Dream in a dream

We were walking down an unknown street. Some shops seemed familiar, few unknown. Where were we? I was bit scared, yet holding her hand and crossing the street, I didn't let her know of my anxiety. I asked her " Are you hungry kya?" She nodded her head. I looked around for places to eat. I saw a KFC a few metres ahead. We kept walking. The street was quite deserted. I was wondering why was it?
Suddenly I heard gun shots and screams, and before I realized what was happening, a gun shot hit me and I was lying on her lap, barely breathing. I really didn't realize what was happening. Was I going to die? She was crying. How changed will be her life without me? All those questions came to my mind. Suddenly everything went blank. It scared a hell out of me. I shivered and woke up! It was a dream. I was sleeping and she was asleep right beside me. Thank God. It was just a dream, I checked my mobile, 5.36 am. I kissed her on her dimple. Such dreams are really scary. My mom used to say never to keep your hand over your chest, it brought bad dreams. Perhaps I had kept my hand on my chest while sleeping. With all this thoughts and thanking God, I slept again. My phone rang after a while," Oh no! Who's calling me this early morning?" Without even looking, I pressed the silent button and slept again. Few minutes later, again it rang, I had to wake up now. I took my mobile and saw her name. Why was she calling? I turned around, she wasn't there!! I picked up the call " Wake up, it's 3.00 PM, you will be late for office". I was not able to get what was happening, I checked the time, it was indeed 3.05 PM and the date was 10th Sept 2013. I was shocked! She was asleep beside me was a dream and me getting hit by a gun shot dying was a dream inside that dream. I told her the story and she laughed. Even though we are in two different corners of the country and we hardly meet, atleast for a moment I really felt, she was just right next to me. ~~~~By Parthajyoti

Way back in 2009, when I was still jobless, I got this awesome girl, Btech MBA, working in an MNC. I was almost thinking "life to set hai boss". On our first date we decided to watch Avatar, the first 3D movie for both of us. We were awestruck. What an experience! It was the break time, I went to get pop corn and Pepsi, she accompanied. She was still in the avatar world and said "Wish our life was in 3D, it would be so exciting" and me started thinking "Did she mean about the blue color or...?? ". It made me something and it became our last date too

Swalpa Adjust maadi

Love stories are becoming more and more complicated. Gone are the days of Yash Chopra romance. That's why his last movie was a disaster. Because people don't have such love stories now. I still remember watching DDLJ for the first time. Dancing in the rain, or holding an umbrella with my girl were moments of absolute bliss, worth to be fantasised. Now love is in the malls, in a cinemax or a Baskin Robbins. Gone are the days of paani puri and coconut water. Life and love runs on a card, not the visiting one but the credit one. That's the need of the hour. I realised that although late. But its never too late. What has not changed though are loyality, trust and transparency. They still remain to have utmost importance. I still believe that lies are the root cause of failure in relationships. Never compromise your relationship for a cup of coffee at CCD. This is just the beginning of the ending if you do. Grow up guys, there's neither a perfect person nor a perfect relationship. Swalpa adjust maadi!!

I had broke up quite recently, in other words my gf had dumped me. I was busy searching for a new one on Facebook. Sending random requests to xyz girls became regular activity, and finally Mr Zuckerberg had to say "Do you know this person?" Leading to blocking any new friend addings for a week. All this while, amongst all the hundreds of profiles I went through, there was one which was different. I went through her pictures, she was pretty. I felt as if I was connected to her, but strangely didn't have the courage to send her the request. What if she declined? She became a bookmark on my Firefox. I was real low those days due to my breakup, but her profile kept me happy. Days turned into months, and finally thought to take the next step and sent her message with much deliberation. Bingo! She replied. We started chatting casually. I was getting happier. My room mate noticed the change in me and while I went cooking, keeping the chat active, he sent my number to her. Returning from the kitchen, I realised and started shouting at him. "I think its time to take to the next level buddy" was his reply. I apologized and let her know. We chatted for 2 long years but never asked for her number again. Then one fine day I got a text msg " Got your number from fb your fb buddy". I immediately called, it was her! Gradually we started calling each other, non stop text msging. It went on and on and on. It was new years eve, every friend of mine had a resolution, not to smoke for one, reduce drinking for another. I thought, let me take the step.it's do or die, our friendship was at stake. I texted her letting her know my feelings and immediately threw my phone on the bed and went out. When I returned,I saw her return msg "Are you drunk?" We never discussed about it again. We chatted and called, shared our daily lives and time flew. And then one fine day after a very long time she texted "I think I am in love with you". Patience and perseverance worked!!

For the one who's miles away
You are the reason for my smiles
Love you with all my heart
I promise we will never part
The feeling is never gonna change
My love for you does not have any range
With time and tides, we will withstand every storm
You are the love that I had always hoped for
The dream that I was chasing all this while
You are the wish, I had never expected to come true
You are the blessing in my anguish
I am so blessed to have someone like you
It makes me love you even more
every day, every second, every moment
Thank you for all the happiness!! 

By Parthajyoti Dutta

What is real Love?

Of late I have been searching around for a simple answer to this simpler question. Google it and you will find some of the most unrealistic and impractical answers. The delightful couples holding their hands and candidly chuckling. The pink cheeks and the non stop chit chat to which the guy is totally engrossed on to. Is he pretending to listen to or is he actually listening? The guy being totally lost in her eyes.

There are the breed of couples found to be displaying affection publicly at most popular lover points. And then are the mature breed, having serious talks of life at a nearby CCD.

Looking at them makes me wonder, what is the mysterious power which binds them together?
Is this what is termed as "Ishqwala love"?

