Bombay Rains

Dear sush, So you probably know this is coming your way and after all the build-up don't kill me if this is a let-down. I don't really know where to start. i can talk about how awesome you are; but it's there for the world to see. you are smart, intelligent, completely in love with United(I don't blame you), and insanely beautiful. You don't believe us when we say that but it's true. you are also NOT fat. where you get such ridiculous notions is beyond me. you helped me out through a lot of shit over the past few months and though you're aren't the one people know; you are my best friend. you understand me; you recognize my quite-often-than-not claims for attention and you give it to me. you haven't kicked me out of your house yet; despite the fact that i practically live there now. you make my mum happy with your constant request for poori-chole and you share a dirty little secret with me ;) the month of feb was as big a deal for you as it was me...

Dear Iffat, I don't know why I bother writing letter/mails/fb messages to you. I can call you. But considering how our families don't let us talk; this is better i guess. you are crack. and stupid. and thick. and slow. and insanely annoying. you are also intelligent and beautiful and incredibly talented but considering you never believe me; i insult you before i praise you. :P i have known you for four years and you are my best friend. everyone knows that. so do you. and i dont say it too often but i'd be lost without you. you understand my need to whine. you set me straight most of the time; even when i am not asking for it. and though that pisses me off; it does help :) i don't need to say anything you don't know so i won't make this mushy. so these are some things we will do/won't do. 1. do another movie marathon! 2. not appear gay. my aunt got scared. she really did. 3. won't tell the whole world we're dating. 4. won't tell the whole...

*1987* "i can't believe we're pregnant together. I can't believe we're having our babies together!" "yes! best friends forever." "that will always be a lame term nitya.""i know. can't help it. it makes me laugh every single time pooja!"         * *1991* "cake!" "hold on vaibhav! it's not going to materialize itself!" "CAKE!CAKE!CAKE!" "VAIBHAV, AHANA. Stop it both of you!" "but we waaaaant caaaake!" "why did we ever have kids pooja? our lives were so much easier." "i know. i know. don't remind me."         * *1999* "mum, could you hurry up?! I have to go!" "ahana. you're not going to paris. you're going for ice cream with vaibhav. will you relax?!" "but muuuum! He's buying me ice cream! for the first time in so many years! and we get to go without you AND aunty! it IS a big deal!" "oh ...

"I don't like you." "who the hell likes you?!" and she walked off. One day. One day i will hack her to tiny little pieces and stand and laugh. and i will be the happiest person alive. That nauseating; suffering idiot will have died and i could then live my life in peace. yes, i hate her. and you probably are right now going: wha-? So i will tell you everything. starting with that floating piece of fluff's name. her name is namrata. we're family friends. now we study together. she detests me. i hate her with a passion i never knew i possessed. but why? one asks us, quite often. why? because that foolface is my best friend. and no one infuriates me more.                    * jackass. jackass. such a jackass! what the hell! I gets the highest mark, he fails. and it is my fault?! oh yes, because i study. and i'm supposedly a "floating piece of fluff". jackass!!!!! who? arjun. family friend and now "best friend". ...

see, the thing about love stories is that there is always a template. boy meets girl girl meets boy they fall in love might have a fight( if you're going for the indian version) one might cheat on the other (if you want to take a cheap shot at love) they work it out because of their all-consuming love for each other. but what if love wasn't so easily defined? so easily found? what if you passed that "one true love" as they call it; lived parallel lives but never met? In college there is a clear status order. wildly popular. mildly popular. not popular. aliya was mildly popular. arjun wasn't. not even a bit. He studied. got proficiency; and was in love with post its. she spoke too fast; had a zillion friends and never knew him. different classes; different lives, destined never to meet. but they did; one fine day. aliya was taking photographs of unknown people being really good at it. arjun, sitting afar was holding a discourse on vain people, tell...

…And they lived happily ever after. She closed the book. Right, because fairytales exist. There is a cute boy waiting somewhere for you to let your hair down so he can climb right up and rescue you. She had tried. Oh god had she. She fell a couple of feet short. But if she sat in her room on the ground floor and let her hair out, it nicely sweeps the floor. She had long hair; that’s where the whole obsession started I think. The reading of fairytales. Watching the Disney movies. Collecting the dolls and dreaming. She could sit and dream all day long. But everyone grows up someday right? Her mother said that.   All.The.Time. It was like a tape that had got jammed in the player. Everyone has to grow up. It’s high time you did too. She’d heard that so much she wanted to give up. On the fairytales. And the dreaming. And the waiting. But why should she. Once in a while, you would think that maybe… your parents are right. Thankfully that time hasn’t arrived yet. Her mother was not right...

As dawn came closer, the threat of an impending day loomed large. How comforting the night was in its utter darkness. As she rose from the cold floor and moved towards the doors, she couldn’t help but feel at peace for the first time today. The constant clanging that never left her side, faithfully accompanied her now too albeit silently. She had long ago learnt how to move without moving at all. It had helped greatly. She was now here, in somewhat fresh air, looking up at a starless sky, reveling in not being able to recognise a single shape. The whole universe was a black canvas. No moon, no stars, no planes, no life. Just her and the infinite darkness. There had been a time when the night had scared her, when she went everywhere with lights in her pocket. When darkness was a thing to be feared, shied away from. Light, sun, sight; these were prized possessions, things to be valued and enjoyed. She woke everyday with the feel of sun on her face, a smile already spreading. She left w...

She woke up. A cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. That dream was a little too real. She had almost… No. She couldn’t entertain thoughts of this kind. It was wrong wasn’t it? Was it? It didn’t start out like this. It started out as an innocent friendship. It always does. And in this day and age, why would you think it is anything out of the normal?                                                                                            * Sam is a normal, regular teen. Sam isn’t one of those shallow, harebrained youth you see nowadays. Sam was the first one to walk up to her and say hi. Sam thinks she is very pretty. Sam loves playing with her hair. Sam thinks her unruly hair is absolutely beautiful. She wants to hug Sam every time Sam says that. Sam ...

She ran ahead, jumping and skipping, calling out warning to approaching bicycles and people too. Too young to be manning a herd of angry buffaloes, she took pride in the fact that the job was hers. Everything about her went against it, she was 13, a girl and also of lower caste. She knew all of this and yet she was happy. Her caste did not matter at all; her father was the chief of their village, a proud indomitable man who loved her. Even though she was a girl, she was the most loved in her family. The elders called her a miracle baby, her mother was very close to death when she conceived her. Somehow, by the will of God, not only did she survive the pregnancy, but ever since has not had a single health problem. She was proud that she was so lucky for her mother. The men from town didn’t think so. They came to interview her father but used insulting words like ‘anpadh’ (illiterate); ‘andhvishwasi’ (superstitious). They made claims of telling the world their problems but had made them ...