I Sense A Presence X

Sally’s gaze was fixed on the diary but. She stood at the window all night long as a motionless statue but her mind was raging. There were tornadoes, volcanoes, whirlpools swirling, erupting, and devastating her from within. She wanted to cry, shout, scream but it seemed as if something caged her at this moment. 

Hours passed and it was dawn. Henry woke up around 6 AM and was terrified for a moment to see a motionless and emotionless Sally standing at the window staring at him without batting an eyelid. It seemed as if she was possessed.

“Are you ok honey?” Henry quizzed as he got from the bed to get a hold of Sally. But before he could touch her she collapsed. Her body couldn’t take more.

“Sally!!” Screamed Henry catching her. He lifted her to the bed, placed her body comfortably. Meanwhile, Tracy entered their room as she heard Henry screaming.

“I heard you screaming, what happened? What happened to Sally?” Tracy asked as she looked at unconscious Sally.

“I don’t know, when I woke up I found her standing at the window, looking pale and ghostly. When I tried to reach her she collapsed” explained Henry.

Tracy without furthering the discussion or showing any concern asked Henry if he would be going to the office today or shall she start without him.

Henry gave a stern look to Tracy but cordially replied “gonna take a leave today, can’t leave Sally in this condition. And to think otherwise is stupidity, to say the least”.

To that reply Tracy walks up to Sally, settles beside her and gently caresses her hair, and says “yeah, she will need a lot of care now (emphasizing on the last two words). Ok I shall take your leave now” and she left the room and Henry returned to Sally. As he was attending Sally, Tracy turned her head once more to get a glimpse of them over her shoulder. She had a smirk on her face.

Around 2 PM Sally woke up, struggled to get up straight as her head was in immense pain, and felt dizzy. Henry at once dashed to her to help her. But even in such misery, she was cold to the concern that Henry showed. He noticed that at once.

“Look I explained myself yesterday itself that how Tracy ended up at dinner with my client. To accept it or scrutinize my words is your call. I can handle your unwelcoming, cold, suspicious behavior towards me. That’s not my concern, people do change. This is surely not you, I mean not the one I know or have known. My worry is what or who is changing you” and he left Sally to ponder over his words as he got busy arranging lunch for her.

Resting her head on the pillow she turned to her left with Henry’s words now echoing in her head. She thought ” Am I getting influenced, is there anything that is taking a toll on my common sense and understanding of circumstances”. She was immersed in her thoughts while looking at the diary as Henry entered the bedroom with lunch. She was so lost in her thoughts that “adventures and miseries” of Anne Turner couldn’t magnetize Sally to pick and turn to read the next turn of events in her life.

Sally and Henry had lunch in utter silence. Henry got up to wind up the dishes after the lunch. But before leaving he once again paused at the threshold “by the way honey I forgot to tell you a guy called Josh called when you were asleep”.

This made Sally a bit uncomfortable as she never disclosed anything about Josh to Henry, though she has been in touch with him for quite some time now. “Oh, Josh! Wh..what he was saying? She enquired in an inquisitive yet shaky tone.

“He asked you to call once you are awake, nothing in particular. Call him” Henry gestured to give a call and left. He left Sally in a guilt ride by not asking Who, Where, What…….

Superhero in the making

Chapter 2

Kim took a two-day leave from her office as she had some work in the local municipal office and many other errands to run as they moved into the locality quite recently and there are many things yet to settle. Being a single mother, she was running from pole to post to make things work and give her daughter a comfortable life.

After dropping Nora at her school she headed towards the municipal office with the requisite documents to register herself and her daughter in the local population. But work at government offices isn’t all hunky dory at all. The officer asked her to come back later as they marked little discrepancies in the documents. Kim requested to see if something can be done on the spot but the officer didn’t budge. With a smile he said “I would have if I could have. Unfortunately I have to follow the norms. You can come next week” and flashed the lunch-break board on the counter.

