Anarchic Analogy

Kunal Majumder

School day memories are just not about friends or teachers, it’s also your crushes. Crushes that crashed. Crushes that got crushed, and crushes that got you thrashed...well almost!!!
It’s a crazy feeling. Scholars, philosophers and even saints have spent years to decode it. Doubtful if they succeeded. So all those high-on-testosterone, confused teens hanging outside Carmel after-dismissal, the puzzle is nothing new!

Misthi (name changed) was my friend’s sister. We met when I was in class nine. You can guess my situation. All my peers had a ‘Gal Friend’ and so I was supposed to get one too! Or else they would say I have strayed. Not that I was really bothered about their opinion. But peer pressure really works!

Lost in her dreams, my imagination would run wild. In a matter of weeks, I was sure that I would spend my whole life with her. I knew where we would live…. And Bollywood added fuel to the already burning fire!!!

Aftab Shivdasani’s debut movie Mast had just been released. The film was about crushes and infatuation. And it also had an angle of ‘running away from home’. So what else was required?! It was a perfect setup. Un katil nigaho mein, un gaheri adao mein… mast... I would stare at the stars on the terrace of our house and plan my elopement with my sweet Misthi!

But there was one problem.

A small one… I had never spoken to Misthi about my plans. To be honest, I have had never even spoken to her ever about anything.

But I ‘loved’ bragging about our ‘affair’.

What happened next? Nothing. Nancy ma’m told me about the arrival of a new Jeffrey Archer in the library. I was hooked to it for the next few weeks. Fortunately or unfortunately, Misthi was nowhere there.

Oh… I forgot to tell you I ‘fell in love’ again in Plus two. Autumn was in, and the old banyan tree was just starting to shed its old, dirty brown leaves. But to me, they seemed lovely....To me they were those lovely yellow maple leaves, which seemed to seduce the haughty breeze. Oh! That crazy Bollywood sickness had struck me again!
And, ‘Mohabattein’ was the inspiration this time! I immediately changed my specs frame to the one, worn by Shahrukh aka Raj Aryan. Even the style of wearing the sweater changed. The radar started beeping fast. The search was on. This time it was the daughter of my psychology teacher. Gosh! Just imagine what would his reaction been had he known it then? Well, I think not much would have happened. For I did nothing but let my imagination run as the previous time!

Having said all this, I did get a shock few months back. My cousin, who is in class eleven, had come to Delhi. I knew she had a boy friend but never knew that she had some awesome guts. She landed at my place with her ‘BF’ and happily introduced him to us. I really didn’t know to react. Neither could I suppress my laughter on seeing ‘kids’ (Yes, after years of laborious acads, I feel like an oldie!), posing as a ‘serious couple’, nor could I digest the ‘alliance’. Or was I jealous?



Kunal Majumder is the honorary alumni editor of DNS’s portal – Denobili.edu.in. He graduated ISC (Plus Two) in 2003 and is a student of MA Convergent Journalism at the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre (MCRC) of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He is a freelance journalist with leading fashion magazines like IMAGES Business of Fashion and FnL. He can be reached at editor@denobili.edu.in.