With utmost attention, I silently sat down on the wooden chair kept in his balcony, as he got 2 cups of cold-coffee –

One for me and one for himself.

"Delicious..." taking the very first sip, I exclaimed.

"Tumhe coffee itni zyada pasand hain?" he questioned.

"Ahhhh...sach bolu toh haan – but cold coffee, specifically zyada pasand hain" I answered.

"Toh office mein joh din ke dus-dus cups, filter coffee ke gatak leti ho – uska kya?" he mocked at my beverages, as I laughed.

"Haanji...Mr.Mantri"

"Kahani shuru kijiye!"

"Where is your diary?" he questioned, as I was stunned with this one – since, why he was asking me for my clandestine asset?

"Why do you want my diary?" I enquired.

"Tum meri kahani likhongi nahi kya?" he gave a counter-question.

"Nahi..." I smirked.

"Maine bola tha na – you should write a book on my story."

"I mean – you should write a book on OUR STORY" HE EXCLAIMED DELIGHTFULLY.

Abhimanyu Mantri always encouraged me to write something, giving wings to my passion.

And yes, although he is not present here – still, I fulfilled his and my dream – in this book – which all of you are reading right now.

"Tu pehle kahani toh bol"

"Agar mujhe interesting lagi, toh main pakka likh lungi"

Although I changed the topic, nevertheless I switched on the recording option in my phone – to record all his words.

And now, after my continuous and forceful insistence - Mr. Abhimanyu Mantri, was telling me – his entire life story at the IIM INDORE.

*************************************************

'I' refers to ABHIMANYU MANTRI.

I was in my school, in my Grade 11th, when I got the news that my father had an accident.

For three entire days, he was in the operation theatre.

And after three continuous days of crying, my mom suffered the biggest loss of her life.

My sister was already married and was living in Delhi, so now basically – it was only me and my mom – living in Mumbai.

To be frank, when dad passed away – after all the losses, we had one more big loss – around the table.

THE FINANCIAL LOSS.

The financial condition of my family – was weak.

Plus, we also had to pay some loans to the creditors, from whom my father borrowed money, to invest.

It was indeed a hard and tough time.

I still remember the date – on 16th August – he passed away.

And exactly on 2nd September – when all the rituals and pooja were completed – I switched on my laptop and decided that I have to keep my mother happy.

I researched, about all the qualifications and degrees in the commerce field, and finally came across 2 major options –

1. CA (chartered accountant)

2. IPMAT(Integrated Program in Management Aptitude Test)

The 2nd option was comparatively the more difficult one – but with a better financial future.

So, for the next 1.5 years, half of Grade 11th and the entire Grade 12th, I only studied.

From home to tuitions and tuitions to home –

NO FRIEND CIRCLES, NOT MANY RELATIVES, NO FAMILY FRIENDS.

Now here, IPMAT is an integrated course – offered by IIM INDORE, wherein once you qualify – then you can compete your BBA + MBA, both the degrees continuously for 5 years, at one of the most prestigious institution of India – IIM INDORE.

The most difficult fact was – qualifying, because out of the 30,000 to 35,000 students participating every year, only 150 are qualified in this integrated course.

So, in the next 1.5 year, as I said – I had no friends – so no girlfriends as well.

I still remember that evening – when my sister, put a sweet in my mouth and exclaimed delightfully – that my rank was 77th and I qualified for the integrated course.

I knew that the fees would be high but I always thank god – that my brother-in-law and uncle were indeed helpful.

Finally, in the year 2011, I was ready, well in time for my first day at the college for BBA at IIM INDORE.

My room-mate and my best friend at the IIM INDORE was Pratyush Sharma.

"Sharmaji ka ladka" was a typical Indori-guy, foody and rich. His father had a car show-room, and he had decided before the first day of the college – that he was going to continue the business of his family. He had his own car – a red Honda City – which seemed to be fascinating.

He was an amazing keyboard player and a little healthy or to be frank,

Fatty guy – with a golden heart.

Since I had reached hostel, a week before - I had already been in a good friendship with Pratyush and he knew that I was an all-rounder.

Right from my childhood, I was a topper, and kinda good looking. I was good at dance, acting and debates.

The only thing which I was not good at – was bonding/friendship with girls, since my previous experiences were a long time ago.

On the very first day, while I was climbing the steps of our college, the only thought I had in my mind was –

I need to emerge as a top-class MBA graduate after 5 years and mint money for my family, especially for my mom.

Also, I knew that I was not from a very rich family – so need to maintain limits – limits of all kinds.

Although my sister and jiju (brother-in-law) always encouraged me to involve in all kinds of co-curricular activities, since I was good at them –

I always had this thought in my mind – that I will stay away from extra parties, drinking, smoking and other bad habits.

Now, I was sitting on the first bench, in the first row, on the first day of my first year in the college and saw numerous other boys and girls getting into the class, until this one girl who entered.

