Pehla Nasha: 'Was she actually talking to ME?'

Image: Ankur Jha

It may all seem a little funny now and may mean nothing to you beyond a fond memory, but it's fun reminiscing all about your first love!

With Valentine's Day coming up, we invited readers to share stories of their first loves with us. Here is the next set of responses!

First up we have Ankur Jha's tale:

First of all, I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. My age is 21,and I am a third year engineering student. I used to be, you can say, one of the shyest boys in my section in school. I hardly spoke to any girl until Class 12 (a very late time to start!). From the beginning, my upbringing was such that I barely and rarely managed to speak to girls.

Then came college -- the first year. Oh yes, the first year of my new academic life. Who can forget memories of college? I bet everyone either had a bf/gf or at least a crush during college life, if not in school. So did I.

When I was in my first year, there was this girl who came to class with the rest of her girlfriends on the first day. I was on the last bench, as I had come late and couldn't find myself a seat. So these girls asked whether they could sit beside me; only the bench I was on and the adjacent one were empty. I said yes. They sat and started conversing among themselves. Then suddenly they spoke to me and I was shaken (first time direct speech -- shivering moments!). Gradually I got comfortable speaking with them.

I saw this girl then -- she was sitting right next to me and we spoke. We exchanged numbers, as we were from the same faculty and then class was over. Afterward, we started meeting in class each day and in our spare time, roamed with friends on campus. I gradually started falling for her, because she was so cute and sweet (she still is, lol!).

It was a month later that I realised I had actually fallen in love (can you imagine?). I never mustered up the courage to tell her that I liked her and we continued to meet. Those eyes, that cute smile of hers, which chilled my mind -- oh God, I was cursing myself!

But after quite some time, I started to realise that this love was actually nothing more than an infatuation, which we are all struck with at least once in our lives. After that, due to different and due to her commitment to her boyfriend (came up towards the end of the first year), we actually met very rarely. I now also have a loving and caring, sweet, pretty girlfriend (she is very sweet, I must say), but if you ask me, I would still have to say, "Dude, that was my first-ever crush."

Share your 'First Love' stories with us! Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: 'My First Love'). You can also include a photograph and we'll publish the best entries right here on rediff.com!

'She refused point blank to give me her number!'

Next we have Mujtaba Ali's experience:

I was quite an introvert at heart during my early teenage years. I had minimal contact with the fairer sex, as my school was not co-ed. At 15 though, I was super excited that my family was shifting to New Zealand and at the possibility of me hooking up with goris. As it turned out, although I became good friends with many girls, I did not really like anyone and did not intend to scare my parents by dating a foreign girl. Two years down the line, I was heading back to India as things did not work out there.

So here I was, 17 years of age and in Class 12 in India. I was happy to know that my class was co-ed and thought my experience with Western girls would be helpful. I was wrong! I was taken aback when I realised that the girls sat on one side of the class, with the boys on the other and without any interaction between them. I was very keen on this girl that sat in close proximity to me. I managed to befriend a couple of other girls in class and found out all about her. Her name was Asma. I was enthralled by her and constantly ogling at her. Whether it was her beauty, her shy nature, her 'adayen', I don't know, but I was falling head over heels for this girl and did not mind my sore bum from hours of sitting on a wooden bench in an Indian corporate college.

I could not muster up the courage to talk to her. I was challenged by friends and I decided to take it up. Her hand was apparently fractured and her delicate limb was covered in white. She did not come to the practicals. With concern and love in my eyes, I went to her when there were no people in class and said softly, "You did not come to practicals?" She shot back, "Well, that's none of your business." I was scurrying for cover after this one and quietly retreated to my place!

I decided to give it one last shot and there was no way I could gather the courage to directly speak to her again. I asked one of the girls I befriended to approach her and ask for her number. She refused point blank and that was the end of the story for me, or so I thought. I stopped ogling at her and ignored her, although I was secretly hoping that she notices this. I do not know whether it worked, but she had a change of heart and sent her number through this girl.

The next thing I knew, I was spending hours at a friend's house -- he had a Tata landline connection and Tata to Tata was free! I was totally intent on making her my wife. One month into our telephonic relationship I expressed that I loved her with my heart in my mouth, knowing this could change my life. It did. She sobbed and said she was already engaged, as her parents had fixed up a match and she could not stand up against it. I was heartbroken for the first time and it was a very bad feeling.

