As a kid when I was taught how to read time, I considered it as one of the greatest pieces of knowledge in my possession. Watching a watch not only made me feel in control of my time, it also forced me to understand different kinds of times. Happy times. Sad times. Far times. Close times. Together times. Alone times. Favorable times. Hard times. Laughter times. Tear times. That's when I realized why people attribute different names to the time: a teacher, a healer, a leveler, a blah blah blah. The only thing nobody taught me was - when, where and how to tell if it's love o'clock.The curiosity to uncover this new type of time must have started from my pre-school days. That playground-girl, seeing me with lots of chocolates, came up to me and asked for one. I generously obliged. She smiled and ran away. She refused to recognize me the next time I tried to wave at her. I figured that was just a kidding o'clock. In school I always wondered why the girl students paid more attention to me during exam days. I assumed it must be by-mistake o'clock. High school was where I started noticing how cute the girls looked compared to boys. It was clearly a curious o'clock. All the girls looked different but equally beautiful in college general year. I dismissed it as attraction o'clock. Some of the girls turned out to be prettier than the lot and demanded more of my attention (read glances) in special year. It turned out to be crush o'clock. One of the queens of the college became center of my thoughts in the final year. She must belong to me, I silently demanded. Later when I found out everybody else had the same demand, I gathered I was going through an infatuation o'clock. At the same time, like others, I learned the film actresses needed more of my time. Confusion o'clock prevailed, as it was tough to balance between the duties of college and cinema.
Post graduation era called for more maturity as I discovered all the dudes had a concept of some dream girl. I pledged more sincerity and to actionize it I also started dreaming. It resulted into nothing but poor sleep. Dream o'clock was the fuzzy time indeed. The first job landed me into the world of smart and career-oriented girls who had their future lives all planned out. And when I managed to make some good friends out of this category, I was convinced this must be the time I was groping for. But to my disappointment it wasn't the right o'clock. I was entering welcome-to-real-world o'clock. The second job saw change in priorities and preferences. The focus shifted to understanding what women want. I encountered some of the novel words never heard in this journey - romance, passion, intimacy, commitment. The love gurus the world around chanted these words and nothing else. I was yet to get comfortable with them. The only things I knew were what love is not and some poor gifting ideas which didn't help at all. I guessed it was still learning o'clock.
By now the world around me had made it clear to me that if I were to reach love o'clock, I had to have a great love story. Keeping a low profile, being myself, shying away from social gatherings, freaking out at any romantic approach by any girl, camping in dream world - were surely not going to make any such story. So I started to investigate how love stories are made. What I found was amazing. It put an end to my race to finding my love o'clock. Because I was not going to find it. It was going to find me. That's what happens with everybody, I learned. And when it happened, it would solve my story problem too. Because I was going to realize - that the greatest love story ever told, is your own. Almost.
