Index

1. Beautiful Nose.1

2. The Invisible bond..10

3. The spark of hatred18

4. It begins with care..27

5. A weird love35

6. Fights and romance..47

7. His failure.60

8. Tears of Joy.68

9. His haunting past77

10. Her dads gift.87

11. The beauty of romance.98

12. The last fight.107

13. Her sixth sense.116

14. Separation128

15. His inner self..139

16. His inner world.151

17. A riddle of her destiny.161

18. The perfect proposal169

19. Beautiful love.178

Eternal Love

1

1. Beautiful nose

"Sir, please park your bike on the main stand." The

Security guard shouted from the far corner of the parking lot.

"Main stand is not working." Replied Nihar who had

already moved away from his bike and was too lazy to go back

and park his 146kg beast properly.

He had barely walked a few steps when a female voice

came from nearby, Yes, it's working. I know it. Perplexed,

Nihar stopped and turned to look at the face that uttered

those words. Two women were perched on a scooty pep.

Their faces were half-masked with a scarf. From the way they

were poised, Nihar deduced that they were looking for a space

to park their bike. The entire parking-lot was almost full. As

Nihar had parked his bike on the side-stand it took more

space. If only he had parked it on the main-stand, the scooty

could easily be squeezed in.

Excuse me? Nihar said as he was surprised with that

unexpected argument from the stranger.

The main stand of your bike is working, the woman

bike-rider said as she pulled the scarf off her face. I saw you

parking your bike on the main-stand yesterday. She looked

feisty.

For a moment Nihar thought of giving in. He decided

to comply, although it meant he would have to reveal his

deception. He cursed himself for being lazy in the first place.

Nishant Gote

2

As he was about to walk back to his bike, he heard the pillion

rider on the same scooty say something.

Look there. She was pointing at the two bikes in

another row. They are leaving. We can park there. She said

cheerfully to her friend, her voice muffled from behind the

scarf.

Relieved, Nihar looked expectantly at the woman-

driver, hoping she would listen to her friend. But she was

unmoved, still glaring at Nihar. This angered him. He changed

his mind and decided not to comply.

No, it's not working. Today, it's stuck, Nihar said

defiantly as he turned on his heels and strode away. Furious,

the woman-driver muttered curses under her breath. Finally,

she turned the ignition on and proceeded to park her bike in

the spot that was just vacated.

As he passed the guard, Nihar threw a casual glance

at him. Though the guard did not say anything, his

disapproving gaze conveyed his feelings. Nihar just passed a

sheepish smile in response. He removed his brown jacket as

he walked out of the parking lot. His skin sensed the warmth

of the morning rays as they touched his bare forearms. As he

walked on the sidewalk he looked at the lawn spread to his

left side. Some water droplets from the morning lawn

watering were still hanging from the grass blades. Due to the

reflection of sunlight each drop looked like a pearl. 'Wow! A

lawn filled with pearls,' he thought, cherishing that natural

beauty.

Three years ago Nihar came to this city. Like many

engineers, he was lured to the IT industry because of its

glamour. But soon he realized that everything in this industry

including his paycheck was just show-off. Now he was

frantically trying to find some alternative path. Nihar's parents

always worried about him as he was always too emotional.

Eternal Love

3

They never realized that it was the same emotional behavior

that had made him an ambitious dreamer, and a hard worker

with an indefatigable will power. Somewhere in his heart he

believed that he was destined to carve his own niche in this

world.

Hey, you are Nihar, right? Nihars gym partner stopped him. Hey! Hi, how are you? Nihar smiled at him. What happened to you, bro? You look so devastated. You got married or what? He asked in surprise. No, I was sick for the past few days. What Nihar told was just half the-truth. He certainly was sick, but emotionally sick. He had gone through tremendous mental trauma in the past couple of months. He had stopped attending his gym, he had completely lost his appetite, and his sleep was troubled. Though he was still looking lean, experienced gym doer could easily sense that he had lost a lot of muscle weight. Anyway, what about you? Look at your belly, it's

protruding. Nihar tried to avoid further probing by switching

the focus of attention on his partner.

