Beyond the Veil

 This short-story was published in Yamuna:SRCC's literary magazine under the cover theme "Veils".

It was 5 am, ‘Monday morning’. Suhana dreaded this cursed hour .The alarm clock rang in full vigour, breaking her dreamy world and making her jump out of bed. She was dressed in a nightgown, with her beautifully curled locks falling on her face. She looked surreal and exuded ‘princessly’ charm. Her large almond- shaped eyes, smooth skin and rosy lips made her look like a Greek goddess.

 As she tied up her hair in a bun, went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast, her mind drifted off to another world. What a robotic and monotonous life she was living, how she married so young, right after graduation, and how her dreams (she dreamt of opening a hotel chain) would never see the light of the day. Hers was a love marriage, resembling a typical Bollywood movie. She had met Kunal in college, and their friendship soon blossomed into love and finally they took their wedding vows, just 2 months after their graduation ceremony. Suhana was crazy about him, then. She was crazy, even now. Even after 3 years of their marriage.

 She went up to the bedroom, where Kunal was asleep. K-u-n-a-l. He was breathtakingly handsome and lovingly adorable, even now. Or so she believed. As she stroked his smoothly cropped black hair, waking him up for breakfast, she realized how a gap had crept into their lives. Almost a vacuum. He barely had anytime for her. He was always into his job, meeting deadline, working overtime and making presentations for his clients. His office was his priority, his new life.

 Her trail of thoughts came to an abrupt halt. Kunal had woken up and was gulping down his morning tea. Without a word, he stormed into the shower. Suhana felt dejected. She wanted him to talk to her, spend time together, go out for dinner , or even a walk in the park. Anything. Just they both should be together, just like the good old times. How badly she longed for him.  “I’m going, Suhana. Will be late today. Have a very crucial meeting with a client. Take care. Bye.”  All she could manage to say was “Okay. Bye.”

After Kunal bid goodbye to her, she sat on the couch, tears welled up in her eyes. She was trying to suppress them. Trying not to cry.  But at that very second, a teardrop trickled down her cheek and she burst into tears. She couldn’t hold it together anymore. She wept unendingly and totally broke down. Her world had been ripped apart .She couldn’t endure it. Not anymore.

 

 

Kunal’s phone had buzzed, while he was in the shower. The phone flashed “ 1 new message”. Suhana was in a double-minded state. She was confused, whether to press the “Open” button or not. She had never checked Kunal’s phone or bill records earlier. How could she? It was K-u-n-a-l. No way. Her hands trembled as she pressed the open button. It said, “Waiting for you at the apartment, sweetheart. See you at 9. Love you lots, Aisha. XoXo” She kept the phone back, and returned back to the kitchen, preparing breakfast, bearing it all inside her heart.

 But after Kunal went, she couldn’t hold it anymore and had burst into tears .He had deceived her. Completely deluded her .But, Suhana’s love for him was not a false display or pretence. She truly, one-sidedly loved him. She couldn’t decipher what was her fault, after all. What had she done to deserve such a betrayal? Was she not a good wife? Or was she not that attractive after all these years? Or maybe she never knew Kunal properly and fully? They had rushed into marriage, very early in their lives and maybe there was a side of him that she was totally unaware of. Maybe. She didn’t know the answer to any of it.

She wiped off her tears and consoled herself to be strong. She promised herself that she wouldn’t create a scene, or confront Kunal. No matter how much she wanted to. As it would only lead to two possibilities, neither of which was acceptable to her: One, he could be indifferent about the matter and refuse to respond properly; Two, he could move out of the house, after a series of fights. She didn’t want any of this melodrama. She wanted Kunal to realize his own fault, his temporary indiscretion and come back to her, in his true sense. She promised to stand strong with valiance and grit. She promised to bear it all with a smile. She put up a brave front, a façade smilingly, in the hope that he will come running back to her and everything will be alright.

Today, Suhana wears her own veil and Kunal, his own. It was funny how on their wedding day too, they both wore veils, (Suhana was clad in a ‘ghunghat” and Kunal wore a ‘sehra’), but how starkingly opposite were the veils they both wore today.

SPEAK NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE!

This is the prologue written by Taylor Swift, the country singer, on the release of her album "Speak Now". It's a must read.

"Speak now or forever hold your peace",  the words said by the preachers at the end of wedding ceremonies all over the world, right before the vows. It's a last chance for protest, a moment that makes everyone's heart race, and a moment I've always been strangely fascinated by. So many fantasize about bursting into a church, saying what they'd kept inside for years like in the movies. In real life, it rarely happens.

