玻璃之城

Shirish are you coming on time tomorrow morning or as usual will you be late?” said Rita， as she was packing for college before retiring to bed. Shirish said， “I will be on time. I promise.” Rita hung up the phone wishing him good night and went off to sleep. The next morning Rita started for college. As she approached Shirish’s house， a note lay outside his house for her which said that he would meet her at the bus stop in 3 minutes. As she waited for him， the bus pulled in at the bus stop. With a final glance at his house， she boarded the bus.

In college at the end of the first lecture， Rita saw Shirish waving out to her. Rita ignored him and went to the 1)canteen to chat with her other friends. Shirish came up to Rita and apologized to her. Within minutes she was convinced that he wouldn’t repeat the mistake again.

This would happen every day. Shirish would keep written notes for Rita and she would collect them. Days passed into years and they became the best of friends. They met every day and spent the maximum time with each other. Rita was an outgoing girl and she made a lot of friends. She was a 2)tomboy， so a lot of guys would hang around with her. After college， Shirish would wait for Rita at the station. Once， Rita told Shirish to go to the station without her， as she would be late. After an hour， when Rita arrived at the station， she saw Shirish sitting on the seat on the platform. This touched Rita and she was happy. Rita asked Shirish， “Why didn’t you go home? I’ve told you I would be late because I had to copy some notes from Hemant.” Shirish replied， “Rita， all these days you would wait at the bus stop in the morning and every day I would be late. Can’t I wait for you for one day?” Then there was silence throughout the journey. After reaching their station they would 3)make it a point to have a cup of coffee at a café very near to their house where they would share the day’s events. The bond was so strong that if either one of them was feeling low， the other would understand it. Shirish was so dependent on Rita that he would need her whenever he was in doubt. If Shirish’s mother wanted to put forth something to Shirish， she would have to call Rita to make Shirish understand.

It was Rose Day at the college. Rita asked Shirish whether he could come on time because she was wearing a 4)sari for the first time and didn’t want to go to the

college alone. But as it turned out that he didn’t come on time， she had to go by herself. When Shirish finally arrived， he went to look for Rita. He was stunned to see Rita in a sari. He just stood there staring at her. It wasn’t until that day that he realized how beautiful she was. He came up to her. Hardly spoke. She shouted at him and left angrily.

He went to the canteen hoping she would be there， but she wasn’t. After 3 hours of futile efforts， he went to the station alone. It was at that time that he realized he wanted her in his life. He missed her terribly when she wasn’t around. When he reached the station， Rita was there with Hemant. She came over and smiled at Shirish and apologized about the incident， after which Hemant left， and Shirish and Rita left for home.

Later， Shirish sent Rita a friendship card， which expressed his feelings for her as a friend. Rita was happy. Days passed into years and they were in their last year of friendship when Rita knew that unknowingly she had started liking Shirish but didn’t have the 5)guts to tell him fearing she may lose his friendship forever. After college， both parted ways—Shirish didn’t take his graduation examination and lost a year. Rita took her examination and later took up a job， which kept her busy throughout the day.

This went on for two years. Rita had been keeping her distance from Shirish. She wanted to get Shirish out of her mind as she was sure their relationship wouldn’t work out. Rita’s parents found a match for Rita and Rita agreed. She called Shirish one day and asked him whether he could meet her. Shirish met her. They both were quiet for some time. Shirish broke the ice by telling Rita that there was something he wanted to tell her. Shirish poured his heart out and confessed his feelings for her. Rita was open-mouthed. All she could say was， “Shirish， why did you express your feelings so late?” and she got up from the table and left.

Rita and Shirish didn’t meet for 4 years after that. Rita heard about him from her mother that he had become a poet and writer and was 6)penning a book. Later， Shirish met with an accident and wanted to see Rita. Rita came to the hospital in a 7)crisp white 8)salwar kameez， looking as gorgeous as ever. Shirish asked Rita whether they could be alone for some time and she agreed. “Rita I want to know before I die， did you ever even like me?” Rita had tears in her eyes and replied， “Shirish， I’ve always been loving you but didn’t have the courage to tell you. I was frightened that if I ever disclose my feeling， you may go away from me.”

Shirish and Rita realized that just a matter of words drifted them into different worlds and now it was too late to change it. A few days later， Shirish died and left her his entire earnings from the sale of the book， which was dedicated to her.

謝瑞什，你明天早上會準時出門嗎？還是會像往常一樣遲到？”麗塔問。在念大學的她正在收拾書包，睡前為明天回學校上課做準備。謝瑞什說：“我會準時的。我保證。”麗塔跟他說完晚安就掛電話了，然后上床睡覺。第二天，麗塔出門去上學，當她到達謝瑞什家時，看見門外貼了一張給她的紙條，約她三分鐘后在公車站見。她等著他，公交車來了。她最后瞟了一眼他家，上了車。

學校里的第一堂課結束時，麗塔看見謝瑞什在朝她招手。麗塔不理他，走去飯堂和她的其他朋友聊天。謝瑞什走到麗塔面前，向她道歉，并再三保證不會再犯這樣的錯誤，不一會兒，麗塔又相信他了。

這樣的事每天都在重復上演。謝瑞什每天都留紙條給麗塔，她都會看到，然后收起來。幾年過去了，他們成了最要好的朋友。他們每天都見面，大部分時間都在一起。麗塔是個性格外向的女孩，交了很多朋友。因為假小子的性格，很多男孩都會和她玩。每天放學，謝瑞什都會在車站等麗塔。有一次，麗塔讓他先走，因為她要晚一些才回家。一個小時后，麗塔來到車站，她看見謝瑞什坐在站臺的凳子上，這讓麗塔很感動，她很開心。她問謝瑞什：“你為什么不先回家？我告訴過你我要遲一些才回，因為我要抄赫曼特的筆記。”謝瑞什回答說：“麗塔，這些年每天早上，你總是在公交車站等我，每天我都會遲到。我就不能等你一天嗎？”接下來大家一路沉默。每天回到他們家附近的那個車站，他們總會特地到離家很近的一間咖啡廳喝杯咖啡，他們會在那分享一天發生的事。……