Two days later, everyone was still talking about picnic. Shubh was sitting alone for he reached lot earlier than his group members. It was a refreshing scene when Laxmi had returned from her short tour. He felt so lively again and thought to just go and have a chat with her, only to sit back again for not sounding desperate. He kept looking at her time to time. Those small eyes twinkling with laughter, just brought smile on his face. She took up a chair few benches away from him. He too acted as if he hadn't seen her. He could feel his heart beating. He wanted the beating to reach her ears. But she got up and moved ahead to meet the others.
One of her friend sat in same line as Shubh, close enough to speak. Laxmi came to meet her as soon as she saw her. It felt as if she was just waiting for some reason to come and be near him. But it was only his imagination and not the reality. She chatted with her friend for some time and turned to Shubh.
"Had a fun at picnic it seems."
"Oh yes. Ask your friend as well" Was Shubhs reply. "How was your trip?"
"Oh it was nice. But the roads were in repair and in their worst state." She said "no car must have travelled above fifty kmph."
"Still so bad huh. The highway construction was in progress five years back when we had travelled." Told Shubh.
"The cemented road were good but the edges were sharp. We feared of clutch problem for constant slow speed and there would have been no service as well." She talked with action depicting how the edges were.
Shubh was very impressed for he had never seen a girl talk about road conditions and car in such depth and interest. This made him fall for her even more. He wanted exactly this kind of girl who could be easy to talk with.
"Doesn't the sharp edges burst the tires re?" she asked Shubh. 're' in any sentences was Indian style of speaking with affection.
"It does. In fact my cousin had faced the similar problem." Shubh told them. He had the longest eye contact with her throughout the conversation. He felt so satisfied and happy as well. Before they could speak more, it was time for lecture and she went to her respective chair.
There were similar exchange of words many a times. They would meet and greet which was all that happened. Shubh tried to speak to her many times, but he was always worried about making a joke of himself, and he didn't want to do anything that would create a low image of him in her mind. He would think about many incidents that should have taken place but never happened.
For example, he imagined them meeting in hallway of the college and he stopping her romantically to express his feelings. The other day, he would imagine, she messaging him and asking questions which would eventually lead to relationship. But he knew these were just fragments of imagination. He had to have lot of courage for even one of the above to take place in reality.
There was an exhibition, organized by English department, on the occasion of the English day. Shubh reached early on that day and helped in exhibition set up. No doubt, he did everything just to be near Laxmi. She had few light moments with him as well. He would have taken these signs of her being attracted towards him as well, which he controlled upon.
When they sat for a while, Laxmi asked him, "Where's the next picnic?"
"Where would you like to have it?" asked Shubh.
"This time lets have it in some farm house."
"Okay sure. Booking need to be done a lot in advance."
"Doesn't anyone have plantations? We can go there."
"My ancestral house have plantation behind" he said sarcastically. In Goa, the old houses had toilets in backyards outside the main construction. People used the middle walking area to plant trees and as vermicomposting area. Shubh too had more than hundred years old ancestral house, where every family members gather to celebrate festivals.
Laxmi understood the reference and said, "Even we have that facility. We can have there too." Shubh felt relief after hearing that because it was one the topic that worried him. Whether Laxmi, being young generation, would understand and adjust being in his ancestral house, which now was resolved.
The exhibition started. Laxmi too had an exhibit of her own. It was a game with learning. Participant had to roll a dice and move that many number of places on the board. There would be a sentence on that block, which had to be changed to active or passive, according to the instructions.
Shubh, Dras participated in the game played for some time, when they got a call for a group photo. After photo session was done, Laxmi was sitting since there were none on her stall. Shubh and Dras came over to continue the game. Shubh took up the chance and stood in staller's position and Dras in observer's side. Shubh called Laxmi, "Ma'am, lets continue with our game."
"Yes sure" said Laxmi and came over to stand besides Shubh.
No scenario would have been as good as this one for Shubh. He continued playing the game and cracked some jokes as well. Meanwhile, Laxmi was recording the whole game played by them. Shubh now thought, "She will post this in her social media account and will realize while tagging that she doesn't follow him." Whole day was fun and satisfying for Shubh to observe her.
As anticipated, Laxmi did post the video. But Shubh was neither tagged nor followed by her. Infact, she tagged and followed Dras. Shubh saw the video from Dras and couldn't have thought anything at the moment. All he could have done was, either follow her first or wait for the right time and be friends first. He chose the latter. Shubh started posting more and more pictures of all his outings and parties in hope that Laxmi would see them and reply. It had not been a successful move, yet he continued doing so.