A Weblog

It all started wit an ordinary friend's request. Nikhil was a newbie to the social networking site called orkut and was searching for some gud friends. Wat impressed him was her profile picture. Generally people had their own picture. But for safety(!) reasons, gals somehow preferred to have cute pictures lyk cats or dogs or flowers. But her picture was different:it was a black and white picture of a withering flower. To others it was just another pic. But to him, it sounded lyk a cry for help. cry for hope. He was intrigued and even doubted his own judgement on the pic. He couldnt contain his anxiety and so he messaged her and asked if his judgement was true.

When she read the message, Lekha was stumped. Two things stumped her. The truth in the question asked and the message itself. For the message contained nothing but the question. It was impersonal and to her, it sounded as if the person was least interested in knowing anything besides the answer. Her immediate thought on reading the message was to ignore it.She did not reply for a couple of days.Then she got another message from him. It read:"Therez nothing to be ashamed of".She went wild after reading tat message and she was short charged the whole day. The next day she replied:"Yes".He was glad tat she had replied.He then added her as a friend. She too added him. And the world was never the same for both of them....

Since orkut was a public forum, they shifted to IM(Instant Messengers).When he asked her about the profile picture, she let him have a peek into her troubled personal life. A life filled with deep misery. Till she met him, all her spare time was spent in solitude. She wrote long letters. To that doctor who she wished wouldnt treat her as just another patient. To the teacher whom she hoped would stop taunting her wit her huge eyes. To her father whom she hoped would care more for her. To the guy in the first bench whom she hoped would notice her. To the girl who sat beside her in the class hoping tat she would stop ignoring her. After meeting him, she stopped writing letters. She got no time to write them since she was chatting with him whenever possible. Her 9 to 6 sleep timings went awry and as days passed, she became a nocturnal. As she let him know more abt herself, she realised she was getting the replies for all her letters. One by one.Slowly and steadily.

Nikhil's life was an open book. His mom and dad were both busy with their own careers and pay cheques. He had never cribbed about the fact that he to spend the hours after school not knowing when his parents would turn up. His grandmom was ther to take care of him but she was treated more like a maid. The computer he had got for his 15th birthday was God sent and within no time, he became a netizen. As he started chatting with Lekha, he realised that she wasnt yet another gal looking to fry some groundnuts. She opened those pages in his life that,till then, he never knew he had existed. Or rather, were so dark tat he was oblivious of it.

Nikhil's parents then moved to the same city where Lekha was living. First he hesitated but to his surprise, it was she who asked whether if he had a mobile. He sent her his mobile number and he received an sms from her. This meant tat they could contact each other whenever and wherever they want and were able to share their daily ramblings and musings more frequently.After a month or so, Nikhil realised that he had not given his number to anyone but her! and wat was even more surprising was the fact that they hadnt even spoken to each other.He once sent her a message asking whether she wud talk if he called her. The reply was a curt NO. Nikhil wasnt hurt. He realised that their relation was unique because they hadn talked to each other:hadn heard each other's voice or for tat matter hadnt even seen each other. To him, she was always the withering flower. The flower he wanted to bloom again and jump with joy.He realised he was in love with her.

It was six months since she had replied to his message. She realised how much she had changed since she had met her. The world seemed to be a better place to live and everyday she woke up awaiting his message to kickstart her day.She had stopped writing letters since she saw the doctor,teacher and everyone else in him.She realised that he had become the world for her.She was in love with him.

With every passing day, Nikhil became more and more impatient. He wanted to tell her somehow. He wanted to meet her in person. Kneel in front of her and tell her what she meant to him. One day,he suggested to her tat they should meet. Knowing her very well, he kept dropping hints every now and then. Finally she relented and they agreed to meet on a sunday evening at a cafe.

Nikhil walked in a bunch of flowers. They both agreed to wear yellow. The cafe was empty save for a young gal sitting at a corner table wearing a yellow salwar. He felt silly since he din know how to greet her. He walked towards her. She suddenly turned and found him walking towards her. She smiled. Nikhil gave her the flowers he was holding and said "Hi". Lekha kept smiling. Nikhil's mobile rang. He had forgotten to switch it off. He checkd his mob and ter was an sms from Lekha."Hi....thnx 4 te flowers :-)". Nikhil looked up at her. She moved her head as if to suggest tat he should reply. Nikhil replied "Well..2 can play tis game ;-) ". The waiter arrived to take the orders. He knew wat she lyked and ordered the same for both of them. Lekha wasnt a bit surprised. She asked him "So do I look beautiful :D?". He replied,"Ravishing :)". They kept messaging each other till the waiter arrived with the orders. They ate in complete silence.
After having her favorite ice cream, she looked at him and smiled again. He sent her a message"Now..wont u say thanks??"
She replied"Thnx :)"
"Cant u talk to me?"
"No"
The realization hit him..."Oh U neva told me"
"We never talked abt it did we? ;-)"
"It never stuck me"
"Does this change things between us?"
"I luv You :-)"
"Y?"
He stopped messaging. He saw tat she was on the verge of crying. He held her hand and spoke "Look...the fact tat u cannot speak doesnt change anything between us. I have wanted to tell u this long time back...In fact whenever I chatted wit u or messaged u,this was the first thing I wanted to say."She was about to message him but he din let her hands "Lemme speak...Right from the moment I messaged u first time,u have meant everything to me....may be u wont accept but am sure tat its the same wit u...if u think tat i proposed just out of compassion towards you, then you are mistaken. The only moment when I felt compassionate towards you was when I saw tat picture of yours. The withering flower crying out for help. But if it was help tat u vr seeking then u would have stopped talkin to me when u stopped writing those letters..I luv you and I cannot live without you"She looked at him as if suggesting she felt she was helpless."Plz don leave me Lekha.."She saw tat he was crying now.She got up and walked away...