Yash Soni

I still remember fifth grade when I was too young to think about this but ended up thinking anyway. I thought the people around me were the people who would stay with me forever. I thought that this was my wolf pack. I really enjoyed the company of all the people who were a part of it. I was happy. Post summer holidays when school reopened, I was all excited to meet my friends again and tell them stories about my summer vacation and enthusiastically listen to their stories. Life, however, had other plans. A week after school reopened a teacher walks into my class and tells me that I had to shift to another section. That was perhaps my first ever heartbreak! I packed my bag; my best friend was sobbing already. I left my pack. I vowed to have lunch with them every day, spend time with them after classes and all. It never works that way though. After a while, I started to feel out of place. My best friends felt like my ex-best friends. They were living their life, definitely, but I was no

When I had completed my diploma, my parents made me join a degree college though I was bad in academics. They believed coaching would help improve my grades. The first week of the 6th Semester, my gaze turned towards this girl, and I continued to look at her for a while before I introduced myself to the teacher. Being from an all-boys school, this Engineering college was like a cheat code. But because I was from an all-boys school, I didn't know how to talk to a girl. The guys from class talking to them so effortless, and I was just brainstorming conversation starters in my head. One day, I was the first to solve the problem. That kinda grabbed everyone's attention, and I sat there giving awkward smiles. She smiled at me too, and man, that smile! I was daydreaming about going on brunches with her. Two months passed by and we hadn't spoken anything other than subjects, college, and teachers. It was our mutual friend's birthday, and we all bunked class and went to McDonal

"I've got a long day ahead," he sighed. He checked her last seen. It hadn't changed since yesterday. "Argh!" He sat upright in his bed, pulled his not so long hair and buried his face in the pillow. It was going to be a long, dark, night. Her phone was not reachable; her best friends were not her best friends anymore. Her parents stopped answering his calls long ago. He panicked, he prayed, he hoped that she was safe. His heart beat rhymed with the only other sound, his ticking bed side alarm, set at 5:00 AM. Staring into the void of the night with sudden flashes of her blurry images, he sat in silence. 3:47 AM; His phone screen flashes with her name. Grabs it immediately, "Hello?" "Hello, I'm sorry! Please let me explain..." "Are you okay?" he asked, curiously. "No no, I am totally fine. My phone just died & I couldn't find a charger. I crashed at a colleague's place and left my phone there; I'm sorry..

What do you do when your best friend is crying? There are a few persons whom you never wish to see with tears in their eyes. I attended college as usual. It was a regular Saturday afternoon; the cultural activities were in full swing. More deafening cheers accompanied loud music from the auditorium. I kept calling her from half an hour; she did not answer. She was nowhere to be seen too. I inquired few of our mutual friends if they had seen her around. "She is always with you," said one. "Heard you guys fought," giggled another. "What rubbish ya! They're best friends, they wouldn't have fought," argued a third. I smiled and left the place, still searching. There she was sitting in a corner, engaged busily on her phone. This pissed me off. I walked up to her and said, "Answer your phone." She looked up; her eyes were teary and red. "You crying?" I asked in disbelief. "No," she said. Her voice was thick. "Is it beca

 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

"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