"The Sun Raises!" : My entry for the Get Published contest

Idea- 

Dreams! That’s what we live for. We dream and want them to turn into reality. A great dream begins with a dreamer. Suraj, a third year engineering student was one such dreamer. Always on top of his game, he wanted to revolutionize the Robotics Industry. He got his biggest breakthrough when he was shortlisted for Robotics Olympiad at IIT Roorkee.  Kiran, his partner was as skilled and efficient as him. She not only used to top the examination charts but was also the unprecedented queen of every boy’s heart. Like every other boy she had ruled the Suraj’s heart for years.

Suraj had always loved her and she knew it always. But Kiran was not ready to move into a relationship. She had dreams too, they were her biggest priority. Of all the boys, Suraj was closest to her, may be because of the same passion they shared, Robotics! In Roorkee, they created history and finished the Olympiad as runner-ups. And then it was the time to go back but Suraj didn't want to go back. He wanted to spend more time with her. Luck had never eluded Suraj and it stood by him when he needed it most. A twist of fates and they were in Haridwar.

Starting with Snan at Holy Ganges and a ride through Ram and Lakshman jhoola in Rishikesh they moved to a city located on the foothills of great Himalayas, Dehradun. However, they knew a little about what was coming in their way on the land of Gods. An evening at disco, a night at railway station, an unknown girl and a few policemen.  A night that threatened to shatter Suraj’s dreams! A night that made Kiran realizes susceptibility of being a woman in independent India.

What happened at the railway station? Who was the unknown girl? Did Kiran fall in love with Suraj? Will Suraj and Kiran meet under the sky again? Let me take you through the most imperative chapter in Suraj and Kiran’s life where Suraj whose unconditional love was made to confront the world against all the odds on a night that transcends belief and humanity.

What makes the story real?-                           

Love is not only about looking into your partners eyes and holding their hands. It is about standing by your love against the odd. Today when the crime rate in the country is on all time high especially against woman, the story emphasize on one such event when vulnerability of a young couple in Independent India was exposed!

This is my entry for the HarperCollins-Indiblogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal  and HarperCollins India.

If you liked the idea please take your time and vote for me- It won't take more then a couple of seconds :) "The Sun Raises!"

Story of how I craved and got rid of Stubble!

“I’m loving it!” she said as a wild wave lifts us two feet’s in the air.

“And I’m loving you!” I screamed.

For the last thirty minutes we were playing with the waves coming from Arabian Sea. Life had never been so beautiful. It was our first vacations together far away from the chaotic world. I always wanted to go to a place where I would not know anyone but her. A place where I won’t have to care about anything but her. A place that breathes romance. My fascination for beaches took us to Malpe beach near Udupi.

By the time we came out of the water, Sun had changed its color to orange and was slowly settling down at the horizon of Arabian Sea. We sat on the sand near the sea shore. It was white and cold. I wrapped my arm about her shoulder and pulled her close to me. She turned her face towards me and smiled. I looked into her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ears. Her flawless olive skin emphasized her pecan shaped eyes. She looked beautiful! Our lips caressed as we leaned in closer. But before I could have captured her lips in mine, I was pushed back.

“What was this?” I threw my hands in despair.

“What’s wrong with you?” She said as she got up. What’s wrong with me? The most romantic moment of my life had been screwed just now and you are asking me?

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

“Do you know what I hate most?” she asked.

“Apple!” I said confidently. Because she doesn't own any Apple product, she started to hate Apple the fruit as she just can't stop loving Mr. Jobs and his innovations.

“I wish it was Apple but unfortunately it is the same thing that you guys are so fondof!” She said as she cleared the sands from her legs.

What guys are fond of? Ok, what I’m fond of? I had to think. There were not many things. A plethora of thoughts succumbed in my brain but still I could think of nothing.

“Our toughness?” I said with a poker face.

“Oh come on. You guys only pretend to be tough but you are not. In fact you all are cry babies.”

Cry baby? Has she lost it? I thought and looked at her quizzically.

“It’s your stubble, I hate most!” She declared.

Shaving is no Fun!

“What is with keeping the stubble?” she asked.

