My Heart Skips A Beat!: Story of An Incomplete Love

by Shubham Mohapatra

suggested him to send a message. Firstly he denied due to his shyness, but being forced by from me at last he sent a message. That was his first ever message to an unknown girl in his lifetime.

  Hello…..

  Then after 2 to 3 minutes a notification popped up on Sumit’s mobile screen & it was a message!

  Hiii…..

  Then Sumit asked

  Where r u form????

  Then she replied thatshe was from Sundargarh….

  Again he asked,

  Are u comfortable in English or Odia???

  She replied,

  In both dear…As I am also Odia so it better to talk in Odia…..

  Then Sumit asked some more details about her. She replied,

  I am Puja. I am studying M.sc computer science in AUIIT. Sorry, as my exam is going on. So I have to study….bye….

  Sumit:All d best for your exam… bye…. Good

  night….

  Then Puja:Thanks… good night… sweet dreamzzz….

  These were the first chats between Sumit & Puja. It was nearly 9:30 PM. Sumit went offline. By the time the movie was over. Sumit looked at me with a smiley face and asked me a foolish question, “How was the end”? I could not reply properly. At last I broke into a loud laughter & asked him to go for the dinner. On the other hand I noticed that Sumit seemed so happy and excited. From that day he could not concentrate his mind in his studies. Every now and then he wanted to talk to Puja. He was

  accessing Facebook most of the times. He cropped one of the photo of Puja and keep only the eyes portions in his gallery and spent all his free times by looking it. He also changed his phone’s wallpaper and set it by one of the image of Puja. It was quite easy for me to know that the one sided love towards Puja had taken place in his heart. The season of love had already begun in Sumit’s life and its rain had started touching his heart.

  One step closer

  SOME days passed away. Sumit was

  continuously checking her profile, but Puja was not coming online. It was 12th Dec 2016 at 3:17 PM afternoon. We were all present in the college. Our C-programing class was going on meanwhile Sumit asked me to share my cellular data by wifi hotspot as he was getting stressed with the boring lectures. Although I denied primarily, but I agreed soon as I was also getting frustrated with the lectures. After 10 to 12 minutes Sumit got delighted by finding Puja online. I advised Sumit not to send her any text first from his side. But, the excited boy initiated the conversation which went like the below.

  Sumit:Hii... What’s up???

  Puja:Nothing special… Just sleeping…

  Sumit:Exam over??

  Puja:Nope…

  Sumit:Then??

  Puja:It will end on 21st Dec 2016…

  Sumit:How was today’s paper??

  Puja:Quite good. By the way don’t u hv any class now???

  Sumit:Yes. Now I am in the C-programming class, but the class is so boring and I can’t understand the lectures. So I am using Facebook.

  Puja:Oho. But U have to keep concentrate your mind in your study during the class times.

  Sumit:Yaa. You are right.

  Puja:Good. Ok bye. I have to study for the next exam.

  Sumit:Ok bye…. All d best for the next one….

  Puja:Thanks….

  Sumit:U always Welcome…

  Then it was around 4 PM when our college hours were over and we returned to the

  hostel. After that conversation Sumit looked quite energetic and excited. From that day Sumit was searching for her every day, but Puja had not come online till 21st Dec 2016.

  It was exactly Dec 21, 2016 evening 6 PM. Sumit was meandering in the University outpost accessing his Facebook account with his own data pack! Finding Puja online, he started texting her from his side again.

  Sumit:Hii.. Good evening…

  5 minutes later.

  Puja:Very good evening…

  Sumit:What’s up???

  Puja:Just chatting…

  Sumit:Exam over??? How wz it???

  Puja:Yaa over.. And fine also…

  Sumit:What next from tmrrw??

  Puja:We r going to picnic tmrrw…

  Sumit:U will not go home!!!

  Puja:No. Our pre-placement training starts from 24th Dec 2016. So I’ll stay in the hostel…

  Sumit:Oho.. Good...

  Puja:Not always. By the way what’s about your exam???

  Sumit:I don’t know the proper date. But some seniors are saying that it will take place on the first week of January 2017 after the winter vacation.

  Puja:Oooh. Ok. Best of luck and do hard work.

  Sumit:Thanks…

  Puja:Ok. I am going to see a movie with my buddies.. So bye…

  Sumit:Ok bye….

  From 2nd Dec 2016 we got a break of nine days for winter vacation. During the holidays we stayed in the hostel as our first semester was closer. But we were visiting many nearby picnic spots instead of preparing ourselves for the exam.

  After the vacation some of our friends who had gone to home returned to the hostel. We got a mail from our examination cell that our exam would begin from the 6th Jan 2017. So only four to five days were left in our hand. Like the common engineering practices we started our study just one night before the exam.