Unhappy at the turn of events, Kim dragged herself back to the house. With a lot of work pending at the house as well, her displeasure didn’t linger on for long. She got busy cutting the fluff, and arranging and decorating the house to her and especially to Nora’s liking. In the process, she unpacked a box of memories. A bunch of photographs, an old hand-knitted scarf, a few postcards, books, and a locket. Time seemed to have frozen for her. The contents of the box pushed her back in time. Lanes of the place where she grew up, her parents, her friends, her first and only love Joel, holding Nora for the first time in her arms, her pet, laughter, fights, hugs, tears, fears, adventures, mistakes, forgiveness, and more. She could see everything happening as if she was in some time loop. She took the scarf and inhaled deeply as she held it close to her heart. Her grandmother knit that scarf for her on her 15th birthday. The warmth and fragrance are still intact and a lump formed in her throat. Emotions choked her. Finally, she caught hold of the locket lying beneath the postcards. An oval-shaped turquoise crystal locket that was cracked. She gently brushed the surface of the locket with her thumb and closed it in her palm and drew the same closer to her lips. Tears blinded her sight as they travelled from her eyes, collecting the rosy hue of her cheeks and painful sighs from her lips and resting on her closed fists placed under her chin that had the locket.

“You no more exist for us from this very moment. Take your stuff and leave” a stern father ostracised his very own daughter whom he loved so dearly. Kim kept staring as the doors shut right in her face.

Someone banging on the door incessantly brought Kim back to her senses. She went to check but could find no one. Got inside and noticed that it was almost time to pick up Nora from school. She hurried up and reached school.

As the school bell rang, the air was filled with fun and frolic as the chirping kids made their way out of the classrooms towards the school gate. They called it a day and had many things to share that transpired throughout the day. They were gushing about the details of the day, smiling ear to ear, waiting for their loved ones to pick them up. Amidst those happy faces, Kim spotted the sulking face of Nora, which by the time had turned red matching the tie of her school uniform.

“Aww, my darling what happened to you? Why are you sad? Did something happen at the school? Did you have a fight with your friends? Did anyone say something to you?” Kim asked a sad looking Nora.

“My friends call me funny, I told them not to” complained Nora rolling her eyes. Her mother smiled and said that it isn’t bad to be funny and asked what has actually transpired.

Rubbing her nose, Nora replied “Meetu’s mom came early to pick Meetu and she is friends with our teacher. She was showing her new necklace to the teacher and I saw her pet dog making faces. The dog was saying she is just showing off, it was all fake. I told the same to my friends and they are laughing at me. I am not lying, I heard it, I promise. I am not going to talk to them now” Nora threw a fit of a tantrum.

Kim didn’t know how to react to that story. She was smiling at the innocence of the kid and was wondering at the same time what has made her cook up this story because she was convinced that this story is Nora’s brainchild, probably due to reading too many fantasy stories. But she didn’t want to upset Nora further at this point. She lovingly put her arms around Nora’s shoulder and said “next time you hear anything like that you can share it with me. I am all ears to such interesting conversations. And such banters are common in school, I too have had many such incidents where my friends laughed at me. Let it go. They will too forget by tomorrow. Would you like to have ice cream now?”.

This proposal lifted up Nora’s spirits and she was exhilarated with joy. “Yes of course mom, I would like to have a chocolate ice cream”.

Mother and daughter went to a nearby ice cream parlor and ordered ice cream. As they were waiting for the order to arrive, a rat coming out of the small hole in the godown adjacent to the shop caught Nora’s attention. She heard the faint voice of the rat saying “let me hurry up and go home, I have to inform my family that that dreaded cat is in the town. We need to find a safe haven”. The rat soon disappeared and the ice cream arrived. Nora this time didn’t pay much attention as she had a better thing to concentrate and enjoy at her hands.

Superhero in the making

Chapter 1

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” seven-year-old Nora asked her mother Kim innocently. ” Kim chuckled as she replied, “I am already a grown-up being, what could I possibly be now? Now hurry up and go to your bed”. She tucked little Nora into her bed and kissed her forehead “goodnight darling!”

On having received such an unenthusiastic response from the mother, Nora clasped and questioned her mother “what you wanted to be as a child, as in what have you dreamt of becoming in your adulthood? My teacher says everyone has a talent and a dream and we can turn our dreams into reality at any time and age. So tell me mom what you wanted to be?” and fixed her gaze filled with amusement and intrigue on her mother.

Kim smiled and sat down by her bedside “Hmm, I always wanted to be a writer. I wanted to talk through my stories”. Her mother’s response sparked Nora’s interest and she sprung and sat in her bed. “You mean fairy tales, superhero stories? Have you ever written anything? Why don’t you write now?” before Nora could go berserk with her volley of questions her mother sighed deeply “uff, we will talk later darling, you have to get up early tomorrow for school”. And finally, she managed to put little Nora to sleep.

