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LTGTR is a youth magazine aimed at providing good solid content wrien primarily bystudents and young professionals on a diverse and relevant range of topics, and presented

in a simple and humorous manner. Unlike other magazines, LTGTR provides a refreshing

blend of high quality literature and socially relevant arcles which are blatantly honest. Thecontent is neither journalisc nor bookish; rather you shall nd it invigorang and smulangin an otherwise monotonous world. We dont just present facts; we provide opinions and letyou choose the ones you like.

LTGTR is not a college magazine. It transcends the boundaries of any college and delves

into the psyche of Indian youth. It is an endeavor to provide a common ground for people toexpress their ideas and opinions. It is an opportunity for common people, like me and you, to

nd like minded individuals. It is an aempt to bring back a culture of reading and wring andprove to you that these things are for the masses and not just for the elite.

In a trigger-happy world, in an age where the media is known to sensaonalize everything,in a culture where making money is the only movaon, LTGTR is an aempt to bring backreal journalism and wring. It draws on the ideas of the French revoluon Liberte, Egalite,Fraternite and combines it with inspiraon from young revoluonaries who used wringas a way to mobilize the masses. In a world where broken hearts, unfullled expectaonsand death form a major chunk of our thoughts, LTGTR is at aempt to break away and ndmeaning in life.

So I can go ahead and without any regrets state, LTGTR IS A NOT JUST A MAGAZINE, IT IS AMOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE. IT IS A REVOLUTION, OF SORTS, AIMED AT BRINGING OUT THEREBELS IN US, GETTING THEM TO ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS AND FINDING THE ANSWERS.

Finally it is meant to keep you happy and entertain you. It is meant to keep the good mesrolling.

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Icannot begin wring about love. A weekIve spent in trying to gure out whataspect of love deserves such menon that

the editorial talk about it. To even aempt towrite about all of it would be foolish to saythe least. Greater writers than me have not

accomplished it and lesser mortals would

embarrass my brash aempt. And so, I sithere, wring about love with no idea whatthe next few hundred

words will say.

A queson needs tobe answered, Haveyou ever been in love?

For the feeling is not something that wordscan describe to you. It is so vast an emoonthat it completely overwhelms you. It is the

greatest high, the most powerful narcoc.

Its agony, its silly, its stupid, its irraonalyet it is like a pillar of stability. Its passion,obsession, its learning to let go. Its maturity,its order and turmoil, its a contradicon in

Tat love is all there is,Is all we know of love.

- Emily Dickinson

itself. Its everything that you can experience.

Its a faith beyond God and religion itself. Youmay not agree with some, or any, of what I

have wrien. I will not refute your claim. Norbe foolish enough to say, Youve never beenin love, you will not understand. Love can bebest described as To each one, their own. Itsso personal a feeling that no one explanaoncould possibly relate to everyone. Yet in its

own universality love

is more fundamental to

understanding human

behavior, in general,than any rule of science

has or ever will be.

What about the regular clichs that we onlyfall in love once, that we know true love when

we see it, etc. Like I said, I cannot possibly

come up with an answer which will be true foreveryone, or even the majority. These things

come true for some people and not for others.

Some people love forever and some for just

The Editorial-Anony

mous

EDITORIAL

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Lovelooksnotwiththeeyes,butwiththemind;AndthereforeiswingedCupidpaintedblind. -Wi

lliamShakespeare

hours. Yet, underlying all these varying andcontradictory facts, is one truth that altruisclove does exist and lasts forever. For those,who like me, prefer simpler explanaons itmeans seless love. A form of love where you

put the person you love above yourself andthat becomes the guiding principle of yourlife even if it means sacricing your love itself.It need not be reciprocated but it will last inyou. I cannot console you if youve ever had

to sacrice your love for loves happiness buttake solace in the fact that he/she is in a beerplace and thats all that really maers. Trustme, for I may not have lived long enough, but

Ive loved long enough.All this serious and morbid stu might put o

all those people who have never experienced

any of it, irrespecve of whether they haveever been in love or not. I apologize; brokenhearts are like broken vessels oen pouringthemselves out on paper at the slightest touch

of love. Yet love is beauful too. It is an energythat resonates with nature itself and connects

you to life the way God meant it to be. Andits not always so complicated nor does it

require humongous deeds of sacrice. Indeedthe things I enjoyed about being in love werethe lile ones, the hesitant conversaons,

the chup chup ke milna, staring into the

eyes, the accidental brushing of hands, nallycoming out in the open etc. All the turmoil

of emoons that reign chaos and drive youracons can be broken down to simple acts of

caring for someone and wanng to be withthem. For all its complexity, love is the mostsimple, primeval even, of all emoons.

And now one nal aspect I must touchbefore I go in search for a healing touch formy sorrowful state. A lovers lament! Oenpeople do not realize how important their

love is to them unl it is too late. Many ofyou whove never experienced the sorrow of

parng will never understand the empnessinside. As St. Augusne said, it is much easierto have not been loved than to know love andlose it. The memories, both the good and thebad, are not enough to ll the void.

This editorial shall remain anonymous, for it

is not wrien by one person. It is wrien byall those whove felt some or all of what been

wrien here.Cheers.

For the ones we loved and always will in some measure, if youre reading

this, to have known your love was to have known the worlds greatest

feeling. I hope you nd the same.

EDITORIAL

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C o n t e n t sOpinions/ramble/jobless

Beauty - anonymous

Jeet Lo Cup! - suryatej Borra

Moral Policing - Vakul Mohanty

Natural Blues - Pradeep Damodara

FEATUREWhats Your Love Like? - Pradeep Damodara

Lovely Lies - Rachina Ahuja

Devdas - Sayonee Ghosh Roy

Hello Stranger - Vidya Ramamoorthy

Slender Thread - roopak Khandekar

Oye! listen...Dont cough when you kiss me - anuj Suri

People

Dilruba Pandey - Sukriti Lanba

Best OF Facebook

Fiction

Insanity - Vakul Mohanty

Volta - Nishant Boorla

Head Over Heels - 400 Word Specialist

No Easy Way Out - Vijay Narayan

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28DISCLAIMER: ALL OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN HIS MAGAZINE ARE OF HE RESPECIVEAUHORS. LGR BEARS NO RESPONSIBILIY FOR ANY HUR SENIMENS. HE IMAGES USEDARE PROPERIES OF HEIR RESPECIVE OWNERS.

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The ugly people of the world have devised so many ways of making themselves feel

beer that theyve turned being unaracve into something of a virtue. Its fashionableto resent, bitch about and generally denigrate beauful, more aracve people. And

no, Im not talking about Inner Beauty(TM) and all that rubbish. Im referring to plain old goodlooks. Most of it is harmless self-consolaon, but there are some blatantly annoying lines

whose makers I would love to kill slowly and painfully.

