Half Girlfriend

Don't quit. It will happen one day.

Sometimes it is hard to explain why you find a person beautiful.

Tiny bumps in time shape our lives, even though we spend hours trying to make long-term plans.

Girlfriends come and go but, thank God, mothers don’t break up with you.

Girls never tell you anything straight out anyway. You have to interpolate and extrapolate their responses to figure out what’s on their mind.

There are things some people can never understand. There’s no point telling them.

Don’t fall in love with her again, a voice within me warned. You never fell out of love with her, another voice countered with an evil laugh.

On the court our occasional touches meant little. In the room, her jostling me felt electric. I wanted to grab her tight, but didn’t. I didn’t want a scene like last time.

Suddenly, in this lap of luxury, I felt lonely. I missed home, my hostel room and my mother, all at the same time. It is funny how class works. The moment you are placed in a higher one, a part of you feels terrified and alone.

Even though I was in pain, I remembered the golden rule: if you live in a hostel, never throw away food.

Ignore girls and they can’t leave you alone.

Would you rather take a sensible student, or someone who speaks a foreign language well?’ My

The worst wait in life is waiting for someone to text back. Riya

I don’t think Indians have learnt much since that day. We remain as divided as ever. Everyone still tries to cut a deal for themselves while the nation goes to hell.

Someone who will love you like you deserve to be loved. I

What you say matters, not the language,

Hello, Madhav,’ Mr Somani said. He shook my hand in an extra-friendly way, as if to compensate for the doubts of a few seconds ago.

I can’t let someone I just met get the better of me, I thought, shaking my head. I switched off the lights and lay down. I had to catch an early-morning flight to Mumbai the next day and had a four-hour window of sleep. I couldn’t wait to reach home. However,

Listen, I don’t have the time or patience for this,

The villagers waited silently. There is something about people with no hope for a better future in life. You can identify them from their expression. Most of all, it is in their eyes, which

Maybe when you start liking people, you start liking everything about them.

High-class people have this concept called space, which means you cannot ask them questions or give them opinions about certain aspects of their life.

Live with dignity. Live for others, that is how one earns respect,

Everyone still tries to cut a deal for themselves while the nation goes to hell. Anyway,

Anyway, there is a reason I am telling you this. You may think things are not connected, but think about this. If there was no Battle of Buxar, or if it had had a different outcome, the British may not have ruled India like they did. There would be none of the ‘English high class, rest low class’ bullshit that happens in India. There would not even be a St. Stephen’s College. Just imagine, if only the jokers in Buxar had done things a little differently, maybe the white man would be speaking Hindi and Bhojpuri would be the new cool. I

If you were not sleeping in history class you would have heard of the Great Battle of Buxar in 1764. Frankly, it should be renamed the Embarrassing Battle of Buxar. The battle was fought between the British East India Company and the combined armies of three Indian rulers—Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh; and the Mughal king, Shah Alam II. The Indian side had forty thousand troops. The British had less than ten thousand. Guess what happened? The British clobbered us. How? Well, the three Indian kings ended up fighting with each other. Each Indian king had cut a side deal with the British and worked against the other. In a day, the British had won the battle and taken control of most of India. I don’t think Indians have learnt much since that day. We remain as divided as ever. Everyone still tries to cut a deal for themselves while the nation goes to hell.

in history class you would have heard of the Great Battle of Buxar in 1764. Frankly, it should be renamed the Embarrassing Battle of Buxar. The battle was fought between the British East India Company and the combined armies of three Indian rulers—Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh; and the Mughal king, Shah Alam II. The Indian side had forty thousand troops. The British had less than ten thousand. Guess what happened? The British clobbered us. How? Well, the three Indian kings ended up fighting with each other. Each Indian king had cut a side deal with the British and worked against the other. In a day, the British had won the battle and taken control of most of India. I don’t think Indians have learnt much since that day. We remain as divided as ever. Everyone still tries to cut a deal for themselves while the nation goes to hell. Anyway,