Nora’s mother kept tossing in her bed but couldn’t sleep that night. That was unusual as toiling throughout the day guaranteed her a sound sleep instantly.  She kept staring at the ceiling and counted sheep in her head but nothing was helping her tonight.  She heard her daughter crying. She rushed towards Nora’s room.

“What happened, dear? a worried mother asked her daughter as she embraced the weeping child. “Mom, I had a horrible dream. Big monsters wearing huge cloaks, and riding on horses were chasing after me and as I tried to escape them I was stuck in a corner” Nora explained in her shaky voice. Nora’s mom cuddled, pacified her, and gave an assurance that there are no monsters around and that it was just a dream. Nora requested her mom if she could sleep with her, to which her mom agreed. Kim caressed Nora’s hair gently and soon Nora slipped into a deep slumber. But Kim couldn’t.

She got up and went to her balcony. She leaned on the railing of the balcony facing the vast empty parched grounds. The streets turned golden under the glare of yellow street lights. The city was tucked in silence except for the noise of a few vehicles honking on the highway running parallel to the grounds and stray dogs barking distantly. She was pondering over her conversation with her daughter. “Can I dream again?” She sighed in her thoughts as the gentle breeze caressed her locks. 

Kim and Nora moved to their new apartment just six months back after a major crises hit their family. Joel, Kim’s husband, an army personnel died on the war front. Along with the loss of a loved one Kim and Nora were coping with the snide remarks, the unruly behaviour of the relatives. Nora never understood the motivations behind people’s behaviour around her. She often asked her mother “why is everyone rude to us? What have we done? You told me that dad is a superhero, he is not around us anymore, so do we have to suffer this way forever? Why do they hate us Mom?”. Kim didn’t know how to answer her. But finally she decided to move out and away from the toxicity suffocating her and her daughter’s life. 

Standing underneath the dark stretch of night sky in her balcony, Kim just witnessed a rally of visions from her past. She felt exhausted and went back to her room and finally dozed off. 

The next day began with a usual hustle and bustle. Nora and her mother rushed off to school. As they were on their way Nora commenced the conversation from the very point where she had left it last night. Inquisitive Nora clung to her mother’s arm and fired her bazooka of questions at her mother “Mom, tell me what did you write? When did you write? Why did you stop writing? Will you start writing again? Tell me, mom, tell me”.

Nora’s mother was enjoying this conversation with her little one. Nora’s questions exuberated innocence, and the curiosity in her tone tickled her mother’s heart. With a big grin she replied to Nora “I used to write when I was in college, whosoever read my poems and articles used to praise me. My work was even published in my college magazine. My name is there, I will show you the next time when we go to Naani’s place (maternal grandmother). It seemed that the child’s naivete and glee has rubbed onto her mother too. She was smiling from ear to ear. Conversation with Nora always felt fresh as dew drops sitting on the soft petals and had the warmth of golden rays of sun embracing those petals as they dance to the tunes of the morning breeze.

They reached the school. Nora gave a kiss on her mother’s forehead and bade goodbye but before leaving she put forth a request. “Mom, you have to write a story for me. I will be the superhero or a fairy, an angel in that book. You write it for me, I will show it to my friends. Please mom” she giggled cutely and left for her school.

 On her way back home Kim called her mother  “Mom, how are you? Do you still have my college magazine at home that had my article and poem published in it?” She spoke almost in a single breath. Kim called her mother after nearly after a period of six months. The response from the other side was cold but her mother assured that she will search for the magazine and hung up on the call.

Kim felt disheartened but had much more to take care of, so she assembled pieces of her broken heart once again and marched ahead with responsibilities on her shoulders…

No Pain Left…

Staring at the vast stretch of blank sky, I found the same emptiness dwelling deep within me;

Not batting an eyelid as the ambers burnt incessantly, leaving behind smoke engulfing my soul;

The rain drenched me to the extent of rot and the sun parched me to the extent of lifelessness;

No breeze could caress my heart, no rainbow could soothe my sight for there is no pain left either.

Amidst the cacophony of voices defining and defying me, I chose obscurity as my companion for I fear being identified;

As the echoes from the past are still eloquent in my ears, I chose to strangulate my opinions for I no longer wish to be heard;

Eternities passed by me as I longed for the solace of appreciation, I chose to embrace the earth beneath for I no longer seek;

Celebration of ironies and hypocrisies triumphed over acceptance, I chose defeat gleefully for there is no pain left either.

