The portrait of a college romance

Mani sat in a corner of the bench of the tea stall, observing 2 lovebirds in the opposite bench, who were pretending to act natural around everyone, and failing. They even went as far as keeping their bags in between them. She put down her head and smiled into her cup. Young love, she mused. It was a typical Thursday morning in college. Classes didn’t start before 1p.m, and they were sitting in Sukumar da’s canteen/tea stall, with cup of tea in hand. A senior who was sitting beside her, was rattling away about emerald doves to anyone who would listen. Well, incidentally, he found an audience in Saybasachi, the sunshine of her life, who was an avid bird watcher. she is crazy about birds too, but wasn’t in the mood for doves that morning. The new lovebirds mentioned earlier made her think of how, two years ago, sitting in the exact same spot, she saw the start of another love story -the one between Sabyasachi and herself. It all started in that run down but cosy tin roofed room under the tree. She believed that the most beautiful and extraordinary love stories have the the simplest of beginnings.
Theirs started the very first day Sabyasachi laid his eyes on Mani, over his very first cup of coffee in Presidency University at Sukumar da’s.  At first it was just sneaking little glances her way, which soon changed to staring at her with a look of awe on his face. She was, obviously, completely ignorant of these events. But within two weeks, Sabya’s silent pining was up, as his constant, unabashed staring at Mani got noticed by some of his friends. The cat was soon out of the bag. The girls in class gossiped about it for days.
Mani had never been so surprised in her life. One month into her Dream College and she had an Admirer! She didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or delighted. Besides, she noted that the boy was particularly very handsome.
She took her time to sort out her feelings, because she did not want her heart to be trampled upon. Something about Sabyasachi’s calm yet innocent demeanour gave her the confidence to take the leap-to try and date, like normal people who like each other do.
Mani never regretted that decision. Sabyasachi was a gentleman with a capital G, and treated her like a princess.
The first three months were downright awkward. Not having the guts to talk face to face, both took shelter in the safety of sms. And then there was the constant teasing by their batchmates. There was a time when it seemed the two shy young people were making no progress. After a few “pushes” from their friends, the two slowly fell into an easy rhythm.
And love wasn’t far behind.
It was a lot of firsts for them. First date, first cab ride home, first picnic, first hand holding, first class bunking, first hug, first fight, first kiss…(not necessarily in that order!) and after all those remarkable firsts, they went for seconds and thirds and more.
Soon, they became Sabya-Mani, an integrated complex. They were happy, in love. And life was good.
Love, Mani saw, wasn’t all that complicated.
Love was simple, everyday things. Love was him gripping her hand while crossing College Street. Love was her making cake on his birthday. Love was him instinctively switching sides while walking on a busy road so as to make sure Mani was away from the traffic. Love was sharing a cup of coffee. Love was him holding her cold hands to make them warm. Love was also about the big quarrels born out of fear for the safety of the other, and also about explaining tricky genetics concepts. Love was in the little touches, small gestures and the companionable silence. And what better place than Presidency for their love story! She wasn’t expecting to find love here, but then, an integral part of Presidency was “P for Prem” .
Looking up to see Sabya looking at her like she was his personal sun, she smiled,hoping she was worth his love.