Beauty is only skin deep.Yeah, and that isnt deep enough? What the hell are you going to do with a cute appendix?

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.Of course it does. If the beholder is beholding a painstakingly air-brushed photo of MeganFox, that is.

Beauty without brains is nothing.Bullshit. Beaues without brains will survive all right, thank you very much. Compare theirnumbers to those of well-known brainy non-beaues, youll see what I mean.

Beauty is not in the face, it is a light in the heart.Yeah, thats exactly why the main contributors to the billion-dollar cosmec industry are theugliest of people. With beauful, light-lled hearts, of course.

Get over yourselves and work a lile toward geng that perfect tan, those perfect lips. Beautycomes cheap these days, and its a shame if you sll have to resort to childish, resenul taccsjust so you can make yourselves feel beer..........................................

Beauty-Anonymous

JOBLESS

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Most Indians take immense pride in

our crickeng heritage. Now onceagain the me has come to notch

up that pride a lile, turn the patriosm

on and cheer our team; for the ICC CricketWorld Cup 2011 has arrived. Adding to it, we

are hosng the event this me along withBangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Cricket is more than a game in this country.

It is a religion and a state of existence. The

expectaons from the team are extra-

ordinarily high this me. The prime reason isIndias unbeatable and the invincible record inthe crickeng arena over the last 3 years. Thismakes Team India one of the clear favorites

JeetLoCup!-SuryatejBorra

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for the trophy. A host of other factors like

home advantage, sub-connental playingcondions and a perfect team balance addto our advantage. Well this enre is oneside of the coin; the other side of the coin isSachin Tendulkar. Talking about Indian Cricket

without Sachin Tendulkar is like talking aboutRamayana without Rama. Sachin Tendulkarhas single handedly inspired the imaginaonof whole generaon of this cricket crazynaon.

If we go back in me, Indias associaon withthe Cricket World Cup has always been special.India had a lukewarm or rather a dismal oungin both 1975 and 1979 World Cups when all

the Indian crickeng legends like Prasanna,Bedi, Venkatraghavan, Gavaskar sweatedfor the naons crickeng glory. Then camethe golden moments in 1983 when we beatdefending champions West Indies (they were

on a hat-trick) as underdogs and emerged

Champions. This Cup produced some great

crickeng stars like Kapil Dev, MohinderAmarnath and Krishnamachari Srikanth. The

tournament produced some unforgeableperformances from our team. Kapil Devs 175against Zimbabwe was an example of bangbrilliance. Complemenng it was MohinderAmaranths all round eorts in the seminalsand nals. Then came the magnum opus nalwhere we shocked the crickeng greats.(One should have captured Clive

Lloyds and Vivian

R i c h a r d s

faces) .The

picture of

Kapil Devliing theCup in Lords is

sll fresh in thememories of all

who were alive to

see it. Then came

the 1987 WorldCup in which we

hosted the tournament for the rst me.This tournament also saw an impeccableperformance from India and it seemed

unbeatable. But me played its part when welost to England in the seminals in a matchwhich is said to be crickets greatest upsets.

This tournament also saw Australia rise as acrickeng superpower. The 1992 World Cupwas not worth remembering. But it gave thecountry the greatest cricket player the game

has ever seen SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR.The 1996 World Cup which followed can bethought of as a replay of 1987. India hostedthe tournament. India lost in the seminalsto Sri Lanka in a dramac fashion as the

Eden Garden crowd turned violent. SachinTendulkar won the Player of the TournamentAward as he was the highest run geer. The1999 World Cup was just a decent oung withIndia losing out in the SUPER 6 ROUND. Thencame the 2003 World Cup. The memoriesof this world cup bring with them a mixtureof emoon, pride, happiness, pain etc. Theteam was at its best and walked its way into

the nals. This snt was a perfect example oftrue leadership in Sourav Gangulys captaincy

and collecve team eort. Amidst highexpectaons, India lost to Australia in the naland ended as Runner Up. Again the Master

Blaster was the hero of the story. He

OPINIONS

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bagged the Player of the Tournament Awardas the highest run geer. The 2007 World Cupwas forgeable. The team was knocked out inthe preliminary stages, suering losses at thehands of Sri-Lanka and Bangladesh, teams wehad beaten comfortably a few months ago.

The tournaments failure was blamed on thencoach Greg Chapell for his unconvenonalstrategies. Since then everyone has beenwaing for this World Cup. The expectaonshave increased because India has won theInaugural T20 Cup in 2007. Moreover Indiaholds the No1. Spot in the test rankings and

has had impressive performances in the ODIsas well. The Master himself has expressed

his desire of winning the World Cup duringhis tenure as a player (It is probably his lastWorld Cup too!). The team has a perfect

blend. Starng with the able leadership ofthe skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, it hasthe gliers of Virendra Sehwag, Yusuf Pathanand the experience of Yuvraj Singh, GautamGambhir - the all-round presence of ViratKohli and Harbhajan Singh. So it is me to say

Come On India Dikha Do. Ye Duniya Ko DikhaDo

But all this is only from a cricket crics pointof view. From a cricket bus point of view,the story is enrely dierent. When we speakabout the World Cup what we speak aboutis stascs, rules, nancial endorsements,players, venues and schedules. But we neglectone very big thing. It is the peoples emoons.Yes there are huge expectaons on the teamfrom the naon. It is the same story in everycountry but in India it is more. Somehow therelaonship of the game with our countryis a very interesng one. This game wasintroduced to us by the Brish and has turnedinto a naonal obsession. Somehow India fellin love with this game because we had aboutthe same pace in life as the game had. And

the game became our cute family sport and

an inseparable part of Indian lifestyle. Thebusiness and beng which happen are just anicing on the cake. If we just take a deeper look

at peoples lifestyle, the importance people

give to cricket is more than any other thing.

People bunk jobs, studies, businesses to watch

a cricket match. People pray to God hopingit will improve the teams performance. Wegive a great boost to the industries incomeby taking part in contests and post matchanalysis shows. Other elds and industriesalso work with this passion of cricket in mind.

For example the lm industry will not releasemovies during cricket season or will make a

cricket oriented movie. (Ex: Paala House).

Several brands like Pepsi, Idea, Boost, Sahara,Nike and many other companies will release

products to promote the game and boosttheir businesses. Well all the analysis andtalk aside, its me to have some serious fun.Make the most of the season and shop like

mad. Throw all the stascs in the dustbinand enjoy the game like a true cricket bu.

By the way here is a test to conrm whether

you are a true cricket bu or not. If you jumpfrom your seat and shout like insane when

there is a boundary or a dismissal, you area true cricket bu (:P) . If you squeeze yourpopcorn or there is a frown on your face when

Sachin is dismissed you are a true cricket bu.But dont forget to do one thing. Cheer forIndia in every way possible and wish for yourher victory from the boom of your heart.Just Say JAI HO TEAM INDIA!!