  During that exam season Sumit had very few conversations with Puja. Due to exam pressure he could not talk to her properly. Anyhow after one week our exam was over. We all got relaxed. Sumit again resumed his chatting with Puja with a great joy. Then on 16th Jan 2017 night Sumit went to his hometown Cuttack enjoy the live cricket action between India and England on 19thJan 2017 at Barabati Stadium. I stayed in the hostel to organize a new trend that was‘APL’ which would make our batch famous in the college for all times to come.

  AUIIT Premier League

  OUR first semester exam was over.

  Meanwhile a new plan popped up in my mind to organize a cricket tournament among all the batches of AUIIT. My classmates appreciated my idea and supported me a lot. I approached my seniors with the plan. They went through my plan and gave their positive signs. Every batch practiced quite hard on the ground.

  In due course of time it was well known to

  all the freshmen that Sumit was not only bright at

  his academics, but also he outperforms everyone on

  the cricket ground with his batting. He had a potential

  to win the match by himself alone. He was very good

  in bat and also in fielding. He was the only left handed batsman of our batch. The date of the cricket tournament was coming closer. “AUIIT PREMIER LEAGUE or APL”: this was the name which was finalized after a series of discussions. The freshmen squad consisting of 15 members got finalized & the team was named as “Legend Lions”. The squad consisted of 15 members.

  Each and every team members were performing their best under Jatin Prusty Sir, our coach. Sumit was an extra ordinary player among them. There were two wicket-keepers in the team. One was me and another was Sambit. He was also a good keeper-batsman, but he was quite aggressive and short temper in nature. So Prusty Sir appointed me as the wicket-keeper for the team. Now it’s time to choose the captain of Legend Lions. So it’s the time for voting. I won by 3 votes and elected as the captain of Legend Lions. Team mates wanted me to see me as Sumit their Vice captain.

  It was 25th Jan 2017. I called a team meeting

  to choose the team eleven. It was 10.30 PM. All the team members came to our common room. The meeting began. Everyone pitched their own ideas. As a captain I wished to talk with Sumit as he was the vice-captain. But he looked so disturbed. So I ignored him and announced the team eleven. After the ending of the meeting I went to him and wanted to know about his disturbed mind. I came to know that he had not talked with Puja for last two weeks. That’s why he was upset. As he was a valuable player for us so I could only pray God to resolve the issues in his personal life.

  Suddenly I noticed that the pretty girl Puja being online on Facebook. I informed Sumit about
her and turned my wifi hotspot on.After 4 to 5 minutes there was a notification on his screen. It wasHello…from Puja. Sumit was so excited to see her message. Then I left the room to allow Sumit to message her with a privacy.

  Sumit:Hi. What’s up???

  Puja:Nothing special… Just chatting…

  Sumit:Oohho.. By the way ete dina jai msg karu nathila je??

  Puja:semiti kichi nahni.. tk padha padhi re busy rahithili…

  Sumit:ooho…

  Puja:Hmm..By the way aji odia re msg!!!

  Sumit:Hmm. Because Odia re lekhile feelings bhala ase. Any problem???

  Puja:Nope. I am feeling comfortable in odia also…

  Sumit:Thanks..By the way do u know about our cricket tournament???

  Puja:Yaa. I know... My batch-mates are gossiping that some first year B.Tech students are arranging a cricket tournament. Good Job.

  Sumit:Ooh.. Tame asucha ta match dekhiba lagi??

  Puja:May be or May be not.. Because I have some

  project works. But I will try my best…

  Sumit:Yaa.. I know that U will try your best…

  Puja:Yup.. Ok bye.. I am feeling sleepy…

  Good Night… Sweet Dream of your sweet heart…

  Sumit:Very good nyt. Sweet heart!!! Ha Ha Ha ..

  Ok.. Thanks.. By the way I have no sweet heart yet.

  Puja:Ooh really.

  Sumit:Yes.

  Puja:Don’t worry. U will get someone shortly.

  Sumit:Hope so. Thanks for the prediction.

  Puja:U r alwayz welcome. Bye.

  Sumit:Bye.

  After sometimes Puja went offline. Sumit called me to turn my hotspot off. He seemed so energetic and relaxed as he got some proper medicines which he actually needed. I was also happy to get him back.

  Finally it was 26th Jan 2017.The time for real action. But before starting the match we hoisted our national flag in front of the hostel by singing our national anthem. After flag hosting our Director Sir, hostel superintendent Mishra Sir and some students gave their speeches about our Republic Day. After their speeches our hostel warden provided us some sweets and then we left for the ground.

  It was about 3:45 PM in the afternoon. As per schedule we had to play our first match against our second year seniors from B.Tech. Many students of our college came to cheer up the players. Sumit waited for Puja, but she did not come. At 4 PM Mishra Sir came to the middle of the pitch and called the captain of both the teams. He tossed the coin. As I was a junior so I gave a chance to my opponent captain to called the toss. Fortunately I won the toss and chose to bowl first. Due to our strong performance in bowling, they were able to score only 87 runs in 12 overs. We chased that score so easily

  and got our first victory. Sumit performed well with both the bat and the field. But he seemed so upset from inside from his heart.

