It was a wedding day, and Basith and his family were preparing to go to the wedding. Basith was studying in the 8th standard, so he did not know all the family members and he did not know how he was related to them but he used to go with his family during weddings or other events. One of the main reasons for his journey was to enjoy himself for a while, to see his close relatives, and to eat. He didn't have many friends back then and he wasn't in the habit of telling everything to the friends he had. It was a time when he was living comfortably in a world of his own.
Their vehicle moved towards the auditorium. Reached without delay, he secured his place in an empty seat in the auditorium. While his father, mother, and siblings all went their separate ways. On the Nokia phone he had, gave food to the snake and also checked if it was time for his food without bothering anyone.
His eyes suddenly caught on someone, and when he saw her, he felt a fascination with her. He focused on playing the game again. But occasionally his eyes were on her. By the time he finished eating and left the wedding hall, his eyes were searching for her who had aroused his curiosity. He did not understand its meaning then. And later he never thought about her. Or what to think, not even knowing her name, place, home, who she is. Sometimes she may be from his family, but not all those who come to the wedding must be family members.
After a long gap, there was another wedding in the same family. Basith was studying in 10th standard at that time. He had also gone to the wedding with his family, but not directly to the wedding hall as he had done that day, but to the wedding house, that too in the previous day. Basith realized one thing when he sat in that house, it was her house! He then realized that he had come for her brother's wedding. He was then passing through a state of joy and wonder combined. But he cannot show it outside. There he realized something else, she was his relative! He was most excited to go to the wedding the next day. He felt like he was getting pleasure from her every action. He started watching her every move. He also felt like her every smile belonged to him. But he didn't have the guts to stand in front of her in any way. It is because he feels that she is somehow greater than him for some reason, she was really beautiful with a cute smile and her cuteness made him exasperated. And when compared with her, he was nothing. But for that reason, his interest in her did not decrease even a little.
Many weddings took place in those families and Basith's aim was to meet her rather than attend the wedding. When he reaches the auditorium he first looks around, his eyes never rest until he sees her, and even after he sees her there is no rest. He kept looking at her secretly. He didn't have much trouble figuring out her name, even though it was a distant family. He used to listen attentively to anyone who said anything about her or her family, and thus came to know her name as 'Fathima'. Then he started searching on Facebook with her name and initials, instagram wasn't that big back then. Got her account on Facebook but left it like that without sending a friend request. He thought what she would think of him. Years passed, and many faces passed inside Basith but other than her others were all fleeting, only her’s remained intact. At that time Basith was searching for colleges after the plus two result. Also, he was seriously thinking about what to take after Plus Two. He wanted a job without too much hassle and problems. Realizing that subjects like BBA and B Com would get him a job quickly, he decided to take one of them.
It was then that he realized the benefits of going outside the state and studying, and also he wanted to see how real India was. Other than thinking too much, he started the necessary preparations to get into Delhi University. As he wished, he was admitted to Shaheed Sukhdev College, Delhi University for a BBA. At this time he had come to know that Fathima joined Calicut Medical College for MBBS.
The time Basith was in his second year, one day when he opened Instagram, there was a friend request, it was none other than Fatima’s!. Then he realized something, she knew him too. Until then, Basith thought that she would not have noticed him, and he was very happy that day. He had little courage to get closer to her. Went to Facebook and sent her a friend request and started liking her posts on Instagram and Facebook as soon as he saw them. Slowly started sifting through her Instagram and Facebook to know more about her. He probed whether she was younger or older than him, where she studied and is there any mutual friends. Many things he looked at were favorable to him. It was also his habit to see if she liked his posts, also he found little joy in that.
One day Basith and his friends came down to explore Delhi on a free day of their final year studies. He felt that he had seen Fathima in the crowd near India Gate in New Delhi and dismissed it as his imagination. On his way to the hostel, he opened Instagram and saw her story in front of India Gate!, and realized that it wasn't his imagination. Basith liked talking with his friends on the rooftop of the hostel at night, every day there would be different topics, and some days there would be no topic as particular. One day the topic of the day was 'Love'. Each of them was talking about successful love, broken love, fake love, etc, it was Basith's turn, his friends thought that it was a waste of time to ask him about love because his character and attitude were like that. But they were all wondered when he told them about his undisclosed love. It was a surprise to them that Basith fell in love with her without even talking to her.
In 2017, Basith graduated from Delhi University with a BBA. He was thinking about whether to look for a job after BBA or to look for a better job after PG. At that time he happened to see that WhatsApp message.
