Prompt: “There was once a chance I didn’t take.........

“There was once a chance I didn’t take. It happened on the day when I met Vanita for the last time.”
I told these words to Alok. We were at a bar near his house.

I was a final year Civil Engineering student at Delhi College of Engineering. The college had organised a tour to Darjeeling and Kathmandu. The students were told to assemble at New Delhi Railway Station. At the station, I saw Vanita for the first time. Vanita in a blue Jeans and green T- shirt, exhibited a oval fair complexion face, having beauty of a usual Cleopatra character. The boys in our group would forget to look at the girls around, their glances would survey Vanita in cycles commencing from Vanita’s head to her toe.

She was Urvashi’s cousin. Urvashi was a second year student at the college.

During the rail journey we would often pass each other, smile and go away to our respective births.
It was late evening when we reached Darjeeling. The whole area was covered under fog. All of us started walking uphill towards the Youth Hostel, which was at a good height. I helped Vanita in carrying her luggage. It was here that we talked for the first time. It was a hard uphill walking. The journey became light because of her occasional laughters.
In those days i.e. in the year 1986, Darjeeling was really Queen of the hill stations in India. It looked the same Darjeeling we had seen in many Hindi movies.
On the third day at Darjeeling we went to Mirik; a beautiful spot near Darjeeling. We wanted to visit the beautiful lake at Mirik. Here I got a chance to go boating with her. There were four of us. We started playing antakshri, a kind of song competition. We kept singing till it was evening time. Now and then Vanita and I would look into each other’s eyes.
On coming back to Darjeeling, Vanita sat beside me. Now and then I could feel her submission. The sensation that I was receiving though her touch was carrying me to the seventh heaven.
From that day onward I had the most beautiful time of my life. We were always in each other’s company. At Kathmandu we virtually proposed each other.
Our friendship continued on coming back to Delhi.
I had a friend named Bisht. He was an alumnus of the college. I had great faith in him. I regularly played table tennis with Bisht in the evenings at the College.
On that day I called Vanita to my college. She came with Urvashi. She was in a new dress, with earring studded with jewels. I could see the boys around looking at her now and then. Her beauty was catching everybody’s attention.
Vanita and Urvashi were waiting for me at the college canteen. I was playing table tennis with Bisht. I told Bisht about my affair. Bisht knew Vanita, he advised me not to meet her on that day. I kept playing table tennis with Bisht.
Vanita waited for two hours for me. I did not go to her. While leaving she came to the Table Tennis Room. Her face was crimson. She did not utter a single word and left.
Next day Urvashi told me that Vanita had come to say the three most beautiful words in the world to me.
I never found Vanita again.
At the bar I told everything about my lost love to Alok. Alok looked up. His eyes looked strange.
‘‘You know I had a really good time with Vanita,” Said Alok. His eyes were fixed on me.
I was stunned, I could only utter the word, “when?”
“From the very first day we came back to Delhi from Nepal,” Alok said.
Alok too was with me during the tour to Darjeeling.
When Alok left the bar, I ordered a ‘Patiala peg’.