Simply Storylitycal

  If you are a daily commuter on the Mumbai Local Trains, managed to part the crowd and get down at your destination unfazed and as nonchalant as if it is an every day normal; pat yourself in the back. If you can travel this way, you can travel anywhere and even dare Bear Grylls (The Man VS Wild Guy in the Discovery Channel) for once. I have honed my skills and built muscle and resilience to pushes and shoves, been a keen observant as well as a participant of a few women scuffles using some choicest ‘pardon my French’ words. Growing up in Mumbai, travelling in locals is somewhat like a rite of passage when you do it alone. I achieved mine at the age of 18. I became a part of that community of women travelling in the ladies coach. Ten years have gone by and I have struck up many conversations, gave up my seat for the elderly, have even done a jig or two of the garba, helped shell peas and sort coriander leaves,  shared my newspaper for the umpteenth time , lent and received tis...

Nishita and I live in the same city now. We are besties since kindergarten and have been in close proximity since then. But we have had our share of being parted as marriage, career, kids took first place over friendship and female bonding. Life started revolving at such a pace where we would only connect once a week over the phone and simply exchange mundane, superficial pleasantries, when both of us knew deep in our hearts how shallow it had become of our emotions. We could see ourselves on camera and silently shake our heads at each other’s drained out, pallid and spiritless faces. Imagine living in the same city and meeting once in two or three months – with the husbands and kids in tow! And in each other’s houses! You all must be rolling your eyes over how sad and lackluster lives we were leading! Nope! I couldn’t tolerate it anymore and had to take matters into my hands! I decided to go on a vacation- Just the two of us! The realization of how badly we needed a break showed in my...