Labels and names.

"It's getting dark. I should probably leave."

"No, don't. Stay."

"I need to get home."

"We can order pizza."

"I have to leave."

"With your favourite toppings."

"Please, you need to understand."

"I won't stop you from eating it with ketchup."

"It's over."

"What's over?"

"Us."

"What us?"

"You know what I mean, whatever's between us."

"What do you mean?"

"We cannot do this any longer."

"I don't get it."

"Of course you do! You're just feigning ignorance."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"One pizza won't hurt."

"You know we won't stop with the pizza. We'll hurt each other. That's what we do. That's what we always do. Eating a pizza or doing anything for that matter never remain as a simple task of doing."

"Then?"

"What then?"

"I want to know where you're going with this."

"I'm telling you we'll hurt each other. That's what we do."

"Nonono...that's what you do. That's what you always do. You always have this vapid urge to run from everything you feel strongly about. It's what you do. You drop things cold, mid-way and never look back."

"I'm just not looking for someone I can emotionally invest in."

"But do you ever?"

"It doesn't matter.

"It does. At least to me."

"I don't know why we have to run in circles about everything we do. Do you derive some kind of fun from this?"

"I just want to know."

"Know what?"

"What we were."

"Some kind of an unfinished business."

"Is that it?"

"Yeah, not everything needs labels and names, you know?"

Tune for the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzQ9VrnNQLQ

In the Moment.

"I had a lovely evening."

"Yeah, me too."

"Where are you heading now?"

"Home."

"Of course. But how?"

"Umm..I guess I'll take a metro. My apartment is a flat 5-minute walk from the station."

"Can I walk you to the station?"

"Sure, I'd like that."

"What else?"

"It's been a long time since I've come out on a date."

"Is that so? Why?"

"I've no clue. Just didn't want to get emotionally invested in someone, I guess."

"Come on, first and second dates barely hurt."

"Do they? Always?"

"Okay, maybe not always. But what's the harm in trying?"

"I don't know. Just didn't want to take a chance, I guess."

"Hmm..interesting."

"To be honest, I figured this date would be a grand dud."

"But it didn't, right?"

"Luckily, yeah."

"What made you agree to go out with me, though?"

"Fishing for compliments now, are you?"

"Haha..not really. I'm just curious."

"Okay...well..it's kind of silly, you know."

"I'm all in for silly."

"It's this song you shared on Facebook two weeks ago. By Cigarettes after Sex."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's one of my favourites and I haven't met anyone else who liked it as well."

"Wait...that's your reason?"

"To begin with."

"So, there's more?"

"I mean, you seemed like someone who'd be easy to hang out with?"

"God, I don't want to be an easy guy."

"No, I mean effortless."

"Sure!"

"Do you do this often?"

"What 'this'?"

"Going out with girls."

"I go out with everyone. I'm always up for meeting people. I try to keep myself open to being inspired and learn from the stories of different people. But to answer your question in a straightforward manner, I'm not always romantically interested in someone. That's a matter of getting out of my comfort zone and I reserve that only for a few."

"Like me?"

"Now you stop flattering yourself!"

"Haha, okay the station is here. Would you like to leave now?"

"I'll drop you home and go."

"Really?"

"Yep, I'm loving this chat more than the fancy date we had a while ago."

"Great."

"Great, let me get the tickets then. You stay put."

"Let's go."

"Okay, now my turn to ask you a question."

"Go ahead."

"Did you ever get your heart broken?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You look like a guy who cannot take a heartbreak smoothly."

"Can any person ever?"

"Depends."

"Well, I might have, what about you?"

"I'm not done yet. So what's the craziest thing you've done when you got your heart broken?"

"I'm not really the crazy-thing guy, you know? I'm a regular person who goes through what he has to go through. The art of getting by."

"Ah."

"My turn now."

"Okay."

"Do you have any fantasies?"

"Like superheroes and stuff?"

"Anything."

"All my fantasies can be deemed doltish. For instance, my impossible longing to be invisible and date Henry Peter from X-men."

"What!"

"I told you. I've got tons of such fantasies. But I'll tell you a lesser crazy one."

"Okay, but first let's grab those empty seats. My feet ache."

"Okay."

"Go on, now."

"So, I have this hankering desire to make love in my university library. Particularly near the Fiction section with a great number of books and volumes in sight."

"In daylight?"

"Eww, no! That'll be a weird fetish."

"Very weird. Plus, your librarian might not fancy the idea much."

"Shut up. I was referring to nights when the place is quite isolated."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just strange. You read like a monster and yet you have such a fantasy. I thought you might have an aversion to such stuff, you know."

"You should stop stereotyping everything. I can be fun."

"You are fun. I never said otherwise."

"Good. Good for you.

Anyway, so someone once told me that a person's fantasies tell a great deal about them."

"Definitely. For example, your fantasy tells you are a pervert."

"What? Shut up! It just tells that I love reading."

"If that's what you must say to please yourself."

"You're annoying!"

"Oh, am I?"

"Yeah."

"Okay okay, you're not a pervert.

Now, why don't we listen to that song that brought us together tonight?"

