It's Not so Ordinary-i-yummmmmmm

Fresh outta school !!
So many new faces, new names, new subjects, new place - d world was entirely new..
I found myself lost for a bit.. ...
All of us were trying to find a niche, trying to figure out a bestie in the odd diverse lot of people...
For the first few days everyone was trying to be extra nice, infact everything with an extra emphasis.... How can i forget the extra long gazes and super strong glances...

Anyways all this was out of my picture, as if I had found my ultimate karma in life and as if I was born to be a Computer Applications expert only.. LOL
If i think of it today i feel i had been quite a nerd in the first few days, all too airy about my own self.... Part of it attributes to my punjabi background where everything is supposed to be so loud, impromptu and unintentional- probably like an occasional fart :)
Having performed well in school and getting admission into a renowned institute was such a - "Winning the grammies" kind of moment for me..  Although I was not super duper intelligent to walk seamlessly into IIT ,but whatever it was i held up my head high to walk as if there was no looking back.. Gosh!! how can i forget the lecturers for being such a spoiler.. They were giving me way too much attention.. Bang there used to be question and straight up used to go my hand.. LOL .. i was still a kid way too competitive and i guess all others around me were too,
.... but my attempt was way too obvious and noticeable..
Well through my observation,I had already sensed I was the only one and i had way established my territory !!!!

Well it was a usual noisy morning and we were all waiting for the lecture to start...
I had coveniently secured my favourite place in the class, typically in the front bench rows..
I saw the door opening and there i saw someone walking in..
It was a dusky, tall, thin girl dressed away in a dark cotton typical knee length suit, ting-tong gold ear-rings, shabbily tied up hair with just a casual clutcher to hold her extra long tresses back...
She walked towards the room with a BIG bag.. I would have dismissed thinking her to be just another serious lecturer walking in to do her job..
But hey she walked towards the last row and sat away with ease..

 

I thought to myself - "Now what the hell? What is she doing here.. For god's sake atleast please leave this place.. Guess madam is in a wrong place..!!!"
I mean she would have easily bagged herself a place in the IIT.. And Come on she looked so studious and i could not ignore the fact that she was a South Indian
(We people in the North always hold an opinion that South Indians are way more intellectual than we are. I was no exception and I had the same perception.)
I tried hard not to notice her but i don't know something was either too special or either very eerie about her !!!!

It was too hard to ignore her.. My mind was jostled for the next few days observing her moves and mannerisms.. I mean she never used to talk to anyone, used to enter the room and just sit at the back bench only..
It was strange and I thought she was deliberately trying to act cool by doing this..
Whatever it was I was happy that I had finally found some people to talk to unlike her...
While in the first few days most of used to shy away from opening our home-made lunch-boxes,
she just used to sit anywhere(i mean anywhere literally) and eat it away without inhibitions or without even thinking if someone was staring at her..

During regular class sessions,
The Lecturer remarked looking at her - "So you are Ramya".. She sternly replied from the back - "Its K. Ramya !!!" ( mind the emphasis on the K and the . )
 .......   God !!!! My jaw dropped looking at the strange attitude she potrayed standing out for herself in front of the whole batch with such courage  ...........
I was definiately taken aback because in an odd lot of 60 diverse people she was the only one who was challenging my ego way too hard..
And the fact that she was not approaching me to talk to - was all the way even more annoying.. ( Proves yet again that i was way too airy about my own self )

It was a casual break during the lectures and I was busy explaining C++ concepts to few of my new found friends(as if I knew everything).. Just then, She approached me interrupting my gyaan session and very casually she said - "Gurpreet - Can I have your notes for a moment ?? "..
I chuckled to myself with an evil grin thinking "So now she finally gotta know who's the Boss !!!!" and I obliged giving away my notes,
Unaware of the fact that the feeling was mutual - a strange feeling of getting to know each other more than what just met the eye.

I was slowly giving in..giving into the charms of my competitor.. 
She was an established player i must admit..
If not anything else I was developing a strong affinity for the south indian food and a hint of coconut in everything she brought..
I got to share her lunch and that was one of the very strong reasons of me being so nice with her..
She was strangely and slowly making a way out.. a way out into my world !!!!


While all of us girls would be busy making deliberate attempts to keep in sync with the crowd,
she would just walk up to college in just anything of her choice.. and still be so comfortable to carry herself off..... So unlike me because I was so intimidated by the "oh so HEP !!" lot of the batch..


There were strong flares of tomyboish-ness in her personality.. I mean if you would just notice her walk or the way she talked - She would not look or sound normal..
JAATA HUN !!    KARTA HUN !!   MAIN NAHI KHEL RA !! ...
I had no idea what terminology she used or why..and most importantly what she was trying to prove by that.. ?????


