July 2, 2026

Sitting with my two childhood friends by the lakeside one evening at a luxurious resort in Chikkamagaluru, I watched the grand resort's lights reflecting on the lake. Chikkamagaluru is a beautiful city beyond comparison. Amid today's relentless traffic and pollution, this lakeside resort felt like an absolute paradise, A sanctuary from life's daily stress.

My friends, Ajay and Joseph, laughed while sipping mild beer. They were recalling memories of the wedding event that had taken place that afternoon.

Ajay said, "She has changed completely. If she had looked like this during our college days, I would have gone crazy for her."

Joseph laughed and joined in. "Yes, she was too thin in college, but what a beauty she has become now."

They were talking about someone from our college days.

What about me? I had come from abroad specifically to attend the wedding and reception of Manohar's younger brother, Shashank. To us, Shashank was still that cute kid who used to fetch our lost cricket balls. Now, he was a grown man, freshly returned from his studies overseas and married.

But was his wedding the real reason I flew across oceans?

I would be lying if I said yes.

It was Pooja. She was the only reason I was here. I had even borrowed a Toyota Fortuner just to attend the event and drive around the area in style. I had a complete plan to see her—even though she was now married and a mother.

At the reception, Joseph, Ajay, and I sat together to relax and enjoy the event. They were drinking while I stuck to a mild beer, pacing myself. As we drank, our conversation drifted back to our younger days at a prestigious college in Chikkamagaluru and to our favourite hangout spot, a local tea stall.

I still vividly remember the day the enmity between Prashant and me truly began. It wasn't because we were competing for a student leadership role; it was because of Pooja. Pooja, who had once been so close to me, suddenly shifted her interest and grew close to Prashant. It was completely unacceptable to me. Consumed by rage, I went searching for Prashant at the tea stall. I found only his friends. When they refused to give me a straight answer about where he was, I lost my temper and started beating them. Soon, a massive brawl broke out as both our groups gathered and exchanged punches.

That fight became my undoing. It wasn't like the fights shown in movies; my clothes were torn, and I suffered a few cuts on my face. In a moment of anger, it all happened, but soon I began to fear the consequences. I knew that if the matter escalated, it would become a serious problem for me.

I immediately remembered my uncle, who always claimed to know all the influential people in the city. I called him right away and explained the situation. He reassured me. After all, he understood student life and believed that such situations happened to almost everyone at some point. The principal called us into his office, and my uncle arrived and managed the situation. That gave me more confidence. Because of incidents like these, I paid less attention to my studies.

In the end, Pooja chose Prashant over me. Maybe she chose him because of his financial stability and his disciplined approach to life. I can only guess. Sometimes, girls make decisions that no one else can truly understand. Otherwise, I was no less than Prashant—or perhaps even a little better. That experience taught me an important lesson. Once my professional career began, I remained completely focused.

Years passed. We all learned that Pooja had married him and settled into a comfortable life. The pain gradually faded into the background as I became busy building my own life. My own marriage was short-lived, but when I came across Pooja on social media, all my old feelings resurfaced instantly.

I sent her a few messages. After replying to a few simple questions, she blocked me. I remember cursing the creators of social media for inventing the block button. In the real world, you can't simply make someone disappear with a single click. But then again, everyone has their own reasons.

Eventually, I heard some gossip. Apparently, Pooja had told our mutual friends that if she had chosen me back then, her life would have been a failure. Her words stung deeply. I had built everything in my life without Pooja. I never rested, constantly pushing myself to achieve more. Today, I had everything a man could want—except Pooja.

Being blocked online only strengthened my desire to meet her in person. I wanted to show her my success, my status, and make her realize that choosing someone else over me wasn't my failure, it was her loss. At the reception, Prashant appeared as a changed and mature man. He even walked up to me and gave me a warm hug.

Pooja, however, offered nothing more than brief, cold pleasantries and made every effort to avoid me. My intention was clear: I wanted to erase her remark that marrying me would have been a failure. I never even tried to understand what was going on in her mind.

As the night went on, Joseph and Ajay began to poke at my old wounds. They made my anger worse, whispering that I needed to teach Prashant a lesson—an unforgettable lesson we had failed to deliver during our college days. Provoking me, they poured more beer into my glass. By then, the party was over, and they pushed a heavy wooden ladle into my hand, urging me to confront Prashant late at night.

I went.

The resort had grown completely silent. Hiding the wooden ladle behind my back, I quietly approached Prashant’s cottage and knocked loudly on the door. After a few tense moments, Prashant opened it. Seeing the small opening, I swung the wooden ladle with all my might, hitting him directly on the head. He fell instantly, and blood spilled out all at once. Pooja arrived and screamed at the sight of me… and then… then…

A gentle hand touched my hair, shaking me awake. A hot cup of morning coffee sat on my nightstand. Ajay stood over me, telling me to drink it. It took me a few confused moments to realize that we had actually returned peacefully to our room the previous night. The violent assault, the wooden ladle, the bloodshed—it had all been a beer-induced nightmare.

The next morning, we prepared to leave, loading our luggage into the Fortuner. Pooja was deliberately avoiding me, a fact I noticed with a strange sense of satisfaction. In a way, my goal felt achieved. I wanted her to see that I had prospered without her, while Prashant had become a responsible man, entirely focused on his family.

But one of her friends mentioned something about her married life: that Prashant could have achieved more in life, but he chose to care for his family instead.

As we drove off, I saw Prashant carrying his son on his shoulders, casting a cautious, attentive glance toward me. Did he still see me as a competitor? Perhaps. That lingering doubt in him felt like another small victory for me.

The magnetic attraction I felt for Pooja was something I could never replace. Perhaps that emptiness would remain, pushing me toward even greater success. Was that wrong? For me, it was simply part of self-improvement.

While driving out of the city, we hit a traffic jam caused by a rally. The police restricted movement, forcing us to stop. I rolled down the window and listened to the speaker addressing the crowd, repeatedly invoking God’s name.

That provoked a thought in me: were they using God’s name the same way I had once used my uncle’s influence in college, just to maintain a hold over Pooja? For me, Pooja had been the resource; for them, it was their own agenda. We all use someone’s name for our benefit—an individual’s name for small things, and for larger groups, political parties, or nations, we use God’s name to unite people and fulfill personal agendas. Even conquerors and rulers may have used God’s name more than any saint. The never-ending wars we see in the world are no different.

Would God ever say that two nations should fight while the world watches? The rich run for safer places and the weaker sections suffer.

Prashant never went around using anyone’s name; he focused on improving himself from within. In the same way, a true believer uses God inwardly, and it is reflected in their actions.

I pressed the accelerator and drove on, realizing an important lesson in life.