She loved him a lot. She came from a Maratha family which was active in politics. Her father had lot of political influences. She had got admission for the post graduate course in law only because of her father’s influence. He on the other hand was a meritorious student. His father although educated in engineering did nothing to earn a living. The only thing which his father did was returning home late heavily drunk. His mother was the bread winner of his family. He was born sincere and dedicated. His family background made him much more serious. He was ridiculed by his teachers and his relatives only to create a burning desire of success in his soul. He transformed his desires into actions and became successful at a quite young age. He was invited by prestigious institutes to guide them.  News channels and press started to cover his views. She had heard his reputation. She had never thought in the wildest of her dreams that one day she would befriend him. Once he visited her department to deliver a speech at a seminar. She wondered whether he would speak at least a word to her. She casually started the conversation over the lunch, to which he happily responded. She was quite surprised that he was a very down to earth guy, with out any airs, quite contrary to the reputation he had earned. They swapped their cell phone numbers.

            The next day she had been to the canteen along with her cousin. She found him having a cup of coffee alone in a corner table. She wished him. He happily asked them to join him. They chatted for almost two hours as if they knew each other for years together. She even told him the story of her tragic heart break. She sought a lot of comfort by talking to him. She came out of the trauma of her heartbreak quite quickly and had found a refuge in him. Both of them were well aware of the track where their relation was heading. He told her that he came from a very educated family. He did not approve wasting of time. She spent most of her time in the company of her friends, either in person or on phone, that too sorting her friend’s love lives. He used to always persisted  her not to waste her time and do something productive. Unfortunately all his advice fell on deaf ears and she continued her life either day dreaming of her marital life or sorting out issues of her friends. She used to call him several times a day, which irritated him. He used to her that as she had no work she had a lot of time for romance. Even when they met he used to always have an eye on his watch and requested to make a move at the earliest. She expressed her displeasure on his behavior and told him stories depicting how much her friend’s boyfriends loved them. He told her that he was different from them and had a lot of achievements to his credit and had many more in his aspirations and had to work for the same. He told her to marry a rich farmer (who had no other work) who would shower love by day and by night and both of them laughed over it.

            Her behaviour did not change. She kept on irritating him by phoning him, praying for meetings and playing the role of matchmaker. One fine day he told her that he would not be happy in the company of a woman, who was not serious about her life. He told her that he would give her a time period of  six months to develop herself, failing which he would step out of the relationship. She thought he was joking. However, to please him, she told him that she would take positive steps to develop herself with in the stipulated time period.

            He kept on reminding her about the time period and how she had not even taken any step towards her goal. She told him that she had ample time at her disposal and what was agreed was she had to develop herself in six months. According to her it was her will whether to develop her self in a single day or in six months. He unsuccessfully tried to tell her how development was a continuous activity and required effort every day, every moment.

            Four months had passed after their agreement and she showed no traces of any improvement. He called it quits. She told him that two more months were left. He said that he could gauge how much she would improve in the following months. He told her that they could not lead a happy life and hence it was necessary to end the relation. She wept profusely. Even he shed tears and both of them left the place. She called him to explain how much she loved and longed for him. But he was adamant on his point that he could not lead a happy life with a girl who was not serious about her life. She wept day and night. She had a second heart break of her life.

            After some days she took up a back office job at a bank on a leave vacancy. She really did not like working, but she did. She realized how much effort a person was required to put in to earn a day’s bread. The bank canteen served Shrikand for lunch on every Thursday. She never ate it, the only reason, he loved it the most! She was working in grief and with a mourning heart. At times, he also missed her but was firm on his premise that he could not lead a happy life with a girl who was not serious about her life.

Soon the three months elapsed and she was out of work. Chatting with friends and playing an active role in their love lives did not interest her any longer. She took up a part time job of teaching at a college, which he had recently given up. She felt a feeling of pride that she was in his place now and even communicated it to him, when he called back to her missed call. The following year she became a full time Lecturer at the said college. She also took up teaching at a private coaching class in the evenings. She was now hardly left with any time now.

She still loves him a lot. She owes him a lot. And what about him? He misses her some times but is sure that he can not lead a happy life with a girl who is not serious about her life.