An ill-fated love

This is a harrowing tale of love. It is an 18-year-old story. As a young man of 19, I led myself into what I naively thought would blossom into a durable and everlasting love affair. It was my first real experience of love, having just graduated from high school.

The girl meant everything to me. She struck me as the most beautiful thing ever to emerge out of our small village. I was not well travelled then. My horizons and understanding of the world and women were limited. The Genesis of our love had a rural setting. Call it a home-grown love affair founded in a quiet, serene and little known village. In those days, one needed steel nerves to approach a girl on matters of love. I had no courage. Alone I would scheme and map out a way. But whenever I was confronted with the reality of meeting the girl, my courage melted away.