Toxic opens with more that 100 cr Day 1 domestic nett, 55 cr Hindi!!!
Yeh Fitoor Tera episode discussion thread # 1
Nepal Flash Flood Disaster: Hundreds feared dead
Travel photography and stories
Originally posted by: anumeha_rajat
lovely part...
really amazing...
plzzz update GOD IS DEAD as well...
thnx for the pm................
Originally posted by: gawdygory
I simply loved this convo between Geet & Maan . Although Geet was a little blunt in telling him about the society , yet to a certain extent I agree with whatever Geet saidLoved the update ... 👍🏼
Originally posted by: kashndsel4eva
awesome updateloved itloved maaneet convocant wait 4 da next partcon soonthanks 4 da pm
Chapter 9: Flare
She opened contact list on her cell phone for the seventeenth time. Her thumb traced on the name "Maan Singh Khurana" with a sense of apology and despair. That evening had left a bitter taste in her mouth and she had tried very hard to ignore the feeling of uneasiness in her gut. She hadn't bothered to run after Maan. No, it wasn't necessary and practically speaking she would have only worsened the situation had she met him that night and apologized to her words.
But there was this part of her which refused to budge against the bitterness she was feeling for Maan. Her words were not dishonest and neither was she wrong in her dissection of societal norms. The things that she had said were words that were engraved in her since her childhood. No one had told her those words but they were the byproduct of situation she was unknowingly thrown into. She wasn't joking when she had said that making a decision involved people around the decision maker. In the end they were the ones who were affected the most.
She was the prime example of that.
Instead of calling him, she decided to send him a text and ask him to let him meet her. She owed him an apology if not an explanation. Since that evening she felt that a balance in her ecosystem had been tipped in wrong direction. The incorrectness of the system haunted her at odd hours. She rarely spoke her mind and on one of the rare occasions that she did, she rarely spoke of her opinion on sensitive matters. There were no triggers or provocations for her do so nor were there any motives from either party. But with Maan, the words had come out naturally.
And for the love of God, she didn't understand why.
--o00o--
He found her sitting on the same stool as that evening before. She was tracing patterns on the table idly, her crossed leg dangling and swinging to an unknown beat. Weariness of the day was etched on her face yet it held a softness that made her look delicate and vulnerable. He couldn't imagine the depth of hurt she must have felt in her past which had her made so bitter and antagonistic towards free choices. He was one of those who had not cared much about what other people thought about him but after listening to Geet, he wanted to rethink the whole thought processes. He would get some ideas anyway now that he was here to talk to her.
"Can we go somewhere quiet?" She asked him as soon as she saw him standing right next to her. He raised his eyebrows at that. He looked around to see few patrons spread here and there but not really noisy. He didn't understand her hesitation but he shrugged and nodded. He didn't have an issue with that and knowing her, she would perhaps give him explanation for that too.
"Where do you want to go?" He asked her as they walked outside the caf. He stopped outside and looked at falling rain.
"Here you go", she said handing him an umbrella. "I thought it might rain today", she added as an answer to his questioning look.
Rain seemed to be their constant companion accompanying them whenever they met. Symphony of splatter of raindrops on the side walk and clicking of their heels filled in for the silence that was prevalent between them. She walked a step or two ahead of him and he followed her without a question.
She stopped near a bus stop and sat on a bench under the shelter. He was startled at her choice. In his mind the caf was much quieter when compared to the bus stop. He looked at her in question. For this, he needed an answer immediately. She seem to understand her urgency to know the reason for choosing that place so he motioned her to take a seat next to her by patting the seat. He sat down next to her removing his jacket and throwing next to him.
"I spent a whole night in this bus stop when I first came to this city after running away from home, that is. I was supposed to meet an acquaintance of a friend here who would take me to her place for the night."
"She didn't come?"
"No. From noon that day to next morning I was waiting in this bus stop alone. Monsoon had just started and the weather was quite similar to that of tonight. It was the first time I had ever stepped out of my town you know. I never had been outside that comfort zone of mine nor had I taken a ride alone." She reminisced. Her bent head made her curly long hair act as a curtain between her face and rest of the world. What was she hiding from? He didn't dare to ask. He waited for her to continue.
"Well that night nothing dramatic really happened. You know the ones that happen in movies or dramas? Like I said my exposure to real world was unfortunately limited to movies and the stories I read. And like a fool, I believed them to be all true", she said flatly.
