First Love

All ears for Karuna Waghmare

Bijoy Gupta speaks briefly of his past

The rainy season stirs peculiar romantic feelings. Was it any wonder then that a bunch of septuagenarians should now choose to go back, down memory lane and recount with relish their first love affair many eons ago?
Clearly the embers were still glowing. But Shekhawat’s was a short and sweet tale. There were three “equally beautiful and nubile girls” in his village he was seeing at the same time and after what went by the name of dating (‘three-timing’ if you please) in those days, his folks got hold of him and forced him to settle for one. She happens to be his wife today.
Karuna Waghmare’s romance was much more colorful, befitting a Bollywood script. In fact, she was the most forthcoming in the Garden today over what began with a neighborhood boy having an eye on her since she was barely 10 years (Class 5) in school.
“I had no idea he was after me and like others my age in the village, I used to call him ‘dada’ or elder brother,” she narrated with childlike candor. “How would I know why he’d follow me on my way to school? Or why he’d deliberately stand outside my door to brush his teeth every morning? I even sent him a rakhi once and he threw it into the river!”
To cut a long story short, Karuna was to move into a girls’ hostel in Nagpur (for higher studies) while the boy joined the Navy and was posted in Mumbai. By then word had got around in the village. But Karuna was still in the dark and kept rejecting his advances, even as her parents were in the know (through a mediator). Eventually Cupid struck and after an exciting phase of letter exchanges, they decided to tie the knot.
Bijoy Gupta was also eager to tell his story, but had to reserve it for another day. He started out in his typical boisterous style, but soon realized that it was getting late for everybody. “I’ll need an hour to give the full picture,” he declared before winding up for the day. Still, there was one question that hung heavy: How many people, at age 75-plus, are so fortunate as to be able to speak their hearts out to a receptive audience?
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
Yesteryear youngsters are today's veterans. All have had love affairs. Being in Mumbai, their affairs take on a lovely cinematic tinge. Do listen to their stories and relish them. Keep laughing.