My love stories: Part Three

After Trupti there were two other girls. Rachana and Roopa. Both when I was in the pre-college class.

Rachana's mother was my Hindi teacher when I was in high school. I was good in Hindi. The teacher used to read out to the class essays written by me.

But I discovered that the Hindi teacher had a lovely daughter only when I went to the pre-college class. She was my classmate.

She was beautiful and had a lot of admirers in school. I was one of them infatuated with her.

But the line was too long. And I did not have the means to jump the queue.

Roopa too was another beautiful girl who caught my fancy. But she was one year senior. So I had only fleeting glances of her. Different classrooms you see.

I heard stories about how one of her classmates determinedly went up to her house and rang the doorbell,. Roopa's father opened the door. He took him to be the raddiwallah (the guys who buys old newspapers) and said "abhi nahin hai. Agle mahine aana." (There are no papers at present. Come next month).

Poor guy! But he persisted and by the time I left pre-college I learnt he had managed to break the ice, notwithstanding Roopa's father.

With such a determined suitor, there was little chance for lesser mortals that included me.