Stupid High School Romance...

My teenage was slightly different than that of my peers. While they spent most of it obsessing over girls they couldn't get, I spent it obsessing over the girl that I had got. I had a steady girlfriend all through school and I spent most of my time with her. It seems kind of unlikely and hard to believe now but that’s how it was.

I had described her in an earlier post and it led to people thinking that I was a major womaniser but that won’t be an accurate description. It was just one girl and it started pretty early on and lasted longer than usual. We were together for over six years, Megha (name changed) and I, and it was almost amazing.

I say “almost” coz we ended things on really bad terms. When I look back now, I can be objective about it. I am older and a lot more mature than I was then. Like many people, I too take pleasure in analysing my past and thinking about how things could have been different. It’s a futile exercise, I am aware, but I can’t help it at times.

Megha was a unique girl, smart and troubled. When I look back at my relationships, I begin to think that maybe that was my type- smart and troubled. Coz I myself was like that. We had bumped into each other when I moved to this new school and had been inseparable through the years. We had a difficult childhood in common and we bonded over our love of literature and our loathing for ourselves.

My relationship with Megha wasn't all smooth sailing. Both of us had low self-esteems and a lot of insecurities regarding ourselves and these constantly created problems between us. On the other hand, we were both very carnal by nature and that sort of helped with things. 

Irrespective of how things ended, I can’t help cherishing everything that was good and pure in that relationship. For instance, my relationship with Megha had a very positive effect on my personality. We both had a knack for the English language and our association just whetted our communication skills. I don’t know how much that helped her in the long run but I owe most of my achievements to my ability to speak well.

Many people who knew about us didn't understand this but the truth is that Megha and I really needed each other at that point of time. We needed each other to understand our lives and to make sense of our misfortunes. We shared our troubles and that made it a little tolerable.

And yet that relationship was doomed from the start for one basic reason, the expectation we had from it. Any adult can vouch for the fact that teenage romances don’t last. But we were young and we wanted to spend our lives together. Come to think of it, it was a noble thought. You can’t blame a couple of 15-year-old kids for not factoring in “growing up” into the equation.

Things were good, till they were not. We eventually migrated to different places for higher education and things changed. 

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Both of us have faced a lot of criticism due to the relationship that we had. We were both head strong and stubborn and never gave a fig about social norms. But I have no regrets. It was a fulfilling relationship, and both of us learnt from it. 

I agree that it wasn't the most orthodox of relationships. Nor was it the healthiest. But we get to live only once. 

Disclaimer: It has been pointed out to me that I keep talking about my past. Many feel that I have a problem letting my past go. But that's not the case. I just love to write about things I know.