THE DAY THEY FINALLY MET

KUSHI was waiting for the arrival of a bus at the bus station. It was 7am in the morning. As her anxiety was taking her over her feet it started drizzling. As the smell of fresh rain hit her nostrils she felt relaxed. She had known this day would come. She always knew. But she just couldn't put herself together for what she had been awaiting from over a year now.

Yes, a year had almost past for her to finally see her love. Her FIRST LOVE !!!. For the FIRST TIME !!!!!!. It was today which would be 'the day they finally met'. 18th of July. KARAN was her pen friend; her phone friend; her internet friend; whatever you can call their relation. But to her he was her life. Her LOVE. Her destiny.!!! Though the fact was that she had never seen him before their hearts were bound. She believed they were bound. She believed it takes a heart to love a person. She wasn't the kind of person who would fall for looks or richness.

As she waited for the bus to arrive she got lost with her thoughts.. How fortunate was she?

It was long back ( a year ago), when she headed for her first internet class in her Diploma side course, that she got her fate turn her life around. The instructor had asked everyone to merely make an email account and then left them to chat along using it since it was their first class. Kushi had made an account and had joined a chat room to pass her time. 'FRIENDS FOREVER'. Yes this was the chat room which had bought her the luck to know this person, who would change her life forever from then. Did she know that then!

The moment she had joined the chat room there were numerous ping on her monitor and she was perplexed by the way these online things operated. Yes she was new. It was her first account and her first experience online afterall.

She had merely selected one chat and replied a 'Hello' to the 'Hi' that was visible. She didn't know it was instant. Wasn't it supposed to be like an email? Obviously no. She had a lot to learn yet. The person on the other side had instantly replied and asked for 'ASL'. And she had seriously no clue what that meant. !!!

Kushi started to laugh at her stupid innocence standing in mist of the crowd at the bus station. Suddenly she pulled her mind out of the thoughts she was lost in as the buses honked at their maximum volume, and checked the time on her watch. Any time now!

She was anxious as to how he would look. She had already decided to take him as her lifemate. So she started preparing herself for the worst. Ofcourse she was not worried that he would be shorter than her or younger than her which were the biggest fears which could strongly affect their relation to their societies. Because, firstly she did not really care what the society had to say while she chooses her life partner and secondly she knew his height and age. He was definitely taller than her at 6ft compared to her 5ft 4in.. also he was approximately 6 years elder to her. This they had chatted on while their unseen love developed. Infact they had shared almost everything over their exchanges online or offline, but they never came to the point to share a photo of each other!. None of them could initiate that and always waited for the other to initiate it.

They did trust their love. Can appearance be enough to break the bond that had been born between them? They wanted to know. So here she was waiting to see him. Meet him. For the very first time!!!

__xxxx______

KARAN was currently travelling and it had been two days since he had left his home with one of his sister to meet KUSHI. They had travelled a long journey by train. He who was a resident of small city in the state of Haryana, located in North India, had to travel all the 3000kms plus distance to finally meet his LOVE. Kushi was a South Indian Girl living in the temple town of Karnataka state. If it wasnt for the 'Friends forever' chat room, there was no way they could ever cross their paths.

He was worried. Scared. And had been prepared to admit any defeat in his relation with Kushi if anything ever went wrong. Though he kept praying and wishing things went right!!!

It wasnt easy for him nor his love to convince their parents and finally meet. Because the DISTANCE they had was not just geographical. Their culture, caste*, cusuines, language including the way of living had a lot lot of distance within them. Moreover he always had an inferiority complex while he thought of Kushi. She was excellent in her acadamics, extra curriculars as well as sports while he never was anyone who is bound to attract attention with skills. The only reason he had attracted attention from people till day was for his defects. He was disabled with polio* and had lost the boon of capably walking on his own at a delicate age of Six. And from then his life was a roller coaster ride. To finally find a person who could see his heart, keeping aside his appearance, meant a lot to him. The reason he could make such a huge risk of traveling within another territory to meet someone, definitely can show how much trust he had on her. She was the one who could make him feel at authority. She was the one who could share his pains and convert them to his pleasures. She was the one for him. Yet he couldn't stop doubting his abilties to protect and love her enough from the way he was brought up.

He truly believed in the affection Kushi had for him and he had for her. They both had discussed this for over an year after finally deciding to meet. So he was all set to give her the best of him now.

Will KARAN truly impress KUSHI ? Will they manage to ever take their unseen love beyond the borders of their states? That is something they both were yet to find out!!!

(ASL is a slang used over online chatting asking for Age Sex and Location of the other party online when unknown people chat

* caste -in india is a term used to divide the people of the Hindu religion into different categories or groups

*polio is a virus that strikes a person at a small age and can cause the part of the body where it striked, hinder its growth. )