A Bowl of Elusive

  हर कोई अपने love story को ultimate और epic समझता है Breakup का शायद यही side effect है। पर कौन बताए इस आशिक़ को, कौन समझाए ये बात, की काफी humdrum , run of the mill कहानी थी तुम्हारी। ना love at first sight था, ना कोई आसमानी connection , बस दो टूटे हुए शख्स मिले थे एक दूसरे का सहारा बनने को।   जितने मौसम साथ गुज़ारे, थे बड़े ही यादगार, वो milkshake वाली शामे, वो कहानियों से भरी दोपहरियाँ, वो रातों को छुप छुप कर landline से किए हुए calls , वो पहला kiss , वो पहला scented un - named love letter , और वो future वाले plans जो बना रहे थे हम दो बेवकूफ future से अनजान।   दोष किताबों का है साहब, Iliad और Odyssey पढ़ते पढ़ते, हम भी सोचने लगे की story epic है हमारी, हमने भी बचपन में गरीबी देखी है और दुख भी, Rags to riches हमारी कहानी को भी बोल सकते हो। इस गलतफहमी के साथ अपने life  को approach करते रहे, पर वो छूटा तो पहली बार एहसास हुआ की शायद इतना special भी कुछ था नहीं। ना ही हमारे प्यार में और ना हमारे ज़िंदगी में।   दोष फिल्मों का भी है साहब, उन में h

This is the second part of the “Eric & Angela” series. Click here for Part 1 . A million thoughts ran through his head when Eric drove six odd kilometers to meet Angela. She had mentioned that the café they were meeting at was pretty close to where she lived, she preferred to walk. That is why she had chosen it for their first meeting. He had seen her pictures and he had heard her voice and they had talked to their heart's content but the two had not met yet. This was the fateful day, Eric thought to himself. The voice in his head often became a pompous news anchor and started narrating his own life to him when Eric got nervous.  “Eric being the neurotic son-of-a-bitch that he is, doesn’t want to be late for the first date. As Angela has reminded him thrice now, it isn’t a date. However, he is excited and has butterflies in his stomach, more than he had ever had before. In his excitement, Eric is trying to imagine what Angela looks like when he should be concentrating on the ro

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

The pursuit of happiness has always been a tricky one. I am no one special. I am an average guy born to average difficulties like any other person. But I don't stay happy. Now I am not sure whether other people do but I'd like to think so. Otherwise, what's the point of living?  I do experience bouts of happiness every now and then but it is usually followed by patches of melancholy. I don't understand it. Although my life had a rocky start, things kept getting better. It was more or less a smooth ride since my eleventh year, but joy always eluded me. Other people seemed to notice it too. I put up a happy face all through childhood and even became the class clown, but I could never manage to make or keep many friends. I had a lot of admirers though, and for quite some time, the attention I got from them kept me going. But attention is no substitute for self-esteem. My self-worth or rather the lack of it kept on eating me from inside. It affected everything,