When Farhan met Sarin

What is love? Why do people fall in love? What's the relation between love, the Internet, milkshake and gorillas? In the following story, you will find the answers to these great mysteries of mankind.

Like most love stories, this story is also about two people. And like most love stories, one of those two is a boy and the other one is a girl. To avoid getting my rear side seriously kicked, I'll keep their real names a secret. Let's just call our hero Farhan and our heroine Sarin.

Now Farhan, being influenced by watching too many comedy movies of Salman Khan, was probably among the top ten biggest flirts in the universe. Unfortunately for him, the world isn't as fair as Bollywood about love. So, after being dumped/refused by a girl for the 99th time, he finally came to a conclusion, "I'm so pretty that I give all the girls an inferiority complex. I wish they were as smart as me to realize that it's not really my fault that God created them so ugly compared to me. I think that they feel I'm just too good to be true." So, there he was, feeling lonely, depressed and considering himself a victim of his own beauty, personality and coolth; when all of a sudden he had an idea. "If only I could hide my face while flirting with girls, I'd have better luck," he thought. Here he had two choices: a) move around with his head covered with a paper bag or b) flirt through a queer technological contraption we call the Internet. As the first choice had obvious difficulties, he opted for the second one. And it was through the net that he first met Sarin. [Start the gooey, mushy violin music]

They started out chatting on bdchat and soon discovered how much they had in common. So now they entered the phase of chatting all night long on MSN Messenger. But 33.6 kbps isn't really fast enough for love. So, enter phase 3: free sms. They would send each other clichéd Bollywood-style romantic messages through their mobiles every ten minutes or so. But they soon ran out of their allotted free messages, and were left to only one option the ancient and sacred art of dating.

For their first date, they decided that Farhan should wear a blue shirt and Sarin a blue shalwar kameez and meet in one of the many modern age temples of love i.e. fast food courts. They also tried to convince a few of their friends to play the role of the faithful shokha/shokhi and accompany them. Unfortunately, nobody agreed to do so.

On that big day, Farhan was a little late in showing up. He was actually busy emptying his hair gel and cologne and loading up his wallet with money. But when he came in, he was in for quite a shock. As far as he could see, there was only one humanoid form in a blue shalwar kameez. Any other day, he might have mistaken it for a gorilla or a professional rugby player. But considering the circumstances, he knew that it had to be the girl he was looking for. On the net, she would give him long, boring lectures on the inner beauty of people whenever she could. He now understood why. So, he quietly slipped to corner, ordered a milkshake and started thinking about what he should do. Sarin, on the other hand, couldn't fail to notice our milkshake sipping, blue clad hero. So, she approached him and asked in voice resembling a thousand ringing church bells, "Tumi ki Farhan?" Farhan now petrified, somehow mumbled, "Ji, na, maane… apni bodhoy bhul korchhen." Sarin, seemingly displeased with the answer, gave him a suspicious stare. Fortunately for Farhan, right at that moment, another man walked into the food court wearing a blue shirt. This, of course, made Sarin a little more hopeful about her love life. She quickly apologized to Farhan and rushed off to talk to that man.

So, that's how Farhan failed in love for the hundredth time. But considering the alternative, he was quite happy about it.

Author's Note: This story is absolutely true. Any resemblance with any person (living or dead), place or gorilla is purely intentional.

By Constantine

The missing treasure

In a far off land lived a king who owned a lovely Kingdom. The castle he lived in was very big and tall and clean. The King was not that lonely. He wasn't lonely because he had three lovely maids. Their names were Nicole, who was fifteen years old, Victoria who was twelve years old and Hannah who was nine years old. Hannah was going to be ten years old soon. Her birthday was on June 31.

One day, when the lovely maids were cleaning the castle, the King announced that he was going on a vacation to USA. In USA there was a place called Florida. In Florida, there was a place called Miami. In Miami there was a beach and that was a beach and that was where he was going.

"When will you go?" asked Hannah.
"I will go on June 1", the King told her.
"When will you come back?" asked Hannah.
"I will come back on June 31," replied the King.
"What? But that's my birthday. Can you come back soon so I can have my birthday party with you?" Hannah asked.
"I will come in the morning and set everything up fast so we can celebrate your birthday", pronounced the King. "Oh yes, two people are coming and staying in the castle when I am gone. And you only need to clean the castle on Sundays."