Got married bro. He whined as if someone has

noosed his neck.

What? You are two years younger to me. It's a child

marriage or what? Nihar pulled his legs.

I met her in the gym. She was flat on my flat abs.

While I trained her body she tamed my mind. After dating for

six months we got married. This protruding belly is the effect

of marriage. He moved close to Nihar, and whispered as if he

was telling him a secret. Nihar, I will tell you one eternal

truth. Marriage sucks.

Nihar just chuckled and said, And you are the

conclusive proof right? Anyways, in a hurry right now, my

manager must be waiting for me. I will catch you later. Bye.

Nishant Gote

4

Ok man. I am also in a hurry. Joining that 'lose 10kg

in two months' program, he said while he patted on Nihars

shoulder.

***

As Nihar entered into his office, his body sensed

sudden dip in the temperature. The vibrant colors of the

cubicles and the cold ambiance gave him some instant energy

to start his day.

The moment Nihar logged into his computer a chat

window popped up at the right bottom corner of the screen.

"Good morning," his manager pinged him.

Nihar sighed his displeasure. With his last three years

of experience, he inferred that not just his morning, but the

whole day will not be good today.

"Good morning," he replied.

"How are you?" the chat window blinked again. For a

moment, he thought of writing, since when you started caring

so much about me? "I am Good :-)" He replied instead.

"Please stop by my desk," the window blinked again.

Unwillingly Nihar locked his machine and moved towards his

manager's cabin.

"Just two minutes," said his manager, without taking

his eyes away from his laptop-screen.

'If he wanted to talk with me after two minutes, why

did he not call me after two minutes?' Nihar gave a scornful

gaze at his back. 'May be that is the way managers pretend to

be busy', he thought.

After looking around for a while Nihar's eyes rested

on his manager's bulging belly. It was squeezed between his

chair and the desk. He approximately measured its size in his

mind and thought, 'Its just perfect for his designation.'

Eternal Love

5

"We have a ramp up. Three new members are joining

our project team. We need to start their training from today.

And not just training, we also need to update tracker-

spreadsheet and 180 degree feedback forms." His manager

swiveled his chair as he adjusted that protruding belly.

Why can't these managers directly say, You. He

should have said, you start trainings, you update the trackers,

you get feedback forms filled and I will just sit here, pretend to

be working and ask for all the credit. Nihar took a deep breath

to quench his rebellious thoughts and said, "Okay." His fake

smile passed a cordial dislike.

At exactly 10.00 a.m. Nihar entered the board room.

It was actually a half part of one big room separated by a

wooden partition. The other three sides were glass. Two sides

facing outside were tinted while the remaining one was

transparent. A boy and a girl were sitting inside. Their

confused faces suggested they had just passed out from the

company's training center. He reached over to the tinted wall

to his right. From the right corner of the room he could see

the oval structure across the street. Due to its oval shape and

luminescence of the morning sun, it looked like a giant pearl.

"One person is to arrive yet; so let us wait for five

minutes," said Nihar, looking at the two new comers. The boy

looked like a chips packet. He had stuffed his body inside his

pink shirt. He felt sorry for that poor shirt as it was stretched

to tearing point. The girl had sharp features with dusky

complexion. She had tightly combed her oily, long, jet black

hair. The white light reflecting from her forehead suggested

that her scalp has dispatched extra oil on her face. 'Her name

must be Prathibha or Premlatha. That extra 'h' really gives

some punch,' he thought, amused.

"Tell me about your hobbies. Nihar looked at the boy

and asked him, May be you can start first."

Nishant Gote

6

"Sir my work is my hobby," he said beaming with

pride. Nihar just raised his eyebrows in response. "Sir,

computer is my God and this company is my life." The boy

wanted to create a long lasting first impression.

The girl turned her head away to hide her smile. Nihar

tried hard to control his laugh and asked, So you can work

from nine to nine?"

