My Pal, Online

“Abhay, I am going out. Inform mom if she asks,” my sis waved me goodbye. Didi left for her office. Mom was busy doing laundry.

Like all other days, I had nothing to do. This year, college vacations were no fun. It was boiling outside at 45°C, and evenings were no relief with heat waves refusing to settle down.

I stepped into the virtual world to kill time. I hadn’t had much success in the last few days, trying my luck contacting girls with different tastes. Neither did I get a response from apparently sweet ID cutiepie_rashmi, nor from nasty ones like sexybitch01 on the chat messenger. Guys are so desperate, I tell you.

Anyways, being a Delhite, I always hunted for girls in Delhi chat rooms. May be I could get hold of someone pretty one day, who knows. I did the same…that day.

“Hi.” I got an instantaneous reply when I pinged decent_gal09. I am not sure if I am decent enough, but thought it would be a good experiment to chat with a decent gal.

Without much delay, I quickly typed, “Hello. Would you like chat decent with me?” Of course, I was expecting a ‘Yes’. That’s why she was here for, the decent_gal09.

“Yes. Would like to know you more,” was the quick response. I was unstoppable now. I told her everything she wanted to know, and we had pretty interesting conversation for close to 2 hours.

“See you tomorrow then.” With a promise to meet again the next day, she left. Conversing with Preeti really made me feel good, and the impatient me just couldn’t wait for the moment when she would be there for me, with me, the next day.

Days passed, but she never appeared online. I logged on to the messenger daily at 10 in the morning, hoping against hope that she would appear from nowhere. She never did. Then one day, it happened…she was online!

“Hi.” I pinged her hesitatingly.

“Hi Abhay. I am so..so..so..sorry. I know you must be very angry. But you see, it’s not my fault. I was not well all these days.”

I was a bit, infact, a lot upset about the fact that she did not turn up when she promised so. But the extra so’s did the trick for her. Well, when a sweetheart feels apologetic for something she was not actually responsible for, I was not supposed to be angry anymore.

“No, no. It’s fine. How are you now?” I asked, expressing concern.

“Well, much better. Did you miss me….?” Preeti asked. Of course I did, but did she actually expect me to? This was just the second time we were meeting online. Some guys can be luckier than others, I thought.

“Oh, yes. I did.” I inserted a smile emoticon in the chat window. She followed it with a blush smiley. We were progressing.

She never fell ill again. We met online daily, same time. At times, twice in a day. I gave it a damn if the temperature was now breaking 5-year or 10-year highs. I was pretty happy staying indoors. I never thought life can be so beautiful. If merely communicating your feelings with someone online can make you feel so gay, what would it be like meeting her. Was it possible? I had my fingers crossed.

We met online again that day, like all other days.

“Hey sweetheart! Good morning.” I used these affectionate words often now.

“Gm sweety,” Preeti reciprocated.

“Never asked you all these days….you are from Delhi, na?” I just wanted her to type YES.

“No, I am not. Who told you this?”

“Nobody. Actually…you were in that Delhi chat room the first day we chatted, if you remember, so….,” I reasoned.

“Oh, yes. That was JLT.”

“JLT?”

“Just Like That.”

I would have to upgrade my chat lingo, I thought. But I was not ready for that response. Today, I was to ask her if she would like to meet me. Being in different cities, will that dream remain a dream? I had no idea.

“So…which city?” I queried, half-heartedly.

“Bangalore. But why did you ask that?”

“Nah, JLT.” I was quick with my chat lingo upgradation. Apparently, she was happy meeting me…only online.

“Shall I ask you something?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” I typed, with dying excitement and enthusiasm.

“Would you like to meet me in person?”

The nearly dead excitement was now alive again. I wanted to mention that I was dying to meet her, but decided not to.

“Well…don’t know. Yes, would like to,” pretending I was just about okay with it. “But how? I mean, you are in Bangalore, and I…..”

“Not to worry. I am coming to your dilli next week, to meet a friend. I won’t mind meeting two,” she put a smiley in the chat window.

next week - the words echoed in my mind. I was thrilled. For the first time in my life, things were shaping up better and faster than I had anticipated.

“Ok great!” I exclaimed.

Preeti left, informing she won’t be available for the next 2-3 days. I did not ask why. I was anyways meeting her in a week’s time.

We connected through messenger after 4 days. We chit-chatted for good 3 hours that day. She told me she was out for her cousin’s wedding. That she had great fun. That she was very curious to meet me. She also shared her pictures she had got clicked on the wedding day. Man, she was a beauty!

