator. With a list and a pen, she was ticking off names and distributing coupons. Sweet! Anang and Ravi nicknamed her as “tick mark”.
I spoke to her once, got the dinner coupons and tea coupons for our group from her. She was handling her responsibilities pretty well, just like anybody else in her place would. Nevertheless, I was impressed. Then, in the early hours of morning, Anang and Ravi made me call her number and ask if and when we would be leaving. I called her at 3:57 am. She said she would call back and confirm. She actually did, at 3:59 am. Sweet! Okay, what is wrong with me?!
Preliminary search results yielded-
IITJEE 2011 Rank: 3**3 (Reg. No. B***436)
She went to St.Joseph’s Co-Ed School, Bhopal. 2011 passed out? Quite possible.
She was previously allotted Room 101 in her first year, along with her classmate MD.
a******10? Her birthday must be on the 10th of some month. And Bhopal? Interesting! That’s all I know about this girl. For now. Good enough. She has a unique name, which of course helps. There is no other A*****a S**i.
Thursday, 14 February
Saturday, 16 February
Well… It’s worth a try. It’s better than regretting for not having tried at all, right? If she responds, great! If she doesn’t, at least I shall be glad that I tried. I could build my confidence to speak to a girl I like in the future at least.
And I’ll kill Aiko for driving me crazy! By the way, that new page on Facebook- IITB Confessions is going viral. Every other college is going to follow suit now.
Wednesday, 20 February
IITB Confessions only lasted a week. They seem to have lost their way now. The posts are no longer confessions, the admins only choose the spicy wacky stuff to publish.
Thursday, 21 February
I decided not to send her a request yet, for some reason. Let me wait. I found her Facebook profile too, finally! I could send her a message, but there is every possibility that it may go unnoticed because of Facebook’s new notification policy (The damned ‘Other’ folder). I can’t take the risk. I’ll wait a couple of days, then maybe give it a try.
The other options are sending her an e-mail (stupid idea!), giving her a call (not even an idea!) and running into her (God, get an idea. Take the cue!)
Watching The Dark Knight. Yes, again.
Friday, 22 February
The Dead Man Stalking! I ran a Naveen-typical regulation background check. This is what I got:
- St.Joseph’s Co-Ed School, E-6, Arera Colony, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh – 462016
- Green-white building, green-white uniforms.
- The school celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 2011 with a laser show.
- The 2010 Graduation Day ceremony had a song performance of ‘hum rahe na rahe kal‘ by a certain Rahul and Palash, followed by a hilarious group dance by the boys.
- Red, blue, green, yellow checkered uniforms- must be houses. It reminded me of my own Yellow House, Topaz House and Phoenix House.
- The school has an Alumni network, but she hasn’t registered yet. I checked. I must remind her.
- An elder sister, who is a doctor. She has a 3-year old niece. A younger brother, I don’t know how old he is. All names begin with “A”, which is amusing, considering my own fixation with the letter “N”.
- She has been to Srinagar and Gulmarg not-so-long ago.
- Mutual interests? Photography, humour, psychology, astronomy, art, history, screenwriting, Calvin & Hobbes, Mr.Bean, Shah Rukh Khan, Levi’s, Tom & Jerry, Harry Potter, badminton, basketball, World Wars, Manchester United, Barcelona (“Seriously!”), Mohit Chauhan, Saina Nehwal, Akon… Good to go!
Username: winnie.t*****e (“Haha, aww!”)
She loves Winnie the Pooh, by the look of it? No wonder, they both look equally cute! Winnie the Pooh once said, “You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”
Really? So be it. I’m gonna “go”. God, please forgive the stalker in me.
I had my CE 620 mid-sem today. It went better than expected, even if I messed up the 2nd question. Watching The Prestige.
“Are you watching closely?”
You bet I am!
Monday, 25 February
I’m a bit disappointed, couldn’t bring myself up to go talk to her. How I wish I could! But also, if I go up to her and introduce myself, she might freak out. And react negatively. I am but a stranger to her. Well, I could message her on Facebook (a bit risky, the new notifications), or e-mail her (risky again!). Who the hell initiates friendships over the internet! On second thoughts, that seems to be my best bet at the moment.
So, should I wait longer till I introduce myself personally? Is that really going to happen any time soon? Or, maybe I should just follow my instincts. The only problem is, right now, I have no clue what they are!
P.S. As an afterthought, I could wait till Zephyr next week. I have a real chance to talk to her.
Friday, 1 March
It is 3 am. Just back from volleyball practice in H12.
Saturday, 2 March
She didn’t turn up at the cake-cutting ceremony of Zephyr. I was so hoping to see her there! Later, I went back to H12 for volleyball practice. There I saw her walking and talking with a guy friend. I’m guessing Krittika had a night sky observation session in the H12-13-14 premises.
Then in the morning I saw her again at the inaugural talk by the Director of DRDO, Dr. V. K. Saraswat. She was sitting a couple of rows in the front, on the left. She was wearing a white floral print top. She looks so cute even when she is yawning! (“Gawd just stahp”) I thought maybe I could catch up with her on the way out. But once the session ended, everybody headed to the door, she slipped away and I lost her in the crowd. I saw her at the table where tea/coffee and biscuits were kept, but before I could make up my mind about my courage levels, she went upstairs with her friend.
