Love's Quirk

It was buried under heaps of memory spanning a period of 40 years.

The wife and I were on a visit to Daughter I living with her family in the U S of A. The son-in-law had arranged on the occasion, a get-together with his good number of cousins, a few of his NRI friends and their families living there. We were engrossed in small talk which included nostalgic memories back home in India.

While traversing down memory-lane, one lady and I discovered that we were batch-mates in the University! :)))))))

While talking about our University days, she suddenly asked me, “Do you remember the episode about (Here I shall not use real names to protect their identity.) Shyam Narayan ?”

Me: “Singhdeo? Shyam Narayan Singhdeo?”

She: “Yes.”

Me: “And Ghoornima Mishra?”

She: “Ah, Their love-story became a talk of the town. They became a legend.”

Ghoornima was tremendously beautiful (in our the then prevailing parlance, ‘prachanda sundari’): he was not bad-looking either. No one knew the real thing. No one bothered to find out and verify facts. Nobody knew whether what we heard about them were facts or mere conjectures but every one believed what was in the air.

They were both students of Applied Economics. Both were brilliant students. Both studied hard. Many times they were spotted studying together in the library. Every body wondered as who between them would get the First Class First position and as such would win the University Gold Medal in the subject.

It was the month of July. The exam started. There were six Papers. The exam was held each alternate day. The sittings were from 8 AM to 12 noon. The University Campus had a large number of trees among whom a good number was Krishna Chuda (Flame of the Forest) which bore brilliant red-hued flowers. At the time of our exam, these trees were in full bloom. Their tops were aflame and resplendent.

At last the D Day arrived. The exam started with Paper I. After a break of one day Paper II came and was over. After a break, the day of Paper III came.

And then it happened.

There was no sign of Shyam Narayan. He missed the Paper. He was not in the hostel. He was not in the library. He was not in the round- about near the water-tank in the University campus where we occasionally used to hang out in the afternoons. He was not in the canteen, He was nowhere - nowhere. He had simply vanished into thin air!

Rumour-mills started spinning. Gossips took wings. The grape vines spread them. The belief was that Shyam Narayan had abandoned the exam to allow Ghoornima to be the Topper.

But then why did he disappear? He could have left out one question: he could have written a fully or partially wrong answer if he wanted her to get the Gold Medal.

Why, why did he disappear?

After that, nobody has seen Shyam Narayan.

Later we heard the unconfirmed news that she had married an Army Officer.

For more that 40 years, I (and many of our batch-mates) have been hoping and wishing that someday, somewhere, on some occasion, I shall run into Shyam Narayan.

I am reminded of the stories floating around the mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. There is no universally-accepted evidence of his death. Years ago, I read that a bearded monk looking like Netaji was seen somewhere near the foot of the Himalayas.

Did Shyam Narayan become a Sanyasi? Or – I shudder to think.- did he leave the world?

A deep sigh escaped from the lady and me simultaneously.