.........................................

OPINIONS

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Love is universal. It (unfortunately) permeates all, irrespecve of age or status. Whatever Shiv Sena, MNSand RSS may say, I bet their members have loved (or atleast had a hard-on for) some chick or the otherat some point of me in their sad existence.

So dont bother denying love, just read on and classify which type you come under. Oh and its all in good

faith.

PUPPY LOVE:

Ooh! Look at them theyre cute and cuddly lilebabies. Perfect together. Acng like sweet, love-struck two-year oldsso lovable. Its especiallyendearing when theyre not together, pining for

each other like lost puppies.

FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THIS KIND OF LOVE,WHINING IS A DOG THING. NO ONE REALLYWANTS TO KNOW OR CARE IF YOURE MISSING

YOUR MUNCHKIN. KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!

MATURE LOVE:

They know what they want for themselves and the

future. Their love is very strong, but with the leastoutward manifestaon. Always thinking about things

to come, they know how to keep the relaonshipgoing without the need for physical connecon.IF YOU COME UNDER THIS CATEGORY, DONT FEELTOO GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF. YOURE GETTING OLD.AND UGLY.

PASSIONATE LOVE:

Oh yeah, baby. Now were talking. Or maybewere not, depending on what we are doing

somehow looking into eyes just doesnt cut it for

these love-birds. Touchy-feely is the order of theday, or whatever me it is for that maer.A WORD TO THE WISE, KEEP YOUR HANDS TOYOURSELF, AND THIS WASNT WHAT THEY HAD

IN MIND WHEN THEY SAID LIP SERVICE.

INFATUATION:

She loves me, she loves me not. Stop mulangthose poor owers, for gods sake. Man up, andgo talk to the girl. Watching and drooling from

a distance is NOT endearing. Its called stalking.

Get a grip.If youre a girl in this posion, just go tell him.Guys love female aenon and obsession. Hellhave a huge ego boost and might even decide he

Whats Your

love Like?- Pradeep Damodara

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talk, stalking them on Facebook, nding outwhat theyre doing all the me its all reallynice unl he/she nds someone else. Thatswhen it gets painful. Watching the person

of your dreams going around with someone

else, sharing beauful moments that were

supposed be yours, your future memories.Thats when you become one of the FrustratedOne-Sided Lovers Associaon.FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THIS BOAT, DONTFEEL TOO SORRY FOR YOURSELF. YOURE NOTTHE ONLY ONE. LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE,YOU DIDNT GET REJECTED, YOU JUST GOTWALKED OVER.

LOVE TO HATE:

Ah, the dramac relaonship. Both hate eachothers guts, and love being that way. Thislove is passionate, violent and dangerous.

They crave each others aenon all theme, and get incredibly jealous. Their deepaecon causes them to quarrel even more.A ght for each other turns into a ght witheach other. Happens every me, but they livefor the relaonship.FOR THOSE IN THIS KIND OF LOVE, YOURRELATIONSHIP IS FINE, BUT YOU MIGHTWANT TO SEE A SHRINK.

DISCLAIMER:If your relaonship didnt classify under anyof the above, dont worry about it it doesntmean theres anything wrong with either of

you. But once it zzles out (and it surely will),feel free to come to us for advice.

We can also be your shoulder to cry on.

.........................................

likes you. Its all hormonal anyway.

PEOPLE, JUST DONT LET IT TURN INTO ANOBSESSION. WE ALL KNOW HOW THE HORRORMOVIES END.

STAR-CROSSED LOVERS:

They love each other dearly. But can neverbe together. They are unfortunate enough tobe together emoonally, and never be able

to commiserate their aecon for each other.The fact that they hold each others heartsis enough to squeeze them full of pain. Adouble-edged sword, knowing they are therefor each other, but they arent.NOW YOU KNOW WHY WE HAVE THE ZODIACCALENDAR. CHECK IT UP FROM NOW ON.

Where both the boy and girl love each other,but theyre too shy or mid to approachthe other and come out in the open. This

unspoken commitment creates a strong bondbetween both of them. They express theirfeelings with mid smiles, silent eye contact,and other sweet nothings.

IF YOUR LOVE FALLS UNDER THIS CATEGORY,YOU MIGHT WANT TO LEARN TO TALK.ACTIONS MAY SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS,BUT DONT RISK IT.

FOSLA:

Weve all been there at some point of me orthe other... unrequited, one-sided aecon.This one starts o all ne staring, poinnghim/her out to friends, trying and failing to

FEATURE

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Dilruba PandeyA successful VJ, Achor, Singer and more importantly aloving wife and caring mom. SUKRITI LANBA talks to herabout her remarkable achievements.

PEOPLE

Q. HOW ARE YOU AND HOWS LIFE IN GENERAL RIGHT NOW?Ans. Life is hecc, with all the shows and events. Its fun though, you rarely get to do so manyinteresng things. So right now, life is rocking.

Q. YOU ARE AN ACTOR, VJ, MODEL, SINGER, STYLIST. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE

ACCOMPLISHED SO MUCH?Ans. I am proud to have achieved all this. Its a great feeling when all the hard work andpaence one has invested pays o.

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PEOPLE

Q. YOUVE CHOSEN AN UNCONVENTIONAL CAREER. WAS IT DIFFICULT MAKING THAT CHOICE?Ans. Well, I was extremely interested in art and dramacs, so it wasnt a dicult choiceto make. Also there is something exoc about being on stage and on screen that drew myaenon.

Q. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ADVICE TO YOUNGSTERS LOOKING FOR A SUITABLE CAREER?Ans. Its a choice one has to make for oneself. My only advice would be to follow your talent

and listen to what your heart says. If you long to do something, jump in and give it a shot. Idid that and it worked for me.

Q. HAS THERE BEEN ANYONE IN PARTICULAR WHO HAS HELPED YOU ALONG IN YOUR CAREER?Ans. There have been several people who have played a pivotal role in my career. My family,obviously, has been the most important. Not to menon my group of close friends.

Q. HOW DO YOU JUGGLE BETWEEN HOME AND WORK?Ans. You have to make some adjustments; its fairly dicult for you and the family. Thereare ups and downs, but at the end if things can be sorted out with a lile co-operaon from

everyone.Q. HOW DO YOU HANDLE FAILURE?Ans. I dont brood over it and move onlife is beauful. Why waste me on somethingnegave. Rather learn from you failures chuck them aside and move ahead. Along with hardwork, paence etc., a posive mindset is also important.

