“Neruppuda…Nerungudaa..” The mobile rings continuously for a while unanswered. On the 5th call, Robin wakes up startled from his sleep, looks at his phone and smiles looking at the display name on the call.
At the same time his face reaction suddenly changed & he got little fear inside when the phone reads that there are 5 missed Calls from SANJANA…
He looks at the time and it was 6.48 PM. Despite the 6 o’clock alarm on his mobile phone, he fell fast asleep not able to wake up to the alarm.
“That’s it, she is going to kill me. Ok, let’s manage her”, he talks to himself contemplating whether he should call Sanjana back or not. Later he decided to call her back and he pressed the dialpad on the mobile, he got a WhatsApp message from Sanjana.
He opened the WhatsApp message..
“Erumai.. What are you doing without answering the call?..I will reach railway station at 8.00 PM and telling him not to be late as usual and to come on time” she sent.
He replied her.. “Sorry di… I fell asleep , I will reach station before you”
She replies instantly “ Kilichcha.”
He texts her back saying “On d way” and leaves without waiting for her reply.
But all his thoughts were about Sanjana. Thinking of her, he took the things he needed to go to town and stuffed it in his bag. Before leaving the house, he took the scooter key from the key holder and looking at the Petta Rajini poster on the wall of the room, he bowed and locked the house and came out.
He checks the time on his watch before taking his scooter parked and leaves, It is 7.15PM, he tells to himself that in 30 minutes, he would reach Station before she reaches there. He put a Bluetooth headset in his ear and played a song on Spotify and started riding the scooter.
When he leaves his home and reaches main road , it unexpectedly starts raining. Within seconds the rain too intensifies, he rides the scooter drenched in the rain assuming that if he pulls over to the side of the road, he would be late to reach the station.
As he passes the airport, the rain intensifies more. Owing to this, the traffic gets jammed and the vehicles crawl at the pace of a snail.
After a point, the vehicles come to a complete halt , unable to move. He looks at the clock and realises that it is getting late. He told himself that “That’s it , She is going to scold him badly”.
One side, the rains are testing his patience while on the other hand the vehicle sounds and honking make him nervous. As he wonders when this would stop, the rains take a break and he breathes a sigh of relief and a breeze comes caresses across his face and the voice of Ilayaraja from “Thendral Vandhu” song starts to play from somewhere.
As the song plays in Robin’s ears, he gets mesmerised . The breeze and the charming voice of Raja takes him back to memories of his first meeting with Sanjana.
3 Years before..
Robin is a student studying Computer Science Engineering at a private university in Chennai. He comes back to college after a 4 day vacation during the 2nd Semester Vacation . He talks to his friends as he came after a break. His best friend, Jay raves about some new girl who had been enrolled in their class but Robin doesn’t seem to care.
Robin travels to college everyday from his uncle’s house. Before going home, he always go to a Tea shop near the college to have some tea. It was the last date to buy books for the 3rd Semester. So when he comes to the tea shop, none of his classmates are there. He thinks to himself to have a cup of tea before the bus arrives and asks the Chetta at the shop to prepare a cup of Tea.
Chetta knows about Robin, inquires about how he has been and placed a Cup of tea & a plate of Bhajji. Robin replies that he’s good and asks the same to Chetta.
Chetta smiled & replies that he’s fine. The rain starts pouring and the tea & bhajji feel pleasant because of the weather.
On the radio, “Enna vannamo manasula…” from the Thendral Vandhu starts playing..
Robin closes his eyes as he sips his tea. Forgetting himself, he sings the song along and suddenly it seems as if another voice was also singing. He suddenly stops singing and opens his eyes, he realizes the current was down and the song stopped playing on the radio, he realized that he was singing loudly without knowing it and he felt shy . Oh, who could be that other voice, he rubs his eyes. At the same time he stops singing, A female voice sang further .
Only then does he notice a girl was sitting back to that side at the first table. She too was singing without realizing that the song had stopped. She comes back to her senses and stops singing and covers her face in embarrassment . At the same time she turns back.
Then Chetta too comes back and notices this and asks Robin whether he could sing too.
Robin isn’t able to see her face clearly. But she comes close to him, smiling at him. Only then does he see her face clearly. The moment he saw it, he smiled too. He saw the ID card she was wearing and found out that she too was studying in his college.
She held out her hand saying “Hi. I am Sanjana.”
He was speechless, “Ro.. Rob.. Robin” he pulled and hurriedly put the Bhajji in his hand on the plate and wiped his hand on his pants and shook his hand.
Robin says he is in CSE and she replies she too is in the same class and joined late.
The two talk until the rain stops and they get to know each other better.
Soon the rain stopped and the bus for Robin arrives and as Sanjana waits for her father. Robin boards the bus and stands on the footboard, smiling and looking at Sanjana until she disappeared from his sight.
Robin fond of Sanjana, she is beautiful and she is nothing short of spectacular. Despite her modest voice, she seemed to enjoy singing. This was a new experience to him.
Everytime he saw Sanjana, Robin felt changes in his mind, which he did not feel when he saw any girl. He could not understand this emotion. But was still thinking when he will meet Sanjana again.