We did talk for a few more days and then decided it wouldn't be right to continue. I did call her up every year on her birthday, hoping and wishing for the best. Three years on, when I rang her up on her birthday, she said her engagement was broken and expressed interest in me. We started talking again and I guess I came on too strong after the years away from her, or she realised she wasn't in love with me and we stopped talking.

Next year, I met the love of my life and am currently engaged to her. I still do remember Asma on her birthday and feel like calling her up. After all, she was my first love/crush -- whatever you might wanna call it. But I decided not to. Let me tell you though, that I will never forget her, or her telephone number!

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

'I still love you...'

Here is Sonu's story:

I don't know whether this was my first love, neither was it love at first sight. But surely, it was true love -- and we know it happens in life only once...

I was working as a trainee, she used to head our PMO department. I was not one of the handsome dudes who the office fell for, neither was she a bright spark you would want to keep talking to, but she was pretty enough to get your attention. Like it happens everywhere, the like-minded among us formed a group -- six of us, including her and me. It started with sharing our breaks during work, to interacting over the phone/e-mail/ chat and we finally used to wait to be all alone, enjoying each other's company.

It started out as a beautiful relationship, where the idea was to be with each other. Time just zoomed by; we were in a bond -- we couldn't stand to miss each other and only found reasons to be together. Then came Valentine's Day -- so how would we celebrate? Instead of roaming around frantic Mumbai city and getting into a crowd, we settled into a place which was only for us (I cannot share it with you). She gifted me a beautiful piece of handcraft -- a woven, colourful landscape, framed in wood.

As time passed, I was posted in Southeast Asia and we drifted apart. Maybe time was to blame, or maybe we were to blame for not reaching out to each other. Whatever it was, the fact is that from togetherness we moved to separation

I still have my prized possession. Every Valentine's Day, I take my only Valentine's gift out of my closet and remember the day and the times.

Still love you, Rani...God bless you...

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

'I got the shock of my life when I learned that she already had a boyfriend'

And finally, we have Mukesh Gupta's tale:

This started around five years ago. She used to come to tea in the restaurant opposite our hotel. That day I was standing outside the hotel as we had some group arrivals and there she was, sitting and having a cup of tea/coffee ( I really don't know) and with those large, lovely eyes staring outside. I could not help but see her. For me she was the most beautiful girl in the whole world. I thought that I was in heaven, forgetting everything about our group. Suddenly she started to walk away and I came out of my dream.

For two months whole, I would step outside the hotel hoping that I would have the luck of seeing her, but to my dismay, I could not find her. Then one day suddenly, I saw her in the shopping mall next to our hotel. I thought that this time I will not lose her and followed her to some distance, but I did not have the courage to speak with her.

Then, after six gruelling months, I had the chance to meet her once again. This time I followed her and with all my courage, I asked her name, to which she hesitantly replied. I was in seventh heaven and quickly gathering more courage, I asked for her cellphone number and to my delight, she actually gave it to me.

We started talking over the phone for quite some time and when I thought that she was quite interested in me, I proposed to her. That day I got the shock of my life, when I learned that she already had a boyfriend and she was going steady with him. It felt like thousands of stones crushing me deep inside my heart. But I regained my composure and she assured me that she thought of me as a good friend, but nothing more than that. The day was Valentine's eve and I thought that I would give it one last try, as I had never liked a girl before that or since.

I went up to her college and tried to start a conversation, but with her friends around we did not get a chance to talk that much. Nevertheless, I waited for her classes to get over, so that I could give her the present I brought for her. When she was coming out of the college gate, I just called her to a corner and told her that I had a gift for her. She was quite amazed that had actually brought a present for her. I just opened it and out came a little puppy with a white collar, as I knew that she loved dogs. Without waiting for her reply, I just left her there to admire and play with it.

The next day she came to my hotel and asked me why I left before she could even say thank you. I just made up an excuse that I had had some urgent work. Meanwhile she thanked me and told me that although she did accept the gift, she was still in love with someone else. Ever since that day, I am still waiting for her and I hope that she will come to me someday and tell me that she loves me.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

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