Hello everyone! Thank you for coming to my page to read the first chapter of my first novel ‘Pink Blossom’, it truly means a lot to me. I hope you join me on this very personal journey and can’t wait to hear what you think about my book. Enjoy!
Sid walked down the stained dark jetway which was lined with thick dust; exhausted from daily use. He was drowsy and stirred in half sleep. As he stumbled away from the plane’s half circular opening, his eyes stung red from the lack of sleep during the night. He was naturally a light sleeper but planes took the most out of him, the turbulence was too much to bear. He was irritated at best but the zeal inside him burned, like wood crackling in a fireplace in a tiny lodge nestled within a winter forest. He had been waiting one whole year to be here and he’d make this trip count.
The year prior Sid almost died. This was when he was learning to swim in the great vastness of the Caribbean sea near the Bahamas, where the sun shone down heavy on the ocean’s surface in contrast to the darkness beneath it. He remembered it all very clearly; the encounter lasted roughly thirty seconds but blemished his mind forever. He had lost his footing against the grainy ocean floor and he panicked. He was not yet familiar with the ocean and the lost of control startled him like a tiny kitty frightened by any sudden movement, except unlike the kitty, he had no where to run and hide. He almost drowned in shock — the air stuck within his lungs like fabric caught on a loose nail. He always fantasized about being courageous in life threatening situations, but with the actual threat of death around the corner his mind went blank as if his brain was numbed by ice. The slightest mistake would be fatal and in this brief moment the anxiety crippled him, encumbering him with fear. All his life he was a man with a plan but there was nothing he could do here besides give up and that realization was a tough pill to swallow.
He gasped for air and shook his arms in panic against the cold dead water as trepidation seized him. How many people had died at this very spot, being in his same situation? When you are in a life or death situation, oftentimes the scope of your choices are limited and he had no idea what to do but burn energy in dire need of hope. Luckily enough, his brother noticed the commotion and swam over to aid this ball of drowning fear. Sid immediately grabbed his brother as he got closer and pushed down on his shoulders to lift himself up, away from the dangerous enemy who had seized him. Once relaxed he wondered in a childlike manner where his brother had gone, and as if a jolt of thunder hit him over the head he realized that he was now drowning him. His stomach turned, now he had two choices to make: would he go back into the dark abyss that reeked of death or save himself by holding onto his brother?
His broken mind went blank again but this time a quiet calmness claimed it. The gears in his head churned in thought and finally, two words appeared, “let go”, they proclaimed. Imagine how the world would be if he didn’t face his fear here and now? The news headlines would read ‘Two Brothers Lost at Sea’ and would his body even be found? Would he even survive without his brother? All of these questions struck him all at once. Then he imagined the sadness his parents would feel in this small window of time and it forced him to fight internally to create another choice out of desperation. The sun reappeared behind a dark cloud and as its rays penetrated holes through the mist, Sid awakened to a single conclusion — the one thing he had yet to try, to let go and try to float.
Sid walked about the dainty airport with his army green luggage over his shoulder and waved goodbye to the exotic looking air hostess, who had taken extra care of him while he laid awake the entire ride. It took him staring into her pretty little eyes once to set up dinner plans for later that week, he felt her gaze on him throughout the trip so this wasn’t a big surprise. These encounters happened a lot with him and he sensed it immediately when he first stepped onto the plane, hours ago.
As he walked, his eyes adjusted to the atmosphere of the new world and he stopped to embrace this very moment, overcome with both relief and jubilation. He had made it back to the motherland! It had taken him only fourteen hours but he was back in Mumbai, the mere thought of it triggered a change in him — like he was where he needed to be, that he belonged here. That he was home.
But this moment didn’t last long, his excitement quickly waned as he walked out of the airport and into this strange land — where the air was too hot and the people scurried around like flies over him. He felt many hands and eyes ambush him as be walked out, they were trying to persuade him to take a ride in their overpriced taxi. This rudeness irked him and reminded him that he was wasn’t like them, though they shared the same skin color and to a degree, blood. These people didn’t fit his western appetite of appropriateness, spitting on the street and scanning him up and down and treating him like an outsider. It didn’t help that the orange yellow sky emitted a heat wave he wasn’t accustomed to the heat. It was all bittersweet to him, because this was a new adventure for him but he didn’t like being challenged at every turn — from negotiating prices with these savages to driving along the bumpiest road in history. Nothing so far was going smooth.
As he rod on, he thought in detail his game plan for the week. On how he would do this and that and how he would promote his book at the biggest writing conference in India. These thoughts always ignited something deep in him that he liked to keep hidden, for he was a man that revealed his true intentions only when the battle was won — his many fathers taught this to him. He smiled softly as he sat in the backseat of the light blue Maruti 800, thinking about his uncle who had owned this same exact car that he rode in countless times as a young lad, many moons ago. He grew gentle at times when he thought about this and hardened himself when he thought of the difficult things he must do while on this trip to prove himself.
He had been on his purpose since last year, where the old him ceased to live as he would no longer cry about things he didn’t have control over. The drowning incident assisted him in learning that lesson. Just like the day when a lion cub is abandoned by its parents to fend for itself, did Sid understand it was his time to do the same — only he learned his at a ripe old age of thirty years old. Sid toiled on his mind for all of last year, to make it stronger for everything — success, health and women, in that order. He was a writer by trade and going to Mumbai was essential in him establishing his presence in the international market.
The car came to a sudden stop and the driver looked back with unease etched on his face. The narrow street was blocked by a crowd of people protesting about who knows what and they still had thirty mins left of the trip to go. The driver pounded both his hands on the steering wheel in distress and muttered,
“These people — they always do this, I shouldn’t have taken this way.”
