Yash Soni

 I pour water in the bright red pot, gleaming on the outside, a bit rusty on the inside. Red was always your color. Your wardrobe was literally fifty shades of it. The familiarity and warmth of the color red make me smile as I bring it to boil. “Look for angry water bubbles,” you used to say when you were teaching me how to make tea instead of stacking my kitchen counter with instant coffee sachets. I take out the twin tin containers marked “sugar” & “tea” off the cabinet and carefully put them in, systematically counting the number of teaspoons and measuring the amount in each. “I prefer coffee,” I used to whine but would still let you hold my hand as we put in the sugar, not too much, not too less, surprisingly always the right amount. Then in went the tea leaves, a bit less than I'd like, I always had a taste for intense flavors. But I rarely complained for I knew how much you valued your perfect, daily cup of tea. I then pour in the milk, thinking how I'd never been abl...

 One of favourite tales from 3 years ago :') I still remember that tragically beautiful day when I opened the door to your goofy face. You were ten minutes late, as usual. You were carrying your silly orange umbrella, and your hair was wet from the wild, heavenly rain. I put on my new brown sandals even though I knew we were going to come across numerous dirty puddles. Did I tell you I loved how we braved against the ferocious winds, drenched from head to toe but oh, so happy? I won't ever forget the plate of delicious Maggie we shared & the steaming cups of Coffee, under the tip-tap of the rain on that little roof of that warm place. I won't forget the brown of your eyes eyeing the last bite as you sipped your Coffee and your smile when I let you have it. The bus ride home was strangely comforting as the tune of Hindi love blasted through the damp air. “Lag jaa gale ke phir yeh haseen raat ho na ho..." I did not hug you, never had before, but trust me, I really wa...

"You still manage to write these cheesy love stories, all so fresh and bright, even after so many years. I'm sure I have been quite inspirational," my friend smirks. "Very much. You're everything I don't want my protagonist to deal with," I respond in haste, casually, but ouch! That must've hurt. She didn't say anything, and I didn't know what to say now. I walk up to the laundry room. She's cussing me in a low, grumbling tone while putting clothes into the washing machine. "I didn't mean any of that," I said. My voice low as my eyes filled with discomfort starred at her. It was a peak summer afternoon, and sweat trickled down her forehead as she checked the pockets of my jeans before dumping it into the machine. "For once, take your wallet out of your goddamn jeans!" She hurled my wallet to me. It missed me. She was a bad shooter. *Phew* But my flying wallet hit the wall and took a tumble or two before landing on ...

Kahin To Hogi Wo tiptoes into my world, its arrival not adorned with accompaniments. It finds its way in like it was meant to belong here. Long before it talks about a parallel world, I find myself levitating. Summer of 2008, I was a teenager when I first heard this song. Yet nothing seems to have changed in how I, even today, feel about it. I sometimes wonder if that’s a good thing. Evolution must mean that our perception of things change, right? But what do you do when you find yourself at the same juncture as you did all those years ago? Yet that is not the reason why this song has stuck with me for so long. All it took was just this one word to sound the way it did. This one word for which I haven’t yet found a more suitable cousin in another language. This one word that shadows everything else that is going on in the by-lanes. This one word that I make room for almost instantly. This one word - khafa. Jaane na kahan wo duniya hai jaane na wo hai bhi ya nahi jahan meri zindagi mujh...

You always had your coffee black, and I always liked mine with full fat and loads of sugar and caramel. That's how different we were, right? As different as our coffees. *sighs* Remember how you always told me at the beginning that I'd eventually start hating you, but I laughed it off then, considering it as some sarcasm you always preferred? Somewhere I knew, it wasn't a joke then, and it surely isn't one now. I always knew we wouldn't last. But a part of me always wanted to take that chance even if there was the minutest possibility of it being true. That's just how I was, right? Dreamy, Optimistic or maybe just in Love? But oh girl, what a ride it was! I hadn't experienced myself like this before. I hadn't smiled this way before. I hadn't cried this way before. It was all so surreal and addictive. So addictive that remembering it even now takes my breath away-Exactly how it felt whenever you touched me. It was magical you know. Everytime your hand...

"Tera Yaar Hoon Main" is absolutely delectable in how it doesn’t try to elevate friendship by pitting it against love. It first quietly establishes that both can co-exist and then, just how it should be done, goes on to celebrate friendship with great aplomb. Insecurity in friendships is a universal phenomenon, which is why this song strikes such a chord, but instead of conveniently spewing hate against love, it goes back to the drawing board, back to its very basics. It walks through the old by-lanes with nostalgia running high in its veins. The first hi-five, the first secret, the first act of sharing, the first fit of laughter – long before friendship becomes this school of unwitting selflessness, so much of it is about the little nothings. The moments that you bring together in the universe, so exclusively yours, nobody ever will live it the same way. "Aaja ladein phir khilono ke liye Tu jeete main haar jaaun Aaja karein phir wohi shararatein Tu bhaage main maar khaa...

"Kal Ho Naa Ho" tries to tell us that we don’t have time – a lesson that we possibly learn only once in a lifetime but conveniently forget every day. It measures the spectrum end-to-end, from "chaav" to "dhoop" just to ask us to not rely on second chances to experience first-hand emotions. And in driving this message home, it places under the microscope, feelings that are perhaps the most universal in nature – love and regrets. Simply because it knows that to experience one is to experience another. It moves away from the belief that love can just be a product of circumstances. Love needs effort and it needs it every day. This song yearns to do the right thing and that is to learn how to fight for love because if love is not worth putting up a struggle for, then what is? But, this song, just like it knows when to hold on, also knows when to let go. Even if it has to be with the eyes brimming and the heart, full. And that’s my favourite part about the sad, ...