"Were you disappointed that real world wasn't as glamorous or exciting as the one from your books, movies and dramas?" He asked rolling up his sleeves. He gave up his pristine persona and was being just a guy for the time being. It was as liberating as it could get.
"I was more disappointed that it was much complex than the real world. People in my books were a clear black or white. But here, they were wonderful shade of grey which only changed in intensity but never really a clear white or a dark black. That night when I was sitting here I was scared that there might be men who would come and kidnap me and sell me off to some random buyer. I had seen way too many movies for not to believe in the alternative."
"So you were disappointed that no one tried to harm you?" He couldn't hide amusement in his voice. She shook her head and chuckled slightly.
"It's not like that. While I was sitting here and waiting for this person to come, I saw people. Real people whose characters don't make it to movies or books; they have nothing grandeur going on in their lives, they don't have some sort of strength to pull off a marvelous strength nor are they darn intelligent to be smart enough to do perfect investments and reap money. No. They aren't those people. The ones I saw that night were those who struggled during last week of every month hoping when the payday would arrive. They ignored my existence because they were thinking of the family who would be waiting for them to get home. People are too busy with their lives to observe and care about a random eighteen year old girl who is sitting in corner of a bus stop, no?"
"Do you have to oversimplify everything that you have encountered Geet?" He said without emotion. It wasn't that he disagreed with her perspective. But he didn't like the way she generalized and trivialized the situation that she was in. There was nothing normal about an eighteen year old girl to be away from home without a solid contact in the city and waiting at a random bus stop throughout the night.
"I am not oversimplifying the situation Maan. Yes, I did run away from home when I was eighteen and I assure you it wasn't because I was fascinated by the world or was on a path to discover my 'true self'. No, it wasn't anything remotely of that sort. Whatever I did, I had to do for my own survival", she said softly. He got the idea that she wasn't telling him everything about herself but only scratched the surface. He didn't reply. They sat in relative silence thinking about their own pasts and the paths they took which made them arrive at the same place. She broke the silence first.
"Twelve years ago I was all off eighteen and here I was trying to make a difference in my life but I had tripped in the first step itself. It was alright with me because I had come prepared for the worst. I ended up in that caf and asked them for a job. I wasn't about to give up and I had to do something about myself first. You know something Maan? It was the first time I ever worked outside my home and I was too scared to even talk to a stranger. I lacked the exposure and experience that most girls in my age group have. I didn't even know how to pronounce cappuccino back then. The kind couple who own that caf gave me a small room upstairs and a job there. I learned the ways of the world first hand. Well I always had since I was a child given the situation I was thrown in but as an adult it was totally different you know; kind of scary at times, sometimes thrilling, sometimes wonderful and many times too lonely. Being an adult wasn't all that great but I was living life on my own terms which was the satisfactory outcome of my existence. The caf owners remind me of the goodness that is still left in the world."
"And they are the antithesis of the cynicism that you so obviously display", he added without a hindrance. His words were almost insulting but she swallowed it. He wasn't too off the mark.
"What would you do Maan if you were continually being subjected to a prejudice to which you have no control over? When you are in a situation like that one, nothing you do is enough for people around you. You try to overcompensate for everything that comes your way yet you are always made to feel small and pitiful. It is never enough, in those cases. Do you have any idea what that kind of treatment does to a person Maan? It devours their sanity, their confidence, their individuality slowly and steadily till they are drained empty of all those things. So what will be left in that person Maan? Cynicism, bitterness and a shred of sanity; that's all", she whispered harshly.
He couldn't say anything to her nor could he think of anything rational. There was a continuous ringing voice in his ears which deafened him from anything that was going on in outside world. There was nothing he could do to erase the memories of her past nor could he do anything to ease away the unfairness she had faced.
He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Half a moment later she rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't dare see her face then. He couldn't perhaps digest seeing reflection of cruelness of society clearly sculpted in her features. Though they were nothing more than acquaintances, he knew that she trusted him enough to share something as private as her past with him.
"What happened, Geet?" He asked softly.
"When I was five, my mother abandoned me and my father and ran away with her lover."
Her words spilled around them like glass spheres intermingling with sound of rain.
He rested his head on hers and closed his eyes.
To be continued.
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