"Preeti...kahan hain tu?" she spoke on her phone, with her bag behind her back, a red Skybag sack – with some blue and white strips on it.

Suddenly, another girl nagged on her - as both of them hugged each other.

This other girl, Preeti whispered something into her ears and both of them, before even sitting in the first lecture of the day - ran outside.

I asked Pratyush, about who were these girls?

He replied that – he was himself not aware of their identity – but talking to the other classmates – they were the students of our batch – who had basically bunked the first lecture.

I asked about her name – but some of them didn't know.

Nevertheless, I paid complete attention to the first period of the day – whereas she was enjoying somewhere with her friends – both boys and girls.

The college ended at 4pm on the first day and we had our hostels in the IIM Institute itself – so it was not quite far away.

At 7pm, on the first day – I rushed back to college and through the stairs, reached to the top most terrace, from where we could see a large area, the institute sport grounds, basketball courts and several other locations.

Although, it is not as amazing a view as the skyscrapers of Mumbai – but staying at the top has been my habit.

Whether it would be physically or metaphorically (being a topper).

Often or every alternate day – I used to walk up-to the terrace of the college – and would simply stay – enjoying my real self.

Sharmaji (Pratyush) often used to ask me –

What did I do on the terrace?

Or

Should he accompany me to the top?

And I always replied with a NO.

My college began on Monday, and on the first Saturday – while we were having some snacks at the canteen, I heard this whispering going on, or some rumors or chit-chat –

"They had a fight and then shayad unka break-up hua hain"

Another person said –

"Mujhe sirf itna pata hain – ki woh ek dusre ko, kaafi time se pehchaante thee"

"Aise log, IIM mein padhne aate hain ya yeh sab karne?" one of the studious lad commented.

"Pratyush – yeh kiske baare mein baat ho rahi hain?"

Mantriji – yeh woh bache hain – joh pehle din se hi college mein famous ho chuke hain.

Mujhe bhi aisa naam kamana hain yaar" he exclaimed.

"Oh Mere Bhai! Isko famous nahi, notorious bolte hain" I corrected, as he laughed loudly on my statement.

"But yeh log hain kaun?" I curiously asked.

"Wohi – Ansh Sinha, woh BMW wala" Pratyush recognized each student with their respective cars.

"Aur woh teri..."

Taking a sip from his chilled cold coffee, he spoke

"Woh teri first crush, ahhhhhh...."

"Kavya...."

I was taken aback.

"Oh par hua kya unke beech mein?" I curiously questioned.

"Abe yaar, mujhe kaise pata" he gave an annoying look, since I was asking him continuos questions.

"Acha sorry bro...

Aur haan – ek baat clear karni hain – SHE IS NOT MY CRUSH"

I spoke in a stern voice.

"Ohhh...mere K3G ke Hrithik –

Beta main Mazak kar raha hoon. Thanda le (just chill)"

"Yeh le cold coffee pee" he offered but I resisted, since he was just kidding.

I was simply, piercing my ears to the rumors spreading around and was listening to them, when suddenly Pratyush grabbed my attention and exclaimed –

"Oyee Hrithik – yeh le –

Aa gayi teri POOH (Kareena Kapoor in K3G)

With his eyes, he signaled towards one of the doors of the mess/canteen, whatever you call –

From where entered a beautiful girl –

Blue crop-top, black denim, with a white jacket on top. Her hair were black in color, with small patches of brown hair in middle, although not clearly visible to a normal human eye.

My eyes had extraordinary power lenses, when it comes to her.

She had small golden earrings in her ears, while her face had some inner glow. Her cheeks might turn pink when she laughed, and now were a little red, since she was in a gloomy state.

A small locket around her neck, while her wrists were bare- with a single thin kangna – on both the wrists.

Nike women sleepers at her foot with white to wheatish skin color, and black nail paint on her nails, shinned in the bright light.

From her fashion sense – I could sense that she was fond of dressing.

"Waise bhi, jin logon ki shakal-surat achi ho, unhe tayaar hone ka zyada hi shauk hota hain"

She had her head – hung down, as she walked with one of her friends and sat on the table, just beside us.

While I was looking straight, I tried to move my eyes, just to have a direct glance at her.

It was fearful. It felt fearful to have a talk with this girl – sitting right on the next table, while she was glancing at her phone.

Her friend got some snacks for them to eat but without even looking at them, she exclaimed," bhook nahi hain yaar."

On one hand, I had numerous thoughts in my mind, whether I should approach her and if yes- then how.

Should I directly ask her, or should I just say a hello?

Then, I also thought that, according to the so-called rumors – since she recently had a break-up, should I talk or should I just stay silent?

Let me just simply, raise my hand for a handshake and I will ask her, in which course – she is applying for?

I was in a dangerous dilemma, when all of a sudden, someone else approached her.

At first I was disappointed, but then – I got to know that this SOMEONE is none other than, my favorite –

TO BE CONTINUED.