  We had played our next match with the second year team of seniors from the master degree courses. That day both our bowling and fielding was so poor. That’s why we could not do better in bating also. So that we faced our first forfeit. Puja did not come that day also. Might be the disappearance of Puja put bad impacts on Sumit’s game.

  Next match was with the freshmen team of seniors from the master degree course. That was a do or die match for us. A huge target of 148 runs was in front of us. We had to chase that target in only 12 overs and we had to do that at any cost. That day Sumit was the match hero who knocked 78 runs in just 31 balls and took our team to the final. It was Sumit for whom we won the match easily. Might be Sumit forgot about Puja and played only for our team that day. But I noticed that Puja did not appear that

  day also.

  It was 28th Jan 2017. We had to face our Master degree second years again. That team was the only team which defeated our team in the whole

  tournament. They own the toss and chose to bat first. They gave us a target of 134 runs in 12 overs. It was not a big score but not so easy also as it was the final match. Sumit and Sambit opened our inning. Sambit hit two back to back boundaries in the first two balls. But in the third ball he gave an easy catch to the face fielder and moved to the pavilion with a sad face. Next batsman Ajit who was also a good player entered the ground & had to return in the very first ball after being a clean bowled. As the captain of the team, I moved to the ground with energy & joined Sumit to build the innings. In the fifth over Sumit hit two back to back sixes in the first two balls of the over. Suddenly he noticed Puja with other girls of their batch cheering for our opponent senior team.In the third ball he gave me a single. I hit another six

  towards Puja and her groups.

  In the fourth ball I gave a single to Sumit. But it was known very well to me that Sumit again played with an absent mind. His only focus was on Puja, not in the game. He also proved it and got bowled in the next full toss ball of the over. I was totally shocked. He left the ground with just 19 runs of his individual score on the scoreboard. After that our middle orders did not perform well. I had to move to the pavilion because of a controversial decision by the umpire. I scored 56 runs out of 33 balls. We had to score only 30 runs in last 4 overs. But our lower orders could not manage to do that and unfortunately we lost the match by 13 runs. We returned to the hostel with pale faces. Puja joined the victory celebration of the senior master degree students which hurt Sumit more.

  That day was quite painful for us. Sumit was mainly blamed for the loss, but as a captain I requested everyone to keep calm & take

  lessons from this failure. We all were equally responsible. Every time we could not depend upon only one player. But I knew very well that Sumit’s wicket was the turning point of the match and arrival of Puja in Sumit’s life was also the turning point for him.

  Face to face

  ONE month passed away

  smoothly. Sumit kept continuing his Facebook conversations with Puja. During this time we came closer to our seniors from B.Tech third year. They were quite cooperative & friendly in behavior to us. Out of them we were so closer to Bikash Bhai. He was fondly referred as Bicky Bhai. One day Sumit had sat alone on the college balcony. Bicky Bhai and I approached to him. Bicky Bhai questioned Sumit about his loneliness, but he did not give any reply. Then he again asked me about him.

  Few days back Sumit warned me not to tell anything to anyone about his love matters he didn’t want his love matter to be publicized in the college. So firstly I avoided him. But being asked again about Sumit I did not stop my tongue from being slipped and I described everything about Sumit

  and Puja which were known to me. After listening everything carefully he suddenly gave a big laugh and looked towards Sumit. Sumit bent his head with shy. He told him that he was an engineering student and it was common in that stage. He suggested him to explain his love to Puja by directly face to face, but Sumit denied. He told that as it was his first ever attempt in love, so he would propose her through Facebook.

  In that night, after finishing his dinner with us Sumit went to his room. He looked so excited and tensed. He turned his mobile data on and started accessing his Facebook. He found Puja also online on Facebook. So without wasting more time he sent herHiii…

  Puja:Hiii…

  Sumit:What’s up???

  Puja:Nothing special. Just chatting with friends.

  Sumit:Ooho. I want U to say something…

  Puja:Ok..Please say…

  Sumit:Your eyes are so beautiful.. I am a big fan of them from the day one when I met you in our C practical lab.

  Puja: Ooho really!!!

  Sumit:Yaaa…

  Puja:Ok. Thanks…

  Sumit:Have U a boyfriend???

  Puja:What a silly question.. Sorry.. I have no boyfriend now.. But 2years ago I had a boyfriend, but now I am not in any type of relationship.

  Sumit:Ooo. But what happened???

  Puja:Excuse me!!! It’s my personal matter.

  Sumit:Sorry..

  Puja:It’s ok…

  Sumit:By the way I LIKE YOU…

  Puja:What type o
f liking U have?? Senior-junior type na!!!!