It was about 6 o’clock. It was a beautiful morning. Nature was smiling with the rising sun. Jatin was about to get up from the bed. He got a call from Sanchal. She called him on his mobile. In a sombre tone, she asked him: “Can you meet me at 11 AM tomorrow at Sadar?”. Sadar is a locality in Nagpur in central India. The town is famous across India for its oranges.
Jatin understood why she called him. Why she wished to meet him. He didn’t want to go. But, he had no options. He couldn’t say no. He had to go. He agreed to meet her.
Next morning, Jatin woke up with his eyes and heart filled with sorrow. He got ready. His mother had prepared poha for breakfast. His favourite dish. He was in no mood to eat. He just stuffed it into his throat and washed it down with a cup of tea. He then started his bike and informed his mother that he will return home in about an hour or two.
Jatin reached Sadar exactly at 11. Sanchal came in a few minutes later. She came in her Luna scooter. As usual, she wore a salwar suit and a white summer coat. Her face was covered with a scarf. Only the eyes were visible. Sadar is one of their favourite meeting points. Sanchal was born in a nursing home in Sadar and they had planned that she would also have her delivery there.
But, that morning, the mood was not happy. She just gave him a blank look. Her eyes were blood red. Clearly, she had wept the entire night. Before Jatin could open his mouth to say anything, she asked him to get back to his bike and follow her. They drove with Sanchal in front and Jatin following for about half an hour when she stopped near the High Court building. As it was a Sunday, the usually busy area was very quiet. The building was along a wide road with a row of trees dividing it into two halves. They parked their vehicles on the roadside. Jatin knew what was coming.
But, he was startled as she suddenly announced, "This is our last meeting. Everything between us is now over".
Before Jatin could say anything, she continued " I am returning all the gifts you have given me over the years. I don’t want to see you again ever."
She was unstoppable. With her lips quivering, she declared, "I promise to God that even when you die I will not come to even glance at your face”.
With tear-filled eyes, a sad heart, a troubled mind, and an anxious body, Jatin just stood silently and merely kept looking at her as she handed him a carry bag containing some audio cassettes, one bracelet and a few photographs. She left, leaving him alone on the road.
Before this meeting, Sanchal had wept for many days, and that had made her strong enough now to break it all. Jatin returned home and started thinking of their first meeting and their love story which went on for over seven years with many ups and downs. Sanchal was a quiet girl. Slim. Shy. A typical Indian girl. Her simplicity attracted Jatin to her.
Their love flowered and bloomed when Jatin was studying for his bachelor’s degree in science.
Those were the days when Shahrukh Khan was beginning to become the heartthrob of moviegoers with the release of his romantic film `Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ (KKHH). Jatin met Sanchal two years before KKHH was released. She took admission in the second year of the B.Sc course in his college.
Jatin belonged to the ‘Other Backward Classes (OBC)’ category under the caste system followed in India, while Sanchal was a `Brahmin’ and his friend Anand who resided near her home belonged to a `Schedule caste’. Brahmins are at the top of the social hierarchy, OBCs somewhere in the middle and Scheduled Castes right at the bottom. There were many others in the class like Tripti, Bhuvneshwari, Shweta, Armeet, Shobi, Shardul and many more. However, it is important to introduce Jatin, Sanchal and Anand here as the story revolves around them.
The story starts earlier, in 1995, when Jatin passed his 12th class with second division. He was in shock. He had expected to score better. He was not able to decide what to do next in life. There was no money at home for the paid seat in a medical course where he had already got his name shortlisted. After much debate, it’s decided that he will pursue a course in Bachelor of Science. He got admission in Sindhu Mahavidyalaya near his house. In the first year, he was totally focussed on cracking the Pre Medical Test for the MBBS course. So he did not pay much attention to his first-year studies of B.Sc. He tried many PMTs but could not get selected anywhere. After much thought, he decided to stop pursuing the entrance examinations for medicine and start paying attention to his B.Sc studies. `A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’.
There were some new admissions into his classes at the beginning of the second year. There was a group of three girls -- Tripti, Shweta and Sanchal. They kept to themselves and Jatin was busy with his friends Anand, Sandesh and others. They were all students of different groups of subject areas. Jatin was studying Microbiology-Biochemistry; Sanchal Microbiology-Botany while Anand Microbiology -Zoology. All had common subjects of Microbiology and Chemistry and hence the classes of all in these subjects were held together. So in those classes, Jatin used to see Sanchal intermittently. As Sanchal and Anand were living nearby, they started coming together. Being a girl, Sanchal also felt secure coming with Anand. They both used to come on their own bicycles.
