A Bowl of Elusive

Here’s the fourth part of the Siddhant-Ishika story. Here are the links to the earlier chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 . Go read those and then come back to find out what happened next. At five in the morning, Ishika left Siddhant’s apartment, wearing a red kurta and white leggings. Siddhant paced after her. He wanted to see her off to her cab, but she stopped him by the elevator. She put a hand on his chest and pushed him back. Then the elevator door closed and she was gone. He went to the balcony and just got a glimpse of her walking towards the car downstairs. When she left, the exhaustion and the hopelessness of the previous night hit him hard and he collapsed on his bed. But he couldn’t sleep. Because he’d made a deal with the Devil. And the Devil had collected his dues right away. As he lay on the bed, sleepless and disoriented, Siddhant looked back at the events of the previous night. He couldn’t help thinking about those glorious moments that made up that night,

I am flabby. I have always been flabby. And it would have been alright back in the 80's, I think, when Indian movie stars weren't ripped and six-pack abs weren't considered the epitome of male beauty. But since then, things have changed. Now, you're shamed if you have a normal body. Yeah, I said it. A normal body isn't all muscles, it is flabby, and it is paunchy. And I think the world would be a far better place if this flawed idea, that fit is good and fat is bad, was dropped by all.  This article might sound a little bitter, but it will advocate the case for the common man, who works long hours and doesn't get time to work out and the common man who lacks the discipline to work out and would rather slouch on the couch sipping a sugar-heavy soda. My point is that the "dad-bod" is good. Refer back to the depiction of the gods in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana or B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat. They had normal bodies, none of those big burly muscles

Dil toota aur ek aah tak na nikal paayi, Teri baaton mein aaj meri koi na zikr aayi, Tere baahon mein ek jo raat guzri nazuk si, Aisi raat thi ki phir subah savere hijr aayi. Main roya kabhi, bina ek aansu bahaye, Tu saath raha jaise bin saath nibhaye, Teri berukhi mein bhi khushi ke mauke mile aise, Ki meri mohhabbat teri rooh ko fateh kar jaaye. Kab tak khud se yeh naraazgi paal sakoge? Kab tak meri har baat isi tarah taal sakoge? Main to aashiq hoon, zehan pe ghar kar jaunga, Khud se door shaayad kar bhi lo, par dil se kaise nikaal sakoge? Dil ki baat aaj aur tumhe batayenge nahi, Tumhe iss tarah se phir satayenge nahi, Ek baar khud bhi apne dil se pooch lena tum, Chale gaye kahin hum to yaad ayenge ki nahi? Aisi bhi kya dushmani hai tumhari khushi se? Bheegi raaton ka koi sawaal ho jaise tishnagi se. Main samandar bhi aur kashti bhi ban jaunga, Tum aazma ke zara dekh lena, thodi si dillagi se. Ab na peeche hat paunga, aur na ru

For all of you, who came here expecting a suspense thriller, sorry to disappoint. This blog is about courtship and the intricacies one faces when courting a lady. Now it is an established fact that the beginning stages of any romantic relationship, the part where a man tries to woo a woman, are the most exciting ones of all. A man 'chasing' a woman is extremely driven and highly motivated. Now, irrespective of whether his intentions are good or shady, the 'chase' is usually fun for both the people involved. This is the stage of the mushy messages and googly eyes, this is when the guy defies reason just to get a glimpse of her. It is a wonderful time. But once the 'chase' is over, the real test of a relationship begins. While some crash and burn, others go on to become legends. But let's talk about the chase a little more. Why is the chase so fulfilling? The answer lies in the human brain. You see, hope is a big motivator for man and it has been so since

This is the third installment of Siddhant & Ishika's story. Click on these links to read the previous parts: Part 2 & Part 1 . Just to summarize, boy meets girl, likes her but his feelings aren't reciprocated. Still, they grow closer and share a strange intimacy they develop over the course of days. If you're done reading the earlier parts, let me tell you what happened next. So Siddhant's plan was pretty simple. Be consistent, be insistent and be crazily persistent, and just hope that his feelings would seep into Ishika's heart. There was just one problem with that plan. It didn't factor in Ishika's decision never to fall in love again. There's a background story to Ishika's drastic decision but she's pretty tight lipped about it, so let's respect her privacy and move on to where Siddhant's at. He was being an absolute darling to Ishika, but his charms fell flat against her unwavering resolve not to fall in love.

In my last post ( link here ), I introduced you to Siddhant & Ishika. Let me tell you what happened next. So Ishika and Siddhant lived in two opposite ends of the city. Thanks to the traffic and road conditions, reaching her would usually take Siddhant nearly two hours. So, this may qualify as a long distance relationship. Sorry, a long distance friendship. Because Ishika had friend-zoned Siddhant on day one. But Siddhant just couldn’t see her as ‘just a friend’. Their meeting had started something of a chain reaction in his mind, and it was taking a life of its own. They started face-timing from the very day they met, rather regularly. Every evening, she’d call and Siddhant would have to tidy up a little before receiving her call. And they’d look at each other for hours, talking, listening to music together and just smiling at each other. You see, over the past several months, Siddhant had faced numerous bad dates. Dates who weren’t serious, dates who were rude and dates wh

