Beloved

When we fell in love, it was exactly like learning a new skill.

We were exhilarated, curious, the adrenaline rush was out of control yet everything seemed to be so sorted. We promised each other a bucket full of things. We had assured each other a lifetime. Remember?

We were sculptors, trying to shape great things into existence with just the magic of our love..

We were artists painting masterpieces with brushes made of nothing, but feelings.. two architects designing our best lives, together. Forever.

We were so deep into the bond that if given a chance, we would have coloured the world into the most beautiful place, that too with efforts very little.

We were almost like the forces giving birth to a new entity, a new life. Almost.

 Just. Almost.

 We could never really do any of that..

While running fast and wild, penetrating deep into the chaos of the world, I don’t know when you let go of my hand, the hand you had promised to hold forever... accidentally or by intent, I don’t know and I guess I never will..

With you, I shaped so many dreams.

With you, I destroyed them too. 

We together, murdered love, two lovers, a potential happy family and their happiness. We killed the baby we had raised with passion. It died in the very hands that had made it. 

We painted the most beautiful picture together and we also tore it off ourselves. We built a paradise, beloved and put it in flames, mercilessly, without a second thought.

Its so artistic and incredible to make something this beautiful and also to ruin it with our distinct, sequential vile actions. Isn't it?

 We made each other learn that not every art is to be adored, not all of them are beautiful. 

Some set us on fire while they are being smoldered themselves.

Patnitop- The Silent Ecstasy

                                                                                                    Travelogue by Prarthna Nanda

There is a place far, far away from our capital city, hidden somewhere amidst the magnificent mountain ranges of Jammu and Kashmir, in the Udhampur district- Patnitop (originally known as ‘patan ka talab’); a beautiful hill station sheltered on a plateau in the Shivalik belts of Himalayas.

My college mid-semester breaks had just begun and literally belonging to a family of wanderers, I couldn’t just sit at home watching Netflix all day, so we packed our bags and headed towards Patnitop.

Wheels screeched and the train stopped at Udhampur station and as I got down, a sense of serenity swept over… that place was calmer than I thought it’d be; a clean old railway station, very few people and an army base camp nearby. We booked a taxi up to Patnitop. The excitement for the trip was growing more and more with each passing minute. The roads were silent with a few tea stalls at the corners after intervals. It was the month of October and Patnitop was cold enough to make you put on your sweaters!

As we entered Patnitop, I was amazed to see the natural beauty, long stretches of land covered with lush green grass, tall pine and deodar trees, astonishingly beautiful Alpine forests, cool breeze, quiet roads with a few locals selling beautiful Pashmina fabrics. We checked into our railway rest house around 10:30 in the morning and even the rest houses were made in the local cottage styles. The nearby areas had a few cottages which reminded me of those old English cottages of the countryside of Wyoming, USA.

Ours was a two-day trip to Patnitop and unlike Shimla, it doesn’t offer you much to see and is very less crowded. On our first day, we traveled all up to Nathatop, another valley at an altitude of 2711m. The road to the location was very steep and drive up to there was a thrilling one! And yet the beautiful meadows and breathtaking view of the mountains enchant all who visit there. The joy of Paragliding and High flying can be experienced from the take-off points at Dwariyai and Nathatop till Kud (landing area). 20 kilometers from Patnitop is Sanasar which holds a beautiful lake upon itself and also offers a range of activities like Paragliding, Camping, Trekking, Abseiling, Rock Climbing, Horse riding and scenic nature walks. Its serves as an excellent place for wildlife photographers and adventure seekers.

On the second day, we visited all that was around, by foot. There was a very old ‘Naag temple’ carrying an ancient belief of wish fulfillment to the devotees, a marketplace to buy authentic shawls, bulbul blankets and all winter accessories, an amusement park for children to enjoy. Walks inside the deep woods, was the best part of the place.

The best time to visit is, during winters to see the snowfall and to enjoy activities like ice skating and many more
or during peak summers to ditch the scorching heat of your city.

The main language spoken is Dogri but Hindi is also used.

Food is  typically North Indian.

All kinds of accommodations can be found at Patnitop, costing from ₹500 to ₹3000 per night.

Overall, Patnitop is for those who want to escape the chaos of cities for a few days to sleep in the lap of nature, for those who seek adventure and extreme sports. This is a place must to be visited for a memorable, life time experience.

Victims

Amidst every physics equation, there stays a  renowned writer
 whose wings are tied up by the agonizing strings of society..

Amidst every chemical reaction, a painter..
 who only dreams of creating fine magic with that brush.

In every new plant name we mug up, there hides a musician
who can arouse life through the strings of his instruments

The person doing calculus out there is actually a wanderer
ready to give up everything to set himself free..

That political science book is often read by a 'could be' scientist
 but his parents want him to be a civil servant and not a fellow explorer.

Not every history major guy wants to be a historian..

Standing in the botany lawn, I think of that stethoscope I always wished to wear someday..

To the guy at the corner, holding a brush seems a lot easier than holding that test tube.

A potentiometer doesn't excite the dead writer as much as a pen could have..

We are all captives of each other's mindsets, held up by the forces of our own insecurities.. 

Futures being decided by people who were themselves the victims of this bar code ritual.. in the name of experience, we are being fooled by those who themselves got fooled by their elders.

Little by little, those dreams are becoming fragile and brittle. 

And we are just on the edge of collapsing into a singularity of nothingness   

Set O! Set us free from the chains of your frail mentality.
Give us some air, some sunshine.. Along with which, the dreams shall crawl in.. 

We were born to shine

And age like fine wine..

Leaving School.