"Sir, I can work from nine to twelve midnight." Filled with pride, he looked like a balloon. "Don't you have a personal life?" Nihar asked with a poker face. "No sir, I don't have any girlfriend." He blushed like a girl but his eyes showed a hint of desire. 'Just like every boy he too is longing for the partner,' Nihar thought. The girl coughed to hide her laugh. "Okay." Nihar stopped as he felt guilty to play with his innocence. "So, what is your hobby?" He shifted his eyes towards the girl. "Sir, I like to watch friends." Her smile had traces of blush. "What?" Nihar almost shouted, puzzled. "Make me your friend please. Then we can watch

each other," the boy asked her hurriedly. Innocence was

dripping from his face. He didn't want to miss this lifetime

opportunity.

"Ayyo!! Noooo. I mean I like to watch the TV serial,

'Friends'." She tried to clarify her point.

For the next few minutes there was complete silence.

The girl awkward, the boy embarrassed and disappointed, and

Nihar relieved and amused.

Excuse me." A girl opened the door to break that

silence. Instantly the room was filled with a pleasant

fragrance.

Eternal Love

7

"Do we have a training here?" A voice with low

confidence spoke.

"Yes. Can you please bring a chair from that cubicle?"

Nihar interrupted her and pointed towards an empty cubicle

outside the room.

"So today we will discuss...." He started as soon as all

three took their seats. After conducting so many training

sessions, his vocal cords were working without any orders

from his brain.

As the new girl sat on the chair, her eyes inadvertently

settled on the instructor. He was in his mid-twenties, with a

voice texture somewhere between boyish and manly. His

midnight black hair were just long enough to comb them

properly. He had puffed his front hair to make his otherwise

square face look rectangular. His short side hair had made his

temple look masculine and attractive. His eyebrows were thick

manly but lips were slim. Without the stubble of his mustache

they would have looked feminine. His nose was straight and

slender. His features were good but he didn't look appealing.

It took that girl a while to realize the reason. He was using his

facial muscles just to speak not to express. He was speaking

pretty monotonously without infusing any emotions into the

words he spoke. 'Pretty robotic,' she thought. It was only

when she tried to shift her focus on the whiteboard that she

noticed very interesting thing. His eyes. They were deep and

innocent; but with flecks of pain and fear. As though they had

recently gone through some trauma.

Around 15 minutes passed. Nihar was explaining

different concepts. Everyone was listening attentively, except

the new girl seated in the corner. She was annoyed by the

sharp solar reflection coming from the oval shaped building

and was trying to adjust herself to avoid that beam. Nihar

went over and pulled strings to close the slats of the big glass

Nishant Gote

8

window. She smiled to express her gratitude. That was the first

time he observed her carefully. The first thing he noticed

about her was her beautiful nose. A nose was Nihar's weak

point so he couldn't stop himself from looking at her again.

She smiled again and said, Thank you.

Automatically Nihar muttered, Welcome. As he was

about to walk away, his mind sensed something. He thought

the voice of the girl was familiar. For a few moments he

scanned his memory but couldnt get anything. Curious, he

asked the girl, Excuse me, but have we met before?

I-...err...yes, she said hesitantly. Today morning. In

the parking lot. She said guiltily as her gaze wandering around

the room, afraid to meet his. My friend needed a place to

park her bike and ... She trailed off, unsure what to say.

'Wow' Nihar thought. 'So, she is the pillion-rider on the

Scooty-pep.' He remembered the confrontation and angry

exchange of words in the parking lot. 'A friend of an enemy,'

he wondered.

Ohh, yes! he said, Now I remember. Covering his

sarcasm with a fake smile he said, It looks like you both have

problems parking yourself in the right place. He waved his

hands at the glass window he had just curtained. Her face fell

but she kept silent.

Satisfied with the feeling of revenge, Nihar walked

over to the writing-board and continued.