I usually just refer to it as the "accident", but it wasn't an accident at all, was it? It was a case of mob violence. On 26th February, 2017, at 5:30 am, I was almost killed by a group of angry people, armed with sticks and stones. That day changed me forever. And it's the first time in more than two years that I am willing to tell everyone the details of what happened on that fateful morning. I am Rajinder. I hail from the hilly state of Himachal Pradesh. I worked in retail before getting promoted to the marketing department of the brand I work for, back in 2016. I moved to Gurgaon for the job and took up residence at a hostel in Manesar, at a walking distance from my office. Things were going well.  In January of 2017, a new guy called Shammi became my roommate. Shammi had a big personality and everybody took a shine on him instantly. By big, I mean the kind of macho aggressive that young men usually gravitate towards. But I never had any problems with h

Here's a little poem I wrote way back when I was in middle school. I know posting in on Mother's Day is kind of anti-climactic, but there is darker side of motherhood and I wish everyone knew it. Mothers are little nice things Always associated with love. The mother I know of Is pretty different. The mother I know ( Forgive me O Divinity) Would rattle your senses And challenge your sanity. The mother who left her child To die, at a tender age of three. What sorrows, what grievances She had, I know not yet. The mother I know Made the little soul cry; What stuff was she made of? So cruel and so dry. The little child, motherless left Never blamed her for that; Yet the sorrow could not subside Nor could it run, neither hide. But how can these wounds Be ever healed? What medicine, what miracle Can substitute for a mother's love? This mother I tell you, Would never know How it is to be A motherless child. When lyrical lilt of love And meand

We don't give death that much of thought. While so many communities believe in the concept of an after-life, I have never bought into the premise. I think when a person dies, they stop to exist. Because the identity of a person is more than their body, it's who they are, their relationships with others and their interactions. Death brings an abrupt end to the whole thing. I know because I have lost three of my closest family members in the last two decades.  "On the 8th of March, 2000, I lost my father. He'd been suffering from kidney failure and after a seven month ordeal followed by eight days in a coma, he opened his eyes, looked at me, smiled and passed away. My memories of him were that of a hero. I had worshipped him all my life. There was nothing he couldn't do. He loved me more than anything. And I'll never forget him." That's how I summarize my father or his memory, when somebody asks. Somewhere down the line, his whole role in my l

"A feeling which soon became a verse, a flood and a storm. Do read this poem with a lovelorn heart and celebrate new-found love." Ab jiye thoda aur, ke phir mar jaye hum? Tere labon pe hasi dekh thoda bikhar jaye hum. Tere aankhon mein shararat ka tinka sa jo hai, Usi tinke ke chaaro or aaj simat jaye hum. Tujhse koi rishta ho na ho, koi lagav sa lagta hai, Marham tadapte dil pe, aaj ghaav sa lagta hai, Tu dekh le aaj aankhon se, aur dil shadaab kar de. Haathon mein tera haath ho to sach bhi zara khwaab sa lagta hai. Teri ek jhalak paane ko dil ab bekaraar sa rehta hai, Lafzon mein mere na chahte hue bhi kuch ikraar sa rehta hai, Gaye dinon mein haar aur thokar ka aadi tha jo dil, Aaj tere siyasat mein wahan kuch pyaar sa rehta hai. Tera saath na mile to bhi aaj shayad ghum na karun, Bichad jayein aaj hum to bhi yeh aankhein nam na karun, Ye dil ajeeb hai, awaraa aaj tere haj pe nikla hai, Raah pe agar aaj zakhm mile, to bhi ye ibadat

Love stories through the years have led you to believe that all connections are instant and sudden. That people just fall in love at first sight, and live happily ever after. If you're older than twenty years of age, chances are that you're already disillusioned with that notion. You know better than to believe that fairy tales exist. You have lived the "real life" where meeting new people is a tedious task, putting yourself out there feels like a real burden and liking someone, genuinely liking someone doesn't come easily.  So when Ishika and Siddhant met for the first time, neither of them was naive or inexperienced enough to believe in 'love at first sight' or anything remotely similar to it. They had both had their own share of relationships and heartbreaks and were just exploring something new. Ishika in fact had no intention for it to be anything more than an evening out with a new guy. Siddhant was cautiously optimistic. Blind dates hadn'

You know how some people have such profound effect on your life that you associate certain things with them forever? Yeah, that was the case with this girl and Vasant Kunj. I’d forever associate Vasant Kunj with her. She calls herself Archie, her parents call her Achu, she’s Archana on the dotted line, but for me, she’ll forever be “the Gold-digger of Vasant Kunj”. See how I copied Vladimir Nabokov’s prose style? Yeah, this one deserves Lolita-level luscious language. (Also killing it with the alliteration. Ha ha.) Before I dive into the story, let me introduce myself. I stand at about five feet nine, have a very sharp nose and a lean body. I grew up in an orthodox Jaat family till about the age of twelve after which my father moved to Delhi and got me admitted into a convent school. Halleluiah for that! So understandably, I am a confused soul, sophisticated in some aspects and earthy in others. I usually speak in a faux British accent, slipping into Haryanvi when using Hindi wo

I have always looked at human relationships from the perspective of an outsider. You can attribute this to the fact that my upbringing was less usual than others. If you read my blog, you know about my childhood, the fact that I was orphaned at an early age and was brought up by my father's parents. All relationships have been difficult for me to understand. I have written in length about my chemistry with my family and my old flames. But another relationship I haven't written much about is friendship. I usually had a tough time making friends. It was just one of those things that allude you. There wasn't anything I was doing wrong, there was just a lack of  the basic connection.  I did make some friends along the way, but when I look back at those friendships today, I can't help but feeling they weren't normal. You know, take for example, Buddhadev, one of my very first friends in the second standard. He and I were both a little nerdy back then and maybe tha