Boyfriend – Girlfriend

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

She smiled.

“So we’re gonna be boyfriend girlfriend?”

“Yes. Forever.”

He was lost for words. She was officially his girlfriend. He would go back to school and tell his friends that he had a girlfriend. No more loose talks. This was going to be so serious. It didn’t matter to him that he was only in ninth grade, what mattered was that now nothing would stop him from marrying her. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, for the first time in his life, he made a mark on his calendar. He’d known her for only a week, but now he was preparing himself to know her for the rest of his life. He ran through his wallet. Two ten rupee notes. A good plan would be ask Ma for ten rupees for a small Pepsi and a cricket ball, and actually keep that in the wallet also. That would make it thirty. Another twenty bucks from his sister. With fifty expensive rupees in his pocket, he would be able to buy her a nice “I Love You” card from Archies Gallery (fifteen rupees) gift wrapped carefully, ribboned with a Dairy Milk chocolate (another ten rupees) and a Bollywood audio cassette (twenty five there). For a second he encouraged a silly thought of being gifted on Valentine’s Day. But then again, he jerked off the thought – after all, he was the guy, gifting was his business.

Sunday morning, he woke up with romantic aspirations. Today was going to be his first date, with the woman who he thought he was going to get married to. He had seen plenty of movies on broken relationships, and his recent inquest of Sidney Sheldon books had also made him cognizant of physical relationships that couldn’t survive the test of emotions. But no, his girl was a one of her kind. And he would show the world how to oil the machine as far as long-term relationships were concerned.

He picked up the phone. Dialed her landline number. He prayed to hear her voice on the other side of the call.

“Hello”, answered a husky male voice.

Click. He hung up. Somewhere hoped that she got the hint. He imagined the voice reverberating a few hellos and then hanging up in despair “Aajkal barite khub beshi blank call aasha shuru hoyeche.” But the voice wouldn’t know that they were boyfriend girlfriend. No, not now. This had to be a well-kept secret.

He rushed into the bathroom. Forgot his towel, so came back running into the room. The phone was ringing. His mom answered the call, but kept saying hello for a minute or two before hanging up. He got the signal.

He looked into the mirror of his bathroom. Checked his teeth. Today was probably a good day to oil his hair and then shampoo it. He hated his semi grown facial hair, and he wasn’t getting an opportunity to shave just yet. Ma-Baba had asked him to wait till his ICSE. Another year and a half. Long time. He took a long shower and cleaned himself well. Probably applied more soap on his body than he had applied in the entire week. His hair glowed because of the oil, and was fluffy because of the shampoo. He thought it would be nice to middle part his hair, just like John. John was very popular with the girls. Very poor in studies but everybody in school thought John looked very good, which is why he was always seen on Sports Day with some neighborhood schoolgirl. He made a middle parting and came out of the washroom.

“Kothai jaacho? Ishhh…chool tar ki obostha korecho. Puro joker laagche.” {Where are you going? Look at your hair, you look like a joker}

“Sujay er baari te. Cricket khelte.” {Going over to Sujay's place to play cricket}

He rushed to phone and called up Sujay. Made the instructions very clear. DO NOT CALL UP AT MY PLACE FOR THE NEXT 2 HOURS. Then boasted about his date. Sujay was more excited than him. He congratulated him, and asked him how many people in school were permitted to know about this recent development. They together decided it best to keep to their group for the time being, and then maybe later talk about it outside. That sounded good. Maybe after a few days he would atleast tell some of his classmates that he had a girlfriend. He decided he wouldn’t call it an ‘affair’. That would make things sound corny. He didn’t want that – he wanted to preserve the sanctity of a relationship that was definitely going the distance. He checked his wardrobe for ‘cool’ t-shirts. Denims were the in-thing. He wore a light blue denim shirt and dark blue jeans. The t-shirt hung out. Gave the impression that he was cool and Gen X.

Before leaving for his first date, he finished the last chore that needed to be completed to ensure safety. He told his sister that he was going out to meet the girl who would eventually become her ‘boudi’. Just don’t tell ma anything about it ok?, he said. And ya, don’t call up at Rahul’s place either. If ma is getting worried, just tell her that you’ve just spoken to me and I have confirmed that I am on my way back home.

He ran down and entered his car. Gave the driver clear instructions. Come back and confirm to ma baba that you dropped me at Sujay’s place. The three people he trusted the most – Sujay, his sister and his driver. Three people who’d be able to say on the day of the marriage that they knew it all along. Wow…that felt good.

The wheels began to turn. The rest, they say is history.




Lets have a look back at history. Yes, the date happened. He considered holding her hand once, but the possibility of a known person catching them on the same road scared him off. Valentine’s Day happened. He gave her his fifty-rupee gift. She didn’t give him anything. She was his greatest gift, he had reconciled on the day. In course of time, phone calls also happened. Without signals. They figured out a solution. A three ring missed call meant that he would call her back in five minutes. Archies online happened. He loved designing e-cards for her and writing messages for her, and then mailing her the cards. People in school got to know about the ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’ thing. They thought highly of him. He told some of his cousins about her, and he planned a meeting for all of them to see her. One more thing happened in the course of the next six months – he dedicated a Backstreet Boys song for her on the dial in show on radio. And recorded it also. Just in case she missed it.

Those were the days. He broke up with her in about a year’s time. Grew up slowly. Did well in his board exams. Returned twenty bucks to his sister after getting money on his birthday. Prepared for IIT and then studied engineering somewhere else. Lost touch with Sujay. Met plenty of women in his life. Dated some. No V-Days, no e-cards, no radio shows. No keeping secrets. No fear of landlines (mobile phones ruled the roost). No marriage discussions. Just regular grown up relationships. The mature ones, you know. Practical, wise and clever. Always open to the idea of moving on.

Do you miss those days if you think this one was about you?