"Right now?"

"Yes, why not?"

"Good idea."

"Great, let's do it then."

Tune for the day:

https://www.saavn.com/s/song/english/Cigarettes-After-Sex/Each-Time-You-Fall-In-Love/RilbbixBUlY

Us.

"Would you like more coffee?"

"No, but should I order you another cup?"

"Not really, I'm done for the day."

"As in?"

"I've had enough coffee for the day."

"Hmm, what about a slice of carrot cake?"

"No, I'm just fine. Feel free to get yourself one, though."

"Okay, let's just sit in silence then."

"If that's what you want."

"No, that's what you want."

"Do we really have to eat to talk?"

"Well, it at least creates clamour. The table gets too tight-lipped without the clatter of cutlery and slurps of coffee."

"So?"

"What so? It's overwhelming...at least for me."

"Hmm, if you say so."

"Do you ever look at me in a different light?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what exactly I mean."

"Like sunlight?"

"No, idiot."

"Then what?"

"Do you see this going somewhere...anywhere?"

"What is 'this'?"

"Us. I am talking about us. You and me. Do you see us in a different light? Do you picture something else for us? Do you think our life can imitate art?"

"If it should imitate art, then there should be no 'us', but hey, it's going to be okay."

"What’s going to be okay?"

"You'll know."

"Hmm."

"Should we get that carrot cake now?"

Song for tonight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDJPpG8e4n4

Not So Small Talk.

"Look to my right..."

"Where? I don't see anything."

"What? There are mountains. Look up."

"Nope, still cannot."

"What is the matter with you?"

"Matter with me? Why are we doing this video call in the first place when I can neither see you nor the mountains"

"Hey!"

"Hey."

"You cannot take the slightest joy in anything I do, is it?"

"That's not true. I'm listening."

"No, you're not."

"Okay, why don't I just close my eyes? Describe everything around you and I'll hear you out."

"Listen, I'm not good with words, okay?"

"But you're not bad either. Go on, give it a try."

"Alright. So.."

"Wait, let me get under the blanket and be cozy."

"Bah!"

"Okay, start."

"So I'm sitting on the porch with my feet on the grass. The grass is greener and softer here. And it's always damp, even when it is 2 PM."

"Hmm."

"The sun is shining bright and I feel the rays on my face. But it's not scorching, it's just warm and pleasant.

In the background, somewhere amidst the clouds are the mountains. I know you couldn't see them properly but they're snowcapped, and I wonder how they'd look in Winter."

"They'd look scary."

"Yeah, and maybe majestic too."

"See, how Winter works is.."

"Stop disturbing my flow. Let me do the talking."

"Ugh ok."

"So, last night when I was near the mountains, the sky was insanely clear, it almost felt like it was fearing the formidable mountains."

"That makes no sense."

"Just listen, alright."

"Okay sorry, please continue."

"The air here has a different aroma. It's fresh and chilling, but it also has this strange aroma that reminds me of something that we had years ago."

"Hmm. Tell me more about the night you spent on top."

"How do I put it into words? Umm...okay, the sky full of stars was a beautiful sight. Everything was dark and only the stars shone brightly. We ate our dinner under those stars, and although I couldn't see anything, it was amazing. And then there was the Moon. The Himalayas lit up in the moonlight as if they belonged together."

"Like how your face lights up when I am around."

"I guess so."

"You guess so?"

"I wish you were there with me."

"Why? What would you have done?"

"I would have cried with you."

"Well, I wish I was there too."

Tune for the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eop8BC6N6gQ

Small talk.

The blue sea in front of me was changing its colour to green. My nose a little too red for Summer was still failing to inhale the scent of the warm beach and sand. I stretch my legs and try inhaling a bit harder this time, only to hurt my nose. I look to my right to see him stare at the endless beach, nonchalantly. Where does he get this calm from?

"Do you like Jane Austen?"

He doesn't answer right away. But when he does, I've already forgotten that I've asked something.

"I don't know much about her."

"Have you ever tried reading her?"

Another bout of silence.

"Not really."

"Would you like to read her then?"

This time, he answers right away.

"She was way ahead of her time. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"Maybe."

And so, I went back to cursing my aching nose, and he, to staring at the sea.
Tune for the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MQ5lInYuag

Solitude.

Oftentimes solitude fails at making conversations with us.

It lurks behind our backs hoping we'd notice it.

But as we move one from one phase of our life to the other, waltzing from moments of euphoria to awful times of melancholia, it wishes we spot its presence.

It sits along with us on a park bench, trying to lure us into its gifted world of beauty.

In the darkness, when we run and hide from the world, it tries to befriend us.

In the bright light, as we stroll in the sidewalks, with our hands in the pockets, it extends us its hand.

Too lost in the humdrum routines of the world, we never hold it back.  

But there comes a time when we meet solitude eye to eye, and there's no going back after that.

It showers us with meaningful conversations and beautiful introspections.

As we gather our thoughts and experiences, solitude makes us realize that the greatest company a man can ever have is his own mind.

And that, my friend, is when you truly understand you have earned a true friend in yourself.