Friday, March 9, 2012

Chapter #2


It was her first day at work. New office. New people. She even felt like the air she was breathing in was fresh and new. 
After the formal round of introduction, she had finally settled down at her work-station.
'I am at day one all over again', She thought.

'Hello, umm, Trisha?' a voice interrupted the chain of thoughts.
 She looked up and smiled, 'Yes?'
'I am Harsh, as you might remember,' Harsh said.
‘Yeah!’
‘Let's go for the knowledge transfer session.’
She got up picking a copy and pen and followed him to the conference room.

This was how Trisha met Harsh, when she joined the same company which Harsh had been working for. At first it was just a casual affair. The KT sessions, meetings and discussions. Then it started to become more informal and personal. They went for lunch together and left for home in the same company bus. And as days went by, they became good friends.

Wait. Let me first introduce Trisha properly.

Trisha was a smart, independent girl. She insisted on working while her family was planning for her marriage. She had asked for two more years to her parents and had promised them that she will get married after two years.

As a little girl, she had always dreamed about falling in love and getting married, like a classic tale of love. A fairy tale, happily-ever-after types. By the time she was in mid-twenties, her prince charming was nowhere in sight. She had started to believe that this was the end of the dream, that she would have to get married like her parents did. Arrange marriage. And she was fine with it now that she was left with no choice. 

Most of the guys felt intimidated by her intelligence and wit. So none even dared to come close. When she was in college, a couple of her friends had told her about a boy or two being interested in her. But she used be so engrossed in her studies that she thought a time would come when she would be free to do all this too. She got a job in campus placements and she was busy again, with work. So she never had 'free' time to do luv-shuv stuff. 

She still believed that there was 'Mr. Special' and that he will find her one day.


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Chapter #1



‘This is a tough decision, but you have to make it,’ said Aalok infuriating, while Harsh stared at the floor.

‘You can’t just dwell in the past,' he spoke again as he saw that Harsh was not saying a word. Harsh looked up at him and sighed.

‘What you are saying is right, but I cannot forget her,' he said with tears gathering in his eyes.

Aalok sat down and patted his arm, ‘You have to move on.’

He felt sorry for Harsh and cursed himself for being of no use for his best friend. He missed the old Harsh, the pulse of their group, the one who used to cheer them up no matter what happened. And looking at the depressed soul sitting beside himself, he wondered if he could become the same person again.



‘Come on guys, it’s poha time,' Harsh yelled from the road below. Aalok peeped down through window of his room and yelled back, ‘Have you gone mad?’

‘Now I have to come upstairs to drag you from there!’ Harsh said cursing under his breath.

Hearing the loud thumping on the stairs, Pankaj got up and ran to the door of their room.

Sumeet said climbing down his bed, ’Man we are going to fail in DIC, I tell you.’

Harsh entered the room panting. Pankaj held him there by elbow and asked, ‘Are you crazy? It’s DIC tomorrow, I did not even take bath and you want to have Anna’s poha?’

Sumeet joined Pankaj,  ‘I don’t want to go, it’s a question of life and death to me, I already screwed up in DSP!’

Harsh raised both his hands in the air and then signed them to be silent by putting a finger on his mouth.

‘I will pay attention to no excuses, it’s better if you follow me rather than arguing with me.’ He said.

Aalok opened his mouth to protest but Harsh grabbed him by arm and pulled him off his chair and started towards the stairs. The remaining two occupants of the room followed their suit too, firing abuses at the two in lead.

‘Anna is lucky for us, Aalok. I am not going to write exams if I don’t see his face today!’ Harsh said in a mock sincere voice and both of them burst into laughter.



The banging of door broke Aalok’s trance. He looked up to find out that Harsh had left.