Amidst the sandy desert of Kota and the busy streets of Delhi, there lived two of the souls who landed these oasis to make things happen for them. All I know is they don’t know each other. All they knew were the most uninteresting things that nobody cared for.

27 June 2010 — A young lad of 16 I guess… landed in the city of dreams.. A city where magic happens. The Mecca for IIT Aspirants where all you need is nothing except a sharp mind.

But this is the biggest Myth in the subcontinent. I am 100% sure for this now (2016).

The guy was an excellent Mono Actor, good script-writer in his School and all he wanted was to make others Happy, but Kota is a place where a guy can be Happier if he scores so well that he promotes himself. What a pity!

Fate was so cruel that he topped his exams in the entire district! And to add to the cruelty, the expectations of the parents rose to make their son an IIT Graduate. To reach there the son needed to go in exile for 2 years in a 5 meter-squared room where he could mediate on Physics, inhale Mathematics and eat Chemistry. And if he vomits it all out, he will fall out of the Race.

He stopped writing…

He stopped imagining…

He stopped everything… He REALLY Stopped Everything he liked…

The meditation period started and he responded very poorly. If somebody is mistaken by this, let them know that he worked hard, that his nights ended with the light of dawn and his mornings went unnoticed. All he remembers was a table, a night lamp and a pen.

May 2014 — A girl sitting on the first bench of a well-known coaching institute of Delhi where you are taught to crack the world’s toughest exam. She wanted that whatever the blackboard allows to inscribe on itself should go by her way. The boy was looking at her from a distance of 500 KM. She was as beautiful as one could be, her beauty could not be expressed by words. She madly wanted to land in the world of Civil Services. The girl was a very good orator when she was studying engineering but writing doesn’t bring bread and butter to the table, this she understood very early.

So, coaching became her Temple where God sends his best disciples to inculcate some of the holy concepts which would help her to conquer this Mammoth and reach “Heaven”(LBSNAA) as she used to say.

Preliminary exams came nearer with every passing day and her stress level increased exponentially. She started devoting more time to the Preparation.

I can understand how it feels to be away from your Mother in a place where your heart doesn’t want to be. I can understand how it feels to breathe in a place where your nostrils feel stuck and say this is not the place!

This is not the place, where pure air blows, their familiar air blows. This is the place where the air is tense, a little bit stressed and very competitive. They don’t want to live there but then the girl curbs their voice and masters her eye lids to blink in front of the thickened books and the night passes…

The routine is followed without any disturbance, sleepless nights and dreamy mornings became a habit and she started enjoying them. She enjoyed so much that her definition of Oxygen got converted into (O2 + Sociology) her Optional subject.

14 September 2010- The whole Scenario was a picture imagined by the boy the whole night and he named the girl “Akansha”. For the first time he threw his boring girlfriend’s books and penned down the imagination of Akansha and her preparation. His imagination was so deep that his Glucose level decreased and it was for the first time in 3 Months in Kota, that he took his Bicycle and went to eat Poha. One could find Poha sold at 3 AM in the morning at the Talwandi Circle. The clock struck 3:30 AM.

After having some of it, he was in his senses. The breeze was too cold and he loved it. He Started cycling to his room very slowly, enjoying every bit of the breeze. Soon his mind turned to his imagination and his senses told that someday or the other he would meet her. Under a street light, in the traffic, in a party, it can be anywhere. He went to his room and slept, forgetting about everything. Forgetting about the crime that he has done this night. The crime of following his heart, following his passion. His Supreme Court (MIND) ordered him to not commit it again and released his heart on a mere punishment to study more number of hours the next day. His heart obeyed quietly. In the race of the heart and mind, mostly the latter wins.

29 February 2016- The lad of 2010 was now a boy of 21 and he was in his Final Year of Engineering. He got a call from a Fellowship and was travelling to the Pink City. In the journey he met a girl who was so beautiful, he started talking nonsense, was flirtatiously showing off his dramatic skills to win her over. The girl was giggling throughout the journey with Shreyash. (I forgot to name him)

The journey ended and Shreyash waved at her and promised to meet her Soon. She was the First Friend of the Day.

He reached the venue very early and was observing each and everybody with a keen eye. He had become so informal that he was in his formals and most of others were so formal that they wore informals. Soon the coordinators parted them in Groups of 5.

He saw something that struck him hard as if a hammer was thrown at him. The same girl he wrote about was in front of him. She was from Delhi. She was so very quiet. Her presence made the ambience better. She was exactly the way he had imagined her. She was very simple. Simplicity at its best. Her smile was eloquent.

Shreyash felt connected with her. He didn’t tell her about this. They lunched together, shared views, laughed together. She always stood with him, whether it was a Debate Round or anything else. A girl named Niti was adamant on a Topic with Shreyash, but Akansha came to rescue Shreyash. She was too kind, too cute, too happy and much more balanced than his imagination. At last when the interviews were over, Shreyash told her everything. Everything about his passion his ambition. I guess he was the only guy there who didn’t come to the fellowship looking for anything. He was there to meet new guys, to make friends. Indeed he met someone more important than a casual friend.

He told her that he didn’t have an elder sister and he missed having one. He missed every moment that are shared between a brother and an elder sister. The advice, the secrets, the fights, the nonsensical gibbering — he missed them all. The weekends, the weekdays, the studying, the love, the pampering — he missed them all. All and Everything that can be shared between a brother and a sister.

He added that when he met her everything that he missed came alive and everything urged him to not miss this chance and speak to her in the best possible way, shadow the introvert-ness and give her a glimpse of his best.

The Fellowship Interviews came to an end and he was hating it. It was the time for departure. These were the moments he hated the most. Whether it was departing from Nidhi Ma’am, departing From Vidushi, or departing from his Grandma — he hated every departure. They all left him when he needed them, when he was too young to understand this cruel world. He misses them. He misses them every single second of the clock. He misss them in his lonely afternoons. He misses them on his success and he misses them on his failures.

He didn’t want this interview to be over, he wanted to talk to her more, he wanted to be with his sister more, he wanted to take care of her, but things don’t go your way always and you need to accept this harsh reality.

He waved at her and did not look back afterwards. She was the best thing that had happened to him.

• Himanshu Sharma