PANEER BLAH TEAR MASALA

Okay. So, I gave an entry into this short-story writing contest (June 2014) at  http://ellefictionawards.in/ I know I shouldn't care about winning or losing. Anyway, sharing the story here..sit back and enjoy! PS: I have changed my cousins' names. It is 90% real story with a lil bit tweaking and garnishing here and there.  PS: It is supposed to be an attempt at writing a funny-but-heart-touching story. I'm really sorry if you didn't laugh or/and if it didn't touch your heart while reading it..I'm an amateur, you see?  So here it is.... Plan B ‘Duh!’ she exclaimed when I asked her if I should add tomatoes too to the experimental Biryani . It had turned out to be blah (I hadn’t added tomatoes). Sister and I had spent a fortnight managing the house all by ourselves while parents were holidaying in the US. And yes, she had to put up with my amateur cooking in spite of the fact that we could always do the prudent act of just climbing up the stairs an...

          For the longest time I've been wanting to write this post. I have been through such extreme emotions lately that I've become numb to criticisms. Anyway, I want to be less sad right now, among all the things happening around me and in my mind. Where do I start from, Um, okay! I'm a bride-to-be now with less than a fortnight away for the big day. No, I'm not gonna bore you with my wedding preparations ( or how much  tensed I am about how the tailor stitches my attire). No, I'm not gonna talk about the huge epic-sode that happened when I tried to elope and my parents agreed to marry me finally (or the pain of a Hindu Brahmin- Roman Catholic wedding issues). Fret not.                I have been living in one house (named Trupthi - meaning 'satisfaction') for two and a half decades and I'm a deep-rooted person, meaning I love this city and my world in the city - my house, my locality, my food, my people. Sin...

Okay, so it's been around five years of our knowing each other but lately we have been having kick ass experiences as a gang of six girls. Guys kept coming and going to be a part of the gang but what really stayed on is us, the sizzling six. You might think I'm going a little too much on the self-flattering side by telling 'sizzling', hell, no. The reason being, no matter what we did in the campus (or sometimes what we did not do) was blown out of the proportion and we were praised/blamed/looked upon/looked down upon unconditionally (One does, the rest gets the credit/otherwise by default). Even though we dressed normally, it stood out among the crowd in the not-so-posh-crowd campus. Yeah, like normal girls, we had issues with each other but that mainly was based on other's opinion than our own. But, sooner or later we learn to forgive each other's small and big mistakes.               And yeah, talk about the crazy things we have done! ...