“Hey, you look very pretty.”

Always complement a girl on her looks, even if you don’t really mean it. It works! But Preeti was indeed mesmerizing.

“Thanks,” Preeti batted her eyelids through a smiley. These smileys are fun, I tell you.

“Won’t you send yours?” she demanded my pic.

“Actually…I don’t have looks as killing as you,” I hesitated.

“Did I ask how good you look? But I just want to see you.”

I sent my picture across. She said she found me cute. Apparently, looks didn’t matter to her.

“Now we can recognize each other easily,” she smiled.

“True. Another thing Preeti, since we are going to meet soon, I hope you won’t mind giving me your number,” I asked.

“Oh…yes, yes. But you see, I lost my cellphone yesterday. By the time I’ll reach Delhi, I will get a new one. Will give you the number when we meet. Fine?”

Not a big deal, I thought. Just wanted to meet her now. She asked for my contact number, promising she would call me as soon as she would reach the capital city, my city.

I spent the next 3 days restlessly. She was to call me on Sunday after reaching Delhi. Sunday passed, but she didn’t call. I was in bed when the phone beeped.

“Nice song, dude,” I heard this when I picked up the phone. The caller tune was set to Kaise Mujhe Tum Mil Gayi from Ghajini.

“Preeti!” I almost jumped in jubilation. Such a sweet voice had to be hers. Thank goodness, I was not diabetic.

“Where were you? I was waiting for your call the entire day. And…how are you?” I asked in one breath.

“Relax. Arre baba, my flight got delayed.”

“Oh, okay. I thought….”

“Now give rest to your thoughts. I am here!” She said excitedly.

“So you haven’t got a number yet. It’s a landline you are calling from.”

“Oh right. Told you na, arrived late. But will call you myself. We are meeting tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow….yes, tomorrow.” Now when the moment had finally arrived, a certain sense of nervousness wrapped me.

“Where do you wanna meet up? I don’t know much about here.”

“Where in Delhi does your friend put up?”

“Yes, I am at my friend’s place only. Model Town,” she responded.

“How about CP? A metro ride can take you right there,” I suggested.

“I would love it. I’ve learnt it’s a cool ride.”

“Certainly is.” Having traveled by Metro umpteen times, I was sure she would love it.

We decided to meet at 2 pm, as we could not fix it for evening due to other commitments. The thoughts of how everything would go the next day kept me awake for long. I wanted everything to be just perfect.

I took my own time in getting ready the next morning. I had never paid so much attention to how I would look on a particular day though. She was special, after all.

I thanked God for the clouds that appeared from nowhere and covered most part of the sky. The weather was now electrifying. I wanted to ensure she doesn’t have to wait for me. I reached at the pre-decided spot well in time. It was 1:45. As my wrist watch struck 2, I started to get impatient. It was as if I was expecting her to be right there at 2.

Each passing second was getting heavier. I was constantly scanning for her face in the crowd. 10 more minutes passed, and now I just wanted to be with her.

The next moment, I felt a gentle touch tapping my back. My heart skipped a beat. It had to be her. I quickly turned around.

“Just see how long you have been sleeping,” I heard someone calling out from a distance. I realized it was mom’s voice. I rubbed my eyes, now half-open.

I looked around. Mom? But where was Preeti…Oh my God…was I…was I sleeping?? But when did I chat with Preeti? Ok, hold on. This was unreal. Or was that unreal?

“Mom, when did I sleep, do you know?” I asked mom in a low tone, as she entered the room.

“Don’t know. Look at your computer screen.”

Now I remember. I had laid down my head while my computer my booting. I must have dozed off during that period of time.

I was heartbroken, almost. It was all fictitious – Preeti, our bonding, and most importantly, our meeting which could have changed a lot of things…probably a relationship that was all over even before it could kick start.

A few days passed, and once in a while, the dream I had experienced occupied my mind. It was a beautiful dream, after all.

I did not feel like chatting again. The fantasy dream was bothering the real me. But then, it was just a dream after all. After some days, I logged onto messenger once again. I was not enjoying the time I was spending online. And nobody was actually responding to my ‘Hi’s and ‘Hello’s today.

“I’ll shut down my PC in a while if I do not get any response. It’s frustrating,” I murmured to myself.

I answered the call of nature, and returned back to my system. What I saw on the monitor screen left me dumbstruck. I was shocked, and I was stunned. I did not know how to react.

A new chat window was open. No, it was not a response from any of the gals I had pinged.

“Hi. This is Preeti. Would you like to chat decent?” said the message window from decent_gal09.

(End of story)