Q. HOW DO YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND GENERALLY LIKE TO SPEND TIME TOGETHER?Ans. We love spending me at home together. With all the shows and event I can rarely getaway to spend me at home. I cherish these moments.

Q. WHATS NEXT IN STORE FOR YOU?There is a lot in store. Im looking to perform on bigger stages, more singing, more showsmaybe even a movie. Life is short might as well make full use of it.

Q. WE HEARD YOU PERFORMED WITH BRYAN ADAMS. HOW DOES IT FEEL?Ans. Yeah I sang the opening act for his show at Kathmandu, Nepal and also hosted his show.It was an amazingly enlightening experience. It was also perhaps the biggest stage for me inmy professional experience.

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Have you ever wondered if the Lword actually exists? Of course you

have!! Especially us girls eh? It reallyis MOST annoying that we grow up reading

books and watching movies and then aresuddenly catapulted into the real world when

we realise that weve been fed a pack of LIES.

*Cue dramac heart-beat style music*I am sure everyone is familiar with the

quintessenal prince charming who comesin many dierent packages but essenally,always has the same core aributes. Hesnice, hes charming (of course), hes terriblyhandsome and never fails to fall for the

princess. But what they dont tell you isthat he probably is a narcissist, handsome in

a prey boy way really and in the real worldwill probably marry a really bitchy rich femaleand who suits his consequence more thanpoor old Cindy. This is Chick-ick PrinceCharming template #1

Then there is the tall, dark and handsomevariety whos the brooding sort and holdsthe female gender in contempt except of

course when he meets his one true love andundergoes a metamorphosis of sorts. If its aHollywood ick this change occurs over a 2or 3 day period. In Indian cinema this takesplace over the duraon of a song that waslied from an Afghan folk number. This myfriends is template number 2.

Now on to my personal favourite - #3 - Thenerdy best-friend who apparently has been

in love with his girl-best friend since everhe can remember and she doesnt realiseit! She, naturally, lusts aer the hoest butmeanest guy in school (another stereotype)

and only aer a lot of drama doesshe realise that her best-friend is actuallykinda hot and shes been in love with him herwhole life! *Cue removal of ugly dude make

up on the nerd* *rolls eyes*

Let me tell you something, if a guy likes a

girl, more oen than not she can denitely

tell and especially if hes supposed to be herbest friend. So thats rubbish and whatsmore, being in love your whole life and notknowing is rubbish too! How out of touchwith yourself do you have to be to not realise?And the nerdy guys feet probably snk too.Come on!!

So you see, weve been subsisng onmade-up idealisc noons and in the realworld it is not at all like that. Boys are noprinces charming. The tall, brooding chapsare probably actually dangerous or... er.. justtouched in the head. Lets face it. Boys dontbrood. Im not saying girls are perfect, farfrom it. But I am saying that its not our faulton account of having grown up on books andmovies which turn us into silly, senmental

fools.I wonder if there is anything such thing as

a perfect relaonship. I was watching thatpathec show Emoonal Atyachaar outof sheer boredom and the host said 30% offemales and 50% of males admit to beingmore interested in their boy/girlfriends bestfriend rather than in their boy/girlfriend.And he very cheerfully added So you see,

your love may actually be eyeing your bestfriend. Eeep! The stascs, if true, are ratheralarming dont you think? Almost enough to

drive me into becoming a nun!

LovelyLies!-RachinaAhuja

(withcreativeinputsfromNishantBoorla)

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So does true love and crap really exist??Or is it just something the mysterious theymade up so that people will get married and

the human race wont die out? Even if lovestories do exist, they certainly dont play out

the way theyre shown in the movies. Let me

break it down for you.LOVE STORY CLICHS:

1) THE AIRPORT SEQUENCE - Lady love is onher way to a far away land. Prince Charmingon his way to stop her. In the movie - the

hero runs past security and

dodges

Commando units

following which they chase aer him in slow

moon as he runs towards his lady screamingI love you.

In real life - Commando punches the guy in

the face so hard he ends up with 4 nostrils.

Lady love ies away, marries a rich foreignerand fakes an accent for added appeal.

2 STOP THE WEDDING sequence - Ladylove is being forced to marry someone shesactually beer suited to. Hero turns up just inme with his faithful and broke - yes, alwaysbroke - gang of friends. Point worth nonghere is that the friends are always way uglier

than the hero.

In the movies - Lady love realizes now is

the me and elopes rather ridiculously orconfronts her parents. In certain movies,

the Groom realizes now is his me to getpretenous and thus graciously oers the

hero his place on the wedding stage.In real life - Man heroically asks lady to elope

with him while she midly looks away causeshe gures theres more

money to

be made by marrying the mannext to her!

But back to girl talk. Speaking fromobservaon rather than experience, maybe

we should learn not to expect too much fromguys, acknowledge our superior sense and

pardon them for their lack of it. And they

should learn to think a lile of things otherthan themselves and not run away from

emoonal stu. Dont you think they wouldget along much beer then??

Damn, I should write a book!

.........................................

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This is not a character sketch of Devdas.Rather a dissecon of his decisions,aws and life in general and the cult

status he enjoys. Same thing, you say? Well,

character sketches are meant to be objecve

in view but you will not nd that here. Pardonme so, for I have no paence with that man.

So Devdas Mukherjee was a spoilt brat,born in an opulent household. He spent hischildhood loang around the village as boysof his age were wont to do, with his faithful

companion, Paro in tow. Why childrenare discredited for not having mature

emoons, I dont understand. Fuelled by thefriendly inmacy they shared, Paro ardentlywaited for her Dev to return from boardingschool and make her his bride. We all knowwhat happens aer that. Paros proposal isrejected and met with acute disdain. Parosmother, incensed with the insult, xes hermatch with a wealthier man.

Of all the labels Devdas wears, one of them

is Lover. We believe this aecon was notone-sided and Devdas loved Paro just asmuch. Now if the woman you love, with her

honour at stake, comes to you in the dead of

night and begs to be united with you, whatdoes a man with a responsibility towardsher, do? Falsify his true feelings and lie to herface because you were incapable of changingyour parents decision? Rich men fall into two

extremes: One where your wealth demandsimpeccable strength of character, honourand strong principles and the other where

you are a weak lackey, riding on the coat-tails

of your inherited credenals. Devdas is a sadspecimen of the laer. Self sacricing? Howso? Neither of them is happy with what just

happened, so of what value is this sacrice,in foresight?

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone repentsfor them. And also pays dearly for them.

When Devdas realizes his folly and runs backto Paro, its too late. Paro chides him for hisvacillaon but extracts a vow from him, tomeet her before he dies. True, he doesnt geta second chance and you really pity the man

at this point, but lifes like that, at mes. Youre

forced to live with the consequences of a baddecision. Had he been the above menonedCategory A Richie Rich, he couldve easily

whisked her away, got married and brought

In A CharactersPersona

-Sayonee

GhoshRoy

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her back. Surely they wouldve have relented?Aer all, the Great Indian Joint Family alwayslives happily ever aer.

