Yash Soni

To Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, There's something about you that left an indelible laughter in my mind ever since the first time I saw you on screen. Wait, do you understand you are no comedian or joker. You are an alcoholic, debt stricken bloke always swaying to and fro between Raju's cunning mind and Shyam's righteous attitude. You affirmed your seniority everywhere but you never made any sense to me or anyone out there. Tenants need to pay their rent. You get it right? On my off days, when I see your unadulterated smile it bewilders me - I mean how can this man live with such conviction and ease. What about his isolated life? His debts? These questions linger on my mind. It's not okay to be unambitious and surrender to your fate but when life doesn't give you 'Star Fisheries', you can always show some content in your dilapidated 'Star Garage'. Your innocent gullibility, incorruptibility and rustic lunacy bought chuckles. Well, you need to learn that Sh

Seven Months Ago: "Excuse me? There's no space under the umbrella!" "Hey! I'm sorry. Could you please walk me over to the bus shelter over there?" "You can keep it. I don't mind getting drenched." "No, no. This is your umbrella. I am prone to catching the flu real quick, and the rain was unexpected." "I insist you keep it," I jogged down the path. Present Day: Seven months ago, when I saw her for the first time who would've imagined me falling head over heels for this woman. So much so that the only way I could move on in life after her moving out of my life was to take the extreme millennial step- Blocking her. Life is strange. It makes you meet people you can never un-meet. Sadly, she probably would've boarded her flight, but I am hopeful that driving, rather unsafely, to the airport would bear my heart all that guilt of not bidding her a 'good' goodbye. And oh, yes! The gift. What would I do keeping it any

Walks up to the stage, the audience clap. Picks up the mic and starts my set, "Why do we fall?" A loud cheer from the audience. I smiled at them, "I would like to share my story with you. We'll get back to comedy after this, okay? So, a few years back I was sitting in my room, all time books in front of me. I had board exam the next day. I had a breakup the last night. I was shattered. I knew, I was going to fail the exam. I cursed myself for everything. I was at my all-time low." "Some of you might be judging me already, but trust me guys, I was so stupid back then. There was just one question in my mind; Why do we fall? Why do we fall when we know that it's a trap? My grades fell very badly too; I was an above average student until this." "I was a 17-year-old, confused teenager. While all my friends were busy studying, I was trying to figure out life. I wrote the exam next day. Fortunately, I did not fail. I later realized life is simple. We

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

"Look at your nails!" she complained. "How the fuck am I supposed to eat Biryani with a spoon?" I expressed my displeasure. "Stop yelling at me," she demanded. We ate in silence and stood up to leave. She wrapped her arm around mine. I twitched. I pulled my hand away. "You hardly spend time with me these days, and now you're pissed off because I whined about your curry filled nails?" she grumbled. (When I first took up this job, I wondered what it felt like to go on dates during the day. Not that I've never been on dates during the day but getting off the night shift at 5 am on a Saturday morning and being date-ready wasn't my thing.) "I am busy with work on most days, be happy I am at least doing this," I yawned. "I am concerned about your health. You can easily find better jobs," she suggested. I didn't reply. I bought two tickets to Bandra and found a place to sit on the ever-bustling Andheri station. (We us

"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

1 AM Arijit is crooning ‘Bedard thi, zindagi, bedard hai..’ as I take a drag and smile at the irony of Kamil’s lyrics. "Rahman and Kamil are the perfect combos, Yash, and they always get me high!" You used to tell me, and I often wondered how you’d feel if I said to you that I was high on you. 2 AM I realize it’s been eight months since we last talked. Honestly, the passing time hasn’t been that difficult. Most days are perfectly normal. Good, even. But every once in a while, comes a day that is the exact opposite. The day I miss you like maybe Rahman misses his Piano or Tendulkar misses his bat. Perhaps this is nostalgia. Or perhaps I am just lonely. I don’t know what this is. I just know that maybe I still love you. 3 AM I am reading our old chats. I sometimes wonder who this guy was. How is he so happy! Goofy pictures, poor jokes, cheesy songs, intense poetry, and, most importantly, that warm feeling of home. Maybe that’s what you were. Home! 4 AM And vulnerability is neve

"Call me foolish, but I still believe in happy endings and fairy tales," I smiled. "Happy endings, fairy tales. It's so ironic, isn't it?" she mocked. "Life taught me to look at the brighter side of things," I countered. "Let's not get into an argument," she stood up to leave. "You're leaving?" I inquire. "My local is at 7:45. It's 7:37 already," she hurried. 7:43 PM; Overcrowded platform I looked around, but couldn't find her amongst the heavy crowd. *Announcement regarding the train* I could hear the faint honking of the local from a distance, people around me became more alert now. The train slowly arrived and halted. Commuters got on and off the train. I kept searching, but in vain. The train starts to move, it picks up speed gradually, and it's gone. Pin drop silence for the next few minutes. "And I woke up," I tell the psychiatrist. "I am sure you can narrate better thrillers,&q

Ever wondered why the world seems to exaggerate romance like it's the best thing that has happened to mankind? Be it the countless movies glorifying the act of falling or being in love with the number of romance writers who make the singles feel almost miserable. There are perhaps thousands of songs about love too. Put the numbers aside and just imagine how many people depend upon this whole idea to earn their livelihood! Maybe love is literally in the air. It's all around us. Sometimes to the extent that it's choking us, all. This beautiful feeling is often accompanied by setbacks, disappointments, challenges, etc. And it's not like 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going.' People who have experienced heartbreaks or have been cheated on or fall out of love never tend to go all out in public. Why? When you were in a relationship, you are proud of your partner, you're happy. You'd post pictures with them, of them, and let the whole world know what

Dear You, My hands tremble as I write this to you because I feel too shy to talk to you directly. Even though I have written so much about you, talking to you directly still gets butterflies in my stomach. You have always had this magical impact on me. It's unreal. But there are still a few things I'd like to talk to you about on this drunken night. Turning you into poetry is probably the stupidest thing I have done. Please don't get me wrong, this is not about whether you deserved it or not. It's just that I have romanticized you as a muse for so long that every other person I meet now seems so ordinary and worthless. I keep finding pieces of you in others. Someone smiles a bit like you; someone is finicky about timing as you were and so on. But no one is even close to what you have been…and that's so wrong, isn't it? I don't even know if this is real or not. The lines between reality and fiction have blurred in my head to the extent that I keep quest

You still cry about someone who left you for someone else, Who doesn't think of you anymore. It's been a year that he broke your heart. But you still couldn't talk about it; you tremble when someone enquires about it, You little girl, you dared to push someone out of your life whom you loved with all your heart. You didn't give him the chance to destroy you anymore emotionally. You're wise enough to sense that he is not the one for you even if you've loved him for a few years now. You deserve someone who will treat you the way you treat every important person in your life. Someone who will travel half the world just to see your eyes. You deserve someone who loves books as much as you do, Who plays tennis as much you do, Who will be ready to travel 20 kms at 1 am to drink masala chai with you. You deserve someone who won't give excuses or beg for second chances. You deserve a man who calls you his queen and not a guy who keeps switching betwee