 “I didn’t have the time to shave.” I replied. clean

“Come on! It is about couple of minutes only.” She declared.

“It actually takes more than couple of minutes.” I knew better than her.

Image courtesy- Google images

“You are no Brad Pitt. So stop experimenting and clean your stubble next time onwards. It makes you look dirty.” She said.

Dirty? Hell no! I took a bath before coming to meet you, I’m wearing the perfume you gifted me and I always use hair gel on our dates.  All you noticed is my unshaven face? And by the way it’s the brand new t-shirt that I’m donning, I thought. Though I agree if Braddy and I were participating in Mr. World contest and good looks was the only criterion, at least in this birth I would never win the coveted title. But who cares? You are no Angelina Jolie either.

We used to discuss a lot about the looks. How people dress? What they do to look better? I never hesitated to tell her when she needs to visit a BEAUTY PARLOUR. Was I her fashion consultant? I mean come on, make up is a girl’s birth right. Who would like to have a girl with thick eye brows? At least I don’t. I would never mind my partner spending time and money in Beauty Parlours.

Nevertheless, it was one of the few instances when she asked me to shave though I don’t like completely clean shave look and trust me, shaving is the biggest headache. Ask the people who shave daily. It’s time consuming and boring. There is nothing extra ordinary about it.

Happy New Year

It was breezy Saturday night. Winters had started and nights were colder now. Dark clouds hovered just below the sky. The earth lightens up momentarily as lightening struck the sky. After the lightening it was the time for rain to wet the surface of earth. The dogs start yapping as another lightening struck the sky.

When the rain stopped and watch clocked at 11:50, a motorbike stopped near the junction. A man in his thirties got down and parked the bike at corner of the road. He removed his helmet and wiped his face with a bandanna. He slipped his hand in the pocket of his pants and pulled out a packet of cigarette but to his dismay it was empty! He pulled the bag from his back and checked in its pockets. He found a cigarette rolled in a paper. He unrolled the paper, lit the cigarette and closed his eyes. It was a long and frustrating day in the office though he had waited for this day for a long time. He had goose bumps and couldn't sleep previous night. He was nervous and excited. However, he knew a little that all his efforts were going into the vain and it had left him devastated.

“Take it easy Rahul. It happens!” said Sanjay, his colleague.

“I’m not going to leave him. He will die!” screamed Rahul. He had given his everything to the company. He had worked early mornings, late nights, on the weekends and the least he expected was promotion.

“Come on man. This is not the end of the world.” Sanjay tried to calm his nerves.

Normally a man with soothing and pleasant demeanor, today Rahul was bursting with anger. He wanted to go back into the cabin of his boss and throw him out of the window. He had been overlooked in favor of Ritesh who was coincidentally the nephew of the company’s vice-president.

“I’m sorry man. Better luck next time.” Ritesh winked at Rahul.

He almost smacked Ritesh into his face before being stopped Sanjay.

A bright light and a boisterous sound forced him to open his eyes. A fast moving heavy truck was headed in his direction. The truck gained more speed as the distance between them reduced.

Eclipse of love- My entry for the Get Published contest

Idea-

Being in a relationship was never a new thing for him. For her relationship meant a bond for lifetime. Essence of love was unknown to him. For her love was a quintessential thing. Meet Rahul and Ira, best friends of sort who were so different yet so similar. Both were narcissist minus egoistic. For them marriage was the biggest life event. And of course they believed in arranged marriages. Not to fall in love before marriage was their thumb rule.

They say rules are mean to be broken and a twist of fates made them break their rule. They were in love, not by choice but by kismet. Rahul fell in love with Ira. Did Ira fall in love too? Yes, she did but it was not Rahul and it tore apart the Rahul’s world. Just when everything looked bleak and gloom fate changed ends again. Ira was back in Rahul’s life. Gradually they settled in their professional and personal lives and world around them was almost perfect. But as it goes, falling in love is easy but to endure in love takes more than what you expect. Love brings lot of challenges with itself. Biggest of them is to keep the essence of friendship. When it starts to disappear, it’s the high time to wake up.  

