An innocent, online friendship was twisted by jealous peers of his. But she suffered deeply. Find out what happened to this ill-fated relationship. An exclusive for Different Truths.
Coming out of the airport, the advertisement caught her eye. A devastatingly handsome young man was promoting some edu-tech company from a billboard, with a dazzling smile. It sort of arrested the eye.
She was a veteran finance professional from Mumbai and an acknowledged expert in her field. She was in her sixties and had a no-nonsense look, with her short salt-and-pepper hair sans makeup, mostly attired in business suits. She was in the sleepy town of Lucknow to deliver a lecture at the IIM, on cryptocurrency
A Solitary, Busy Life
She led a solitary but busy life. However, she also had a secret persona – she was a popular online film-reviewer, under an assumed name. She had once wanted to be a filmmaker, but didn’t have the courage to follow her dreams, which her son did. He was a struggling artist, practicing his passion for Kathak, currently travelling with the troupe of a well-known practitioner.
After establishing herself in the field of finance as an academic, she started reviewing films in her blog and was soon immensely popular for her savage wit and sarcastic remarks, demolishing the mediocre fare on OTT platforms.
She finished her lecture that day, drawing admiring glances from many.
She finished her lecture that day, drawing admiring glances from many. She had made the lecture as user-friendly as possible (avoiding jargon and lacing it with her inimitable humour) as a few lay people were attending it as well as professionals. After she wrapped up the lecture, several men walked upto her from the audience, complimenting her style and her hands-on approach. Suddenly, she was transfixed. The model from the ad. at the airport was also there.
He introduced himself as a student at the IIM and gushed that he really loved the lecture. He then stunned her by confessing that he also knew that she was the famous blogger, and he was a follower and fan of her blog as he was an amateur actor, doing group theatre as a hobby. She asked him about the ad., and he confessed that he modelled for pocket money. They exchanged contacts and promised to stay in touch.
Connected Online
Soon they were connected on LinkedIn, and surprisingly, in Facebook too, and were chatting regularly in WhatsApp as well. She really enjoyed his company as she liked to know what the young were thinking and had a good rapport with her students too. Soon, this grew into an unlikely friendship – cutting across the vast age gap and gender barrier. He was into very serious theatre and was a fantastic actor though he participated mostly in pretentious abstract plays. The plays probably ran because of his arresting good looks and acting, and he was a born star, as she could see from the YouTube videos.
Seeing his ready wit and sarcastic repartee, she suggested that he takes up stand-up comedy…
Seeing his ready wit and sarcastic repartee, she suggested that he takes up stand-up comedy and have his own YouTube vlog. He did take her up on her offer, though tentatively, and soon became an instant online sensation. She had earlier reviewed some of his plays, slamming them and praising him, and now raved about his comedy on her blog, Facebook, and tweet.
His comedy became so popular that he started getting overtures from television, OTT platforms and even Bollywood as well. His disarming smile, dazzling looks, acting skills, stage-presence and brilliant wit were a sure-fire recipe for stardom.
Playful Banter
By now, they were close friends, though online only, and chatted daily. Their easy camaraderie and playful banter continued throughout the day, and it was as if they had carved out a small parallel universe in their respective lives. They also discovered another shared passion, that of online scrabble. They played every day and he beat her often, denting her pride as a master at it, but she didn’t mind.
Her days were empty when not in touch with him. She hadn’t felt this way since the heady dating days of college. It was like she was suddenly alive again- an inexplicable heady sensation numbed her senses whenever she saw his name flashing on her screen. She realised it was more of a journey of self-discovery for her and the rush she felt for him was because he embodied the very qualities that she had admired and aspired to be throughout her life and she herself was a lot like him in so many ways. Her spouse had since moved on to dizzying heights in the corporate world, while she was bent more towards academics.
However, his success didn’t go down too well with the theatre group or his classmates and even faculty, as jealousy, like a slithering snake, slowly but surely reared its ugly head.
However, his success didn’t go down too well with the theatre group or his classmates and even faculty, as jealousy, like a slithering snake, slowly but surely reared its ugly head. Their reaction was like a volcano. There was an avalanche of severe trolling, some called her a cougar, and some called him a toy boy of an old lady, and some said he had used her to further his career. Things became so bad that even his girlfriend wanted to know the basis of this unusual online friendship.
Humiliated and furious, he took the easiest way out- cut off all contact with her, after politely explaining his predicament. She was shocked more than she should have been, because given the circumstances – romantic liaison hadn’t even entered her mind, but unknowingly, she had become totally dependent on him for her happiness. His daily repartee and wit were like a concoction and like a junkie, she had become addicted to this fix to stimulate her senses and brighten up her days.
A Vacuum
She didn’t know what hit her. She had been perfectly happy with her lonely life of lectures, research, reviews, and scrabble till one day this online friendship took away all her time and the sudden end left a vacuum she couldn’t handle. She couldn’t do the reviews anymore nor concentrate on her lectures or scrabble and mechanically went through the motions. Her days seemed like an endless repetitive cycle, and she kept on pining for him to end her drudgery.
However, the world wouldn’t understand this weird online, unnamed relationship. Ugly labels would be given. There was no way out, and staring at her blank laptop screen, she realised that this was inevitable, and her only option was to go back to her lonely life.
She resigned herself to following and cheering his success in the new world silently, invisibly…
She resigned herself to following and cheering his success in the new world silently, invisibly – as is right for an elderly woman.
She often wondered whether he would sometimes remember this brief friendship in his busy successful life.
Visual by Different Truths
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Beautiful, very moving write up. It does happen that online friendships blossom into life-giving relationships. Some chord is struck and the relationship, without in anyways becoming transgressive, starts working its charisma in many ways. But, as this story underscores, the duplicitous and intolerant social mores stifle the beauty of an innocent relationship. Very well crafted piece.