Crushed by expectations, my hopes fluttered in the cage as my dreams battled for their existence and breathed their last;

My knees trembled as the ground of reality kept slipping away and the broken arms struggled to keep up the burden of charades;

Making my way through the corpses of relationships, odour suffocated me as the ghosts of formalities pinned me down;

The line of difference between compassion and pretense blurred, as I lie cold in tatters with my heart charred, there is no pain left.

Kindness – A Value Inherited

I, as an individual hold “generosity” in high regard of all values a human must possess.  Because that is what makes a human “A Human”.  If your heart is unmoved and untouched by others’ misery then you are just any other specie born on earth, scientifically called Homo sapiens, and just a link to this ecosystem.  Nothing great to brag about, right?

And my very idea of being a human was shaped by my father and in due course of my life, I have met many people (some in my contact list and some unknown) who made me hold on to this value very dearly.

Talking about my inspiration, my father I would like to quote one thing best describes his outlook

“Exhibiting a value you believe in needs no audience and no appreciation in reciprocation “

Yes, this is how he was. I would like to mention one incident from his life that would suit the quote mentioned above perfectly:

We were having dinner when there was a knock at the door.  “Who it could be” was our question and when the door was opened my father found a neighbor of one of our acquaintances in that area standing in front of him. “Yes, what happened he enquired.  They seemed to be in a hurry to finish matters “Woh jo aapki bhasha bolte hain na unki tabiyat bahut kharaab hai aur ghar pe koi nahi.  Aakar dekh lijiye” (the one who speaks the same language as you is seriously ill and no one is around, come and check upon him) and left. It would be surely a waste of space discussing such shallow minds here so I skip to the situation. When my father reached there the situation was worse than what he thought. That person was suffering all alone with dire cholera, lying in a pool of his own puke and feces. That was a gross scenario to recreate. My father took him to the hospital immediately singlehandedly. Meanwhile, he was drenched as that man puked on my father as well but that didn’t deter him from exhibiting the value he believes in. He served him wholeheartedly and took care of him in hospital for two days at the expense of his own comfort till his family was back. But in the end, that man for some reason which my father had no knowledge of wrote off everything and uttered really mean stuff against my father. But as a real gentleman he was, he didn’t hold any grudge against him. When poked at being so generous always he said “neither his misery was planned by him nor my help was sought so why to make an issue of an intentional act on my part. I was not expecting any accolades for what I did. And anyways we must not keep a count of our good deeds at least, someone else is already doing it”.

I have always seen him in this light. No complications whatsoever when reacting as a human to the other’s pain.

Coming back to the question “whether values can be passed as inheritance or not?”  Frankly, I am clueless. But surely to keep the values alive they need to be drilled in the day in and day out. Since children imitate well it’s only through the practice of values we care for, that we can pass on to them the legacy, period! Had I not seen my father as a generous soul, doing his bit relentlessly how would I believe in such values?

In The Quest Of……

Just another day, another page from mother-daughter diaries: A few days back I was having a regular “to/before bed” conversation with my daughter, who was as usual raring to go with her canon of questions. From her “Why, Who, What, When, and How” kitty she pulled out a gem that set my mind on a quest for I was unable to provide her with a convincing answer. And before I could answer her, she slept but I couldn’t stop thinking. Introspection ensued. Her question was “What is the most important thing in this world?”

The world is going in a loop – needs once fulfilled are replaced by wants, and once wants are also satiated heart wanders to new avenues to spread its wings, to know, to explore, to get, and the cycle continues. This is how we witnessed advancements in human history, be it territorial expansions of kingdoms or the technological amelioration that we are enjoying. Lives (perhaps lifestyles) have definitely been improved. Now let’s focus on an analogy: Imagine the world to be an airplane propelled by the fuel of desires, and dreams to perch higher and higher, scaling new altitudes of success with every flight. What would happen to the aircraft if the coolant is missing, if the fuel is adulterated with impurities or if it doesn’t have a ground to land on? The fire ignited to provide an elevation might devour the entire structure, isn’t it? Coolant here is satiation and content. Impurity is greed that when mixed with the fuel of dreams/desires can clog the entire machinery dooming the flight. Peace is the runway that every flight needs when it lands on its wheels of love and compassion utilizing the shock absorbers of realization, enlightenment, and wisdom. Well, that might seem to be quite a convoluted explanation. I shifted my focus to a handful of examples from human history:

