Love is Eternal
Having spent much of her life with a dominating husband, fifty-two-years-old Sumitra hardly had an active social life.
Now, with her husband gone, she was a free bird. At her request, her son helped her start a Facebook profile.
The first thing that came into Sumitra's mind was she should search for 'him.'
Umpteen questions clogged her brain in the beginning. What if he is not on Facebook? What if he did not recognize her? The most niggling question in her mind was whether he had the same feelings she had for him during their school days?
Hundred profiles popped up with the same name; Karan Upadhyay.
It took her some time to locate the Karan she was looking for. He had aged gracefully and looked as handsome as he was back in school.
Karan, who joined the 10th standard after the first semester, was an exceptionally brilliant student threatening Sumitra's first rank in class.
The initial resentment thawed, and the two got along very well, solving mathematical problems together. Classmates teased them, saying they were each other's crush!
Ultimately, she topped the board, and he stood second with a difference of four marks. They parted ways as friends, as they enrolled in different colleges. Social media was not rampant then, so they lost touch.
Sumitra was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply immediately to her message on Facebook.
Karan expressed his wish to meet her the following day.
As Sumitra waited for him at the restaurant, a middle-aged lady approached her.
"Hi, Sumitra, I am Aarti, Karan's wife." She took a seat.
Sumitra fidgeted uneasily on her chair, wondering why his wife had come in place of Karan.
"I am sorry, but it was I who answered your messages yesterday on Facebook. Karan is no more; he passed away last year of cardiac arrest." Aarti tried fighting her surging tears.
Sumitra was taken aback.
"Karan has spoken to me about you. We tried locating you on social media but drew a blank." She brought out the 10th standard group photo of Karan and Sumitra. "He has kept this with utmost care. He had a crush on you but couldn't express his feelings for fear of being rejected as you both do not belong to the same caste," she said through her welling tears.
Sumitra had wondered all these years whether it was only she who had a thing for Karan, but today, it made her heart feel light to know that he also nurtured the same feelings for her, and had shared it with his wife.
Taking their friendship further would have been a challenge as in those days, inter-caste marriages were considered to be blasphemous.
"What about children?" Sumitra asked.
"We have a twenty-year-old daughter named Sumitra.” Aarti showed Sumitra her daughter’s photograph.
It was an ethereal moment when Sumitra realised that Love is Eternal!
Praising the pretty girl, Sumitra volunteered with the information, "I have a twenty-five-year-old son called Karan."