Our Satyam Days, part X
A love that could have been
Mandeep’s unspoken love, lost in time: Anyways, in those memorable four days at STC, where we all were having the prime time of our lives attending all-day seminars, luncheons, and meetings, I knew Mandeep had lost his heart to Shikha the instant he started telling me how beautiful she looked. While glancing at her from afar, he said (man-to-man talking), “Shikha too good hai na.” “How lovely she looks." Indeed, she had striking good looks. (That day, I learned that Mandeep — even though I had believed he was an immortal optimist, a humorous and world-savvy person with comedic brilliance that is sure to leave you in stitches as one of his many differentiae — had a romantic heart that is capable of loving someone was a first among his myriad mysterious likings was a pleasant surprise).
Dressed elegantly in a saree, Shikha, a manager at a company, radiated the womanly beauty and gentility expected of a woman in her position. Regrettably, Mandeep's love story ended before it could blossom into what it could have been. She flew back to Delhi, leaving my friend slightly heartbroken. She did not return to STC the following year; neither was she seen or heard from again.
Mandeep quietly let go of his feelings for this far-off beautiful woman from Delhi, who was to leave in four days. He knew liking or developing a one-sided romantic admiration for someone does not translate into a relationship worth its salt. That’s how he reasoned. However, it was indeed the start of love (at first sight?), and he pondered what love is and what may have been. His unrequited love ended with the imminent departure of the lady in question. That's how Mandeep's short love tale came to an end. Love hurts, but sometimes it's worth it. Mandeep would concur as much.
One last note. The cataclysm of Shikha’s departure following four unforgettable days of seminars and conferences at Satyam Technology Center (STC) proved that such transient romances could not endure.
Deep down in his heart, Mandeep knew as much: a brief yet sublime feeling of the tenderness of falling in love that came and went, causing heartache in the process. Shikha, as Mandeep would have felt in his heart of hearts but haven't felt able to utter as much, except a line or two in hopeless admiration of her maybe, was a lady bathed in the softest sunlight who flew back to her native Delhi, where she belonged, leaving him to juggle love and survival for a fleeting moment and after, in an ever-changing world that always seemed marred in love, intimacy, and relationship issues. He survived the ordeal, which was only a one-sided sweet interlude with someone who never could be his, even as he reconciled to the loss of, perhaps, a lifetime.
(To be continued…)
By Arindam Moulick
Also published on Medium.