1. Before King Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire became Ashoka the great and he resorting to Buddhism, spreading the message of peace all over he was like any other tyrant king whose purpose was to conquer and amass strength. It was after the Kalinga war, the massacre rendered by his own army shook him to the core and he retracted from his old ways and accepted Buddhism to trend the path of peace.
2. Before England was one country, there was a long trail of blood and gore where innumerable innocent lives were sacrificed to ever-rising flames of power hunger and ego. It was Alfred the Great (King of the West Saxons from 871 to c. 886 ) who had nurtured a vision of unifying the war marred land and establishing peace so that lives could thrive and prosper in every manner. Ironically blood was the price that was paid but nonetheless in the end after many decades his dream did come true (Athelstan, grandson of King Alfred was the first king of unified land called England).
3. European Union is a great example of modern history where different countries agreed to set aside their bitter rivalries, and make amendments for the larger betterment of people suffering the aftermath of world war. The EU was originally created with the aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars between neighbours, which culminated in the Second World War. The Schuman Declaration, which encouraged the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community, laid the foundation for the European Union as we know it today (source: Google)

These are a few examples from medieval and modern history where the world has to finally resort to peace for the longevity, and prosperity of human beings.

Is the peace absolute or just a pact? The ground of peace has been purchased at a hefty price of numerous sacrifices, amendments and clauses, and a mutual understanding/ respect of territories and boundaries. And the fear of breach begets flexing muscle power in a bid to maintain the status quo. The recent example (in my petty knowledge) of Indo-China border tension speaks volumes about the price that nations have to pay for attaining peace. In my hindsight, I believe it’s more of a pact and order that the world is following to avoid disarray and disaccord. The bliss of absolute peace is still at bay.

Fulcrums to the Peace that we need: Compassion, satiation, actions motivated and guided righteously, and enlightenment – these are the fulcrums to leverage the peace in every human being and thereon at a macro level. I understand that this statement is quite a beaten one over and over but a truth that we deliberately or otherwise ignore. A petty example: We casually body shame or mock people for their weaknesses under the pretext of lighter note fun. We have no idea and literally don’t care about the negative impact we possibly could create on the other person’s mind, what havoc such a mockery is capable of creating in the longer run, and how it messes with the sanity of one’s mind. We avoid and hate “crime” that is punishable under a law that is documented. And those that are not, we make our souls obscure to nature’s unwritten law of embracing the differences. With oppressed, raging, and conflicting souls, where is the peace?

The whole night I spent introspecting if my answer is right if peace is indeed the most important thing the world needs right now? In the morning I asked my daughter if she has an answer to her question from the last night, and she smiled as she said “Yes I know the most important thing in this world – “You & Me”. And that kept me thinking again….

BEING A FOREIGNER

Candles Online

“Je parle Anglais?” which translates to “I speak English” but the question here is why there is a question mark if this is a plain statement. Well, to answer that I must take a few steps back into the past when I was a newcomer to the city of Brussels and the French language was more alien to me than my relationship with it now.

It all began in the year 2009. Thanks to the extremely busy schedules of my husband back in those days (there were times when he used to leave home at 7:45 AM and won’t see it back till 3 AM the next morning, I was left at the mercy of television and internet connection to spend my days. But for how long. Slowly I started despising my loneliness, the damp and gloomy weather of the city where the sun won’t greet…

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Mother-Daughter Diaries

Originally posted on Candles Online

Mom I have a doubt,” said my 6 years old daughter. “What’s it dear?” I asked, to be only left stumped by her question. “Why papa loves you when your face is full of spots?”. I am not even exaggerating, those were really her words. And I don’t really want to blame her, it’s her exposure to the fairy tales where the princess is all fair and flawless. I can understand with the kind of exposure kids of this generation have the kind of questions they might ask seem to be too soon, too early, and to be honest too much too. I wanted to give her a reason, perhaps a lecture on what true love (ironically beyond the gamut of reasoning) means but considering her age my explanation would be “Too much” for her to comprehend.

I simply asked, “Don’t you love me with all these blemishes on my face?”. And she didn’t budge as she said “I love you, Mama, you are the best” and she gave me a kiss as she hurried to get into the school before the final bell rang. Perhaps one day I will be able to provide a better explanation to satiate her query.