During the exams while all of us would be busy mugging up books during the day time.. she would just be sleeping her day out, listening to Mohammad Rafi songs, giving missed calls in line to all of us, forwarding text messages, dialling odd phone numbers.....
or maybe catching up an old movie which probably she has watched over a hundred times while growing up..  I never saw her getting even slightly anxious at the thought of studying.. Yet she was just at par with me at the scoring front..
I fail to understand that magic even today... !!!!


Girls usually die over chocolates and cakes but AIYOO RAMA!!! she hated that stuff.. LOL
She would cheekily share the spiciest of talks but it was suprising to see how she could not manage to munch even the slightest of spices in the food..
I mean she would literally have a running nose and watery eyes having eaten even a bit of KURKURE :) 


We girls never knew the basics of the trade - I mean fishing ;) ;) ;) ... But she was a master ..
She would take coaching classes and occasionally drop in the silliest of ideas and the nicest of tactics for starters.. She taught us the art of figuring out eye-candies in an odd lot of guys..
I don't know from where all this gyaan flowed into her head but she was -  witty, funny and smart.. All what I was not .. not even close to that..


If you ever had a problem and don't know what to do or where to go,
then definiately you should be looking out for K.Ramya because strangely she had all the answers to even life's most difficult problems..
She would just patiently hear every bit of your story and then pour out the verdict so casually, so frankly and so honestly..


In college usually people tend to beg/borrow/steal projects and manage year-end submissions..
But strangely we had a rebel in our group who would make us come to a desserted college during the holidays and sleep over learning .Net .... She would just go tick tick tick sincerely on the keyboard and we would be joking around the campus, finally to sit back and understand the high-end concepts she would apply for coding the project.. Yes she made us sit and understand that all without caring if we were even slightly interested or not... :)
This girl had a vision and the wit to get things moving..
No matter how difficult a task it would be, she would make it amazingly simple..


This was just what she preferred to show to us..
During the final year days we learnt that while we were just trying to bag a single Bachelor's degree
she was already in the process of acquiring a Master's.. LOL .. yes she was putting dual effort all this while managing two courses at a time and Somehow we supposedly never got a hint of it ever.. I am short of words for appreciation here..


Well at this point I'll admit I found myself way badly beaten up by her experience..
She was exceptionally good and I learnt that life was not all about books..
She had amazing fundaaa's in life and I was picking bits and pieces of her commendable knowledge.. I knew i had to learn a lot from her..

No doubt she had already bagged a special place in my heart and I didn't realise how fast the college days slipped away..


Two years down the line after finishing the grads,
A busy night in Pune and I get a call from K.Ramya.. "Gurpreet, I have finally said YES and I'm gonna get married"..
I could'nt believe my ears for a moment, specially if it was coming from K.Ramya.. well while listening to her engagement saga, I could already sense that she was in love too (although it was a purely arranged match up)..
Yet again she amazed me with a side I never knew all these years..
I thought she was way too high-headed n professional and marriage was definiately not her kind of stuff.. i mean yes but not so early..
Suprised to say that she was the first of our group to get hitched..


I got the "Saubhagayam" of attending her marriage.. Yes i was way excited and she was the same K.Ramya for me.. My bestie in college - Dusky,careless,unkempt and carefree..
Well I am too proud to share that K.Ramya broke this myth on the wedding day..
She was looking exceptionally beautiful on the D-day, as if she was saving her beauty all this while from the eye's of the world only to reveal it at the right moment and at the right time..
I could not believe my eyes and my heart drimmed with mixed feelings at the thought of her making a move into someone's life finally..
For a moment all the wonderful time spent with her just zapped out as a slideshow in my mind..
I was happy to witness the transformation - a tomboyish girl finally taking vows and taking over to the role of a responsible wife..


One fine day,
my mailbox notifications read - You've got 1 new mail !!!!...
Well it was from K.Ramya and i was as excited as ever to catch up with the bits in her life..
Yet another suprise was awaiting.. "Gurpreet, I think I am expecting"..
I burst out into laughter because I was taken into the flashback..
She used to hate kids - Badly!!!! She couldn't just stand being nice to kids..and handling a kid was in no way on her cards......... It's been an year now and she is a proud mommy of a cute baby boy.. ..
She just banished it away all at once..


She is a working professional, a perfect home-maker, a loving wife, a responsible daughter-in-law and a doting mother all at once.. It's strange but she busted my thoughts about her at every step of life..

 

Take-away from this episode,

Every ordinary looking person is not so ordinary..  There is always something very special in every normal person that never ever probably meets the eye..
So, Next time just don't dismiss someone for being so ordinary -
Go closer and see for yourself !!!


Who knows you may loose out on an opportunity of having known one of the most awesome souls on earth !!!