One day while in college Anand and Jatin were chatting, whenAnand disclosed, “Jatin I I like that girl named Sanchal very much but I do not have enough courage to express my emotions to her”.
Now, it became the daily routine for Anand to tell something about Sanchal to Jatin and his love and affections for her. One day Anand said to Jatin that he could not sleep the whole night and that he can’t live without Sanchal.
Finally, Jatin decided to talk with Sanchal and tell her about Anand’s love for her.
One fine day in the evening after Jais Sir’s chemistry class when all students left and Sanchal was standing alone near a wall in the corridor, Jatin went to her and started talking with her.
She told him about herself: that she had an elder sister and a younger sister. They did not have any brother. Her father was a clerk in a bank. She was not paid much attention from childhood in her family as compared to her sisters.
This was the same case with Jatin because in Jatin’s home also nobody is bothered what he is doing and less attention was given to him as compared to his two elder sisters and one younger sister.
So, since Jatin and Sanchal were in similar situations, they also started having sympathy for each other. Now Jatin started to talk about Anand.
“ You know Anand with whom you are coming to college regularly?”
She replied, “Yes he is a simple and nice guy, we come together but he is on his bicycle and I ride mine”.
Jatin said, “Actually, I wish to tell you that Anand has several times told me that he loves you a lot.”
On hearing this Sanchal was shocked. She was silent for a few minutes and then replied. “ See, Jatin I do not have any feelings for Anand. Also, we have a big caste difference as I am a Brahmin while Anand is a Scheduled Caste boy. I see him only as a brother.”
Very next day Jatin informed Anand that Sanchal did not love him and on hearing this he wept uncontrollably. Jatin’s situation was like a piece of tomato sandwiched between two slices of bread as he had to take care of both Sanchal and Anand.
After that incident, Sanchal slowly started moving away from Anand and coming closer to Jatin. As she and Jatin became good friends, their thoughts also started to match. However, they still did not show any love or affection to each other.
Since Jatin was in Biochemistry group, he got the chance to meet Anand and Sanchal in chemistry classes only.
Meanwhile, in the biochemistry group, Armeet and Shobi became Jatin’s good friends. Armeet started loving Shobi. But, there was a major problem as Armeet was a Sikh, and Shobi a Muslim.
Jatin lived just 2-3 km away from college while Armeet and Shobi were 4-5 km away. Now in the group of Jatin, Armeet and Shobi, the most talented bright student is Armeet, and as Jatin being an average student, he has to be with intelligent ones for his upliftment. Shobi was not that good in education, and he is 3-4 years older too but good looking, smart and tall.
Jatin, Armeet and Shobi started group studies and exchange of handwritten notes. This worked fine and somehow Shobi passed B.Sc, Jatin got 59% while Armeet was second in the University merit list.
Shobi and Armeet were friends of Jatin in his loneliness. They know that Sanchal is in love with Jatin. But they were more bothered about themselves. This sometimes created a sense of being ignored in the Jatin’s mind.
Near the end of the year, all B.Sc second-year students planned to go outstation for a tour, and the expenses for the trip was Rs.800 per person. But Jatin came from a poor family and was taking tuitions at home for expenses on education and food. His father was not earning anything. Mother was doing sales jobs, and the two sisters were also doing part-time work so that they can also earn while learning. In this critical financial condition, he was not in the situation to pay Rs.800, but as Sanchal had a soft corner towards Jatin, she requested him many times to somehow make it. But he could not go. Anand joined the tour.
Sanchal missed Jatin a lot. Slowly roots of love were spreading in the hearts of Jatin and Sanchal. They visited the houses of their friends, Bhuvaneshwari, Tripti and Shweta. All these visits increased more talks, more interactions between Jatin and Sanchal. But there is no direct proposal from any of them, and they started loving each other silently, smiling at each other. They helped each other many times and were growing with a lot of happiness.
Its start of a journey of love, hate, castes based discrimination, poverty, the struggle for Jatin. Let’s move on to the next stage in Jatin’s life. There was sunshine, a new love breeze in the air for Jatin who got nothing much from childhood for a reason to be happy.
At the end of the final year of college, there was a grand farewell party. Sanchal could not attend it. Everyone else enjoyed a full day of fun with lunch and music and then departed for the next part of their life’s journey. The farewell brought a kind of sadness on breaking the association of 3 years. Everybody is worried about their results and their future.
