ARYA ON HIS FIRST CRUSH

I studied in SBOA which was a co-ed school. My infatuation started as early as in Class 5. I had a crush on a girl who was in section A while I was in section B.The attraction was mutual and it continued till we got to Class 10. I have always been shy when it comes to expressing my feelings.

We used to write and exchange letters — and please don’t let your imagination run wild — the letters would merely be on the lines of ‘I did this today’, and similar stuff. A common friend of ours helped us exchange letters. Those days we never had any cellphones and landlines didn’t have caller ID, so we devised a special code. If it was one short ring, then it meant she wanted me to call her back urgently. If she gave two rings and cut it, then it meant things were normal. We always knew that we liked each other, but we never expressed it.

Then in Class 11, she went to a different school. After that we were in touch only on the phone. Finally, one day I decided to tell her the truth and I wrote a letter telling her that I liked her.

But she wrote back saying she did not reciprocate the same and that we were only friends. That really hur me and I took it to heart and stopped talking to her. When I met her a few months later and told her about a new girl in my life, she started crying. She then confessed that her cousin advised her to test me and see if my love was real! Now when I look back, it sounds funny but it was a really memorable phase in my life.

Deccan chronicle