A man drowns his sorrows in wine and a

womans eyes and Devdas found both. Abole on one side and Chandramukhi on

another. My heart really goes out to thiswoman. I have more sympathy and empathy

for her than the combined pity fans, theworld over, shower on Devdas. There shewas, public property, not allowed to aachherself to anyone but she did. Day and night,she sat by his side, listening to him say ParoParo in a drunken stupor, probably envyingthis woman for whom he was wasng away,

knowing she would never be able to takeher place. For she knew her place in society,it was a xed one and try as you might, youcouldnt rise above it. Evidence of this fact isher narrow portrayal on celluloid. Im sure not

many people are aware that Chandramukhi

was also into social service and sought

to free the peasants from the oppression

perpetrated on them by Devdas household

(zamindars, you know).

Devdas ambivalent feelings for both womennever did him any good, but on the contrarydrew another heart into his gambit of painand ruthlessly crushed it.

What more do I say for this

poor, wretched, downtrodden

caricature of a man? You might

opine that Devdas dying outsideParos mansion is heart-rending.In a way, it is. But its not theleast bit romanc. Not at all. Itsjust sad, incredibly sad.

This is where a characters

fatal aw comes into play. Thatone triing shortcoming whichbecomes the game-changer and

keeps them believable. No onelikes Mary Sues here! In retrospect,

had Devdas been a lile moreheadstrong, adamant and rm

in front of his father, he wouldve led a

completely dierent life altogether and notend up as an inebriated hobo before hisformer paramour. So at the outset the story

goes like this

Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. But boys

parents dont agree to marriage. Girl begsfor elopement. But boy is too cowardly togo through with it. So girl marries someone

else. Boy depressed. Boy meets another girlbut unsure of his feelings for her. Second girlunderstands it wont work out. Boy drinkshimself to death.

Im sure something like this happens every

day, in someones life at some point in

some measure. Hold a bole in your handand whine about a lost love, thats the rstthing theyll call you. But Ill give it this, ifsomething so disturbingly destrucve aainsuniversality, then it must certainly contain

some proporon of epic-ness.

.........................................

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Love between the sexes has had animportant place in Indian philosophy.

Neither did Ancient Indian society nor the

Hindu religion, in its most basic un-corruptedform, shun the eroc nature of love. Several

scriptures like Kamasutra and carvings onvarious ancient temples are tesmony to thisfact. So to see the severe moral policing that

couples are put under during Valennes Dayin the name of Indian culture is preposterous.

Many would agree with me, others would

disagreebut well, thats not the point.The queson is, is the display of love on aparcular day against our culture? Is holdinghands and huddling close together a sin? Let

us take a look at the whole scenario that is

prevalent in our country today.

Saint Valennes Day is celebrated everyyear on 14th of February (you can look upthe details on wiki, they will be way morefactual than I can ever dream of being). Wellthe concept is European, but its a smallworld, and a young India also enthusiascallycelebrates the occasion. Gis, chocolatesand cards are exchanged, couples confess

their aecon for one another again andagain, red roses and hearts decorate every

restaurant, caf (well, every place a couplemay visit), parks are jam packed, each obscurecorner occupied by a couple. And all this isinterrupted by a small group of people bentupon destroying the ambience and peace-of-mind of lovers. Well if it was just burning ofValennes Day cards and a lile shoung, it

would have been tolerable (you could just runaway and spend your special day somewhere

quiet) but these guys have taken things a steptoo far. Shiv Sena, RSS etc. take their aconsto a completely dierent level. What they do

is rob us of our choice of expression. They doall this on the pretext of conserving Indian

tradion. According to them, celebraon ofvalennes day tarnishes our glorious culture.Imagine youre at a caf with your girlfriendhaving the cuddly clichd talk, when a bunchof angry youngsters surround you, drag

you to a mandap and marry both of you.Preposterous, isnt it? Well along with this

you have the regular; beat the guy up, insultthe girl and accuse them of destroying Indian

culture blah blah blah. All this in a countrythat advocates tolerance and understanding.

A big word of advice to you extremists;its the 21st century for gods sake; peopleare free to do as they please within the

boundaries of decency. Love and dang are asmuch a part of Indian culture as is marriage.

Though the scene has become much moreliberal that it used to be, isnt that the wholepoint of a progressive society? What happens

on Valennes Day is in no way immoral orindecent. My advice: get a girlfriend, youseriously need to chill out, and also read up on

some history if you can there is something

fundamentally wrong with your educaon.

.........................................

Moral PolicingCet Over Yourself People.....- Vakul Mohanty

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F

og blankets everything. It reects themelancholy in my heart, portraying the

muddled intricacies of my thoughtsexactly the way I perceive them, making

everything seem more real and trancelike

at the same me. I look around, gazing atthe wonders the mist creates, experiencing

various facets of my emoonal make-up and sensing their manifestaon in mysurroundings.

Perhaps its because everything is so serene,

calm, and quiet, but the world seems to slowdown around me if only the train of thought

would slow down as much. Maybe then Id beable to concentrate on whats going throughmy head, maybe then I could make myselffeel dierently. I say dierently, not beer, fora reason Im not feeling bad, or unhappy, orangry, for that maer. Im feeling both emptyand full, devoid of emoon but brimming withit, and Im sinking into a confused, befuddledstupor.

So I try to clear my mind, concentrate on

the more distracng objects that lie aroundme, but they just bring me back to the inialstate, le feeling so many emoons that theycoalesce into nothingness. This nothingness

is both comforng and disturbing at the

same me, and despair swells up out ofall the confusion, threatening a physical

manifestaon.

I hold back, refuse to give in and bow down

to the emoon, and I aempt to bole up thesadness. But I fail.

Silent tears slip down my face the paceof their fall matching the overpowering

tranquility that Im surrounded by. I slipaway into the multude of emoons thatencompass my heart, each one taking its

turn at the forefront but they all keep thetears owing. And I sll cant gure out whatsdisturbing me.

I start paying aenon to the details of thethings happening around me, and I can almosthear music in everything. The leaves rustle in

sync, while my tears play a steady drum beatas they reach the ground, one-by-one. Therhythmic crunch of boots on gravel as peoplewalk by gives the whole song completeness.Melancholy is a wonderful word, it inherently

makes you feel its meaning

The music lulls me into a half-trance, and Ioat away in its embrace, feeling some of thedespair slowly dissipate. And all of a sudden,

the drums stop. The whole world around

is silent. And a thin ray of sunlight breaksthrough the fog. I feel my lips part and Im

smiling, grinning, brimming full of happiness.