I didn’t run into her for the rest of the day. Have I lost yet another precious opportunity? Only time will tell. I bought an envelope and put the picture in it and sealed it. I don’t want the sketch to smudge away by the time she gets it. I even made a few random doodles and sketches on the plain side of the envelope, clues about me. I already know so much about her, I feel it would be unfair to her to not know anything about me, or even where to start. The envelope should help. I shall carry it in my bag at all times, so I don’t miss another opportunity.
Zephyr was good. Decent organizing by the 3rd years. Not bad, could have been much better. It brought back Entwirft memories. Much of Dr. Saraswat’s presentation went over the head. Then there were the RC plane and water rocketry competitions in the cricket ground. Post lunch, we had a live airship demo from Professor Pant’s lab students, followed by demo of Netra UAV by Idea Forge and an airshow. To end it, we had a panel discussion on Entrepreneurship in Aerospace by some very good speakers- Air Marshall J.S. Gujral, Mr. Babu Peter, Mr. Bharat Malkani, Mr. Pulak Sen, and our very own alumni Mr. Amandeep Singh. I didn’t get my Zephyr T-shirt though. I so badly wanted one!
Monday, 4 March
But, at around 1 am, on my way back, I finally ran into her! It was so unexpected! I was on my way back from the Convocation Hall. The road towards my hostel is fairly dim-lit. And at this hour, completely deserted. I had my earphones on, and was listening to songs on my way. So was she. I guess both of us were looking down mostly. But at the last moment of her passing by me, I happened to look up and I recognized her face in the light from the nearest street light. It was a split-second decision, the kind when the inner voice tells you NOT to reconsider or you will surely change your mind. I doubled back behind her. I think I tried calling out her name, but either my voice trailed off, or her earphones prevented it from reaching… well, her ears. I don’t think I have the kind of voice that reaches straight to the heart anyway.
I reached out my hand and almost tapped her shoulders before she turned around and started. I don’t recall the exact conversation anymore, but it went somewhat like this:
Me: “Hi… I dunno if you recognize me but I was wondering if… I mean… you know… um…”
She: “Excuse me. Who are you?”
(Dayum!)
Me: “Oh! I’m so sorry… um.. I’m Naveen, I’m your senior, I mean, MTech, but same department… um… I was in the group that came to Vangani, you know… The other day?”
She: “Oh yeah… okay…”
Me: “So… um… I was wondering if you would… you know… like to have… er… coffee with… (Deciding that this isn’t the way it was supposed to go) Oh, wait! I have something for you!”
I start taking out the envelope from my bag. A few awkward moments later I hand it over to her. She immediately looks at it and begins to go through the doodles, turning it over a couple of times. And while she does that, she says…
She: “Actually, you know, I’m getting late. I need to reach my hostel…”
Me: (Finally finding some voice) “Oh! That’s perfectly fine! Take your time. You can open it whenever you want!”
She: “Fine. Okay then… Bye.”
Me: “Okay, sure. See you.”
I finally managed a confident smile while waving a quick goodbye, but she had already turned and started to walk away.
When I told some of my friends about what I had done, I received mixed feedback. It was brave, crazy and stupid at the same time. Have I spoiled it? It’s been a day and she hasn’t responded yet. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Did I freak her out? Can’t go back in time and do it any differently now. Will she respond? I have a feeling she won’t, but I hope she does.
Damn the reality checks, they always hit me below the belt. I need to focus on my academics and physical fitness now. Maybe I am not worthy enough for her or anybody else for that matter. I may not be prepared. Besides, I need to work on feeling better about myself. And make myself more confident. I was fumbling like an idiot while talking to her yesterday.
Enough of A****** ka bhoot, sab utar gaya aaj toh. I never expected the excitement to be so short lived. But, I enjoyed every bit of the pursuit, thanks to her. So, irrespective of whether this goes anywhere, it has already been a hell of an experience. For a socially awkward introvert like me, it has been a crazy month. 😛
Oh, by the way, this is what was inside the envelope:
To be continued…
What do you think of my awkward old-school friend request? What would you have done had you been in her place? Would you choose to respond to such a move from a stranger? Have you done something just as crazy or crazier to get to know your crush? How did it go?
Let me know in the comments section. Cheers for now.
Also read: Crush ’em Hard
Well, I would have certainly freaked out,yes, if a guy had given me a “suspicious” thing in a sealed envelope at 1AM! However, you were quite brave enough to take that step. So, thinking that I might have run a few background checks on you and sort of considered ur 'err..coffee' offer 😛 😉
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Thank you! So sweet of you. 🙂
I guess I would react the same way had I been in her place. But considering the person has taken the pains to find out what I like and put in a sketch for me, I would definitely give him/her a chance, you never know.
And yes, only after the customary background checks. Obviously. 😀
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That's more of like Batman 😉
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I wish Blogger also had a “Like” option similar to Facebook. I SO want to like the above comment! 😀
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You needn't worry about that. That option will be available in a few years since every social networking site viz. Google+, is going FB-styled 😛
Can't wait for the part-2 of this crush story ! 😀
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I am sure. Facebook has the monopoly in trendsetting when it comes to online social networking.
Part 2 of the story, coming soon. 🙂
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