Love Letters to 7 Humans I Love — Vol. 2 of 3 —{Börsha & Dodo}—

Life is fickle.

Death is certain.

Letters are eternal.

Love is thunderstorm.

I’m getting old as the mountains — so before some mothafucker shoots me dead in the midst of a cold shower, I gotta tell these 7 betches-&-basterds why I love ‘em more than Hannibal loves eating Humans.

[P.S. I already feel deeply ungrateful not to write to at least another 27 humans {if I’ve written a letter to you, you are one of those 27} who’ve been ridiculously kind to me & made my ordinary life beautiful. I hope —if you’re one of those 27— you’ll forgive me for my graceless ingratitude.]

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[—There is no love ranking — All 7 names appear alphabetically—]

Börsha

I had seen her, spoken with her in 2009, but I really met her on 14^th March 2010.

When I first met her, we sat, for hours, on a park bench at Priya —Vasant Vihar, once a legendary open hotspot in Delhi [before glitzy Malls destroyed everything open].

After my wedding fell apart in 2006, my heart went into coma — my heart subconsciously shuttered its ‘Love Shop’ — Börsha arrived like whirlwind & shattered the shutters.

Lightning didn’t strike when we fell in love like it does in the movies, so I don’t know the precise moment She & I fell in love. But when we did, it gave me hope that my heart wasn’t dead.

Her ocean-deep eyes & crystal-sky heart are a spectacle. If you don’t know her, you haven’t a clue what you’re missing out on.

When it comes to awesome humans, she’s right up there. I’d bet 17.3 million Paki Rupees & claim that she’s someone who would give even Gandhi a run for his money when it comes to kindness. I will go as far as saying this:

Börsha is Gandhi everyday — even Gandhi wasn’t Gandhi everyday 😊

If my buddy Bikram is calm as a dead body, Börsha is calm as Kyiv after a Russian missile strike. [Dear Reader, if you’re offended by the insensitive comparison. Well, thank you.]

She & I were together for almost 3 years. And if it were upto me, I’d give her Nobel Peace Prize for not murdering me. You, reader, may think I’m exaggerating. Try being my girlfriend for a week & you’ll know what the hell I’m talking about. Most days, I struggle not to murder myself 😊

A few years ago, Börsha found someone amazing. She & I were in different cities & hardly spoke. She travelled thousands of miles to Delhi to tell me that she has decided to get married. She could’ve texted, called, emailed or written a letter. Frankly, she didn’t have to tell me at all. Instead, she came to Delhi for 3 days just to tell me. And she told me right before she was leaving — she said “There’s no other way I could’ve told you, but with you sitting next to me.”

That day, I realized our time together was limited, but the love we created together is eternal.

Now, I speak with her twice a year. Write a few quirky emails about the most nonsensical things.

I still write her letters & always will. She’s the person I’ve written —by far— the most letters. It could be about 100 or it will reach 100 before Musk buys Earth a.k.a real soon.

This verse from a Beatles song precisely sings what I’ll feel about her till I depart.

— “In my life, I love you more.” —

Dodo

Between 14^th Feb & 31^st March 2005, Dodo & I crossed each other a few times at college, but never spoke or met. 

We spoke & met on 1^st April 2005 — last I saw & kissed her was 17 years ago — 4^th July 2005. 

In those 95 days we were together, she altered my life — she made me believe in miracles.

I did a lot of firsts of my life with her.

Kiss & Cuddles

Make Love

Fall in Love

Wake up next to a girl I love

Celebrate monthly anniversaries

Travel together

Write Letters

Create Miracles

Sketch Us [She did - I can’t sketch]
Make Album of Memories

Propose her to Marry Me
Get Engaged

Almost Marry [though, we didn’t tie the knot, I’ve always felt divorced.]

On 4^th July 2005, as she walked toward the metal doors at the airport, she left a trail of tears on earth. 17 years on, those tears still haunt me. 17 years on, I still hate airports.

Had I known then that I wouldn’t see Dodo after 4^th July 2005, I would’ve gone all cuckoo. It feels surreal that we haven’t spoken in 16 years. Life has taught me that we all meet to depart. I bloody hate it, but it’s also the tough truth.

In 2019, I wrote a book —143 Days— for her. It’s a simple novel where I narrate every day, every minute, I spent with her in 2005. I don’t have some crazy photographic memory. If you ask me what all I did yesterday, I wouldn’t have a goddamn clue. So, it’s nothing but a miracle that I recalled the minutest details of everything she & I created 14 years ago.

Try This: Think about what you did 14 days ago. Write down everything you did on that day {don’t look at your smartphone for clues}. Darn difficult, innit?

When did I know I loved her?

When your girlfriend gives you a beautiful gift, you really like her. 

When your girlfriend sketches you & makes you look far prettier than you’re, you really like her.
When she kisses you — when she makes love to you, you really [really] like her.
When everyone is superjealous how sexy your girlfriend is, you really like her.
But it was this one day when I walked into our university’s residential campus & saw her standing on the lawn — her hair a mess, dressed shabbily, looking all homeless & yet, at the sight of her, my heart skipped a beat — I felt the goosebumps.
In that moment, I knew I love this girl more than I will love anyone in my life.