In the end, theres only one emoon le.Contentment. I get up, brush myself o, andmake my way back towards everyone. Ivespent my grief; its me to give everyone elsea reason to smile.

Natural Blues-Prad

eepDamodara

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He lay at on his back, the back of jeepopen to the velvet black sky. Themoonlight drenched him, the wind

howled over him and occasionally slipped

under to touch him. He was counng thestars, he knew it was an impossibility, butlong ago he had noced the subtle order inthe chaoc expanse of the cosmos. He hadnoced the peculiar nature of the universe;behind the cloak of chaos was an underlyingorder and order always hid a subtle chaosunder its structured ambience. One neverexisted without the other. Order in chaos and

chaos in order were the foundaon on whichevery phenomenon, idea and philosophy of

the universe stood.

As the jeep came to a halt, he reordered

his thoughts and jumped out to walk backhome with his parents. In the so moonlighthis serene face was clearly visible. Everyonepresumed a stable, quiet mind from his calm

face but behind the faade lay a mindin chaos. A tempest of contradicons andconfusion raged within the connes of hiscranium. A feral insnct twisted his thoughtsleading him down terrifying alley of the

human psyche. Behind the angelic demeanorwas a demonic mind.

He walked into the kitchen as quiet as a

ger and stood behind his mother. A frenzyof thoughts churned in his mind and from itrose a single idea, a single primive cravinghe wanted to see blood, he wanted to seesomeone squirm in pain. A thrill of ancipaonran through his spine as he pictured the scene,

his heart raced as the adrenaline rushed

through his veins. The urge was incing; hepicked up a knife and tested it on his nger. A

single line of blood erupted from the woundthat the knife had carved out on his smooth

skin and with it a wave of sweet pain washed

over him. Along with the pain came guilt and

INSANITY-VakulMoh

anty

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disgust. He hated himself for what he was andwhat he could become. Overwhelmed by theemoon he let go of the knife and embracedhis mother. He needed her warmth, her love.He needed to hold on to sanity.

During the day a host of worldly smulidiverted his thoughts, never giving him an

opportunity to wander into to the dark corners

of his mind. It was the solitude of night that he

feared. He lay in bed staring at the fan circlingsluggishly overhead. He concentrated on itsmoon, hoping that it would have a hypnoceect or the eort would bore him to sleep.But sleep wasnt a refuge either. His dreams

were punctuated by grotesque scenes.He stared at the naked form on the table.

She was bound, spread out like the Vitruvianman. Her naked form struggled desperatelyagainst the ropes. She looked so beauful,her gure tense with the eort, her bosomrose and fell with her strained breathing .Herdesperate helplessness had a strange erocappeal. He looked at her pale face. He sawa specter draw a line around her thin white

neck. He bent down unl he felt her warmbreath on his face, he stared into her pale blueeyes. It was as if he could see her soul, laid

bare, unobstructed by emoons or lies. Sheshivered and turned away. He sighed and rana nger along her ushed cheek. He wrappedhis ngers around her neck. She screamed

He woke up screaming it was a dream, just adream he fell back onto his pillow, drenchedin sweat. A moment ago he was drenched in

blood. The blood wasnt there, but he couldsmell its faint metallic odor. He was slippingaway, his sanity was being washed away in thebrutal current of madness. He quietly slippedout of bed and walked to the wash basin. Hesplashed some water on his face and stared

into the mirror. His face was pale with horror,but there was a strange twinkle in his eyes.

He was walking through the milling crowd,searching for a face, a mask that hid the

insanity beneath. He was searching for a pathto sanity.

EPILOGUE:

Order is chaos, chaos is order. This is thetruth of the universe. Behind the faade ofhumanity there is a beast in every man. Wecan deny the truth, forget it, ignore it butits always there in the bizarre depth of ourmind, lurking, waing for an opportunity tosurface. We can chain the beast and ght alosing bale to suppress it but we can nevereliminate it, for out very nature is bound to it.

Our basic insncts and emoons are rootedin this beast. The only way to eliminate is toeliminate yourself. It is only in the void that

we are freed from our own nature. Rather

than suppress my very self, I choose to let it

run wild every now and then conne it withmy sanity, restricng its immense destrucvepower, channeling it harmlessly away from

society. Why do I do so, you ask? A caged,

frustrated beast is innitely more dangerousthan a free one. I do so in hope that if one day

I lose all restraints over my inner beast, it willnot unleash its full horror. I have found my

outlet aer struggle and strife. We all mustor humanity will be consumed by its owninsanity.

.........................................

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Hello stranger.

What a beauful day.

Yes,I do go here.

Well,its nice to meet you too.

Oh. Pleasure.

Hello there! We meet again.Nothing much really. Just a bit of trouble. The

usual. Whatever.

Why,thank you!

No,theres really no need.

Oh,well if you insist.:)

Hello! Howve you been?

Sure sounds like a good weekend.

Wow!

Well maybe we can go together.No,I dont like pink at all. I like blue.

Hello. Ooh youve got me something.

And its pink. :/

:/

: |

: )

: ) )

: D:D :D :D

Hey! Wait up for me.

Missed you too.

No,Id like that,actually.

At seven then?

Hello,and thank you.

That was lovely.

Oh! Lets get us some banana milkshakes.Well theyre my favorite too.

Oh no,you did not.

You did?

Haha,well it sure was worth it : )

Hey,I saved you a seat.

Well,I can come with you ,if you like.

No Im not scared of walking back alone.

But you can come with me too. Not that I

want you to (but I do).Hello! Yes,I did call you last night.

Thats strange.

No,go ahead.

No hard feelings. Really.

Hello.

Long me,no see.

I beg your pardon?

Did you really just say that?Thats not true.

I cant believe you would hold that against

me.

Fine, then.

I saved you some banana milkshake but Im

guessing you want to pass.

...well,I was always a good guesser.

Hello.

..

Well,bye then. Ive got to go to..

Oh yeah,youve got to go too,to that.

Cya.

Helum.

That was harder than I thought it would be.I cant believe this is it.

Hello,stranger.

HelloStranger-Vidy

aRamamoorthy

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You could not convince me that everything was going rightYou were betrayed by your prey but gloomy eyes

Our fairy tale world vanished in broad daylightAnd we have just begun to realize

The protecon were trying to build around us

Is nothing but a thin glass wallAll can see through it, one blow can shaer itAnd push us o the edge into a free fall

The slender thread that binds us togetherThere are forces trying to break itBut there is something inside us

That will spur us on and we will make it

I vividly remember that enchanng look on your faceSomewhere in my memory it seems to be trapped

It reminds me that sorrow is not what we have to embraceAnd will forfy that thread so that it doesnt snap

On a brand new journey, we now embarkBound together by this slender thread of love and trust

Look at the heavens- there goes a shoong starSo lets make ourselves one and make a wish for us

The slender thread that binds us togetherThere are forces trying to break itBut there is something inside us

That will spur us on and we will make it

......................................................................................