It was all nothing till the mid-term exams. But after that.. as the months passed by, a strange feeling developed inside. There was a sadness along with peace whose intensity kept increasing every month of 2015.
October.. November.. December.
The school which i hated so much had started to feel good.
And it was so late till i realised that it was not as bad as i thought.
“Just 40 days after the mid-term and then you will not come to school unless you have an exam", a teacher said. And i remember what a pain producing line it was..
I won't say that these 4 years were the best part of life or i have been so happy attending my school but i will miss school because it was my school.
I can't get those days back. Can't feel like a child again.
I sometimes question myself..
What will i do if i don't go to school? I will go to college. Obviously. But would it feel the same? I doubt.
As each day of the last months of 2015 passed, the more we got parted from our school.
The broken windows and torn seat covers of our buses didn't look that bad. The witch-like teachers (..well) seemed sweet. The benches, blackboard, corridors, ground, canteen and what not! Everything attracted me so much. I seriously didn't want to leave school. But i was helpless.
All those people whom i saw daily would be no more seen. The thing which affected me most was to leave the person who i was very much attached to.
Though a promise had been made to be in touch.. who could say. Promises don't last long in most cases like this. And today ultimately we have to part our ways. I will try to do that with a smile.
I have made so many good memories, collected all i could, talked to everyone i wanted to. And now i am ready to enter into a new, mature phase.
And i would say that i will miss everything the school has given me. Every damn thing!
And will take all these memories to smile in future.
Wishing good luck to everyone..
I will miss you all.
Miss you my dear school. :')

Drop

The smell of wet mud mixes up with the smell of flowers.

And reaches straight to my window.

 I let it in. 

The heavenly fragrance then, enters into my body and cleanses every bit of my soul.

There is no yellow outside. It is all hazy and damp.

 Exactly how I want it to be.

I see happy faces everywhere, everywhere. 

How beautiful all this is…

 the whole atmosphere around me is elated and there is no gloom for a while.

As I close my eyes, the pleasant drops fall upon me.

 Making my hair wet, soothing my eyes, clearing their way through the lashes, running down my cheeks and finally reaching the lips. 

They quench my thirst as no liquid has ever done.

How much I long for it… As everyone else does… it is breathtaking. 

Just so breathtaking.

Something to be compared to the heaven.

It is that heavenly water. It is rain.

Aimless

He gets up early in the morning with mind full of hopes. He is determined to rule the world. How? That he doesn't know. He wears the same smile on his face, he had worn yesterday. In fact, he wears it everyday.

He follows the same path, goes through same garden, sees the same children playing, each day. But, he never realizes.

     For him, things are totally different for different times. He thinks that people tend to change every twenty-four hours. He expects acceptance from those men who kicked him yesterday and... daily.

He desires success from the same place which embraces him with failure everytime he approaches it.

He believes that his talents are being unseen. Still, he knows that one day, people will recognize him, will respect him. But, is just not ready to accept that he has no talents. He is useless, as usual. And people hate him for being a crazy, self- obssessed man.

     At night, he is seen sad, talks to himself, cries in front of the mirror, is agitated as his exact personality couldn't do anything. He decides to give up. He knows, he will.

But, as the sun rises, a strong aroma of freshness surrounds him. It makes him forget his past and try again.

Randomly, he changes his mind. His sorrows, depression... disappear, magically. And, he again gets up early in the morning and walks out because he is aimless. He wants to do things but doesn't know what or how to do... just wanders around the streets like stray animals and stares, desperately, at people who do not give a damn!
They don't care because, he is aimless. Valueless.

A place. That place.

“ Whose house is it? " I asked pointing that magnificent mansion.
         “ How do i know? " My friend paid no attention and kept walking.

The sky grew darker, darker as the dusk approached. The air was soft and quite refreshing. Streets were empty except for two dogs wandering around with their tongues out.

I stared at that house. It looked old, yet beautiful... like the ones you see in the 90s' cinemas. I wondered who owned that house and how he lived there and why.
But that house was a beautiful one, I must say, with a huge gate, a nice garage and an old-fashioned door leading inside. It was half- open.

There was a stillness in the environment which was almost breathtaking. Something about this house attracted me so much. I wanted to see it, to see the people who lived there.

Suddenly, i could hear the opening of one of the windows of that house. I looked up. Standing at it, was a lady with extremely long hair. She was almost a silhouette in that pale light.
  I could sense her uneasiness as she caught me peeping inside her house and that was very embarrassing for me. I shifted my gaze somewhere else and pretended as if i was searching for someone.

“ You nonsense girl! Have you lost your mind ? ” Shouting like brainless freaks, was my friend who was standing beside his car.

A house which looked like that of classic era must have sheltered extremely noble people in it. And my friend behaving like wild animals just added up to my embarrassment.

 “ I haven't lost anything. ” I said. “ See this house. Wonderful !! I just find some sort of connection between me and this place. ”
     That lady was still looking at us..

“ Really. Why not? Your ghost is going to haunt that house in the future years.” He was very annoyed.

 “ dude..? Come on. Why are you so irritated? ” I asked.

“ Timelessness, girl. We have to reach home before seven and there a long way to go. ” He said this and dragged me into his car.

And I... I had to leave all my curiosity there. I had to make my strong force and attraction, die.
       That house had something special in it. And i wanted to discover that. My gut feelings wanted to.

At times, it is very natural to fall in love with someone or something at an instant. And then we want to know so much about them.

 However, i was moving away... from that place, without knowing anything, just because my friend had no time, leaving all my satisfaction, the feeling of belongingness, there... to die with time. Which my friend would never understand. Nobody ever would...