Materialistic Love

It was already midnight. I assumed it was the coldest night of the year since my ears failed to track any sound. The tick-tack of the clock and the heart beats of the partial insomniac were only audible. It was more than an hour that I had been turning sides; but it seemed sleep had deceived me for his words were framing many theories in my mind. His words were ringing again and again. ‘All girls are the same. You are not an exception. You, too, will choose one with fat bank balance.’ I was shocked for it was least expected from him. I had high regards for him. But his words made me feel miserable. And it was hard for me to accept that he was not the same person I had known since my post graduation years. And that moment, I wished I could go back and delete the last 24 hours of my life.

24 January, 2016

12:10 am.

It was another usual night and I was doing my scheduled routine work- chatting over WhatsApp. Most of my friends had already retired to their bed and were fast asleep. And the only person available at that hour of night was my best friend, Mr. Executive, who had been preparing for IES and the pace with which he had been studying; it seemed he would crack the entrance this year. It was nothing like we were having an exciting conversation. Well, you could guess, he had many important works rather than having chat with ‘the boring’ me. We cut short our conversation to day’s activities and then wished each other good night. After he left, I scrolled down the list of contacts in WhatsApp. I had a habit (good or bad, I’m not sure yet) of reading other people’s status and if the status revealed something unusual then I had the peculiar character of knocking at the perspective person’s door. And I did find one- ‘Love kills, life sucks...’ I would not have bothered if it was the status of one of my friend who had updated after having a fight with his/her beau. It was the status of a person whom I knew to be practical, far from being emotional and a person with positive attitude. When I met him during my post graduation days, he was focused, clear about his goals in life and had the capability to achieve everything in life. He was my senior and had always been a guide and a friend to me. As I was the only girl in my batch, he was very careful that I did not feel left out. He used to tell me everything- be it his future plans or his girlfriend. As planned, he did join his dream job after completing masters. And as days passed, he got busy with his life and job. He valued our friendship for he never missed to wish me on special days and my respect for him increased with time. But in last one year, I did not receive a single call from him though I received messages from him. He even stopped responding to my calls. I thought he might be busy with his work and so never tried to know the reason behind his silence. But when I read his status, I assumed that something was wrong. My inquisitiveness increased and I texted him that I need to talk to him. He replied back that he would call me in the morning. Every minute passed like an hour and I did not know when I fell asleep. When I woke up in the morning, his status was still dancing in my mind. I waited for his call and each time my cell rang, I thought it was him. He did call me but in the late afternoon. He thought I need his help for some project. When I told him the main reason-his status, he was shocked. There was a silence for a minute or two. I thought he had disconnected the call. He was there. I asked him directly about Annakshi, his girlfriend. He was in rage and I could sense that from his voice. He said, ‘She left me. She broke an eight year long relationship for an NRI and had settled in the States. All girls are the same. You are not an exception. You, too, will choose one with fat bank balance.’ And he hanged up.