“I Too Had a Love Story” - Infosys, Mysore Diaries - #BlogChatterA2Z

 Prelude: This chapter is dedicated to the novel “I too had a love story” by Ravinder Singh

                                    *

Tired after our trip to Chamundi Hills, Arjun and I were glad that we did not have any other plans for the day. Myra, on the other hand, had dinner plans with Chetan. We reached the hostel by 5 PM and went back to our respective rooms. 

After 2 hours or so, someone knocked on my door. It was Myra. She had a Fastrack watch in her hand, it was one of the gifts that Arjun and I got for her. I had totally forgotten about the gifts.

“This is so good”, she said. Before I could say something, she grabbed my hand and took me to her room. The closet that she never used was open. In it, there were a couple of hangers with some clothes hanged; the whole arrangement looked like a mannequin. The hanger mannequin had a lovely top and a pair of jeans on. There were sneakers at the mannequin’s supposed feet. As our hanger mannequin lacked hands, there were a few accessories such as a bracelet, clutch, etc. placed in the closet. 

“This feels so special”, she said. 

“Glad you liked it”, I smiled. 

“I’ll wear the top and jeans that you guys gifted for today’s dinner”, she said.

I looked at her bed, a lovely dress was on it.

“No, save it for another day. For today’s dinner, that dress would be lovely. Now, get ready, have a good time, and let’s meet tomorrow”, I said. 

                                     *

The next morning, we three met for breakfast. Myra had a book in her hand. The title of the book was “I too had a love story”. 

“Let me guess, Chetan gave you that book for your birthday?”, I said.

“Yes, he did. I think I exaggerated my reading habits. Why don’t you guys read this book and let me know? If it’s good, I’ll read it. “, she said. Arjun and I were the readers of the group. Arjun took the book and started flipping pages of the book.

“It looks like a cheesy love story, which is not my favorite genre. Priya will read it”, Arjun said.

“I would love to read it. In fact, I’ll read it today”, I said.

It was Sunday and I did have time to read it. 

We planned to meet for lunch and dispersed.

                                    *

I sat down with the book and flipped the pages. It was a small read, it was about 200 pages. I read about the author and acknowledgments.  I was thrilled to find out that he was a fellow Infoscion. He started his career in Infosys and later started writing books. 

I started reading the book, which was an absolute page-turner. It was a love story, had interesting characters and extremely interesting dialogues. I just couldn’t put it down. 

Suddenly the phone rang and it annoyed me. Arjun had called me, it was lunchtime. I said impatiently that I was not hungry and would skip lunch.  

“You’re reading the book, aren’t you?”, Arjun said.

“Yes, I am in the middle of it. It’s very interesting. I will call you guys after finishing it”, I said quickly. 

“Just come for 15 mins and have a quick lunch”, he insisted.

“You don’t get it, do you?”, I said and hung up the call.

I had already lost a few minutes. 

I started reading the book and in about 30 minutes or so, Myra knocked on my door. She simply handed me a sandwich, juice and left. Our understanding was beyond words.

I put down the food on the table and resumed reading the book. I read on and on and on. After an hour or so, I put down the book and hid my face in my hands. After a minute, I started bawling loudly. The book had moved me so much that I just couldn’t stop weeping. The story was quite emotional. I wept for about 20 minutes. I then went straight to Myra’s room and knocked on her door. I thrust the book in her hand. 

“Read it… NOW”, I ordered, weeping all the while. She looked stunned for a second and then looked at the book.

“I’ll start immediately”, she said. 

After 3 hours, she knocked on my door with tears in her eyes. We wept together. 

We then headed to dinner with our tear-laden faces. Arjun was surprised to see us like that. Myra gave him the book, “Read it NOW”, she ordered him. We had a quick dinner and dispersed.

After 3 hours or so, nearly at midnight when I was half asleep, I got a call from Arjun. He was crying. 

“I know, it’s okay”, I said. 

The next week, the book was passed onto Anusha, Swati, Sravya, Sirisha, and almost every other person we knew. Some of them hardly ever read books but they all read this one.

They all had a similar reaction. We were all extremely proud because the author was a fellow Infoscion.

I grudgingly thanked Chetan for introducing us all to such a lovely book. He looked extremely pleased with himself.

Note: Don’t you want to know why we’d all wept after reading the book? Then, please read “I too had a love story”, by Ravinder Singh, an Infoscion. (I say the last part with a lot of pride) 

-- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.