Sanchal called Jatin and asked him to meet her in the library. There are two libraries of Municipal Corporation, one near Sanchal’s home and the other near Jatin’s home. Sanchal joined the library near her home and Jatin joined the library near his home. They planned to meet in the library near Sanchal home on a Sunday.
Those days there was no mobile. One could contact only through landline. Sanchal and Jatin developed a code language based on English, and they used to write postcards to each other in codes. Writing letters in code required 20 minutes and the same for decoding too.
The meeting at the library turned out to be a special occasion. Sanchal was wearing a nice blue silk saree. She hardly wore sarees and that too a silk saree. She had also put on an eyeliner, eye shadow and kajal and a blush on her cheek.She had made up her hair into a chic bun and adorned it with a rose. She looked like an angel.
Even as Jatin gaped at her in bewilderment, she coyly whispered, “I, I, I …..”. She didn’t have to complete her sentence. Jatin got it. He was stunned. It took him a few moments to pick himself up. Thats it..
“Hi. Are you telling me the truth. Am I in a dream”.
No, he was not dreaming. She was in love with him. She liked Jatin because he was focused, earning while learning, was soft-spoken and pleasant, had a smiling face and a caring attitude and so on.
But she wished to test her feelings to see whether it was true love or only attraction. So she proposed a plan that she would not meet him for a whole week.
There will also not be any phone calls or exchange of letters. If during that time she had a strong missing element in her and the same was also felt by him then only they will propose and accept that they are in love. Jatin readily agreed to it.
The countdown started when she left for home from the library. Jatin saw her till she disappeared from his eyes. Then he too left for his home.
Jatin recalled the moments spent with her, her smiling face, her melodious voice and then on Wednesday he could not contain himself. He went to the library. Waited for her for a long time and when she came, he saw her from a distance but did not break the promise of non-meeting for 7 days.
When the seven-day period ended, Sanchal called Jatin and told him that she will meet him near his home and will propose. Jatin is totally exhilarated.
But, he is also practical. He wants to get advice from someone because it meant that he would be spending his entire life with her hereafter. He went to Shyam, his best friend in the colony. Shyam was a paying guest and was from Bihar. He was in 12th class with Jatin. He did not score much during his 12th and hence he is doing some computer course from NIIT.
Now when Jatin told everything about Sanchal and asked his opinion, Shyam said, "The girl is a Maharashtriyan Brahmin and you belong to Other Backward class. Now there is a big problem in marriage. Also, you do not wish to marry by force or by eloping. So, when she proposes you keep two conditions: first you will get married only after both parents agree and second to convince parents will be the responsibility of each other individually. You will convince your parents and she will convince her parents. If this is ok then only you accept her proposal of love."
Jatin found this right and logical too. So, when Sanchal made the proposal, he set out these two conditions. Upon listening to these conditions she thought for a while and then she also agreed for it. They hugged each other and went to a nearby restaurant for a mini celebration: had tea and some snacks.
They then left for home with happiness and a new glow of love on their face. They kept contact with each other and started sharing all family related problems with each other just like a husband and a wife.
One month later, a priest came to Jatin’s home from a village about 100 km away. Jatin’s family was facing money crunch all the time and sometimes there was nothing to eat in the home. They asked the priest to come and suggest some religious solution.
He sat on the old sofa and everybody at home - mother, sisters and Jatin stood before him. He was a Maharashtrian Brahmin priest and he first listened to all the problems. He then started giving individual solutions.
When Jatin’s turn came, he told him that he is in love with some Maharashtrian Brahmin girl. It’s really amazing because nobody knows about the proposal of love and planning of Jatin. He told Jatin to chant Mantra on a daily basis. As in the house nobody cared for Jatin, nobody asked him about the love affair. When Jatin met Sanchal after some days he told her about the priest. She too was amazed after listening to the whole story.
Jatin soon got admission in Post Graduate Diploma in Medical Laboratory in government medical college while Sanchal joined a Master in Science-chemistry course. Jatin started going to his college on his bicycle. It was a 10 kms journey. Sanchal went to her college on her Luna scooter.
Jatin’s college was not like an usual one. It had only practicals. His batch had 12 students only. Jatin was the only male in the class. The students were posted to different departments on a monthly rotation basis. All of them got a chance to meet each other only occasionally. Jatin had got habituated to being alone. Jatin and Sanchal met once in a while. Sometimes he would cycle to her college and sometimes she would visit him on her scooter.
One day they decided to visit a temple for Maa Durga, which was about 20 kms away from the city. Jatin went to Sanchal’s college, kept his bicycle there and they went to the temple on her Luna without informing anybody. Unfortunately, Sanchal’s sister also decided to visit her on the same day. On finding her missing, she returned home and informed her parents.
