1097. Here is My Lover!

"We shouldn't have joined a co-education college!" said Dinesh.

"Boys studying in men's colleges feel jealous of us. But you regret joining a co-education college!" said Murugan.

"I mean it. If I love a girl, the news spreads to the whole college!"

"Do you love a girl? Even I, a close friend of yours, am not aware of this. How do you claim that the entire college knows about this? Who is that girl, by the way?" asked Murugan.

"My love has not yet been reciprocated by the girl. Only then, it can be called love. At that time, it will be known to the whole college. This is what I meant."

"You have still not told me who the girl is!"

"Poongodhai" said Dinesh.

"I find that even your names don't match. Your name has a Hindi origin, while her name is in classic Tamil. How will you two be compatible with each other?" teased Murugan.

"Going by your logic, you can marry a girl, only if her name is Valli*! I have already been concerned that I have not received any response from her to my signals. Don't irk me by bringing in compatibility of names etc." said Dinesh, displaying his annoyance.

Dinesh noticed Poongodhai walking with two of her friends inside the college campus. Dinesh walked behind her, keeping some distance, hoping that he would get a chance to talk to her alone, if her friends moved away from her.

One of Poongodhai's friends noticed Dinesh following them and said in a loud voice, "A Romeo is following us. I don't know which one among the three of us he is targeting!" She then turned to Poongodhai and asked her, "Is he your guy?" in a mocking tone.

"If he is my guy, he will walk ahead of me, not behind me" said Poongodhai. It appeared to Dinesh that she deliberately spoke in a loud voice, so that he should hear what she said.

The other two girls laughed aloud.

Dinesh had a feeling of having been struck hard. He walked past the girls.

"He is walking ahead of you, as desired by you" said one of Poongodhai's friends.

"It looks as if he will dance to your tunes!" remarked the other friend.

"First of all, let him walk without falling down. Looking at his speed, it looks as if he could trip and fall any moment. He is so slim that he could be knocked down by the wind!" said Poongodhai.

A few days after this incident, when Dinesh was walking inside the college campus, Poongodai was coming towards him from the opposite direction, with some of her friends.

When Dinesh passed Poongodai, he looked at her face. She also looked at him. But it appeared to Dinesh that there was anger in her look.

'Oh, it appears that she doesn't like me' thought Dinesh. Though the realization was disappointing, he told himself that he had to accept the reality.

Dinesh saw Poongodhai talking to Murugan. 'Oh, it seems, she likes Murugan.' Though this thought was shocking, Dinesh consoled himself thinking, 'when I know she doesn't like me, how does it matter to me whom she likes?'

Seeing Dinesh, Poongodhai moved away.

"Congrats, Murugan!" said Dinesh.

"I should congratulate you!" said Murugan, smiling.

"What for?"

"Poongodai was talking to me only about you. She is highly impressed by your restraint and decency."

"Really? The derisive comments she made about me to her friends and her angry look gave me the impression that she didn't like me!" said Dinesh, pleasantly surprised.

"She had no opportunity to talk to you alone. She teased you in front of her friends expecting that you would pick up a fight with her. Since you didn't show any reaction, she was even angry with her. She has been hoping that you would talk to her and since you didn't, she came to me and poured out her mind, knowing that I am your friend!" said Murugan.

Dinesh began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" asked Murugan.

"I want to catch her before she is joined by any of her friends and convey my love to her" said Dinesh, increasing his pace.

Thirukkural
Section 3

Love

Chapter 110
Reading the Cues

Verse 1097 (in Tamil):
seRAch chiRu sollum seRRAr pOl nOkkum
uRAr pOnRu uRRAr kuRippu.

Meaning:

The pretended angry look and the bitter-sweet word of the beloved are like those of a stranger. Surely, these are but the masks of her love. 

*As per a mythological story, the Hindu God Murugan, married Valli. 

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'avaLE en kAdhali by the same author.)

Verse 1098
Verse 1096