Cruel Cruel World

He screamed in agony. Why God ? Why?



Ever since he was young it was the same. He was way too shy. He was way too ugly. There was always something wrong with him. He remembered his school days. He could NEVER talk to any girl. Okay no girl ever tried to talk to him either. He was in a boys school. None of his friends seemed that obsessed with talking to girls. They all seemed so happy in their studies. Damn nerds. So only he had this problem.



‘How the hell does one meet girls?’. he asked himself. One day he was passing by the ‘Alliance Francaise’ and saw a lot of pretty girls coming out or going in. He went the next day to ask what they were all doing there. ‘Learning French’, he was told by a boy he asked. so he enrolled for a beginners course. He had a tough time convincing his father for the money but he was quite persuasive when it was required. At least with his parents.



Soon he found himself a fish out of water there. Everybody seemed to know each other. He just couldn’t get into any of the groups. ‘God’, why did you have to make me so damn ugly?’, he agonised. ‘Why can’t I just have the guts? God please give me the guts or at least the personality!’, he screamed that night weeping into his pillow.



The next day he went as usual to his French class and a girl came up to him. His heart was pounding. ‘Oh God! Thank You!’, then he cautioned himself. ‘Don’t blow this.’

‘Do you have yesterdays homework?’, she asked. He froze. He couldn’t speak. She was so pretty! He mumbled something. ‘I am such an idiot!’, he yelled at himself. Throughout the class his mind was a whirl. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t swallow. ‘I could have said this or I could have said that! Oh God! Why dint I say something?. The first girl who ever talked to me!'



Nothing ever came of his French class. ‘I am going to die a virgin’, he told himself. ‘That is God’s plan for me .Or else he would have made me slightly good looking or forced some girl to talk to me. Just one opportunity. That’s all I need. One opportunity. So many damn girls in this country. All Im asking for is one to talk to me!’ he pleaded. 'I am not going to marry just to get a girl!, he swore to God



Several years later he finished college. Of course he had to go into Engineering like all his nerdy school classmates. Not a single girl in his class. Of course. ‘Screw them all’, he thought. There must be something else he could think about. But no. He couldint. They were everywhere. Each one prettier than the next. Talking to everyone but him. ‘Why God Why? , he screamed, ‘At least make me asexual. Don’t give me so much desire without the ability to do something about it!’

One day he met a an old classmate of his who was a model. 'You know a lot of women Rajiv. Can you introduce me to someone', he asked desperately. He got a call from Rajiv's sister that same evening. 'My brother told me all about you', she said sexily ,'There's a girlfriend of mine waiting here. She says she has to meet you.'. He thanked God and rushed to Rajiv's house. His heart was pounding in excitement. There was a little girl about 4 years old there. 'Say hi Basant!, Rajiv's sister said when he entered. Everyone burst out laughing seeing his expression. He cursed all of them. He cursed God. 'May they all die a miserable death', he wished


‘Okay, he decided, ‘I will go the USA. There must be something possible there. Look at all those movies. The girls go up and talk to the boys there. They don’t wait for idiots like me to grow up. They grow the idiots up.’ So he studied for GRE and GMAT. Any exam that would take him to the USA. Away from this failure. Away from his inadequacies. He looked at the prospectus. ‘Which College would have the most number of girls? There were only three states in the USA with more men than women.’ He had a good chance!



At last he got his acceptance letter from an american University. He had a scholarship! He was going to the USA! What would it be like? Would he succeed? Would he meet someone who would make him a man? He had been accepted to EngineeringCollege. He could not contain his excitement



He reached his university. So many girls everywhere! Just like the movies. When he entered his class the first day he noticed it was the same. No girls. There were only guys in his class. ‘What is this? I came all the way for this? Why God? Why did you do this to me?’ , he wailed in agony. 'Why does everyone in India have to study Engineering when there are no girls in Engineering?

In his first class he met his classmate Robert. 'Hey you want to come to a night club?, Robert asked. 'Of course', Basant replied. The Night club was crawling with women. 'Have I reached heaven ?', he wondered. Robert said 'Just ask any of them to dance'. He asked a girl to dance and began to dance! Basant couldint beleive his eyes. He asked a girl standing near him to dance. 'No thanks', she replied and walked away. He asked twenty six more girls that night. None of them agreed to dance with him. He walked home tears streaming down his face. The rejection hurt every pore of his body. 'Why God Why ', he demanded, 'Why do you make me a man and treat me like a dog?'


Next day he was told he was wanted by the Dean. He had to work for his Teaching assistantship. He had to grade papers. His professor gave him the papers with the answers and told him to grade them after showing him some examples. He graded all the papers diligently. Suddenly there was a knock on his door. He now had an office.

It was a girl! He swallowed. ‘Yes’, he asked. ‘Iam Jackie Murphy. Are you grading our papers?’, she asked sexily.’ Thank You God. Thank You!. Over the next few weeks Jackie visited him regularly. She asked him so many questions and wrote the answers in front of him. He could see right down her dress at times. He was in heaven. He gave her the best grades. She had delivered him from misery. She was going to make him a man. She was his angel


His first term was ending .He and Jackie Murphy had gone out a few times. She had allowed him to hold her hand. Or rather she had held his hand. His hand tingled at her touch. A female touch. He was in delirium. 'I have to kiss her. I have to kiss her', he thought greedily. The next day evening when he went up to her dorm he pulled her to him and forced her to kiss him. She screamed in anger but dint seem too upset. He had kissed a girl! He had done it! At last

‘God is kind’, he thought. ‘Sorry for all the mean things I said to you Oh God’



The last day of the semester had arrived. He went to College a spring in his step. He had kissed a girl! There was a note from the Dean. ‘He wants to raise my salary’, he thought jokingly, 'or maybe he wants to learn my technique! Mr Girl Kisser!'. As he entered the Dean’s office he felt tense. There was something wrong. The dean’s face was grim.

‘ Do you know Jackie Murphy?’, he asked. ‘Yes. Did something happen to her?
‘She has filed sexual molestation charges against you. Her grades are unusually high for this class. You could face disciplinary action or be forced to quit your job’