Jolene and Philandro

Here is a stranger’s story of love- stepping into her small shoes.

People bump into each other,
So did we last summer.
We ate sausages and drank beer,
The song you sung, I can still hear.
Ten days went by in a flash,
Like I was smoking some good hash.

So I packed my bags again,
To go to a new college, a feign.
None could tell that lay beneath,
Pretentious leaves of my heart’s heath.
Luck by my side, slid me with ease,
Into the land of wine and cheese.

As we tread, the cobblestone street,
Our shoulders brush, and eyes meet.
I can’t hold it anymore, and so can’t you.
I see it burn in your big eyes. Oh, phew!
You overwhelm my whole existence
Just how you promised, in your insistence.

How We Happened

(Written on May 30th, 2013. Previously appeared on Facebook.)

April 15th, 2006. Moon Light Dinner. Shantanu Mishra was apparently given a ‘dare’ to go up to Oshin Vipra Sagar and give her a ‘Child Rights and You’ wristband. He asks a friend to call her and when she is right in front of him, he extends his hand within a fraction of a second, holds hers, shakes and utters what seemed like an automated message “Hi! I am Shantanu Mishra, class tenth”. Well, then he slides the wrist band against her hand, and, there she was, smitten by the loving touch of his skin against hers. First such experience as a teen, the anxious girl could not offer compliance. Just goes away, without having seen his face clearly. But the touch embedded in her unconscious, every bit of it.
The following morning he sends a friend of his to call her. The friend barges into the girl’s hostel, announcing Shantanu wants to talk to Oshin. Well, next was the obvious. It was a middle school girl’s hostel! Giggles, and giggles, and more giggles.
The girl, shy, blushing like a tomato, (and a little embarrassed too), walks out with his friend and one of hers, to ‘inquire’ what he wants to talk about.
Her heart was racing. She was shy, and everything was happening too fast.