It has been the tradition that a majority of love stories have a sad ending; where a boy or a girl has to die. But there are some stories where a boy or girl doesn’t die, instead, a boy has to live the hardest life one of one-sided love.
There is an age difference of six years between the lover and the beloved. Though the boy is older than her beloved, there is something that is the characteristic feature of every love story. The love story is full of heart-breaking as well as happy moments, but the irony is that it is all about life threats as well.
At the time of falling in love with her, Asim (name changed) was 19 while her beloved was 13. He fell in love with her when one day she was going to school and he met her in the way to school. He, at that time, was recovering from palpitating heart. He had skipped the annual final year and was preparing for the very examination as a private candidate.
He was famous in the village for his simplicity and used to teach students at different houses in order to earn and keep her beloved happy. Once, he was the topper in his village, when he passed the 10+2 examination with flying colours.
Joining the Amar Singh College, it made his life hellish. The Geography subject put mountain high obstacles in his way and he was almost frustrated. The last nail in the coffin came in the form of 2014 floods, when apart from his home and life, his career was put at stake. During this harshest phase, he fell in love with her.
She is the oldest daughter of her parents. She has three siblings. Asim has taught her as well as her siblings in the hope that they might achieve perfection and obviously, for the sake of love.
When Asim was recovering from the 2014 shock, he was at uncle’s house for the majority of times because his home had recently faced one of the horrible floods. She was his uncle’s neighbour. So, it meant that there was a good excuse to look at her.
To expect any response from her, was a mere childish act. She was a Class 7th student, with a bag of responsibilities. Apart from this, she was arrogant that did not allow her to fail at any moment of her life. But still, Asim fell in love with her. Her white skin, curly hairs, the steel-coloured bangle on his arm, her embedded teeth, etc. made him to forget everything and love her at any cost.
Being at uncle’s house, Asim began to teach students as he had been doing at his home. He was also expert in teaching students at an Islamic institution. That meant people would accept him a religious person. This was one of the biggest obstacles in gaining her love because a religious person must not love in our society.
She, like other students, came to take classes and was quite satisfied with his teaching method. Studying under him enabled her to get first position in her annual examination. She distributed sweets among her teachers but she forgot Asim. That was the first shock. But he reconciled and in order to go close to her and get a chance to look to her, he used to give books of different subjects to her, through different people.
Her family members were satisfied with Asim’s behaviour. Though there was a land dispute and death between the two families, Asim still risked everything and helped her to achieve perfection in her studies.
She joined her Class 8th and as usual, he was helping her in her mid-term examination. However, she was mass promoted due to the uprising in Kashmir. In her Class 9th, Asim left his village to a place at Budgam to live with one of his distant relatives. Till then, Asim had known her but he still helped her.
In 2019 mid-term examination, he again helped her to get the second position in her school. Everywhere, there was happiness. But Asim was not given a space in her happiness.
Then came the last year of her schooling and the first difficult stage of her life, matriculation examination. Asim did whatever he could do in order to help her go through the examination with ease. For her, he came back to his village and began to help and teach her.
In the meantime, Asim had appeared in many interviews but in vain. His responsibilities were mounting with each passing day. He had two sisters, father, who was a labour by profession and mother, a cook at a local school. Finding himself in a fix, he didn’t fail in teaching students for money. But for her, he never thought of money.
As there were many causes responsible for their love story not to get their destiny, one of the factors that played the biggest role was that he was short of time. He used to teach at neighbouring village and didn’t have time to teach her after getting exhausted. Though he taught her for some days, but he could not continue. It came as a shock for her.
She could not believe that Asim could deceive her at the most important juncture. Asim, on the other hand, left no stone unturned to help her.
Then came the days of examination. It was October-November. Snow had set in. One day, it snowed heavily. All the vehicles came to standstill. Asim and his friend went to enjoy snow. Seeing vehicles stranded, they began to push them to go ahead. In the process, they found themselves pushing a car against the slope, in which her beloved, her cousin, who was her classmate and her beloved’s father were seated. This gesture created problems for Asim, but he kept on doing what he was doing.
Days rolled by and the day of result came. She got about 470 marks. Asim was on the eleventh sky. He was not expecting a treat but he was happy for her and her family. But her family was disappointed. They weren’t happy at all. At that time, Asim had stopped to go to her house. Asim used to teach her three siblings at that time. They brought him the news that their parents were not happy with the result.
As a treat, Asim was given a piece of sweet in a used polythene. He could not believe it. Though disgusting, he managed with it and sent prayers to her through her siblings. Being the moment of happiness, he began to think how foolish he was. He resolved never to love her again. But he could not keep the promise.
Today, she is in college and Asim has completed his graduation. There is no correspondence between them. Asim has restricted himself a lot in helping people. He has made his teaching art as an economic activity. Noticing the behaviour of her beloved, he believes very less in students. But he still loves her.
Though she never liked him in terms of love, she loved to study under him for the sake of being the topper. Today, Asim doesn’t often go to uncle’s house and her beloved has shifted to another place. They don’t meet each other anymore. A lot of time has passed since he saw her. Asim has learnt a lesson that it is better to be for your family and yourself, everything else is an illusion.
Asim told me that he prays for her. Her beloved wants to become a doctor and Asim is eagerly waiting for that day again, when he will be humiliated again with a treat that is never the treat in the real sense or that time, he will be forgotten totally.
What has continued throughout these years is the land dispute and abuses. For her beloved, Asim forgot the land dispute but at the end of the day, he didn’t achieve what he wanted.
