Footprints

  February 2018   She was scrolling through his profile again, clicking on his pictures, zooming in and out, not sure of why she was even doing it. A soft tap on her forehead made her look up from her phone. He pulled the covers off her face, plopped a pillow upright against the headboard and got into bed with her, laying against the pillow while she nestled into him.  “You’re cold,” she said.  “Am I?”  “No, I’m just warmer,” she smiled. He patted the top of her head with his right hand. “I can’t remember the last time you’ve been gone this long!” She was whining.  “I wanted to see what you would do,” he said. “Seems like I missed a lot eh?” he asked. She looked up at him. He was smiling but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.  “You’re disappointed.”  He shrugged his shoulders lightly, “I thought you would wait for me and hear my opinion and then decide.”  She didn’t take her eyes off him, “No, you just didn’t want to be here whe...

 It had been a long, completely engaging day and she had just finished three lectures and four lab practical hours when Anita knocked on her hostel room door and pushed it in.  “Hi Ani!” Her seemingly-always-cheery roommate Rani looked up from her desk.  “Hey Akka! (transl.: ‘Elder sister’ in Tamil)”  “How was your day?”  Ani looked up at her almost-adopted-elder sister and smiled. She was from Kerala while Akka was a native of the neighboring state. They had only been together for the past nine months but it felt shorter every day as it went by. They were known as the ‘symbiotic sisters’ among most people but to friends, they were titled ‘partners-for-the-common-good’!  “You know you always make me smile as soon as I enter our room,” Ani walked up to Rani’s desk and gave her a hug from behind, “and that makes all the difference!”  “I just really like to see you smile.”  “Aww!” Ani grabbed her sister’s cheeks and pulled playfully....

  She looked at the clock on her studio wall. 09:55pm, it showed.  ‘You still have time!’ the Heart said.  ‘To do what?’ the Head was still wide awake after a tiring day of online submissions, lengthy webinars and writing reports.  Logging onto the Facebook App, her eyebrows snapped together when the newsfeed showed her that it was the birthday of one of her favourite actors.  ‘You should’ve noticed it today morning – the entertainment column was displaying his movies to be played on TV all day!’ the Head shrugged.  ‘Yeah, well she was focused on work,’ the Heart justified her – not that there was anything to justify about. She was definitely not one of those people who celebrated the birthday of celebrities – well not all; maybe some!  ‘Thank you Heart,’ she said and smiled. She knew exactly what to do for the two-and-a-half hours till bedtime.   X-x-X  “There you are,” she said out loud. Ten minutes had gone by as ...

 x-x-x  You don’t look her in the eye. Sitting at a table for two, you both are enjoying each other’s company. ‘For the last time?’ you ask yourself. You can’t see through her, you can’t seem to break through that wall she puts around herself anymore. It’s been this way ever since that disinterested-in-this-relationship talk you both had.  “You don’t have to be insecure about it,” you had said.  “But I do, I don’t appreciate the fact that you take out time for things, and then have absolutely none for me when you come back home,” she had nearly shouted at you.  “She needed me today,” you’d tried to say.  “And I don’t?” she’d cut you off.  “As a friend Jay, as a friend,” your voice had cracked.  “Fine, whatever,” she had left the dinner table; her meal untouched.  The pleasant aroma of the sweet cakes, warm coffee and just-out-of-the-oven croissants meant nothing to the either of you now. The Bread World, five minutes from your house had alway...