I don't think so. The "Ishqwala love" owes a lot nowadays to credit and debit cards. Eternal, unconditional love is directly or indirectly connected with the number of roses exchanged or the cups of coffee sipped together at the pricey CCD or Barista.

And this situation changes as time passes by, with responsibilities which keep doubling every passing year. So was it fake initially or have we changed?? The dream like state does change at some point of time eventually.

Then what is real love?

It was when your best buddy at school used to preserve the next seat for you. It was when your brother Kept your secrets so that you are not beaten by dad. It was when your mom used to call up your classmates, if you are late while returning from school.

In these little things love was and always will be. Because, if it dies, it wasn't really love.

~~~ By Parthajyoti Dutta

The Bluetooth Story

The Sun rays gleamed into my room surpassing the curtains and were falling straight on my eyes. It was disturbing and I had to eventually wake up. It was a Sunday morning. I had so many things to do on a Sunday. Shopping, aimlessly roaming around the city and having all kinds of junk food. I was never used to all of these. Sleeping was my favorite time pass once. But things had changed after she came into my life. She loved going for bike rides, window shopping all around and then ultimately settling for a pair of 100 bucks slippers from the roadside stalls. I hated junk food, but in these 2 years I had so much of pani pooris and roasted corns, that I eventually started liking them. With these thoughts, I turned around to wake her up and was startled to see a pillow instead of her. Her favorite pink pillow which had a “Winnie the pooh” on it. Reality woke me up. She was gone and was no more a part of my life. It was more than a month since she left my place. But I still felt that she was all around me. She had moved on with her life, seeking better opportunities. In harsher words, she dumped me. She dumped me for a bald guy with a Hyundai Verna and that is all I knew about her present. She had changed her number. She had blocked me on facebook. Still sometimes I used to type her name on the search bar, getting no results, wishing someday she would unblock me. But it never happened. I hated mornings, at least in my dreams, she was all around me. With these thoughts, I got up from the bed. Anyways I won’t be able to sleep now, I got to have a cup of tea now. An old friend of mine used to say “World is full of fishes. Keep hopes alive and you will have a big catch soon”. So, I could not waste my day lying on bed. I had to go on a fishing trip. So, I had to get prepared. I went to the fridge, which also had also seen some changes lately. It used to be full of ice creams and chocolates which got replaced by half a dozen beer bottles even in the veggie drawer. There was a pack of Good life milk, still unopened. It was from the last trip of our shopping. Thank God atleast I could have my tea at home rather than going to the bakery. I went to the kitchen and started preparing tea. Then I saw our big coffee mug, it had a picture of her and me from one of our trips. This was getting intolerable. Even though she left me, she was all around me. I had to get rid of these stuffs and move on. So the very next day, I decided to dump all of them. There were a lot of things. The coffee mug, a few pictures, few of her college notes, her pen stand and a lot more and yes the “Winnie the pooh” pillow. I got all of them inside a big plastic bag and threw it from my window. It was much of a relief now. Everything related to her was out of my house. I desperately needed some fresh air now. So, I went out and stood there in the balcony, glancing around. Then I spotted a cute girl in the adjacent building. It was an office. Was she new? I had never seen her; maybe I was too busy with my girl. Slowly, it became a regular habit, about me going out to the balcony, trying to trace her. The only thing dividing us was the big window pane. Many a times I did not find her on her desk and had to come back to my room, feeling low. Sometimes I came back excited when she used to notice me peeping at her. This went for weeks. I had to take the next step. From her looks, I could make out that she was from the North East. I had to communicate to her that I too belonged from one of the seven sister states. How could I let her know? So, one day while I went out to see her, I decided to wrap our Assamese “gamocha “around my neck. This was to signal her that I am from Assam, probably we belonged from the same state or even if not, from the North East definitely. She looked at me and passed me a short smile. Wow, assignment completed.

Now on, every time I used to go out to the balcony, she used to pass a smile at me and it made me happy, very happy. It went on for nearly a week. But, then I had to take the next step. I was thinking what could be done. How could I communicate with her? This was a big step, just like Neil Armstrong stepping on the Moon for the first time, “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” and may be for me it would state as “That's one small step for me, one giant leap for my future generations”. I was getting crazy for her. Suddenly an idea struck upon my mind. I went out to the balcony, and started fondling with my phone. She looked at me and picked up her phone. I turned on my Bluetooth, and started scanning devices around me and whoopee, device found NOKIA ASHA. Yes, it was the same phone on her hand. She understood my signal. Also I understood that day that girls were not so dumb after all, like most guys would think. Now, I had to pass on a message. I hurriedly ran inside, turned on my laptop and opened Adobe Photoshop and edited a picture of mine with my phone number and saying “Call me, maybe” reminding of the famous song by Carly Rae Jepsen and transferred the picture to my phone. I went out and sent her the picture. It got delivered and I saw her picking up the phone. Task was completed successfully. I came back in, I was feeling a bit scared now. There were a few tense moments. I was getting anxious thinking “What would happen now? Would she respond?” And then my phone beeped. It was a text message. “Hi, I am Tina.” I felt out of the world. Happiness unlimited. I started texting her and she kept on replying me and it went on and on and on…..

And then…… I will tell the rest of the story some other day, right now getting late for my first date with Tina and I know girls hate waiting, especially on the first date itself. Everyone gets a girl through facebook, I got mine through Bluetooth. I am thankful to God for ending my sorrows and even more thankful to Graham Bell for inventing the phone. So, friends if somebody dumped you, don’t you worry, as my dear old friend said “World is full of fishes. Keep hopes alive and you will have a big catch soon”. Bye and enjoy your weekend!

A fictional write up by Parthajyoti Dutta