Falsheleth

It was a fine sunny day, a rare one in the month of January, where it used to be cold and foggy most of the time. Everyone was getting ready for the special day of the year... the Pongal celebration in the college... a day prior to the festival. Everyone was in traditional attire, with boys wearing shirts with dhotis and girls in sarees. The college was filled with colors and joy.

Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated on the first day of the Tamil month Thai and lasts for three days. Everyone celebrates it by wearing traditional attire, making sweet Pongal together, decorating the floor with kolam, sharing sugarcane, and playing fun games like Uri Adithal. In the celebration, people form teams to make sweet Pongal, and the best Pongal wins. Some men try to show off by participating in Uri Adithal, where a pot is tied very high and needs to be hit with a stick while blindfolded.

Michael Arul, a final-year student pursuing Computer Science Engineering at Vellode Institute of Engineering and Technology (VIET), Erode. It’s one of the top private colleges in the state.

Michael was always a nerd, introverted and reserved. He joined the course for his love of computers. He always wanted to be validated by others, so he did everything to impress everyone around him. His parents were working as teachers in a government school, and money was never an issue for him. He was always a privileged kid, so he never knew how sick the world was.

Michael had his eyes on his classmate Asha. Asha and Michael had been close friends from the start of their college years. She was very popular among boys, so much so that every guy in the college dreamed of being with her. She was very focused on her career to support her parents, so she never showed interest in love proposals. She was one of the few friends Michael opened up to. He was never brave enough to confess his feelings. He tried several times, but his face turned red, his heart pounded, and his mind raced, and he ended up saying nothing. But this Pongal, Michael was hoping for a change.

Michael and Asha both participated as a team in the Pongal-making competition. They brought rice, jaggery, cashews, and coconut. They made the sweetest Pongal. The panelists visited the team.

“The Pongal smells so nice... can we have some for taste?” a panel member said.

Asha smiled. “Yeah, sure, have some... give us feedback.”

“This is the best Pongal we have tasted today,” a panel member complimented.

Then the team also got first position. Everyone was in the convention center attending the function, but Michael and Asha went to their classroom to keep their bags safe.

“You can do this, Michael. Say what the heart feels,” Michael repeated those words in his mind.

At that moment, courage struck. He stood up and moved toward the desk. She was doom-scrolling through Instagram. As he approached her, his heart started pounding again, and his mind started racing.

“Hey Michael, why are you standing here like a lost puppy?” she teased.

Michael chuckled and said, “Nothing, just thinking about our future.”

“Our future... what do you mean?” she asked surprisingly, her eyebrows raised high.

His heartbeat started pounding again. Before he could say something, suddenly a blue light shined at the top. Both looked up... a blue ring of light, a portal to another world... suddenly pulled Asha into it. Michael was afraid to jump in, but his love moved his legs. As he jumped in, it swallowed him whole and the portal closed.