Raising kids (generation alpha) as my dear friend @sizzlybizzly (Rajnandini from Candles Online) has explained in her article OF SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, could really be a tight rope walk. Explaining them to react and behave differently in apparently similar-looking situations is quite a task. For instance, as a family with a reasonably comfortable life, I encourage my daughter to help the poor and needy and that seems to be well embedded in her thoughts. But on the other hand, I also warn her against falling for tricks of people who pretend to be needy to avoid sweating it out. And reasoning (explaining how to and why to differentiate) such situations in my personal capacity prove to be difficult ones given the fact that my daughter is a bit impatient. The moment I start dissecting the matter for clarity she says “I don’t understand what are you saying” or worse “enough Mama, not now, just play with me”.

As a parent, I want to clarify every doubt that dwells in my child’s brain. Sometimes I have substantial corroboration to my answers that I can give her instantly, for example why plucking fruit from the tree isn’t the same thing as butchering a goat, when both are done to serve the same purpose – to fill up a hungry stomach. Sometimes I am at a loss of my reasoning abilities altogether. Like why the letter U hasn’t been pronounced the same way in “Put”, and “But” because I never questioned it (maybe my friend @theextraaaamile, Savio from Candles Online, has an answer to this 😃). And then there are moments I have reasons to support my reaction/responses but as I mentioned earlier they could be too complicated for a child to comprehend. For example, when I tell my daughter to be social & adjustable to and under different circumstances, and be independent (not seeking validation from others or succumbing to any pressure) at the same time. That’s a tough call as I have to hand out her reasons sans ambiguity of any sort.

All said and done I have realized that in the process of parenting I am growing up too. My role as a parent is a reason enough to be a better version of myself every day. With so many sources of information and influence around, kids surely need a security filter, a cushion to rely on. And that’s where the power of reasoning comes in handy. Valid the reasons are, better the chances of nurturing mature minds. It’s really important that doubts of any nature shouldn’t be squashed away under the pretext of “nothing concerning you”, especially when we impart the knowledge of DOs and DON’Ts to shape their personalities and ideologies.

My journey with the extra “administrative” responsibility of Reasoning has just begun as my daughter has just started questioning. I should be better prepared for the bazooka of questions blazing at me, she hasn’t even scratched the surface yet and there’s an ocean to dive in.

Investments

Goin' the extra..aaamile

There was a time I heard people saying “invest in shares”to be followed by “invest in mutual funds”and then a few years later I heard a few say,“invest in property”, and nowadays what I hear is – “invest in people & relationships”

The kind of life I lead, I would like most of all to invest in myself as much as possible. You will definitely not find me idling my time dining at a restaurant or partying with fake people and alcohol. I would rather be at home doing things that make me happy, be it watching a movie on Netflix, playing an online game, writing on my blog, or keeping myself busy with a hobby – if nothing else you’ll find me reading a book or listening to music, or if I am out of home, you will simply find me on a walk away…

View original post 277 more words

Investments

Goin' the extra..aaamile

There was a time I heard people saying “invest in shares”to be followed by “invest in mutual funds”and then a few years later I heard a few say,“invest in property”, and nowadays what I hear is – “invest in people & relationships”

The kind of life I lead, I would like most of all to invest in myself as much as possible. You will definitely not find me idling my time dining at a restaurant or partying with fake people and alcohol. I would rather be at home doing things that make me happy, be it watching a movie on Netflix, playing an online game, writing on my blog, or keeping myself busy with a hobby – if nothing else you’ll find me reading a book or listening to music, or if I am out of home, you will simply find me on a walk away…

View original post 277 more words

WHEN OUR PATHS CROSSED

Candles Online

After eight years of marriage, Saanvi visited Delhi which once was her turf. She grew up there. That city for her is a bundle of memories – good, bad, enjoyable, precious, sad, unbearable – quite a complex concoction that she treasured. After her marriage, she moved away from the city so does her family.

Now after eight years an unusual business brought her back to the city. As she landed in the city, she was caught by the whip of air of the city, “how much I missed you” she sighed and headed for the hotel. As the taxi traversed through the lanes of the city, her thoughts wandered along with the wheels. Her eyes feasted on the street food, her senses were bamboozled by the color and fervor of the city, the ears were enjoying the concert of the noise of all-around. With all the sensory overloads…

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