'His Past carried bearing on the Now & the Forthcoming.'

The story revolves around a boy named Shaeelou Solankee & Nupur Nagarsheth. This incident began on the day of Uttarayan, falling on 14th January of the year 1991. The boy belonged to a very middle class family & the girl belonged to a very renowned, wealthy & prestigious family. When Shaeelou met Nupur for the first time, he was absolutely mesmerised with her. But Nupur was totally unaware of his sentiments. An unusual one-sided attraction had so unknowingly blossomed in the heart of this young boy.

Shaeelou was a very shy, introvert but warm hearted boy whereas Nupur was bold & ambitious girl. Shaeelou met Nupur at his residence where Nupur had gone with her friend Rupa, who was incidentally Shaeelou's Rakhi sister. They both were in the first year of the college, just about to embark on a journey of candied & pleasurable youth. He wanted to express his feelings to Nupur. But he was not sure whether the same feelings would be reciprocated. So he carefully hid those sentiments in the deep recesses of his heart. Off & again, they met, on the pretext of exchanging notes related to studies or some or the other festive occasion. But Nupur as usual never thought of him, otherwise than as her best friend's brother. Then both of them graduated in the year 1993 & soon the meetings became less frequent. Shaeelou's ambition was to become a great cricketer. But he was very lazy & unresolved. He could not just pursue his passion. He was never an achiever. If the things could not easily be availed, he would just stop yearning for it. He would lose interest in it almost abruptly. This basic trait in his nature became his prominent weakness in the long run.

Soon the college days were over & both of them graduated with flying colours. Nupur got involved in pursuing her ambition of becoming a Chartered Accountant. Shaeelou fortunately started working as clerk in one of the Nationalised bank. He got this job on the basis of the cricketer's quota. So Shaeelou's life became a little settled. But Nupur had responsibilities towards her studies & still had to clear her professional examination. So Nupur completely stopped going to Shaeelou's house. So he again became desolate & started to channelise his energies on the game of cricket. Nupur was very studious where as Shaeelou never concentrated on his studies. Both the individuals belonged to very diverse background in their thoughts, actions & emotions. So for Nupur, there never existed a chance or the common ground where they could meet or think of pursuing this mode of friendship .Maybe they were never destined to belong to each other. This was destiny's secret way of showing that any other relationship other than friendship was not possible.

Then Shaeelou as per his peculiar behavioural trait, stopped yearning for Nupur & finally in the year of 1997, he got married to another girl. Nupur, totally unaware of his one-sided love, even attended his wedding & congratulated the bride & the groom for their happy union. The time began to move with an amazing speed. Nupur cleared the intermediate course of her CA exams. Then when she was preparing for her final exams, her father met an untimely death. Nupur grieved a lot for her father. She almost became lost in the world of sorrows. Her father's absence from her life became almost unbearable. She could never adjust or compromise with this reality, which she was fated to accept. Infrequently Nupur met Shaeelou for attending to her mother's banking queries.
Even now Nupur was completely unaware of Shaeelou's attraction, which he had hidden for so long.

Shaeelou & Nupur started calling each other very frequently. They discussed their work
related problems but often the conversation slipped onto personalised topics. It was as if new, unknown & unnamed emotional bond blossomed between them, which were more in terms of love & less in the term of pure friendship. But Nupur was still unaware of Shaeelou's secret love & affection.

On the Valentine's Day falling of 14th of February 2010, Shaeelou called Nupur at her work place & asked her to check her message box of mobile phone. In that message, he had sent the sentiments, which he had held in his heart for such a long time. Still Nupur did not understand the hidden depth of his feeling. She thought they are just 'forwards,' which a friend normally sends to another on this very special day. Shaeelou on the very next day called Nupur to ask whether she liked the greeting which he had sent. Nupur told him it was the best forward she had received after a very long time. Then he invited her to have dinner with him, but Nupur rejected the offer since she could not comprehend the situation properly. As the conversation progressed further, Shaeelou asked Nupur as to why she had still remained unmarried. Nupur told him she had to meet her 'Mr. Right.'

But Shaeelou now a complete opposite to his old nature replied very outrageously. The reason was that "Since I did not propose to you, you have still remained unmarried." Nupur thought he was innocently teasing her. So in equally jocular tone, she replied back "If you would have proposed, then maybe I might have accepted." Then the very next words uttered by Shaeelou changed Nupur's thought process. Shaeelou then told Nupur he was in love with her for almost 20 years. But Nupur had a mind set of an auditor & refused to be sweet talked by Shaeelou. So Shaeelou started explaining her events that had occurred almost 20 years back. He told her they had met for the very first time on the day of Uttarayan & for him it was love at first sight. Nupur had gone to Shaeelou's place with her best friend Rupa, who was incidentally Shaeelou's Rakhi sister .He could also remember distinctly the clothes, which she was wearing, when we had first met. It was blue skirt topped with a white shirt (incidentally she still had that blue skirt & white shirt, since they happen to her favourites.) Since it was the day of Uttarayan, they had climbed on terrace of Shaeelou's apartment. The ladder was a little steep, so he had held Nupur from the waist to assist her to climb. Shaeelou flew the kite & had let Nupur enjoy the moments of flying the kite. (Till date Nupur does not know how to fly kites.) Nupur extracted a promise from Shaeelou that he would teach how to fly kites. But that promise was never kept by Shaeelou. Then he told her when he had touched her for the very first time, such electrical jolt he had received!

Then the day passed & Nupur enjoyed these beautiful moments. Little did she know what an impact it was going to be created in the times to come! He further explained that many a times he tried to come closer to Nupur but Rupa would always intervene. Sometimes Shaeelou thought that Rupa had become aware of his hidden felling for Nupur. Indirectly he had even told her that he had admitted to Rupa his budding love for Nupur. Bur Rupa chose to ignore it & explained to Shaeelou that it was useless yearning for the moon, which could only be seen & never be touched. So as usual Shaeelou decided to settle for the second best & started concentrating on his job & cricket.

Nupur was shaken to the core by this sudden revelation by Shaeelou. But Nupur had failed to recognise these signals, often sent by Shaeelou. She could not handle the facts that were staring back at her so distinctly. Then she remembered Shaeelou's frequent efforts to please her, his caressing gazes often expressed his secret love & his actions spoke louder than words. Nupur questioned him as to why Shaeelou did not express his feelings earlier. He was afraid of being rejected, in case if the same feelings would not be reciprocated by Nupur. Shaeelou was basically very shy & introvert, so he chose to remain quiet & let nature takes its normal course. Now Shaeelou is a married man & has got his responsibilities to wife & 2 children & Nupur yearns to pursue her lost dream. So that leaves Nupur & Shaeelou to pursue their chosen path separately.

Today Nupur is on the verge of becoming a Chartered Accountant, reasons that their association was never destined & also the Times had unknowingly played a part in keeping them apart. So these few concluding lines would define their relationship that the Times & Destiny had ordained for them:

Fate had willed us to meet, Again.....
Fate had initiated the desires,
That lay dormant..... Maybe Times wanted to reveal, in the end,
The strong & true yearnings,
Those were felt by Shaeelou,
But their association was never destined,
Even the present Times played a significant role,
In distancing them from each other,
For there existed no tomorrows,
To this two decade long one-sided love,
So the Destiny willed them to finally part,
And forge ahead on their pre-ordained path.

About Author / Additional Info:
The real incidents in life has inspired me to share these experiences with the rest of the world. The words flow directly from my heart & are expressed in ebony & ivory.