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MY FIRST VALENTINE
By : M.R.Sethi
The seat next to me
in the cinema hall was still unoccupied when the lights went off and
the film started. But hardly had the credits gone by when my
nostrils were filled with the smell of cosmetics and the scent of
youth, which, followed by the soft rustle of a saree indicated that
the seat was now occupied by a lady.
I was then a college student and was the only one among my circle of
friends who had had no romantic affair to boast of. But the fair sex
was to me – it still is – an irresistible attraction. And, with a
lady emitting an agreeable smell beside me, I thought the movie
watching would be a pleasant experience. Not turning my head to look
at her, lest it be considered bad manners, I looked through the
corner of my eye. But it was not possible to see her face in the
darkness of the hall.
But hardly a few minutes had passed when my heart missed a beat. The
lady shifted in her seat and in doing so placed her arm almost on
mine, thanks to the common seat-arm between the two seats. A few
minutes later, another change of posture by her and her left
shoulder was touching my right one which had already been
instinctively leaning towards her. My heart missed another beat and
was now pounding viciously, and had not the film’s story been full
of violence and gun shots, my heart beats would have been audible to
her. But I was afraid to ‘exploit’ the situation further or to take
any liberty, fearing that she would be offended.
The lady must have been a flirt, for after some time, she squirmed
again and placed her hand on mine. And now I was worried for my
heart. With it missing beats at alarming regularity, I feared it
would miss all the beats if the lady gave me more romantic shocks.
At that young age I was over-awed by the presence of a romantic
(well, flirting) lady beside me and was content to play a passive
role, at the same time wishing that she would take more initiatives.
Then, as if in answer to my wish, I felt her hand gently caressing
mine.
My heart, which had calmed down a little, again raced with the speed
of an Olympian sprinter.
By now, I had completely stopped seeing the moving and was lost in a
romantic reverie. I congratulated myself as now I too would be able
to boast of a romantic affair to my friends. I made an elaborate
plan to take my romantic encounter to its consummation: talking to
her amorously in the interval; taking her to a restaurant after the
show, and so on.
So I eagerly waited for the interval so that I could look straight
into the eyes of my first love. But the silly film seemed to drag on
and the interval seemed far off. In the mean time, our little amours
continued. I had become a little bolder and had placed my left hand
on hers. And, to my pleasant surprise, she was not offended, not did
she try to take her hand away.
And then it was interval.
My heart again started pumping and thumping. Blushing deeply and
with stars in my eyes, I turned my head coyly to look at my first
love. And my heart missed a number of beats at the same time!
My ‘fair lady’ was a eunuch (Hijra).
Hideous to look at and with protruding white teeth on a black face,
he/she looked like an ogress. No doubt, she/he was smiling at me,
but that smile looked Satanic.
I jumped out of my seat and made a dash for the exit. At this she/he
clapped her/his hands in the Hijra style and called out: “Ab kyon
Bhagta hai?” (Why are you running away now?) But I dared not look
back and heaved a sigh of relief only when I was out of the cinema
hall.
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