SlenderThread- Roopak Khandekar

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You were wearing pinkAnd pink was my world then

With me wrien in all colors of ink

Come inside if you want the notebook

Come with me into the darkAnd then we kissed, please take a look

If my sisters sll outside in the park

Yes she is, come kiss me again

And please turn o the only light

But instead I pushed you against the wallI wont, its making your wet lips shine so bright

Listen dog, dont you do me wrong

Come hold my hand, let me show you the way

With dierent shades of darkness let us

Paint the picture of a perfect day

But now why arent you reaching outNot holding my hand, not showing the way

To where youve planned to go alone

Are you moving on, are you going away?

Or are you already gone

And have I already been replaced

OyeListen...DontCoughWhenYou

KissMe -AnujSuri

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And has the picture of that perfect day

Already been defaced

You pervert, no, not that ght, hold me right

I know this is no dance to youBut you see this is the song of my life

No music, no lyrics.me and you

But I pushed you closer and I held you ghterAnd baby I had my reasons too

It was half the warmth of your bodyAnd half the fear of losing you.

You know youre good at lip service, you saidAnd in all senses of the expression

I bit your lip and you whisperedWell, that statements open for reconsideraon

We saw us rise, we saw us fall

And we saw you see me drown

You turned me on, you turned me oAnd we saw you turn me down

That there, was the point of no return

On you and in you, in your bedI coughed and said, Im cold

And it was then that you said,

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Day aer day,night aer nightSunlight to me seems Kryptonite,

I connue to crumble beneath this nuclear tan,Where are those days, when I was my own superman ?

Long gone are the days when I was loved,

Long lost are the mes which I cherished,Blown away, my ego by a storm

Of fork-tongued colleagues, isnt that the norm?

For years I was subject to incessant deceit,Beyond my control were the perdious wrongs,

Hoodwinked by Fate, hoodwinked by many a mate,I could see a rose bush, where there were only thorns.

I wish I could look back on life and think Im blessed,Wish I could smother gloom and slay regret,

If I could make a wish upon the mighty stars,

Winds of change would erode my indelible scars.

To seek morbid solace in the embrace of death,

Was the last thought to take reigns of my aching head,Before a urry of wings revealed a vision,Of lights and tunnels of divine precision.

Onward I venture with hope, apprehension,

Of what use is a sng of venom with no retenon?With a feather of a heart and a cerebral sunrise,

Tainted memories give way to an unburdened paradise.

...............................................................................

Volta-NishantBoorla

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prove hes beer than him, etc Unfortunately, asexpected, nothing works. And the scheming gets

direr. Now that Rohits a green lile monster,the plans start geng ugly. He befriends Karthik,acng like a close friend, plong his downfall allthe while. He nds out stu about him, stu hecan possibly use to his advantage. Sad thing is, hedoesnt even feel disgusted with himself for beingsuch a selsh prick. And he connues his plans,using his newfound knowledge.

Needless to say, he doesnt parcularly succeed.Rohit was never a master planner, hes innocent and

childish only now full of bierness and jealousy.He is beginning to live in the hatred, allowing thenegavity to consume him. And create something

terrible out of that which was once =carefree andhappy.

One day, he sees Alekhya and Karthik walkingtowards him, hand in hand. All the hatred pounds

through his veins and venomous ideas pollute

his mind but he looks at her as she passes. Andmelts. The uncontrolled happiness in her eyes

breaks the beast within him, making him realizewhat he was trying to take away from her. Fromthe one who held his heart. He had been plong

to break the heart that held his own, all for his ownselsh happiness.

Now he sees things clearly. She is with Karthik,and happy which maers more to him than hisown happiness. He looks into her laughter-lledeyes, and smiles to himself, accepng the fact.

He grins, turns around and starts perceivingSindhu as the most amazing person hes ever seen.

Ethereal and tantalizing she seems seducing him

with the mere aura of her presence

.........................................

Head Over

Heels--400WordSpeacialist

Alekhya isnt someone one would classify

as drop-down gorgeous, but its always amaer of perspecve. And Rohit perceives

her as the most amazing person he has ever seen

in his life. Ethereal and tantalizing she seemsseducing him with the mere aura of her presence.

He isnt stupid enough to just foolishly call it love,but one who felt for her as strong as he did wouldbe hard-pressed not to call it so. He occasionallytalks to her, drowning himself in immeasurablehappiness, while hopes abound that she feels thesame way about him, and that shell tell him so andaccept him and, well, love him back.

But then Karthik enters the scene, and blows heraway. Shes completely taken by him, and Rohitis le to watch helplessly as the woman of hisdreams fawns over another, showering him with

love and aecon that should rightly be his. Anda new emoon is born. A vile one it is, jealousy.It consumes the raonal mind, obscures healthythoughts, leaving room only for plong andscheming.

So now Rohit starts making a plan to get Karthikout of the way and turn Alekhyas aecons tothe beer channel. Him. One can call his schemesshady, but theyre not downright despicable. Yet.Its just a maer of me, and a few failed schemes,

before more quesonable methods arise.

And so the games start. Try to make Karthik lookbad, try to get him to say something that wouldpiss her o, try to aract her away from him, try to

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It hurt. A lot. To put it any other way would

be a barefaced lie.

Where was I? Oh, I was living any boxersdream. A shot at the world tle. At the worldslargest casino at that. I was sing in my corner,surrounded by my posse, waing today tothrow myself at my opponent yet again. My

coach stood above me, wearing his trademarkgreen and yellow sweatshirt, shoung adviceinto my ear. Something about aacking hisbody, not his head. Honestly. At this point of

me, I couldnt care less. I had reached thegrandest stage in boxing terms. I look at mycoach once again. For a chain smoker turning60, the guys got a remarkable set of lungs.I watch as his mouth forms words that are

ulmately spewed in my direcon.. Oh well,that hasnt changed in the last 10 years.

The man has taken great pride in cricizingeverything I do. Every jab, every hook, every

feint is crically analyzed and then regardedas pathec. Well, theres no pleasing somepeople. To be fair to him though, he has stuckaround. And weve nally made it. At 38, Imprey much a dinosaur in the boxing circles.And with a win/loss record of 21-40, Im

prey much regarded as a joke as well. Andcourtesy of the lovely managers of the casino

Im boxing at; my stats are being displayed tothe public on large screens that hang 15 feetabove the rink.