Real life is a funny thing, you know. In real life, saying the right thing at the right moment is beyond crucial. So crucial, in fact, that most of us start to hesitate, for fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But lately, what I've begun to fear more than that is letting the moment pass without saying anything.
I think most of us fear reaching the end of our life, and looking back regretting the moments we didn't speak up. When we didn't say "I love you". When we should've said "I'm sorry". When we didn't stand up for ourselves or someone who needed help.

These songs are made up of words I didn't say when the moment was right in front of me. These songs are open letters. Each is written with a specific person in mind, telling them what I meant to tell them in person. To the beautiful boy whose heart I broke in December. To my first love who I never thought would be my first heartbreak. To my band. To a mean man I used to be afraid of. To someone who made my world very dark for a while. To a girl who stole something of mine. To someone I forgive for what he said in front of the whole world.

Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together. I hope you use yours for good, because the only words you'll regret more than the ones left unsaid are the ones you use to intentionally hurt someone.

What you say might be too much for some people. Maybe it will come out all wrong and you'll stutter and you'll walk away embarrassed, wincing as you play it all back in your head. But I think the words you stop yourself from saying are the ones that will haunt you the longest.

So say it to them. Or say it to yourself in the mirror. Say it in a letter you'll never send or in a book millions might read someday. I think you deserve to look back on your life without a chorus of resounding voices saying "I could've, but it's too late now".

There is a time for silence. There is a time waiting your turn. But if you know how you feel, and you so clearly know what you need to say, you'll know it.

I don't think you should wait. 
I think you should speak now.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

I don’t exactly remember who recommended this amazing TV sitcom to me. 

But I have been glued onto it forever, downloading all the 10 seasons off torrent.  It rotates around the life of 6 friends, Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Monica and Chandler. 

The Central Perk coffee shop seems like a character in itself, for F.R.I.E.N.D.S is surely incomplete without it!

From Joey’s lovable dumbness to Chandler’s witty sarcasm to Ross’ boring dinosaur talks and the sloppy divorces, the guys make up for a crack-up treat. Monica’s obsession with cleanliness, Phoebe’s crazy irrelevant talks and Rachel’s vanity-filled spoilt attitude all add to the insane drama, and create a lovable show. If there was a ‘Classics’ section for TV shows, as there is for novels, “Friends” would feature in that.

You can watch the entire season all over again, and chuckle at each of their jokes.

Phoebe’s dialogue, “They don't know that we know they know we know!” still remains my favorite till date, among many others.

JOEY'S MADNESS!

RACHEL'S HEARTBREAK!

I could absolutely not miss this picture! Joey in full swing :D

CHANDLER'S BRAINS!

MONICA'S FREAKISH NATURE!

TYPICAL ROSS!

PHOEBE'S CRAZY SPUNK!

Another one-liner also deserves a mention, since this reminds me of someone really close, “I grew up in a house with Monica, okay. If you didn't eat fast, you didn't eat.”

So, if you haven’t watched this TV series, you are missing on a lot of fun, for sure!
Go, grab a DVD set of Friends seasons 1 – 10, and then there’s WB, Star World and Zee Café that air random episodes of the ever-green series!

P.S. Here's a rare picture of how all the actors looked way back - in their teenage perhaps! Do notice the uncanny resemblance of Ross with Harry Potter's Snape!

Drool Food

“Isn’t that a very pretty furniture shop?” my friend pointed out the big yellow door, shining in the sun’s pride in Vijay Nagar. “Yeah, it sure is. But is it even a furniture shop? Let’s walk in someday.”
After some weeks, I found myself dragged till BYD, by a bunch of my girlies, who went there to have a look at the cute and charming owner. We are put on a 10-minute wait list, by their manager/waiter, after which we went to the adjacent shop, to grab a glass of lassi to quench our thirst. We returned in about 5 minutes, only to find people who arrived after us, walk in with a smile plastered on their face.

I was furious. I demanded an explanation by their manager who put our name on the wait list, only to find that he had been replaced by a sober looking young boy, who said “I would never break the list.” I reiterated “But they walked in right now, and arrived after us.” “No, mam. This is not possible.” “I saw it. Anyways, how much more time will it take?”, I asked with a clearly miffed tone.

BYD had infuriated me. My friend whispered in my ear, “This is the cute owner. I can’t believe you just fought with him.”  Too irritated to even turn my head, and without looking at the person my friend was pointing to, I muttered “Whatever. I don’t care. Someone needs to tell him not to break lines.”
After grabbing a table, I looked around the decors, and my mood lightened up due to the delightfully pleasant ambience and the awesome background playlist, as if it was tailor made for me. We had a quick bite of the cheesy French fries and left soon after.  It tasted fine, but didn’t match the overshowering praise which BYD had managed to instill in the minds of my college-mates.