Robin goes to college early the next day and waits for Sanjana to arrive . After waiting for some time he sees her. She waves hi to Robin and sits down. He sits next to Jay smiling modestly on the outside but was happy on the inside.
Jay asks Robin if he knows her from before. He tells Jay about what happened at the tea shop the day before.
Jay advises him that this is the first time he is talking to a girl and to control his emotions.
Later Robin and Sanjana used to meet and talk in college. Since both their names come in succession in the attendance, they get to be together during lab and exam time. Eventually the two start getting along well and it turns into love. On her birthday party at her home, Robin proposed her.
Sanjana accepted his proposal and replied “I just wait for this moment for a year, I Love you da Erumai” . She fell in love with Robin the first time she saw him. Still she waited for Robin to tell her. She thought that maybe if Robin hadn’t told her, she would have told Robin about her love on their last day of college.
At that time, Robin brought an old scooter from his hometown. He roamed around the Chennai roads along with Sanjana. Sanjana loved going out with him, both loved to taste the street foods of different areas. But at the end of the day, Robin is satisfied with a cup of tea.
Days went by like this, both of them got jobs in the same IT company in the final year of college campus placement. After completing the last exam, Robin met Sanjana’s father with the offer letter in hand. Unexpectedly, Sanjana’s father said that he would think about it.
Now he’s taking Sanjana to his hometown and introduce her to his parents. He is on the way to Tambaram Railway Station to catch the Nellai Express. Sanjana also lied to her parents that she was going to Bangalore for an interview in another company and had come to Tambaram to go with Robin to his hometown.
When Robin passed by Chrompet, he remembered celebrating the first day first show of Rajinikanth’s film Petta madly by screaming and dancing at a Vetri theater with Sanjana. Sanjana knew that Robin was a Rajini fanatic and since he had never seen any Rajini film on the first day first show in Chennai, somehow she had arranged the first day first show ticket for him to experience. She met Robin, outside her apartment and surprised him by handed over the a first day first show ticket for the film. Robin was Overjoyed and unconsciously hugged Sanjana, kissed her on the cheek and shouted “I love you Sanjana”. Sanjana, who was not expecting this, pushed him away and ran into the apartment in a rage.
Robin arrives at railway station with those memories. There is a message from Sanjana that she was waiting at platform number 8. He parks the scooter and walks towards the platform. From a distance he saw Sanjana standing in front of the platform. He went and stood behind her. Then Sanjana calls Robin, she suddenly turned around as she felt the mobile ring tone ringing very close. Robin was standing fully drenched.
As she saw him, she smiles and the next moment angrily asks, “Why did you take so long to come, erumai ? She takes her dupatta and dried off his head. They both race down the stairs and walked fast and arrived at the S6 coach. Both of them boarded the train and sat opposite each other. She was petulantly angry that he might have left a little too early. He managed to say that there was a thrill in it.
She shoved the food parcel she had bought into his hands saying that she can’t fix you. When both of them finishing their dinner, the train was passing the Chengalpattu, he bought Tea from the Chai Vendor.
Robin wondered as he slurped down the “dip tea” that how he was going to introduce Sanjana at his home tomorrow. Then he remembered what his mother had said when he went to join the college for the first time, “You are now leaving as Single, who knows who you’ll bring back” and he looked at Sanjana who is fast asleep and laughs alone to himself .
He too then fell asleep thinking about if his mother will like Sanjana, what she will say and how father will take her in. The alarm went off at five in the morning. He wakes up Sanjana knowing that they have reached the village. They reached the town in 10 minutes. It was dawn when both of them got off the train. They left the railway station and walked to the road. Robin walked a little faster and she followed him knowing why. Robin stopped at the tea shop just as she thought he was going to the tea shop opposite the station as she knew he was a tea freak.
He asks for a tea with less sugar and a coffee with more sugar. Sanjana likes to drink coffee. As she holds the coffee cup in both hands and between her lips, Robin would unknowingly enjoy the small smile on her face as she drank it. That’s why every now and then he buys her coffee without asking her when she drinks tea. If it is a regular shop, he will buy it in a paper cup. This time too he bought the coffee in a paper cup and handed it to her. She also smiled slightly and bought the coffee and started drinking it. Robin continued to admire Sanjana. By then the brother got a call to take tea. Though he has admired her several times , he gets the tea glass with a little disappointment and frown and says thank you to the master with a grin
Robin closes his eyes and looked up as if refreshed by the mouthful of hot tea that early morning, taking a deep breath and relaxing. Sanjana was standing nearby was laughing inwardly and enjoying the small small things he does. She would enjoy watching him hold the tea glass in two fingers and drink in style without him knowing. She had never told him before, she thought to herself that if she did, that nature would go away.
Both left the place and reached his home, he stands at the door and presses the calling bell. No one answers . Then he presses again, and this time the light switches on .
Robin’s mother came near the door and looked at him through the grill and opened the door saying “Come…come…I thought it would be you ” with a loving voice.
Sanjana stands behind Robin.
Noticing another person standing behind him, rubbing her sleepy eyes, she looked at Sanjana and asks “Who is this girl..?”
“Mom… This is Sanjana..your daughter-in-law..” says Robin.
The End ❤️
Rakks 
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