Sweet Surrender :) Check pg 31 ;)

Clothes all around the room, books sprawled all over one side of the bed (the other was used for sleeping, obviously), empty packets of snacks filling the dust-bin, that's how she lived. Ever since she finished her degree and got a job in the reputed L.A. Times, that's how she lived. During the work hours she was focused and composed, but at home she was a crazy thing, eating junk food all the time, staying up at odd hours, watching mindless comedies and what not! On the weekends she spent hours conferencing with Kirti & Diana, two of her equally crazy friends.

Diana Kapoor was happily married to the love of her life and had two healthy kids. She was an erratic woman, always thinking of the various things she wanted to do. She was an outdoorsy person, very bubbly and cheerful, the total opposite of her sober and simple husband. While he was the earth, she was the wind. Diana lived in NYC and Delhi, both. She ran a magazine with our protagonist and hopped from country to country frequently, as if shuffling between work and life.

Kirti Shah was a bold woman, and proudly called herself a bitch. She wasn't married, and didn't intend to do so in long time to come. There were plenty of fish in the sea, so why settle for one? She was called the Ice Queen by the ones who didn't know her, but she was a warm and caring person with her close friends. She worked as a successful doctor, but her biggest aim was to implement polygamy in India.

Coming back to our protagonist; she attacked a big fat bowl of strawberry ice-cream and sighed as the delicious dessert sent chills down her spine. This is life, she thought, as she stuffed a big spoon of the delicacy into her mouth. She wasn't fat or pudgy, because she had to climb three flights of stairs to reach her office-room, and always walked home.

She licked her lips in satisfaction on finishing the bowl of ice-cream. She tossed the plastic bowl in the dustbin and put the spoon inside the dishwasher. After switching on the wonderful machine, she switched on the television set and kept clicking on the "NEXT" button on the remote. When she finally found a watch-worthy programme, a documentary on the Nazi Rule in Germany, she increased the volume and made herself comfortable on the sofa.

Just then the telephone rang, and she muted the TV and picked up the phone. It was from her mom.

"Hello mom," she said. "How are you?"

"Don't you ask me that!" her mother warned. "You are 27, Nisha, and by 27 you should have been married with two kids!"

"How can I marry two kids mom?" Nisha, our protagonist asked. "That's an utterly gross thought."

"This is not the time for your wisecracks Nisha," her mom warned. "All of of my nieces and nephews are married, so are my friends children and so are your friends! When will you get married Nisha? I want an answer!"

"Mom I don't want to talk about this," Nisha said firmly. "I've got a lot of better things to talk about. Please."

"Why Nisha?" her mom asked. "Are you still waiting for him? He doesn't care about you, he doesn't. You've only met him ONCE. You are usually a sensible girl, why, why is it that when it comes to him, you lose all your sanity? WHY?"

"Mom," Nisha said. "I told you. I will marry only the person I love, not anyone else, why don't you understand?"

"Nisha you are acting like a FOOL!" her mother yelled. "It's not as if we are stopping you from marrying him...he doesn't love you back...Nisha PLEASE."

The truth hurt...and Nisha didn't like being hurt...she didn't like to feel.

"Mom, there's an interesting documentary on TV and I don't want to miss it," Nisha said. "We'll talk later. And please don't try and bother me about this marriage issue, I want to enjoy the two month cruise I'm going for. With Kirti and Diana, well Diana's husband also."

"See-"

"No mom, goodnight/morning/whatever," Nisha said. "I love you. Give my love to dad & Anjie also."

With that said and done, Nisha hung up the phone. She switched off the TV in anger and threw the remote to a remote corner on the sofa and headed into the bedroom. She sat on the bed and aggressively wiped the angry tears away. It always came to that- him. He, who she loved (still loves) all her life and never got. It had taken immense strength on her part to bury that part of her which loves him deep under everything else so that she could move on in life. And now that she was going to get out and have a good holiday with her friends, she wasn't going to let his memories haunt her.

No, he was forgotten...and not to be remembered.