The next visit to BYD, happened again, after a couple of months, when my classmates dragged me again for lunch, and one friend wanted to see the oh-so-famous-cute-owner. Surprisingly there was no waiting, and the owner served our mouth-watering food with such courtesy and politeness, that I smiled, for the first time since I came to BYD. The Bomb Burger, Sandwich, Pizza all were so amazing! The moment I looked at my friend, I noticed that she had her mouth open in awe. Like her own, actual mouth.  I had to literally ask her to shut it up! BYD added yet another crazy fan to their already huge fanbase – my friend – she was crazy about the owner! :P

The third visit was so special, that it made me fall in love with BYD, not with the owner (:P) , but with the place for what it was. Redecorating, innovating – they had put umbrellas and benches to comfort the people on the wait list. Not just that, the person who took our order goofed it up and the chocolate shakes got mixed up with some other table.  Since the food was so tempting, and tasted superb, I overlooked the goofup. But he walked up to us, admitted it was his mistake and gave us another complimentary shake, which he had mixed up in the first place! And this is what made me love BYD, apart from their lovely ambience, soothing music, ever-changing innovative ideas. BYD will soon be the desi version of “Central Perk”, as shown in the TV sitcom “Friends”, if it can manage to expand, for now, it’s running short on space!

Go to BYD, for the food, the ambience, the amazing staff, and NOT  just for the cute owner! BYD has a lot more to offer than that. And it's sure to brighten up your mood!

P.S. I have always dreamt of opening my very own restaurant since I was 13, maybe younger. And BYD is my inspiration, now! Yes, I’m a pursuing commerce from SRCC, supposedly, Asia’s best commerce college.  But what the hell! There’s just one life, right?

Book Review - Kane and Abel

It is one of the best books I have laid my hands on, till date. Truly, Jeffrey Archer’s masterpiece.

It’s a saga, of two men, William Kane and Abel Rosnovski, born on the same day and how their destinies intertwine. Kane is the blue-blooded heir to a banking fortune, whose life is blighted by the early loss of his father on the Titanic, leaving Kane Jr. in charge of the Kane & Cabot Bank. He proves to be good with numbers, graduates from Harvard and is blessed with business acumen. 

Abel is the one-nippled, son of a Polish baron, who gets deported to Siberia after the First World War, manages to escape the clutches of brutal beatings and heart-wrenching slavery  and makes his way to America.  Soon after, he starts his life as a waiter in the Hotel Plaza. With fate by his side and grit in his mind, he soon paves his way, rises to the top ranks and buys some stock in the hotel chain. During the Great depression of 1930, his mentor –Davis, needs a backer and thus approaches Kane & Cabot Bank. Kane’s bank refuses to lend him the money and so he throws himself off the 17th floor of his hotel, not strong enough to see his own bankruptcy. Abel blames Kane for Davis’ death. Richmond Hotels is however bailed out, by an anonymous benefactor. But, Abel vows vengeance from Kane. 

The beautifully descriptive yet highly intriguing mystery makes this book un-put-down-able.  World War I, World War II and the Great Depression of 1930 hugely shape the lives of the two protagonists, whose destinies keep crisscrossing, like when battling life and death in the war, where Abel unknowingly saves Kane’s life.

All this while, Abel has a daughter, Florentyna,named so in memory of his dead sister, whereas Kane has a son, Richard. Abel vents out his anger by plotting to ruin Kane’s bank, and thus making him bankrupt, only fit for begging on the streets. Next thing we know, Florentyna, falls in love with Richard. Through many crookish twists and turns, and the near-misses, this book makes for a rollercoaster ride.

Highly unpredictable and very engrossing, it makes every moment a page-turning mystery. The slavery, the after-effects of war, the economic depression, all make for a very interesting read.

Fiction intertwined with realistic incidents, revengeful ruthlessness, the fight for power, love, ego and so much more, makes this book no less than a classic. It might be the classiest book you’ve ever read. Fiction, non-fiction, historical incidents, insider trading, the never-ending lust for power and money: all blended into one.

Think you’re the smartest person out there? You might just find your match in Abel or Kane. Or both.

For those who are a sucker for love stories, the romance between Richard and Florentyna will sweep you away.

Even when I was half-way through the book, I just knew that this book will ricochet right into my top 5 books. Books you can’t simply give a miss!

And if you can’t enough of it, then go for “The Prodigal Daughter” – the sequel to Kane and Abel. It’s one hell of a novel too. But I’ll save that review for later. :D