Many of my friends wonder why I never write about how I ended up with Saif-our love story. Believe me...I have tried. First of all…in hindsight we always see everything as rosy and beautiful and give meaning to acts which were done out of impulse. Also, our love story is more weird than romantic. It was so slow…I didn’t realize it creeping onto me…and it was so fast…that I couldn’t think about all the details.

One of my favorite past times is to think about past happenings. It helps me understand everything more clearly. So, I am making this post about an incident which happened when Saif and I were just friends. Rather, I thought of him as a friend...and maybe he had begun to realize that we were something more than that.

Unlike most people I used to love working late. I would make up chores to stay back in office. I would take long lazy walks in our office campus…spend hours in the canteen…and enjoy the feeling of having the whole floor to myself. Since I was the editor of one of the office magazines, I usually would hang out with Saif and Ganga who also worked on the editorial board.

Saif and I had a lot of things in common- Movies, Music, books and adventure. In fact our interests were identical. We would regularly exchange songs and have long discussions about them.

One such evening, he asked me to go to his cubicle as there was some song he wanted me to listen to. He greeted me with his characteristic insults. So I insulted him right back and asked him about the song.

His headphone looked like something aliens would use to exchange intergalactic information. He adjusted it on my head and asked me whether I was ready to listen to that song. I said I was. He clicked on the play button.

I never expected it to be so good. The headphones I mean. I could hear every beat...every pause of the singer. I jumped on the first drum beat. Saif was looking at me with expectant eyes. The song was beautiful…the kind of song which makes your heart ache and makes you wish you could cry…

It was a song by Bap Kennedy and the lyrics were beautiful and melancholic.

“I can feel my heart
And it's fit to burst
I try to clean it up
But I just get worse”

”Wish I could fall
On a night like this
Into your lovin' arms
For a moonlight kiss”

”I thought I saw your face
In the evenin' sky
On a lonesome cloud
That was driftin' by”

”I wish I could fall
On a night like this
Into your lovin' arms
For a moonlight kiss”

I heard the song and I said...“what a lovely song...but I must say...the headphones are just WOW!”

The look on Saif’s face was something like “I never expected this reaction!” .He gave me a rueful smile and agreed with me. Now I wonder whether he was trying to say something with that song. We still slow dance for that song...and every time I ask him about the incident in his cubicle…he laughs and says that he was just showing off his headphones and nothing else. But I still wonder…and I feel like kicking myself for being that dense.Sometimes..things you plan don't turn out the way you wanted them to..so they become more special(though in a weird way)

By the way, the next day he gifted me those headphones.