Continued from Part 1

Deepak was from a family of eight brothers and sisters. He was the eldest and they lived in a small two room house. He had liked Shruti since the start but he didn’t think that anything could happen between them. He was a practical man, and not at all a bad one.

As time passed he had begun to like Shruti, and instead of taking the bus, they began to walk all the way to the university, even though it meant an hour's walk. To make up for the time Shruti missed the last class every day. Yet, the couple, so obvioulsy in love, never talked about love. They just enjoyed spending time with each other and wanted to spend as much time with each other as they could.

But the year was coming to an end, and Shruti knew that soon Deepak would have to go. She had a burning desire in her heart but did not know what to do.  Till now she had shared every problem with her dad, but this time she knew what he would say and she was not ready for that answer. 

Shruti's dad was a very strict man and Shruti did not mind that but, now, in love, she felt that she could not go to him with her problem. Going to her mom meant going to her dad, only through an indirect channel. She had no good friend with whom she could discuss this.Most of her friends had boy friends, and she remembered how she always said that she would wait till marriage or till she fell in "true" love to have a boyfriend. And, now if she went to her friends, she knew, she could not expect much. It seemed that her only option was to tell Deepak and  see what happens.

She did not know what the right time to tell Deepak was, but what she did know was that she did not have a lot of time. Her exams were near and in three days, she had her last exam, and after that there was no need to go to college which  meant that there was no Deepak. So, on the last but one day before her final exam, she was walking back home from college with Deepak.   

“You seem a little sad today?” Deepak enquired.  

“Do I? I don’t know why?” Shruti replied, her eyes were looking at the ground.  

“You can tell me what’s bothering you? Don’t you trust me?" Deepak probed.  

Shruti looked at him for a few seconds and then turned her eyes back to the ground. She knew what she was going to do might change her life forever but she had to say it, “I hope you wont laugh at me and I hope you understand but I do trust you and I…”, here she broke off and could not continue.  

Deepak had an idea of where this was going, but he remained silent and thought it best to let Shruti say what she had started.  

“I think I like you very much, I think I am in love with you.”  

Though Deepak had suspected this for long but an outright admission in this fashion was something that even he had not expected. He had believed that she would pass him a letter claiming her love, or something discreet like that. She knew how shy she was and, how she did not sometimes ask for the basic things out of politeness or shyness, so this admission of love was surprising to him.  

“Oh!” was all he could respond with.  

“Oh! Is that all you have to say," Shruti said a bit exasperated, "It’s not easy for a girl to come out and say something like this. It wasn’t easy for me at all. Oh! is all you can say.” Shruti was ready to burst into tears.  

Deepak liked her too, but he realized that the economic chasm between his family and hers was unbridgeable and he knew he ought not to say it,  yet he said, “I love you, I have loved you since the first day I saw you.”  

As soon as this confession was made on both sides, there was a smile on both faces and for the next thirty minutes, the lovers had a great time. They were oblivious to the rest of the world. In the short span of thirty minutes lots of plans, for the future,  were made. The most immediate of these plans was that the next day instead of going to the college the two lovers would elope.  

Deepak had explained to her that he was not very well off financially and wasn’t sure if he would be able to provide her with the life she was used to but Shruti would not listen to anything and said, “That does not matter, we are in love and we are young, we can always find ways and means to earn more money and live a self reliant life.”  

“That’s true,” Deepak agreed, and he too decided to throw all caution to the wind and let destiny take its course. Love has a terrible power, especially over the young.  

The next day, the lovers eloped as planned. When Shruti did not come home that evening, there was a huge uproar and the parents asked all the neighbors and relatives to look for their daughter but she was not found. All the friends were called up, and they told the distraught parents that Shruti had not  come to the college that day. It was then that the first seeds of doubt were sown in the minds of Shruti’s parents. They had  totally forgotten about Deepak and only now did it occur to them to go and check at his house. He was nowhere to be found either. Everything became clear as light of day to all concerned, and only confirmation of  what had happened was awaited.  

It was only late in the night, and after the lovers had put enough distance between themselves and their parents that they called their respective homes. The parents were devastated and what was even worse was that now everyone had to be told the truth. For many people, despite an overt show of grief, felt in their hearts that Shruti's father deserved the humiliation for being so proud of the way he had brought up his children.  

When the first pangs of love had subsided, Shruti and Deepak had to return back to life and the town. For there was no where to go. Running away from home had eaten away whatever little savings Deepak had accumulated over the years. He had no fixed income so their life was a shaky one. But, what was even worse was that love had lost its sheen now, and their married life was slowly coming apart.   

Shruti who had been brought up with delicate care, almost like a princess, had to move in to a two room apartment that already had eight other people. Everyone liked her, and no one showed her any disrespect, or ill treated her, but she was expected to do as much work as anyone else, which was too much for her, especially since she was not used to it. She, too, tried her best to learn the work and do it as best as she could, but it was proving to be too much for her. She asked Deepak to try and work harder so that they could get a place of their own or a larger place but Deepak’s response was typical :  

“You know me for a long time now and you know neither do I have the capability nor the will to work very hard. Moreover we should learn to be satisfied with our lot. A man’s hunger and desires are never filled, so lets just get used to it."  

Shruti was disillusioned with love and she realized that she had ruined her life in search of love. Love is a great thing but before love it is important that you have a life to live. Shruti, now, even tried to contact her parents and move back with them but they told her blandly that when she did what she did, so, now she was to take care of her life herself, and for them she was as good as dead.   

She was hurt, and devastated, but she also realized that she had hurt her parents very much and she could never face them again. In their hearts the parents loved Shruti, but they could never forgive her for what she had done and they never let her back. Shruti soon had a one year old girl, that she named Asha – hope. Asha was the hope fo Shruti's life, a hope to live again, like she did before.