Meanwhile, Jatin and Sanchal performed prayers and then spent the entire afternoon chatting at a pond behind the temple.They took lunch and hugged and kissed each other many times. Excitement of love and happiness was on high like tides in the sea. Both are happy caring for each other. The feeling of kiss was soft enough for Jatin to keep his soul happily engaged. He also took a chance to touch her breasts feeling their softness. It was really an awesome moment in their lives. It was the first chance for them to be together for such a long time.The day of worship had passed without them knowing what’s in store. When Sanchal reached home she was received with a barrage of questions. She could not but finally, reveal to her parents about her love affair with Jatin and their plans to marry.
The very next morning the landline phone at Jatin’s home rang. Luckily, Jatin received the call. On the other side was Sanchal’s father. He demanded that Jatin should reach his house immediately with his father. Jatin somehow convinced him that he alone will meet him.
They agreed that Jatin will go to Sanchal’s house at 4 PM on the same day. Jatin was shocked when he reached there. Sanchal was totally distraught. Her hair was open and her eyes were red with tears threatening to pour out any moment.
Sanchal and her parents sat on one sofa and Jatin was seated on another sofa opposite to them. Sanchal’s mother spoke first: “ See Jatin, we can not agree for your and Sanchal’s marriage because you are not a Brahmin, you are not earning and Sanchal is a Manglik. She can marry a Manglik boy only”.
In reply, Jatin said, “ look, I can’t change my caste because it is by birth and it is beyond my control. I love Sanchal and I do not believe in Manglik and other such things. Yes, I am not earning. We will not marry now. We will marry when I earn enough for both of us.”
He further said, “ Aunty, I have a strong belief that marriage must be completed with elders' agreements and blessings and I will not marry Sanchal without your permission.”
But, Sanchal’s father remained adamant. He declared that he will never agree for the marriage. Jatin was shocked. But, kept his cool. He just replied, “okay, I will wait for the next life”. With these words, he stood up and left the room. He took his bicycle and returned home.
He then started paying more attention to his studies and started taking part-time tuition classes for some children in his neighbourhood to earn some money. He kept away from Sanchal when one day their common friend Tripti called and told him that Sanchal wished to meet him. They decided to have a get together at Tripti’s home two days later on Sunday morning.
After tea and snacks, Tripti took Jatin and Sanchal to the terrace, where all things were spoken and discussed. Jatin mentioned his terms and conditions once again in front of Tripti to which she also agreed. Sanchal promised that she will somehow convince her parents to agree to the marriage.
Everything was slowly getting normal. One day Sanchal went to Government Medical College to meet Jatin. As mentioned earlier, the students were posted in different departments in rotation. That month Jatin was in the front part of the Hospital in Microbiology OPD. The Government College is a big campus and visitors can easily lose their way. Sanchal went around the college. But, could not find him. She almost gave up and was about to return when Jatin saw her passing from near the window of his room. He called her over and they could finally meet though for a short time only as it was already getting late.
The PGDMLT course is now getting over. Just before the final exam, Jatin got a job offer of laboratory technician in a private hospital 10 km away from his home at a salary of Rs.3,000 per month. It was a good breakthrough and he accepted it with happiness. The timing was also quite comfortable, from 8 AM to 2 PM. Now, he could afford to buy a scooter though on loan. His life changed as a scooter provided speed in life. Slowly he picked up expertise in his work. Sanchal used to come and meet in his laboratory as her college was just 3 km away. They met, chit chatted and hugged each other. They went to various temples nearby and life was chugging on its wheels with happiness.
However, Jatin failed in the DMLT exam in one paper. Now there is a rule that if anybody fails in one paper he/she should have to give all practical and theory exams in the next attempt again. Jatin was shocked and depressed. But, Sanchal helped him, convincing him to not give up. Her encouraging words filled a new force in the blood of Jatin. He started his studies afresh, with more concentration. He attempted all exams of DMLT and passed the exams with flying colours scoring 53 % marks.
After about 2 years of Job Jatin was not comfortable that he had done only B.Sc and DMLT. He decided to apply for a Masters in Biochemistry. He told Sanchal and she was very encouraging. Now the question was how to pay for the EMI and fuel for his scooter. The only option was to take tuitions in the morning before going to college and late evenings on his return. Jatin got admission in M.Sc in Post Graduate Department of Biochemistry in Nagpur University. As it was a government institution, the fee was quite low for him. He could manage. Over the next two 2 years, he paid attention to both studies and Sanchal.
