Arshi OS series sequel: Clipped wings #7 updated page 13, New - Page 6

A tale of a cat, a rat and a tomato

May be that's what being human is. You destroy everything you touch, including each other.

He had heard it somewhere and it stayed, like most half-truths stay with you just by being half-truths. Just like the math problem you almost solved but never could nags you the entire day. The answer teases from behind the flimsy curtain of confusion, an elusive playful lover truth is. Most say it is the chase that matters. Because truths don't exist. A truth is true only when it meets all the terms and conditions. Piyush wonders sometimes, it would be so much easier if everything was as clear as sun rising in the east. Absolute truth, they call it. But everything about existence is fickle. Even the sun rising from east. How everything is potentially changeable! Like his identity is.

He touches the skin of his arm, just to remind himself of its tangibility. Never in his younger years thought he would be struggling against his own body one day, that his body would be absolute but his insides will change.

"Ma, I don't want to go to school with bhai anymore."

"What? But Khushi why?"

"I just don't want to. Can you not drop me at school and pick me up?"

"But Khushi, you both go to the same school. And he is older than you are, he can take care of you Khushi."

"No, no, no, no. I won't go with him. He embarrasses me."

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"Khush, come here. See what maama brought for you and... me."

"Go away. I don't want anything."

"Khush, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"It's all your fault. Everyone laughs at me because I am your sister."

"Khush..."

"I am not going to school with you anymore."

"Enough, I am not tying you up and dragging you with me anywhere. Am I? I am not even asking you to come with me either. You pesky little..." He had furiously dashed sleeves of his t-shirt across his eyes to wipe tears of rage.

"And you 'ladies'. Crying like a girl. Don't you feel ashamed to cry like this in front of a girl? They are right. You should have been Payal', not Piyush."

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And he is still unsure whether he is a Payal' or a Piyush'.

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"Arnav, have you ever loved anyone except for Shishi?"

Khushi's question from not so long ago floats around his conscious as he lays on the couch in Anjali's chamber.

"What are you thinking?

Anjali's question seems to come from a distant land. A land outside of his thoughts. He grapples with the words to process its meaning. What wonder language is. How do you know a cat is a cat? Because everyone consented a cat to be a cat, or a rat to be a rat. He laughs at the oddity of his thoughts and tries to comprehend the langue and parole of Anjali's words.

"I am thinking of a cat or may be a rat."

"What about a cat or ... a rat?" Anjali is well versed in Arnav's eccentricities.

"Langue and parole. But that is not important. I am thinking of a question. If...If I am capable of normal feelings."

"And what makes you think you are not?"

"Because the only other person I have ever loved except for my long dead mother is you. And which according to what you tell me is no love at all. It is what you doctors with couches call transference. Is not it?"

"Yes. Does it bother you?"

"Yes. Sometimes. You are my therapist and what I feel is not even remotely close to conventional. It is beyond my understanding. It is not romantic, neither it is fraternal or familial. And according to what you say is surreal, hallucinatory. As if I didn't have enough crazy in me already."

"Arnav, I never said it is crazy. It is perfectly normal. Almost every therapy client goes through it at one point or the other."

"Yeah! Whatever sails my boat."

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"Ma! I am going out. I might be late."

She hurries out of the house as soon as the words are out of her mouth, before her mother gets a chance to ask her anything. It is difficult, to inform her mother before going out. She had lost the habit ages ago. But Piyush is not home, whom she generally conveys her messages to, and the state of mind feels like she has just had a generous dose of dopamine. The light-heartedness feels alien. Almost like a new place... inside her. Her haphazardly worn hair tickles her cheeks as she walks in the windy evening. Dusk has fallen and it's an hour before evening rush starts. Even then the street is buzzing with footsteps and indiscriminate pieces of conversations.

"You know what I think? I think this whole world is..." Khushi wants to know what the girl thought this world was but she rushes past her, talking animatedly to her friend. She tries to imagine what the girl thought about the world. "A tomato?" She laughs at the oddity of her thought. She feels acutely, the amusement, the lightness. Yes, I feel.' She thinks. This is what is to be alive'. To feel the heaviness of buzzing footsteps, to have haphazardly worn hair tickle her face and to wonder what, the girl in an animated conversation thought this world was.

superb one.. both ArShi have very weird thoughts..

Heyy..i found your other story.;).

Originally posted by: -cynicalmess-

Heyy..i found your other story.;).

Well written dear.

I can't write sentences about how I like it as i not much into writing.but i enjoyed reading about Arnav and Khushi in this alternate universe.and i hope they both find their peace at the end of the story.

An Old Rheumatic Fever

I loved the way you wrote chapter 5. I wonder how can you so effortlessly write using such amazing lines and describe human emotions and state to the T. I am unable to bring them up on paper like that even if mind gets filled up with such thoughts. Arnav may be having a slight inclination about where his emotions concerning khushi may be heading towards, but since their relationship as friends has just started anew, he cannot pinpoint it to that kind of love yet. And he's confused about the concept of love as well. He's trying to figure out if he has ever loved anyone or will love anyone apart from his mother. I guess anjali has had a big hand in making arnav the way he has become currently, calm and being able to cope up with his past. Those flashbacks concerning her brother piyush are really touching. I feel bad reading abt the way she treated her brother in the past, no matter how he was and is. We make mistakes in the past, really terrible mistakes which we so wish we could undo, but for the life of us, cannot. Piyush -->Payal..hmm. A nice replacement.

Coming to chapter 6, arnav and khushi's camaraderie has become so smooth and easy. Vikram Malik is their mama. I wonder if he was one of the people actively involved in the tragedy of aidashisha. I would like to know how you form the titles of your chapters. They are abstract, yet attractive.

Why khushi does not like her Mama ..loving it

very short one.. waiting to know more about Khushi and her relation with her mama and Piyush supporting her and helping her.. nice part..

Is Vikram Malik the culprit behind Arnav's mothers death?

Nice update