Dilwale Dhulania Le Jayenge

Time didn't stop, bells didn't ring, leaves didn't flutter in the wind. In fact, none of those things that you generally associate with love happened when they met. But there was definitely a short pause when they saw each other for the first time. Don't ask me why, I really don't know the reason.
They had landed up in a small city in Southern India for a two month professional training.The kind that large Indian companies have before putting people into live projects.
She didn't like him when she saw him for the first time. To strangers he appeared to be a guy too full of himself, aloof and devil-may-care types.He noticed her while cursing the dismal Indian cricket team(ya, there was a match on that time,and as usual our "boys" were performing badly). Outwardly she looked bold, but he could sense that she was out home for the first time. She was scared to be in a new place and didn't want the world to know. But he knew, and didn't give it a second thought. He was like that. But she had a kind of sweetness about her, and this had touched him in a way even he didn't know then.
So came the night, and he asked her out for dinner. Can you believe it? The first time he talks to her, he asks her out? He was banking too much on his luck, he would get more than he had bargained for! That's what you thought would have happened. But she agreed. And they had a very pleasant time together. They laughed, told each other about their families, colleges, and lives. Never for a moment did it feel that they were talking to each other for the first time. They had a kind of easiness that develops only between old friends. They met every day from then on. He used to wait for her to come back, and have dinner with him.He never asked her out for dinner after the first day, nor did she expect him to. It was a tacit understanding. One would wait until the other arrived, and then they would have dinner together.
Slowly the friendship grew. He was not such a bad guy after all. And she was someone any guy would be proud to be with. They were seen in each other's company all the time. People started wondering and talking about them. But they seems oblivious to all of it. They were happy just being together. It seemed like precious moments stolen from the wings of time. They partied, went for walks, pulled each other's legs, laughed, and genuinely thought they had never been happier before.
But as is usually the case before it could blossom into something more, the training period was over. Both of them were moving to different cities. There was nothing concrete to fall upon. They liked each other, but then was that enough? They were just starting off with their professional careers, the stage was of uncertainty and doubt. Things were better off without getting into complications of the heart. Getting into this would mean a long distance relationship. They would not be seeing each other for months. At this moment they did not even know if they would be seeing each other again.
With these questions in mind, they bade each other good bye. And the last train left taking her with it. He was left alone on the platform, and walked back to the hostel. On the way he passed all the places they had been together- the ice-cream parlor, the junk food joint, the classroom, the bank. But nothing looked the same. Would life be the same after she had left? Was there still any hope? Did they do the right thing by not saying anything and taking the easy way out?
Meanwhile she was thinking along the same lines in the train en route to Mumbai.............................

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