***

After training, for the whole day Nihar was busy

completing official formalities like signing different forms,

introduction with rest of the team, etc. In the evening Nihar

thought of checking the feedback forms. He opened the form

and scanned it carefully. Most of the improvements suggested

Eternal Love

9

were for his communication skills. There was nothing new, so

his mouse went to click on cross sign. But just before closing

the spreadsheet, his eyes stopped at one line.

'Conceptually good but too mechanical. It didn't take

much time for him to realize who had written that feedback.

It was an ingenuous revenge from that beautiful nose for his

sarcastic remark.

That whole day Nihar couldn't stop thinking about

her. Her beautiful face kept appearing before his eyes,

unsolicited. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw her

beautiful nose and pleasant smile over and over again. 'Maybe

I was a bit too mean to her,' he wondered. 'After all, what

happened in the parking wasn't her fault.' When he could no

longer focus on his work, Nihar locked his computer and

headed for the canteen.

The next day that beautiful nose shifted to the

adjacent cubicle.

Nishant Gote

10

2. The invisible bond "Anamika, coming for breakfast?" A voice came from

the cubicle next to the Nihars. "Give me five minutes please, a honey-sweet voice replied. Nihar glanced in the direction of that cubicle out of

the corner of his eyes. Now, he got a name to attach with that

beautiful nose. He tried to focus on his work but gave in to his

temptation and leaned back in his chair to check her out again.

Leaning slightly ahead she was reading emails carefully. She

was wearing a simple green colored kurta. Her dark hair was

gracefully flowing till her chest. Her dark brown eyes were

looking adorable on her milky white complexion. Engrossed in

reading emails, completely standstill, she looked like a portrait

of a beautiful goddess.

'Forget it, she must be already engaged,' Nihar sighed

his disappointment and returned to his work.

Anamika was from a metropolis of north India. She

had just joined the company as a trainee engineer. After early

loss of her father she had become much more mature for her

age. But for the world she was very lively and a fun loving girl.

She had learned to live happily. Because the day she stopped

laughing, she was afraid that the depression of her father's

loss would grip her. She was that kind of girl who sought just

two things from life, peace and love.

As days passed, new trainees gelled with the team

slowly. Negotiation for party fund, sweets at my desk emails,

Eternal Love

11

lunch, dinner and movie parties made them comfortable to

the new world. Out of those three new trainees Anamika

looked distinct. She was bubbly and very talkative. Initially

Nihar wondered how she could have so many things to talk.

But after careful observation for few days he realized that she

can tell the same thing to ten different people with equal

enthusiasm. As if she was telling it for the first time.

Everyone in the team became Anamikas friend except

for one straight-faced guy. From day one she was observing

him, there was something different about him. He rarely

spoke with his team members. He seemed to be egoistic. But

his hazel brown eyes filled with innocence and traces of

sorrow didn't go well with his expressionless face. She felt as

if he stayed in a shell, trying to insulate himself from the

outside world.

'Will I ever get to break that shell and look inside?'

Anamika wondered. Out of curiosity, she wanted to break that

shell and peep inside. One fine day when she found no one

was around she thought to break the ice.

"Nihar, can I change my seat please?" her voice was

sweeter than honey. Nihar was managing the seating

arrangement in the team. She had found some reasons to talk.

"Why?" his raised eyebrows were the only change in

his face.

"I want to move to the cubicle near that glass wall. You

know, it has a great view." She tried her best to look cute.

"Will it impact your work?" he questioned. Her cuteness couldn't breach the thick layer of indifference he was carrying on his face. "No," she said in low voice. "Then I cannot change your seat. I am not here to fulfill your personal desires," he snapped. She clenched her fist and imagined as if she was

strangling his neck in her hands. As she returned back to her

Nishant Gote

12

desk she thought, 'He must be an Aries, too straight forward

and insensitive.' Like any other girl she applied her

infinitesimal knowledge of astrology as she sat at her desk.

'Don't you dare to talk with him again,' she reprimanded

herself.

***

"Nihar, please stop by my desk," Nihar's manager

ordered him the moment he saw Nihar in the office.

Five minutes later Nihar was sitting in the manager's

cabin. As usual he asked him to wait for two minutes. Nihars

eyes wandered around and rested on his manager's head.

