My First...

It was early morning on the first day of college. I had met a couple of people during the admissions day with whom I had bonded well. We had decided to sit together for the classes. I was waiting for my soon to be friends at the entrance of the Science Buildings...

I was looking around to make sure I hadn't missed anyone. And that's when I saw him. He stood on top of the stairs of one of the building's entrance. He did not look like a freshman, but looked much more senior. He stood tall at around 6 ft with broad shoulders and wore a casual checked shirt with jeans. He was not classically handsome but definitely attractive. As he scanned the crowd, our eyes met for a brief moment and I averted my eyes a little too quickly. I was surprised at myself cause I wasn't used to gawking at guys (well not yet anyways). I always bonded well with guys; it was easy being with them - simple without any complications. Being a tomboy all my life, I had more guy friends than girl friends. I turned around to have a second look, but he had disappeared. My friends soon arrived and we chatted up a bit after exchanging the usual pleasantries. My mind kept wandering to the guy I had seen in the morning in between conversations. This was something that never happened to me; I had never been distracted by a member of the opposite sex.

It was soon time for our classes. We entered the lab at the ground floor of the first building. We were soon split into batches of 10 as per our roll call and were told that every batch would have a tutor mentoring them throughout the year. The teachers soon arrived. However, our tutor was nowhere to be seen. We waited for about 10-15 minutes after which me & S when to check with Prof K if we would be doing anything today. Just then we were told that Prof M had arrived and we went back to join the rest of our batch. Prof M came in and apologised for being late. I looked up and couldn't look away. It was my eye-candy from the morning. I was surprised, shocked, devasted!! I kept staring at him and went blank for a couple of minutes. I soon realised what I was doing, composed myself and my heart rate shortly came back to normal. I soon caught up with what was being said and we split into pairs to perform the first of the many experiments.

We soon realised that Prof M was indeed quite young and was doing his Masters Degree. Being a brilliant student and having a penchant for teaching, he took up a number of substitute teaching jobs. Good looking and Smart: my curiosity soon developed into My First Crush...

We had him mentoring us for most of the practicals in the first year. He soon started some of the classroom sessions as well. He was a good teacher and kept everybody engaged and attentive. He soon got me interested in the subject. It had always been one of my favourite subjects, but having discussion with him on various challenges & quizzes was intellectualy stimulating. I soon started acing his classes and was encouraged me to join the Science Club. I made sure I was there for all his classes. And so did the rest of the 50 odd girls in our year :). Yeah yeah, he had other admirers too. The year went by quickly and we heard that Prof M was soon to leave us and go to the States for his PhD. The last time I saw him was at his farewell arranged by us Science Club Geeks...

Although I did not follow in his footsteps, my interaction with him was rewarding in many more ways than well just having a Crush :)... There were many more crushes to follow in the future... But, Prof M you will never be forgotten!!

An AfterThought: Isn't it ironical that My First Serious Crush was on a man who taught 'Chemistry' :).