🎨 A Girl Named Sreeja
Written across 2002–2003, re-written with Copilot
I. The Notebook
“Roll number twenty-eight, how does amplifier work?”
Kamal looked down—not at notes, but at the face he had drawn. Beautiful. Silent.
“Sir, I don’t know.”
“You were scribbling so much. Look it up and answer.”
“I haven’t written anything.”
“Bring me the book.”
Kamal hesitated. Then, in a moment of panic, he threw the notebook out the window.
Suspension followed. The principal. The shame. But his parents were spared. He had done it all—for her.
II. Reena and the Secret
Reena teased him about his sketches. She was engaged. A good friend. He would draw her portrait for her wedding. But the notebook held someone else’s face—Sreeja.
III. The Girl in the Pages
Sreeja had just joined the class. Quiet, dreamy, delicate. She came from Kottarakkara. Her eyes told stories. She loved stars, rain, and autumn flowers. Kamal had drawn her face again and again—without her knowing.
But the notebook was recovered. The secret was out.
IV. The Apology
“What if I go and say sorry?” Kamal thought.
He waited by the hostel path. When she arrived, he asked to speak.
“I’m sorry. I did a wrong thing. Please forgive me.”
“I hate you. Don’t come to me again.”
She sobbed. Kamal walked away, broken. That night, for the first time, he drank toddy and ate kappa and fish.
V. The Call
Later that evening, his friends woke him. A call.
“Kamal, I behaved rudely. I’m sorry. Can we be friends?”
“Yes. Only good friends.”
He promised never to hurt her. Never to use her friendship for love. But he loved her deeply.
VI. The Realization
Spring arrived. At a friend’s wedding, they discovered the truth—they were in love.
“When is your marriage?”
“After Kamal gets a good job and asks my hand.”
“I love you.”
“Even I am deeply in love with you.”
They didn’t know when it began. It had crept in quietly, unnoticed.
VII. The Barrier
Months passed. Then came the proposal—from someone else.
“Kamal, I love my parents. I can’t marry anyone else.”
“I wish I were rich. Or you were born in a hut.”
She cried. He held her close and prayed never to lose her.
VIII. The Goodbye
Exams ended. College was over. Kamal and Sreeja stood in a corner, sharing the sorrow of separation.
“I will wait for you. Clear your debts. Come with your family and ask my hand.”
“Don’t wait for me. You’ll find someone better.”
“But I want only you.”
“I love you—not just in this life, but in a thousand more.”
He gave her the notebook—the one he had thrown, recovered, and kept safe. She held it like a memory.
“You should fly like a butterfly. Enjoy life. Without that, I will hate you.”
Kamal placed the book beside the window. He walked down the stairs, unable to look back. His whole body felt weak.
IX. The Train
The train came to a sudden halt. Kamal woke from his dreams. Goodbye to Trivandrum—the city of faces, of memories, and of Sreeja.
“I will wait.” Her words echoed in his mind, spoken between sobs as he walked down the stairs that day.
X. The Doubt
Kamal had thought deeply about her. She was born into comfort, raised in luxury. Why should she wait for him? When would he clear his debts, rebuild his life, earn her parents’ consent?
What if life enslaved him again?
He had told her all this. But still, her words lingered.
XI. The Question
Life was a high hurdle. Would she still be there once he crossed it?
“To think she would be there itself was wrong,” he told himself.
Let the gods give her happiness. Let her fly free. Everlasting love—wasn’t that just a story artists and movies made up?
He buried his desires and stepped into the train.
Far away, miles away, in the nature of man to forget with the wheels of time—in a world where relationships are just words—
Will the girl named Sreeja wait with a confidence her lover himself could never give?