'He is losing his hair fast,' Nihar noticed. There is no

tension of project work for him. Then how come? ohh may be

the wife effect.' His brains were running at top speed. A faint

smile appeared on his face. He silently thanked his Manager's

wife for settling account with him on his behalf.

"You know our other team-leader is on leave for the

last two weeks," said his manager as he wriggled his nose to

adjust his spectacles.

"Yeahbut why?" Nihar questioned. "He says his stomach is upset." "For the last two weeks? Oh gosh; then he must have become invisible by now." Nihar's voice had sarcasm at its best. "Let him come back; I will make him visible." The manager had already planned his revenge. "Anyway, today we have received an escalation from onsite about Anamika. So you need to involve yourself in that work." "But I am already overloaded." Nihar protested. "Nihar, you know it very well. You are the best lead I have. You never let me down." His manager cajoled him.

Eternal Love

13

The only person who could ever flirt with a boy like me is his manager, Nihar thought. But I have Nihar, I am sure you will manage it. You should always push your limits. Manager tried to encourage him. But these sentences had lost their sheen after using thousand times. 'A manager's speech is always full of clichs,' Nihar thought wryly. 'You don't miss a single opportunity to screw me up; right?' Nihar screamed in his mind. Out loud he said, hmm. Nihar reached Anamika's desk. The manager had already informed her that Nihar will lead her request. "Nihar I am confused about our onsite coordinators. It seems there are two people: Narayanan and Johny," she asked her first question. While checking an email related to the issue in her

mailbox he replied, "No, both are the same. Narayanan

Krishna swami has settled in the USA. By re-baptizing himself

as Johny and changing his accent he thinks he can easily blend

in with the Americans. But his 'hech' is still not allowing him

to be complete American."

Anamika chuckled in response. As Nihar understood the issue he quickly dialed Narayanan's number. "Hey Man! Who is this Anamika? She is so dumb, a voice came from the other side of the phone. "Johny, you are on speaker; wait," Nihar said hurriedly. "Oh, shit Man! were the only words Anamika heard before Nihar switched to receiver mode. "No Johny. I have trained her. I know she has excellent grasping ability. And she is trying her best. Its just that she is new to this project." Anamika was stunned as she heard those words coming from Nihar. 'Ohh! So this guy has some heart too,' she thought.

Nishant Gote

14

For the next five minutes Nihar convinced Johny and assured him that the issue will be resolved by the end of the day. When he was done and replaced the received, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Nihar, what is RCA? Johny has asked for it," Anamika asked as soon as the call ended. "It's bullshit." He spat out his anger. 'Ohh!! Short tempered; looks like a Scorpio.' Instead of decoding the issue at hand, her mind was decoding Nihar's personality. "Sorry, it is the 'Root Cause Analysis' of an issue. We will send it tomorrow," Nihar said calming himself down. When Nihar sat beside her to resolve the issue he felt

that the place was a bit different. Her positive aura, her unique

fragrance, the tinkling sound of her bangles while she

adjusted her hair; everything was so refreshing. By the time

they resolved the issue it was already 9:30 p.m. First time they

had spent so much time together. Anamika was surprised to

know that he was very dedicated, supportive and helpful in

nature.

When they were about to finish their work, Anamika

said, "You know, today I asked help from all the people who I

thought are my good friends. But everyone found some

reason to escape. Finally I had to go through our manager."

Without taking his eyes off the monitor he replied,

"Welcome to the professional world. People who look the

friendliest are the ones who are the least helpful."

Anamika nodded wondering if it was actually true.

Okay. Now send this email and then you can leave."

Nihar moved towards his desk with his heart filled with the

fragrance of Anamika.

"So how you will go? Nihar asked her while wrapping

up for the day.

"My friend is waiting for me. He will drop me."

Eternal Love

15

Nihar's eyebrow raised as he heard the word 'he'.

"Okay. Take this jacket. It's cold out there." He kept his

jacket at her desk.

