Love in Prison

                                                              

Love in Prison 

 Nanki Josiya Singh

               

  


Between attending back to back classes, playing sports and participating in other extra-curricular activities the boys at Saint James boarding school for boys had another hobby which they pursued with great diligence- finding their idyllic high school loves.
Like all schools, even this one had a mix of different types of people- there were the nerds, always cramming something, the jocks, the loafers, the geeks, the artists and the quite ones. Seemingly different on various levels, when it came down to the fundamentals all the boys were pretty much the same.
The artist as they called themselves weren’t bona fide professionals no; they were teenagers who had some skill which produced a drawing when they put their colourful markers to paper. And the payment would be in the form of the latest tuck package or a temporary loan of the fanciest gadgets.
The boys tired of each other’s company and looking for some change come into collaboration with the artist, they offer their new gadgets or their tuck package, hand him a sheet of paper and commission a bouquet. The number of flowers in each bouquet corresponds to the number of boys the in the group and each flower bears a coloured tag and a number relating to the respective boy’s house colour and room number.
These bouquets once completed are concealed as mail or newsletters and find their way to Rushmore Girls Convent. Rushmore Girls Convent as the name suggests is a girl’s boarding school situated on the opposite hill from Saint James boarding school for boys. The bouquets circulate from girl to girl and in a few days the senders of these bouquets hear the verdict, Sarah had chosen the rose with the blue coloured tag, Nina chose the tulip with the red tag and that Tanya had chosen the germanium with the green tag. This ritual was like that which takes place at the end of a wedding where the bridal bouquet would always be caught by someone.
Then onwards each of the three boys would have an enthusiast whose names were Sarah, Nina and Tanya. Boys went on for further studies where as the girls finished their school term and shifted back home. What did these girls do? They waited for their men; they moulded their lives around the idea of this one man who is the one for them.
She was committed and in love, they said. What did he look like? What did he like? How old was he? What were his hobbies? She knew nothing. She was connected to a faceless man, through a flower and all it represented. The wind, the meadows, the birds chirping, the sunshine, and the flowers it all reminds her of him. Just a flower convinces her that he is the one for her and makes him divine. Blinded by youthful fantasies and the mystery of the unknown this girl devotes herself to him. She forms a bond that is ethereal and true, one that can stand the test of time, a love that lasts.
But like all beautiful stories, every one of these also has some pain hidden behind it. Something that doesn’t let it reach the state of perfection, something that makes it seems like paradise lost. One day before leaving to pursue his higher education Avril, gave all he had- 50 francs to be given to a female
student that he had seen while both the schools had been out for an excursion, so that she could by herself something to remember him by, a bittersweet memory of sorts.
The distance between the boys and girls was bridged by this dream world, a place where you could find someone who you’d relate yourself too, a place where you had something to look forward to, a place where you had meaning, a place where someone pulled you in just like gravity.
Young love, we say as we laugh. We shouldn’t. It’s a powerful thing.