I look around, stare at the crowd. I see their

faces. Theyd come there to see a slaughter,

To watch the reigning world champion

almost destroy the aging veteran who had

dared take a shot at the coveted tle thathe so cherished. And instead, what they had

witnessed seemed to have stunned them into

silence. The ageing veteran had actually lasted

9 whole rounds. (9 whole rounds!) When theywere placing bets that I would be knockedout in 4. That look in their eyes- a mixture

of grudging respect, hatred, and most of all,

sympathy. 9 rounds I had lasted, but a tenthseemed unlikely. Later on, theyll probablyask me how I ever managed it. Sure, my PRteam (read - my coach) will come up with a

long heart rending story of how I had beenpraccing hours and hours on end, honing myskills, waing to pounce on my opponent likea hungry wolf pounces on a gazelle. Not a badstory, eh? But frankly, the only reason Ivesurvived ll now is pure, dumb, stupid luck.

And for that I shall hate my opponent forever.To be honest, Id never expected to even be

given the chance to ght this guy. My coach,the old warhorse that he is, however, decided

that I couldnt rere without having sought atle. And surprisingly, the Boxing associaonapparently felt the same way. Either that orthey just wanted to see me geng mauled.Probably the laer.

So, to cut a long story short, here I am. And

for 36 long minutes in the ring interspersedby 9 in my corner, I had gone through hell.No, not the kind of pain that acts as the

NoEasyWayOut

- Vijay Narayan

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re that can cleanse you (they did menonthat in Rocky Balboa, just saying). No, this isthe sort of pain that makes you want to kill

yourself so that you dont have to suer forone more moment. The sort of pain that

makes you wonder whether that damn tle

is even worth it.I look straight ahead. 15 feet away from

me, sits my opponent. Sadly, the guy doesnt

look red. He looks angry. Understandablefor a 26 year old world champion whoweights over 200 pounds and has a win loss

record of 54-9. This guy hates losing. His lastloss was apparently 20 matches ago. A 20

match winning streak. That meant twenty

opponents who had been younger, faster,and probably stronger than me had beentaken apart by him. And I stand in his way ofthe 21st win. Maybe the guy likes blackjack,just a thought. But card games aside, this guywas mad. And who could blame him. Twentyof the best boxers in the world couldnt beathim, and some ancient relic had taken him to

a tenth and nal round. For that, he will hate

me. And for pung me through such torture,I hate him just as much.

The saddest part was that even aer 9rounds, he looks

as t as a ddle. Theres barely any blood onhim. Sure, theres a bloody gash where hislips are supposed to be, but apart from that,he barely even looks bruised. Apart fromthe gash and a thin lining of sweat on his

muscular frame, one would think the guy was

just geng into the gym for some pracce.I, on the other hand, looked like I had been

through the mill. A gash on my forehead, a

broken rib, and bruising on every part of theupper body. I looked and felt like a dead manwalking. Not a very comforng thought.

I was brought out of my reverie by a tap onthe shoulder. The coach, yet again. It was meto get up for the tenth round. Three more

minutes of pain. As I wearily li my baeredframe o the chair, all the lights immediatelyswitch back to the ring. I could hear thecommentators shoung into their mikes.Something about this being the last shot Ihad to take down the monster in front of me.

I could hear them quesoning my capacity tobear pain. Would I last this one round? Or willthe world champion successfully defend his

tle. My bet was on the laer.

The referee comes over to me, and shouts

in my ear. Apparently this is my last chance

to back down before the ght starts. I couldquit now, or walk into the

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labyrinth of pain. Ill admit, he didnt put itthat way, but considering the state I was in,it was all the same thing. The mouthpiece

in place, there was no way I could answer

verbally. An aempt to shake my head wassasfying enough an answer for him though.

And as the bell tolled, I looked one last meinto the crowd, as I had done countless mesbefore. It was sort of a ritual that I followed.To look at the rst row of spectators. To lookinto the eyes of my wife . She sat there, in

a dark business dress and as she had donecountless mes before, she looked backinto mine. For 15 years, this woman hadstood by me in my worst mes. And for 15

years, had loved me, and taken care of me.A woman who, despite a successful career,

was always there supporng me in mine. Andlike she had done before, she looked at mewith those light brown eyes, those beaufuleyes that sparkled so brightly in the presentatmosphere, and I knew that win or lose -

everything would be okay.

Beside the lovely woman who I was proudto call mine, sat my six year old son in a white

T-shirt over denim jeans, with a cap covering

his curly hair, Normally, Id have ordered him

to stay at home, where he didnt have to

see his father being manhandled in front ofthousands of others in the same arena. Butthis me was dierent. This was my rst, andprobably last, shot at the tle. And I wanted

him to be there when I took that shot. Iwanted him to watch proudly as his fatherstepped up to the occasion and looked like

a god. And in that one moment, in one fell

swoop, I realized what I was looking at in his

eyes... it wasnt pride, it was fear.

That one look almost made me stop in

my tracks. I could see my opponent slowly

advancing towards me, coming in for the kill.

And yet, my mind was elsewhere. Memories

ashed past my eyes - that fateful day inthe delivery room when my son entered the

world; the day we rst played in the park,the day he took his rst step, the day wecelebrated his rst birthday. His rst day ofschool. Great, amazing me to get emoonal,

I chided myself, and yet, for some inexplicablereason, I couldnt stop.

And then, in one fell swoop, I realize that I

dont want to be here. All I want to do is getout of this place, and walk away. Go away

with my family far, far away from all of this.

Ive been a quier for almost 2 decades, whyshould anything change now? Wont it beng if I quit right now? I can see the crics

destroying me already - the guy who nallywent so far, right to the end.only to quit.Oh.its going to be priceless.

Im ready to raise my hand, to signal the

referee... Oh, my opponent is not going to like

this. Im not going to give him the sasfaconof knocking ME out. 21 wins or not he willhate me for walking away. Somehow I think

that will help me. Ive been thrown arounda rink for more than half an hour now. I

deserve some fun, dont I? And just as I turn

in his direcon to give him one last vindicvesmile, I realize that hes no longer advancing

towards me.

In fact, hes less than 2 feet away from me

and his st is coming straight towards myface.

.........................................

FICTION

8/7/2019 LTGTR 26.02.11

31/31

Siddhartha Mehra A w c wc : H c.S, c, w g!

Gokul Nath Sridhar YAWN: T w g

Ashish Piplani I cc cc g g cc cc.

Syed Zia Rahim GUILY CONSCIENCE ??? w c c w !! :P

Rohit Ramesh Qg g ..... .

Akshay Bhansali w Eg - Gg N/Mcf...zz!!

Akshay Rishi Rg w C I wc K.....!!!P g w gw w C Nw w w--......:(

Ratna Charan Abbineni T w g w w. N w!!!

Supriya Lal Y w I w I w w....

Faisal Ahmad T w w, c !! ;)

Abhinav Choudhury T g g Fc -

g cc c .

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