Everything was working out well. But, Jatin and Sanchal were worried. What would happen if parents did not agree? Neither had any answer for it. Life never stops. It goes on its way. Sanchal passed M.Sc before Jatin. Since he had to spend time on part-time tuition and due to many quarrels in his house over money, Jatin managed to pass the M.Sc with only 56%.
Meanwhile, the love between him and Sanchal got more matured with 4 years of relationship. Understanding also developed between them.
But, Sanchal started a new demand: she wished to match their horoscopes. Jatin told her that he did not believe in it but still whenever they met she demanded.
So Jatin took their horoscopes and met a local north Indian pandit and he said that everything was fine and there was nothing to worry. But she was not fully satisfied and wanted more consultations. With time, Tripti’s family - her mother, father and brother came to know about what was going on between Jatin and Sanchal. They were happy about it. Sanchal was trying to make her parents also agree but her efforts were not getting success. In Jatin’s home, he spoke with his mother and she told him that whatever he does, she doesn’t care.
Jatin is trying for new jobs and new works. He was busy earning as there was a growing demand for money in his house. While doing his M.Sc, several new friends also came into his life. Among them, Mithun and Shahzad were very special to him. Jatin told Mithun about Sanchal. Shahzad also came to know about his love affair. Mithun stayed near Jatin’s house. Shahzad was a rich person and dominating person. But, he had a caring attitude.
A silence starts persisting in the life of Jatin. Silence of sadness, silence of seriousness, silence before cyclones of depressions. Seriously there is no hope that Sanchal parents will agree. This is the real bitter truth of life which is now clear to both. But still Sanchal tried her best to convince her parents. Slowly losing hope from Sanchal and Jatin internal pressure on him more than the society’s pressure he started diverting his mind. Jatin was totally broken from inside. He is firm on his principle and never went back on his promise. He had promised Sanchal’s father that he would not marry without his consent. Sanchal was forcing for marriage without consent. But even before the start of this love Jatin had witnessed how his sister’s marriage turned into a disaster because it happened without the consent of parents. His family got several problems due to that in society. He has also otherwise seen lots of grief in his life.
He finally decided to search for a life partner from his caste itself. As love is from the heart involving two persons and marriages are for society involving many persons like relatives, and friends and hence requires consent. Now it’s time for Jatin to be practical and not get emotional because much time has already been wasted due to various societal issues like castes, manglik-non-manglik, and the recently added issue of horoscope matching. The Sanchal also lost her trust on Jatin in a big way.In view of all these circumstances Jatin decided to marry any girl from his caste. The only condition was that she should be good looking and educated.
Jatin’s friend Shobi had advised him that if the wife is good looking then the kids also will be good looking and cute. It sounded logical. Moreover, Shobi never liked Sanchal. In view of all these thoughts, Jatin accepted his brother’s proposal to be part of a group of unmarried boys and girls of Jatin’s caste. Then his brother took him to Parichay Sammelan or Introductory Conference of girls and boys of their caste. There Jatin chose one girl and spoke with her and her relatives, who came with her.
As Jatin was in a government job and good looking, they also liked him and with exchange of telephone numbers, they returned home. Sanchal got information of these new developments and she tried once to convince Jatin to step back and come to her. Jatin was totally depressed and he was in no position to listen to her. Sanchal wept many nights. finally accepted that jatin will not be her life partner and she called him for a break up with return of all the gifts he had given her. The break up day came and it was narrated at the beginning of the story.
However, time did not stop after the break up. The process of marriage began. The girl’s family came to see him and did his tilak, the ceremony to start the wedding process. Jatin’s parents by wish or by choice or by social pressure offered gifts to the girl and completed that ceremony. Soon the marriage date was fixed and Jatin finally tied the knot with a new girl. For some months after the marriage, Jatin’s mind was occupied with new peoples, new relatives. But after that he was only thinking of Sanchal. In his office whenever he got free time he wept alone and started writing poems in pain.
Life
Life running on thorn
Life wasting like a sad song
I loved her more
But she gone away to shore
I tried my level best to hold
But the situation turned many fold
We started our love
We enjoyed it with much fun
Sometimes destiny is of lesser
Importance than the road
Life running on thorn
Life wasting like a sad song
*********
Remember
From this time to life’s end
Sanchal will remain in me
Like sea water has sand
New peoples may come and go
New opportunities may come
Sanchal is the one and only one
To this heart never forgotten
She will be remembered
*******