The year was 1999. A girl met a boy a few weeks before Valentine’s day. They knew each other by name and had spoken on a few occasions.
The boy asked the girl “It is Valentine’s day next week. Do you have a valentine?”
The girl replied “No.”
Boy: “Do you want to be my valentine?”
Girl: “What would we do as Valentines?”
Boy: “I will call you on that day and wish you a very happy valentines day”
Girl: “That sounds cool; sure it’s a deal then”
The girl was an active member of various youth forums, and enjoyed all the fancy titles it gave her. The boy was a musician and strummed beautiful notes on his guitar.
Days passed by uneventful. Valentine’s Day arrived. It was a big day for the girl. She was called upon to deliver a speech, at a public gathering. She was one of the youngest chosen youth representatives– the topic was ‘Politics in Universities’. She was well prepared and all set for the show. The story digresses from this point on. But dear reader, I promise you, you will not be disappointed.
The girl was determined to deliver a great speech. She had to impress the audience and her fellow youth speakers, some of whom were professors and senior students at the ‘Big and Famous University’ where she hoped to get accepted after her senior school. It was imperative for her that she gets into their good books. She also knew a few of the senior dignitaries on the dais. The chief guest especially was some one she had to impress with her speech this time, because during the last encounter she shared a stage with the said dignitary as a ‘Chief Guest’, she addressed him as ‘Chief Minister’. It was a BIG embarrassment for several weeks and months. This was her chance to rewrite history. This was her chance to do or die.
She patiently awaited her turn to speak. When the master of ceremony announced her name, she got up, smiled at the audience, gracefully flipped her flowing silk locks of hair with a quick wave of her hand and walked towards the podium…Did I mention she likes to show off? Well, she does. So she decided to take a few quick steps and a light hop and skip to reach the podium. Why on earth would any one do that? You have to ask the girl, she likes to show off, I told you dear reader. So the girl did the above moves and just as she approached the podium “THUMPPPPPH”, there she fell on the stage, nose down... Followed by a sudden silence, a gape and a burst of laughter from the entire audience she slowly got up. Bigger embarrassment – of Himalayan proportions, there is no real recovery from this point on.
The chief guest was genuinely concerned. He offered her a chair to sit down and suggested she take a few moments to recover. She couldn’t really look any one in the eyes and insisted to speak right away. See, the good thing about speaking in front of a big crowd is that you don’t have to make eye contact with any one person in particular, while most people find that a difficult feat to achieve, she counted it as a blessing on this occasion. So without wasting another moment she went on to deliver her full speech. The crowed cheered, or that is how she would like to remember it.
This is where the digression ends and we go back to our original story, of the girl and the boy.
Valentines Day couldn’t get any worse than this, the girl assured herself, unless of course her date stood her up. It was almost 6 in the evening, yet no phone calls. Strange! Would a guy stand up a girl even though all he had to do was to make a phone call? She was not sure, because she hasn’t been on dates before nor had she had any valentines before. So she decided to wait. She made sure he didn’t call while she was away delivering her great speech. It was almost 7 in the evening, several wrong number calls and calls for other family members later, the phone rings again.
This time the call was for the girl. She answered the phone and the boy said “Happy Valentines day, girl”
Girl: “thanks, happy valentines to you too”
Boy: “How was your day?”
Girl: “It was okay, nothing special, how about you?”
Boy: “Oh you wouldn’t believe the day I had”
Girl: “Really, what?”
Boy: “You see, I promised I will call you today, but I didn’t have your number. I tried to get from a few others, but couldn’t”
Girl: “Ha!”
Boy: “The phone at my house stopped working since yesterday so I had to ride down to the booth with a telephone directory. I knew your fathers last name and the part of the city where you live. I narrowed down to five names. I tried calling one by one and finally reached you”
Girl: “Really? That’s very sweet of you; I thought you wouldn’t call since I didn’t see your call all day!”
Boy: “Oh how can I not call you, I promised you I would, besides you are my first valentine!”
Girl: “Aww, well you are my first valentine too. So let us promise to call each other on every Valentine’s Day, okay?”
Boy: “Sure, it’s a deal”
For many years that passed, they always called each other. He brought her roses at times, they exchanged gifts other times. Even when life, universe and other sundries engulfed their world, they always took a moment to pause and cherish each other. They never dated each other; they never kissed, or married or had any kids together. They never fell in love with each other in spite of the great love and respect they had for one another. They helped each other through numerous mistakes, infatuations, heartbreaks, hardships, truly rejoiced in each others successes…and on every valentines day wished each other ‘happy Valentines’, ‘cause after all he was her first valentine as she was his !
