The Dilemma

“Please concentrate here, this is a very important topic”,Rakesh sir’s voice boomed across the classroom.

The murmuring voices went silent and everybody lent their ears to sir’s teaching. The day was going as any other day. Early morning rush to attend College classes followed by the really tiring CAT classes. There were 60 engineers in my CAT batch most of whom chose CAT because others had done so and a very few who had realised that their future was not in engineering.

“Vaishali, please answer this question.”

Rakesh sir had caught Vaishali giggling with one of her friends. Vaishali was a perfect example of a girl who you would easily like and your liking increased as you get to know her. She was a studious chubby girl, who simply lived her life happily,always smiling. Almost all the boys had a crush on her, even she knew this. I too was enamoured with her but my studies came first for me.

“Sir,I cant understand the question.” Vaishali’s response brought me back to the present. 

The anger was clearly visible on sir’s face since the question was an easy one.It was a hard question indeed. Rakesh sir rained insults after insults on Vaishali. When he toned down his voice, Vaishali was almost crying. Suddenly I heard my name called out by sir.

“Prashant, show this idiot girl, how to solve this problem”.

I stood up and wrote the answer on the board, and received praise from sir.

As the class ended, I felt bad for Vaishali. Rakesh sir can be really hard sometimes and today was one of those days. Also the fact that I had solved the problem that too very easily, made me hate myself.

“Hi Prashant!!!”

As I was talking to myself I didn’t realise that Vaishali had walked straight to me and greeted me. I was surprised, happy, wondering, frozen all at the same time.

“Umm,Hi Vai… Hi Vaishali”,I stammered. Two years of college had passed and it was the first time we were speaking.

“Hey, Why are you so studious?”

“I don’t study that much, I just concentrate in the class and solve the sheets given.” I explained.

“You create problems for us, by answering all the questions, sir asks”, she said.

I just smiled. I was flattered really that my crush was appreciating and in a way complaining to me.

“I will try to beat you in the next test” she said teasingly.

“Sure, lets see ” I replied jokingly before returning to my hostel. Days passed with the usual routine.

 “Hey do you know who scored the highest marks in monthly CAT test?” Rakesh , my friend asked.

I had been topping all the previous exams so I was sure this time also I had secured the top position. But to my surprise Rakesh said Vaishali had beaten me to the top. I was shocked. Before I could confirm this information, I again saw my crush walk towards me.

“Hi Prashant,I beat you. Yesss. You owe me treat” Vaishali said.

It was the first time I was happy losing.

“Sure, Naturals after class, my treat. I will drop you off to hostel after that.” I was excited by the thought of having Vaishali seated behind, on my bike.

She agreed. After dropping her, just as I entered my hostel I stood still. My friends were clearly angry.

“Salle hame birthday ki bhi party nhi de aur ladki first aayi toh usko party,kamine”

“Bhai aise baat nhi hai….”

Before I could complete, friendly blows landed on me. I was quick to run to my room and laugh them off. We rarely spoke after that. Days passed by and then came the end of our 4 beautiful years of engineering. Promises were made, photos clicked and emotion was flowing in the air. I went home and waited for the results to be declared. I had done well and got selected in IIM Bangalore , one of the premiere institutes of Management. I packed my things and prepared for another two years of studying. It was gonna be tough, finding new friends and all. Soon the first day of college came and introductions were going on

“HI everyone, I am Sneha from Pune. I like to play basket ball……”

I was bored of listening to so many introductions. I was almost half-asleep when I heard

“Hi I am Vaishali. I……”

Without hearing any further, I quickly opened my eyes and found the beauty I once had a crush on introducing herself. I was overjoyed. Someone who I knew was here. I could believe it. As the programme ended , I started searching for her.

“Hi Prashant” came the voice as I was pondering as what to do. I knew who it was. She had really grown more beautiful in the vacations.

“Hi Vaishali, I didn’t know you had got admission here ” I replied .

“Yea it was in the last round. What a surprise though. You just disappeared . You didn’t even click a picture with me in the farewell.” she said.

“Yea, sorry” I said.

“No worries, time for lunch. Lets go” she said.

“Put your hands up and surrender. We have you surrounded. There is no way to escape.” The announcement brought me back to reality. I saw as the POLICE slowly moved into the position. A year had passed to meeting Vaishali at IIM Bangalore. The first few months we spent together very close friends. We also shifted to a PG to stay together, but then her behaviour changed. I distinctly remember the conversation we had 6 months ago that raised doubts in my mind.

“Whats up babe?” I asked as I entered the room.

Vaishali quickly closed her laptop and acted as she was doing nothing. Even after persuasion she refused to divulge anything to me. I suspected she was having an affair with someone else. What else could it be? But I didn’t persuade her more. I didn’t know what was going on with her but I needed to find out.

“Dinner?” I asked.

“Only if you cook.” She responded.

“I would love to” I said.

“I love you” she said. She meant it.

As we sat for dinner I switched on the television. The news flashed , apparently a group of Naxals had attacked a CRPF convoy in Chattisgarh. I was saddened by the news. I couldn’t understand these type of attacks when the government is trying to maintain peace through dialogue.

“Such a sad news, such elements stop the country from developing ” I said.

“The government has taken such stern actions against the people. The people are bound to retaliate” Vaishali responded.

“The government at most arrests the guilty. They start with dialogue but if the opposing party converses with bullets, the government cant keep silent can they?” I countered.

“Everyone has their own reasons to do what they do” she said and ended the conversation.

Once sure she was asleep. I booted her laptop up. It was easy to crack her password being with her for a year. I started going through her folders. I was terrified with what I had found out. I was scared that I was living with this person for more than a year. I calmed down. I needed to have a conversation with Vaishali right away. I woke her up.

“I just saw some things in your laptop. Why are you doing this?”

“You had no right to check my laptop. You don’t know a thing about it. You all live a leisure life but my community is always oppressed ,killed and treated badly. I will fight for them. I will not allow you to stop me ” she shouted and pulled out a gun from nowhere. I was terrified and knew the matter had gone beyond control.

“Vaishali calm down, its me Prashant. I love you” I tried to calm the situation. After trying a lot ,she calmed down. I dared not question her again.

“Listen, lets go to bed, we will talk about this tomorrow after having Ice Cream from Naturals” I winked and  said. She had calmed down and agreed. As soon as she was asleep,I immediately called the police and informed them. I was asked to wait outside. Once the police was here they tried to go silently but the door was locked meaning Vaishali had woken up.

“Put your hands up and surrender. We have you surrounded. There is no way to escape.”

The POLICE moved swiftly and within minutes they had arrested Vaishali. After a few days I was called to the Police Station.

“You were right. She was helping the Naxalites by moving their finances for them. We recovered a lot of data from her laptop. They were also planning an attack here in Bangalore. Thanks a lot for helping us. We will call you if we need further help .”

As I made my way towards the PG, I remembered a news article about radicalisation. Youths were made to watch extremely disturbing videos to make them believe that their community is oppressed and made to act against the country. This needs to stop. I loved Vaishali but love for the motherland is Paramount. I am broken, I am devastated but what needs to be done has to be done. We citizens need to act and not protect our family but our country. 

There shouldn’t be any dilemma while choosing between our country and our love!!!!

-Hechet Ray

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