"No, thanks. I am fine." She flashed a pleasant smile.

"Please. I insist. I don't want one more person to go

on leave with an excuse of fever and cold," He snapped.

'Looks like a Leo. Too dominating,' she came up with a

new conclusion as she took that jacket.

Nihar hurriedly picked up his bag and moved towards

the exit-door. He was confused with his anger. Am I jealous?

he wondered.

As he walked out of the office building he found two

three boys standing with helmet in their hands. Unknowingly

his eyes picked the most handsome boy and fired a burning

gaze at him.

From that day onwards making Nihar angry became

Anamikas favorite pastime. She began liking his innocuous

anger. She started asking him all her doubts. Slowly, she began

asking questions apart from the project work. Initially, his

replies were short but soon their length increased. She was

talking with him more comfortably now. In Anamika's

presence Nihar had starting feeling a sense of elation within

him. His world became more vibrant as his eyes could see

many more colors now. His days became effervescent,

evaporating like camphor, but with the fragrance of Anamika.

His evenings became busy remembering her silly nothing

talks. His nights looked too dull, longing for the next dawn.

And his mornings were full of energy to make him reach office

before time. Now, other than his manager, there was

someone else who used to greet him Good Morning and that

greeting used to make the whole day good for him.

***

Nishant Gote

16

Last few days, Nihar was very busy. In the next week,

there was a security audit of his team. As a senior resource he

had a responsibility to educate all team members regarding

security related aspects. He had to complete a lot of activities

to ensure due compliance. But today he was in a hurry. He had

to reach the train station by 6.00 p.m. to pick up his friend.

"Hi," one chat window blinked. It was Anamika.

"Hi," Nihar replied while multitasking.

"I have one big question in my mind." She typed back.

"Go ahead." Within five minutes, he wanted to leave

the office but he continued chatting. He had a soft corner for

her.

"Why are you like this?"

"Like what?" he replied. He had no time to think about

what she was asking.

"Everyone in our team is so friendly, except you." No-

one else had the courage to ask him this question.

He stopped his multitasking, took a pause for a while

and replied, "There is a difference between being friendly and

being a friend. I cannot approach someone with a smiling face

just to get my work done."

"Hmm," she typed as she pouted her lips.

Though she was not expecting any further reply, Nihar

continued typing. "There are very few people in my life about

whom I really care. Others are just living creatures for me. May

be thats why I look so detached." For the first time in his

professional life Nihar opened his heart to someone.

She was typing something but before she could hit

enter his next message came.

"Hey, I will catch you tomorrow. In a hurry right now."

Nihar ran towards the exit-door. Unknowingly

Anamika's eyes followed him till he became out of their range.

Eternal Love

17

A thought came in her mind. 'Will he ever think about me or

will I remain as just another living creature for him?'

Both of them were unaware of the fact that a bond was

slowly connecting them to each other. The bond which was

delicate like an invisible thread now. But over the period it was

destined to grow strong.

Strong enough to bind them for eternity.

Nishant Gote

18

***END OF SAMPLE CHAPTERS***

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Eternal Love

19

About the Author

Nishant, an IT engineer, is working with Infosys, Pune

for the past nine years. After working in the United States for two years, he is now settled in Pune. He is born and brought up in a small village of western Maharashtra. His father is a farmer and mother is a housewife.

As an adolescent, Nishant spent most of his time reading novels of renowned Marathi authors like P. L. Deshpande, Ranjit Desai and V. P. Kale. He fell in love with English literature when he read works of Dan Brown and Sydney Sheldon. Unknowingly, a voracious reader inside him gave birth to a budding writer. He started writing short Marathi stories on rural culture and then shifted to English write-ups. This is his first English novel.

He speaks less but observes a lot, which is clearly

visible in his writing style. Being an emotional person he can

portray the finest of emotions with aplomb. Apart from

reading and writing, he loves to spend hours in the gym, to

watch movies, and to travel to the scenic spots.

You can reach Nishant at nishantb.gote@gmail.com.