Parallel Universe

Apparently today marked the day when St.Valentine was killed for marrying lovers secretly because it was against the law. Way back in the 3^rd century, under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. St.Valentine use to therefore marry people secretly and when they found out they had him beaten to death and his head cut off. How many of us actually know this story? I dint actually until google told me about it.

Well that’s really quite irrelevant considering that I wont be bothered about it today simply because there are no girls in my life in this city that I could possibly share it with. Sad apparently… but true.

So I thought id take the opportunity to think about some of the girls that have been a part of my life, my parallel universe theory and a weird but strange link between 3 of them.

November, 1999. My first project week out of UWC I really wasn’t sure where I was going to go and whom with. There was this really sweet Sri Lankan girl who befriended me and said there was a whole group of people going to see the Taj Mahal and then head out to Rajashtan. I thought why not? After all the last time I saw the Taj I was literally half my size in height and id never seen Rajasthan. Besides I hadn’t made very many friends by then and it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

There were 13 of us. The group seemed nice and very diverse. After all the ratio of boys to girls was 5:8. So I had absolutely nothing to complain about. Fortunately I knew a couple of the guys already so that made things a whole lot easier. As for the others I was a total and complete stranger. So we set out from Pune to Agra. I’ve been on trips before. Class excursions that were teacher supervised and everything organized. In this case it was a wee bit different. No teachers to supervise and nothing organized. I realized of course that was the best part coz I was 16. I don’t want to write too much about the trip coz then id jus be straying away from what I was originally aiming at.

She was Austrian. Id noticed her on our way and she was kinda quiet and reserved but every time she smiled the scales on the infatuation and attraction meters in my head were going up a notch. Being me, what did I do? Well I dint say much to her. Really because I find it hard to talk to people I’m attracted to. Not because I don’t have the balls but because I fear ill say something that wont make the impression I want to.

All that changed a couple of days later when were in Jaipur one evening. I was in one corner of the supposed garden of the hotel having a smoke when she comes up to me. We start talking. Lots of people have starting problems, but once you get the engine started you know your going to get a lotta mileage. We called it a day at a half past 3 the next morning. Knowing that both of us had struck some cords. Coz towards the end of the night things were getting intimate. Not physically, at least not yet though.

We spent the next day seeing the sights and sounds of what Jaipur had to offer and then the group split up. 4 of us headed strait to Jaisalmer and the others headed to Pushkar to catch the camel fair. The plan was to meet up on the desert safari. Which was a blessing in disguise really. It gave me sometime to think about the situation I was in, where it was heading and what was to become of it.

They joined us that evening in the desert. One thing just led to another and well it was extremely cold in the night so we shared a sleeping bag and star gazed at those copious numbers of stars that enclosed us……………….paradise

Im not going to emphasize how the next 2 situations came to be unlike the previous coz there was a lot more involved....

March, 2001. I found myself in one of the most serious relationships id ever been in. She was from Bombay and she made me feel at the tender age of 17 that she was ‘the one’.
I remember this one night where I found it really hard to sleep. She had these glow stars on the ceiling. Funny thing about glow stars they make the ceiling disappear. I felt a little too elated to sleep. So I opened this little window on her bedside, which let the moonlight in on her face and then I watched her sleep…. .…paradise.

July, 2004. At the end of one month of my Euro-Trip I fell for someone real hard again. We were in Zurich where there was this huge celebration they have once in 2 years. Fortunately I felt like I was in the right place at the right time. I planned everything perfectly. The timing, how I was going to ask her out and what I was going to give her. All at the end of which she said yes and exactly then, we witnessed the biggest fireworks display we’d ever seen in our lives in each others arms……..paradise.

So what’s the connection? According to my parallel universe theory, since the Universe is infinite there are infinite worlds out there were anything that can happen does happen. You realize that in the eternity of space, there is a planet, just like this one. So basically you could be anything from a movie star to a murderer.

Unlike today where i wish otherwise, I remember on all those 3 occasions I felt like I was on the right planet at the right place at the right time in the right universe. Im sure St.Valentine felt the same way for himself.

I still believe in paradise but now at least I know it's not some place you can look for coz it's not where you go it's how you feel for a moment in your life and if you find that moment it lasts forever……………

Happy Valentines Day to all those people in Paradise.........