As Sid chatted with Alqa, he noticed just how well versed and of great character he was, this was apparent by how he constructed his sentences and his smooth movement as he explained what was going on . He immediately felt ashamed of what he had thought of the man prior to getting in his car. This wasn’t a savage at all, he was a good man. He assured Sid that he would not charge extra for sitting here in wait for the crowd to disperse. Alqa was the type of person that liked helping people, even as they sat together, Sid could hear him on his phone talking to his close friend Sam about how he would help him move this coming weekend.
Alqa explained to Sid that people would occasionally block roads for payment and this wasn’t a protest, but a ploy to hold them for ransom. They were holding them captive, trapped in a cage of people. He said this would such ease that scared Sid more than the actual event itself. Life was different here, such nonsense would never fly back in New York — where the cops would beat the life out of you for the principle of it. He told Sid to stay in the car and that being vigilant would break the crowd’s confidence and they would eventually leave. And as a miracle, after ten mins, they left and Alqa smiled back at Sid and said, “See, I told you — I do feel bad for them but this can’t be the only way to make money.”
Like clockwise, both were back on the road with the dry hot air hitting their faces. Sid sitting in the backseat of this tiny foreign car started to fidget around in discomfort. He was in a foreign country, with no friends and people were already trying to rob him. And just as a the car hit a bump on the road, his troubles grew as he lay sitting and thinking about how long this trip was going to be. It felt even longer when he reminded himself that there was no comfort in sight. It was hot and the AC wasn’t working. He was thirsty, but he couldn’t drink the local water lest he get sick. He was Indian but didn’t feel welcome in his country.
“Hey man — we’ll be coming to your stop in about five mins. Are you a writer by any chance?” Alqa said as he looked back partially from his right shoulder.
“Yeah, are you a big reader?” Sid said trying to act cool and not bring attention to his fame. Most people were annoying about it, they all had the same reactions, mouth agape with their hand out wanting something from you. Anything they could hold onto, a piece of you so they could remember or boast to their friends about. Alqa didn’t seem to care, he only nodded in agreement as he drove.
As the hotel came closer in sight, Alqa handed him a card and told of a writer’s club he had going on and that Sid should visit if he had time if he liked cigars, whiskey and jazz music — in that order. Surprisingly, this startled him. Sid immediately felt prideful in his birth city when just moments before he felt unsure of my being here. This connection reminded him of his childhood, when he used to play marbles with the servant’s kids in the parking lot of his multi-level building spanning fifteen levels, running around without his slippers on and cutting and hardening the soft loose skin on the bottom of his feet. That’s how the servant’s kids did it, since they couldn’t afford slippers and naturally he did the same. It helped build that rapport with them even though they were from different worlds. And so he felt the same way with this man, still thinking in the back of his mind he could be a glorified fan of sorts and taking his card to ensure him that he would be there, on that Friday.
Sid had another engagement to attend to this afternoon which was luckily only a few dirty street blocks away. As he got out of the car to gather his luggage, a fresh rosy smell infiltrated his nostrils. He looked from side to side to determine the root of this smell and discovered a rose flower vendor, wanting to sell a few roses to him. He didn’t need roses but it was too good of a deal to pass up and so he brought a bunch for rupees that equalled a few bucks and thanked the flower vendor, a young girl who looked not a hair over twenty-two years old.
In his heart, he knew why he brought the roses from her even when there was no need. She was the first truly beautiful local girl he saw since the airport and this would be a good start to a relationship, he was always scheming and planning ahead with every interaction and situation. She was wearing a rose crown which made her look like the queen of roses, a rose queen. For a moment Sid let his guard down and thought of a future with this one, who fit his qualifications of a pretty gal he could bed. But by the time he opened the door to his hotel, those thoughts faded and he hardened himself against the idea. Women were all the same he thought in hurt, still bitter from his past experiences with their kind. They were users and men were playing cards to them and he decided he would use them as well. He dismissed her from his mind and focused on the more important things at hand, like meeting with his good friend of fifteen years, Takat.
Sid and Takat went way back to the years of middle school, where they met by chance on the playground. Back then, Takat was a scrawny kid of fifteen years old that used to get bullied mercilessly by his peers — it didn’t help that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 caused a lot of friction between him and his community. It forced him to adapt and compromise parts of his religion to be accepted at school, to steer clear of ignorance that had potential to turn violent. At this point, Sid was well respected by his friends and was regarded as the cool kid at school. He never really embraced the title but occasionally used his privilege here and there, when needed. These two recognized each other from a distance with a nod of respect here and there which quickly turned into handshakes and pleasant greetings. Takat became like a little brother to him.
Sid got settled in quickly and hurried back downstairs, leaving his luggage cramped in the corner and his clothes sprawled over the red and white bedding. He wanted to see Takat because their relationship had started to sour recently, the excitement in their conversations wasn’t there anymore. Whenever they spoke, he always sensed that his good friend was either frustrated or annoyed, the timing was never right and this negative energy managed to seep into their own relationship over time, like drops of water slowly corroding rock.
It didn’t help that Takat wasn’t communicating any of his frustrations which made Sid distrust him ever so slightly, that doubt continuously lived in the back of his mind which always stepped in to provide reasoning for his behavior in a negative context. The silence between them was enough to divide them, where one felt the other owned him attention or one felt he was putting in too much effort the other was not recognizing. The tension had stressed them out and in turn, they rarely talked to each other. But Sid was here and Takat would have to meet him, for if he didn’t their relationship would cease to exist and there was too much of an investment to let something so valuable go to waste, without full assurance that one was right the other. And with this in mind, Sid stepped into the newly built cafe near his hotel and eagerly waited to meet again his little brother.
Click here to check out Chapter 2: https://seankey.medium.com/pink-blossom-4b67f73459c5
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