Rishi and I hung our suit jackets up while Maa lit the stove to heat the vegetable korma that was torturing my senses. Maa busied herself over the pot while Rishi made jokes about finding a wife that could cook as well as my Maa. I watched the two of them, taking in the moment. My breakup with Sakshi was tough, but as much as I didn’t want to hear it from Maa, she was right—the pain does pass, even if it felt like it never would. I would smile again, and I would feel genuinely happy again. Life was fleeting, and people would come and go, but our happiness was ultimately our responsibility. Letting go of Sakshi, of the pain she caused me, was difficult. But ultimately, when the time was right, happiness found me again. Love, in its purest form, filled my home this evening; nothing could have been more perfect. And as I sat at the table, watching my best friend and my Maa, I felt that life was worth living once again. I was not waste that Sakshi had discarded. She was merely a product of her upbringing, and I felt sorry for her, that she would never get to experience what we had in this beautiful moment.

21. JHANVI

21

JHANVI

I had bitten off more than I could chew with Latika. We’ve all experienced that feeling; that moment when it becomes painfully obvious that you have made a mistake, but it is impossible to rectify it. This was one of those moments. Latika was rummaging through my perfectly coordinated makeup drawers, searching for the perfect ‘lippy’, as she put it. My stomach turned with every item that was taken out of its place and not returned. I missed Kavya; she would never do this. I had been thinking about messaging her the previous day, but had finally decided against it. I thought I would give her more time to cool down. But watching Latika gleefully stomping through my personal space drove me to pick up my phone and make contact with the person that had been missing for too long in my life.

‘I am really sorry; please can we talk.’

I waited for the three dots to immediately appear on my screen as they always had before, but they never came. Locking my phone, I groaned loudly at Latika’s enthusiasm.

‘Did you say something?’ she said as she applied entirely too much foundation.

‘Do you want a drink?’ I asked her, trying to salvage the situation and knowing that I needed something to calm my nerves. I had run out of diet pills, and the woman at the pharmacy was beginning to become suspicious. For a while, I would have to stick to vodka and energy drinks to keep my energy levels up.