Darshan Khanal

Going to the college was nothing but an excuse to freak out with friends. We seldom had regular classes for obvious reasons; some created by teachers and others by so called student leaders. Hence, hanging out in Tri-Chandra’s garden, gossiping and talking about every girl passing by was a daily routine. However, we never teased girls.

One day, like any other day, I was with my companions and so were girls in groups in the garden. Some of them were standing with bulky notebooks, some were busy discussing academics and others were transcribing notes and winding up their assignments.

Out in the crowd was someone I could not stop looking at. I do not know what was so attractive about her, nonetheless I could not ignore her. That must have been quite obvious to my friends so they started teasing me. Day in and day out, the garden was where we would congregate. And the girls too. But the added spice was that I was desperately longing to find the girl who had left an indelible impression upon me. My desire to see her surged by the day.

She was not gorgeous, but she was pretty. When I spoke to her I found her naive and well-bred, had wonderful thoughts, a bit bossy, possessive and quite arrogant too. Yet, to a man, she was an epitome of an ideal female partner. In a very short time we grew close and were head over heels for each other. We had fallen in love!

Our days were not days unless we shared every single event. I did everything a man does for his fiancee when he truly falls for her. I did not climb the highest mountain, nor did I pull down stars for her. But we found that relationship opened a new realm, a realm out of bounds for singles. We sailed on smoothly for 20-odd months. That was until she stopped making calls. She also stopped seeing me. And to my utter shock, my world turned upside down when I learnt that she had got married. I realised I was ditched. She had decided to wed a Nepali in Australia. I should have known that materialism is also an influencing factor in a relationship.

This has made me realise that we have little control over things and that they have their own rules. But I have yet to understand why those residing in foreign lands are the most solicited ones at home. At least for matrimony.

I thought what counted was a good perception and love for each other. But I have now realised that to fall in love and to allow it to bloom, one has to be a doctor, an engineer or at least be a permanent resident of some developed country besides being a Nepali citizen.