Basith was a member of a WhatsApp group that published information regarding different jobs, and he didn't check the messages. But once he opened it out of curiosity, just to know what was going on in it. Suddenly he saw an old hidden interest that had floated once in his mind. The message was that registration for the CBI selection exam had started. One of the lessons he learned from his life was that to shouldn’t think too much about anything, that overthinking is not good, he should do what makes him happy. It was a time when he was thinking of staying at home for PG entrance preparation for a year, but he came to the conclusion that he might as well prepare for the SSC exam too, SSC CGL is the exam for CBI. But he did not tell anyone about preparing for CBI. Since PG and SSC had almost the same syllabus, he did not need any different preparation. He generally scores well in Maths, which is why he didn't find it too tough because both the syllabus contains more Mathematics.
After a few months, he wrote both the exams. He did not find the two exams as difficult. To the family, he said that he was going to write PSC rather than telling SSC. The first to know was the result of SSC, which he passed but there was one more exam and an interview to go. His second exam was held near the Calicut Medical College, so a little happiness began to well up inside him, it was because he might somehow meet Fathima. All the fear that usually comes with an exam slipped away from him without even knowing it, and he wanted to see her as much as he wanted to pass the exam. He didn't want to talk or even laugh at her, just wanted to see. The exam was in the afternoon and that too in the adjacent building of the medical college. When he came out after the exam, he walked right in front of her, like a coincidence. He didn't know what to do then, and he felt like all the courage he had until then was draining away. She smiled at him and he could see the curiosity on her face thinking about how he was there. He couldn't bring himself to even say a ‘hi’ except to chuckle in response, and his throat felt like it was choking. He walked forward, happy that she laughed at him for the first time, even though he couldn't speak. The two of them walked away, and when he turned back a little later, she had disappeared into the crowd.
After a few days, the PG result was published. Basith got admission for an MBA in IGNTU located at Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh. It didn’t take too many days to start the class. One day on his way back to the hostel after class he comes to know that he has cleared the second stage of the SSC exam and an interview is left but it will held in Delhi. He immediately took the train for Delhi because it was too late when he knew the result and the interview date was very near. He stayed at Azad's house, with whom he studied at Delhi University, and the interview took place the next day of his arrival. But he didn't tell his family about his coming to Delhi or the interview, he thought it would be a surprise if he got the job. He performed well in the interview as best he could. Immediately after the interview, he went back to Madhya Pradesh because he skipped some classes for the interview. He used to tell his classmates and hostel mates that the sudden journey was to home. He didn't have to wait long for the interview result, his hard work was not in vain, he cleared it and achieved one of his dreams, CBI. But after that he seriously thought about what to do with the PG, till he cleared SSC he didn't even think about it. At first, he thought to avoid PG, but later he realized something, he wondered what would do if he was fired from CBI. Finally, he came to a decision that PG would be taken forward with the job. Once he got an email to reach his nearest CBI headquarters. He reached the CBI headquarters in Madhya Pradesh, he told them about his affairs and situation before the training and they agreed to it on the condition that he could attend the college only for exams. He also discussed this situation with his university and they too agreed with this decision. His colleagues were not aware of this situation, they thought he was not attending classes because of some medical issues. He was a type of silent man in the class so his absence didn’t affect that much. When the CBI officials heard that Basith had not told even his own family members about the job in CBI, the officers thought that Basith could be sent to Secret Operations but they gave full permission to tell others if he felt he needed to, and had not detained him. But he kept the CBI a secret, realizing that secret operations would be easier if he didn't tell too many people. He pretended to be in college and hostel while calling from home. He maintained it very well from anyone suspecting it.
After two years in 2019, Basith returned home after completing his PG and still nobody knew about his secret. The senior officials ordered him to be full-time with the job. He was also shifted to the headquarters in Mumbai. He was no longer interested in remaining unemployed and unpaid in front of his family and countrymen. He presented the matter of CBI and going to Mumbai in front of the family. At first, it was difficult for them to accept it, but later they also shared in the joy. The next thing he had to decide was about Fathima. He gathered the courage to go to her house alone and introduce the matter. The next day he decided to go for it without telling anyone. When he was ready to go on, suddenly Fathima's parents came to his house, it was to invite him to Fathima's wedding!. He became silent at that moment. When it was night, he went up to the terrace of the house and looked at the sky for a long time, he used to sit like that to calm himself.
Finally, that special day of 2019 arrived, Fathima's wedding day. At first, Basith thought not to go but later decided to go. There was something lost or missed in his face. After entering the hall, he saw her sitting on the stage. She giggled when she saw him and he tried to crack a small smile in return. He didn't know whether that was a perfect smile or not. He walked slowly and fixed his position in a corner of the auditorium. At that moment, each and every memory about Fathima floated one by one in his mind. Basith's attention suddenly fell on a boy nearby, the boy was playing pubg on his phone, but every now and then his eyes were looking for someone else, like Basith used to do in the past, Basith looked at it with a small smile. He saw another Basith in that boy. He fell back into his thoughts and slowly realized that her happiness was more important to him than his love. So what started in one wedding hall ended in another wedding hall...!
THE END