Rahul and Ira were going through one such phase. It was not late when distrust replaced trust and expectations changed along with priorities. To add more gloom to it Ira moved to a new city, some thousand kilo meters away. And if it was not enough Rahul’s parents mounted the pressure on him to get marry, of course to a girl from his own caste.

Did Rahul meet Ira again? Were they ready to move into long distance relationship? Did Rahul confront his parents? What about Ira? Did she still have the same feelings for Rahul? Did they find their lost friendship?

What Makes This Story ‘Real’ - Falling in love is easy but to stay in love confronting all the hardships makes a relation work. In today’s world priorities changes in a blink of eye. You not only have to fight the world outside but also how you deal with changing expectations of your partner and yourself eventually decides fate of the relationship.

Extracts-

That evening I realized what was her connotation of love. Abruptly her sleep broke and she looked for me in the room.

“Rahul.” She whispered.

She turned towards me as I was about to respond. I smiled and waved my hand. It brought a smile on her face too. She went into kitchen, took her coffee and came to balcony. She came near and we kissed.

“I slept.” She said cutely rubbing her head against my shoulder.

I wrapped my hand over her shoulder and she leaned her face on mine. I kissed on her forehead. It was the most beautiful evening I ever had.

  

Endnote: This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.

P.S. If you like the idea please take a minute and vote here- Eclipse of Love . Thank You!! J J

Maskman! The finale..

                                 SECOND PART                FIRST PART

The biggest problem with this mask-man theory is that it stops you from trusting the people around you. It almost forces you to believe that people are not being real to you. They have been secretive, hiding their other side, the real them from you.

“I don’t want to reveal my weakness to all the people, people whom I don’t trust. They might use it against me.” She said.

“Neither do I!” I said.

“If I’m not sharing something with someone, it doesn’t mean I’m masked. It means I’m just being cautious.”

The thing which I had always liked about her was her practicality. I may not be practical all the time. I love to live in my own world. I don’t always take decision based on practicality. On the other hand she always looks at the practical feasibility of the things. One corner of my brain was occupied by these thoughts when she was discussing with me about the masquerades. It was like she read my mind. She knew what I was thinking, about her and about myself.

“Why makes you so surreal?” She asked.

Surreal? I had to think. Was I being unreal? May be I was. But it was not the real me. May be the mask that I was flaking made her think that I was unreal.

“May be the negativity around me makes me unreal.”

I meet many people daily, in my office, at my home, on the road and invariably almost all of them carry a wave of negative energy around them. The air around me was full of negativity. At times I felt I was inhaling more negativity than the oxygen. It had left me frustrated and devoid of calmness. May be it was the reason I was shedding a mask and was being unreal. I was in need of oxygen, the positivity. I wanted to come out of the web of negativity.

Maskman! Is it so tough being real?..

Previous Part

It all started the time I woke up that morning. I quickly prepared tea, took news paper and headed towards terrace. I usually don’t read newspaper but I like to hold it in my hands. Winters were just starting and they had a positive impact on the sun-rays  they were calm! I leaned against the wall and looked on the roadside. I saw kids with their mothers waiting eagerly for their school buses to arrive.

They were jumping and screaming and the ladies were all smile, a pleasant sight. It reminded me of the days when I was a kid. It was a good start to a day but I forgot that the day had just started and had no idea that I was going to drained by the end of the day. Nevertheless, few minutes later I was inside the room, it was time to get ready for the office.  

“I’ll come with you today.” My roommate said.

“Sure but the bike is punctured. I’m taking an auto.” I grinned.

“Is it? Then I shall leave. I’m getting late.” He said and left hastily.

I could do nothing but look at him closing the doors. We were supposed to go together, I thought.

“What did you make of it? Your roommate was wearing a mask that time?” She asked again.

“I don’t know. May be he was or maybe I was thinking too much.” I replied.

“He might be in a hurry.” I added.

Our past always has an impact on our present, my manager told me after I reached office. He told me how he moved up the ladder, how he thrashed his competitors. His team was the best in business, always on the top. And of course he told about his expectations from me, they were high!! It appeared he wanted me to listen to him. He wanted me to reciprocate what he did for me. What he did for me? He recruited me but that was it. It was only me since then and not him. And he was reckless who never cared for his colleagues or juniors but for him.