It was May 31. The maids packed up. Hannah packed all of the King's favourite foods and things. The King was very sad to leave Hannah. He would miss Hannah and her sisters. If the flight was delayed, the King couldn't go to Hannah's birthday party. Or if something went wrong, who would fix it? The King was terribly sad!

After a few hours, the King was on an airplane to Miami. He took a photo book to remember the three girls. He also took a notebook to write some cool things and to put pictures in.

The maids were asked on Monday to greet Alex and John. So they did. On that day, they waited longer than they were supposed to. In the middle of the night, Alex and John arrived. Nicole and Victoria told them that they were very, very late, and that they were supposed to come after lunch, not late at night. Alex and John didn't care.

"They have bad manners," said the maids. "They also are dirty and stinky."

Later, the maids came to clean the castle. That day, Hannah had a special job to do. It was a fun job. The job was to walk through and check if all the treasure was there in the King's treasure room. Hannah went in and saw almost nothing! The treasure was stolen. She knew there was supposed to be lots and lots of boxes in this room. She quickly got out of the room and locked it. Then she ran home. She told her sisters.

But Nicole said, "It's time for supper. We can go to that room after supper."

So they ate supper then they went. Now they all saw the King's treasure room. Then they called some fabulous detective. The detectives' names were Eric, Dylan and Grant. When they came home, Hannah told them to hide in the closet and if they saw someone in this room, they should catch them.

Eric said, "Yes."

One day, Alex and John went in the King's treasure room. The fabulous detectives caught them. The detectives looked in Alex's and John's room to see if they already stole more treasure.

Finally the case was shut. Alex and John went to the dungeon. Hannah, Victoria and Nicole sent a postcard to the King. They told him that there had been a problem but everything else was fine.

The King came back in the early morning and set up the party. Hannah told the King what had happened. He was very happy to hear that they fixed the problem and he gave two books to Hannah for her birthday gift. It was a book about their parents (their parents are dead).

The other book was about the King's trip.
They all lived happily ever after.

Dedicated to Tanisha who always steals my treasures.

By Zara Hasan

The only friend
Autumn wind blowing
Winter is near;
Dry leaves hanging on the bough
Fall is not clear.
Billows overcasted,
But no sign of pelt even here.
The blue clear morning
Has turned now sandy
As my mind,
Like the gloomy sky
I had my hub,
Dismal and desolate.
I ran to the meadows
With no one around me
Except.... the welkein
The green and that
Old sandy mist.
Lonesome and recluded
Wailed out my heart!
To the Blue... that far..
"Why am I friendless?
Don't I have the perculiarity
To have a single pal?"
I notice
Nothing comes out of my lips
Rather than the gleaming downpour
Of my eyes.
I look to the horizon,
I find someone,
I look again
I find my grandmother!
I find my nurture
The cuddle, my love.
Then, I feel the touch
Of the mellow light.
The sun says....
"You have your nearest pal
Who will never part you until you decease."
Grandmother....
You stretch out your hands free:
And I run to thee,
Put my hands around you.
Tears came out
And these were my last words...
>From Birth till Death
There is always one with me about,
You are the only one...
A true friend no doubt.

By Mohona Mahjabeen

Painfully beautiful
The great blue wave washed her feet on the sea-shore
Silence touched her heart-far away from sound and chores
Flocks of blue-birds twirling so high
Her heart twisted, it poured out a deep sigh
Cold calm wind of the cliff
Made her remember those lovely mischief
Icy tearing drops of rain
Shredded her mind in unbearable pain
In black sky the appearance of star-
Will promises made be fulfilled ever?
Rhythm of violin, sound of guitar
Caused her remember someone flown so far
It was the only star which twinkled in her sky
Reason for her to live, cause of her to die
The swinging leaves, the windblown tree
Yes from everything she were now free
But still there was a question, will it ever be?
Silvery glitters of beautiful moon
Assured her it will be soon
The scarlet frowning red hot sun Cursed her for escaping the long run
The GOD sitting on top of all the sky
Cleverly smiled to the question "WHY?"
For every night there is a beautiful day
Tomorrow is awaited by yesterday
She didn't want a day beautiful & gay
She wanted back the abating sweet memorable days

By- Blackrose