The Chaos and the Calm

By Sweekriti Chand

Inspired by true incidences and persons chaos and the calm is the story of Misha Singh, a devastated eighteen year old teenager who has gone through various phases of separations and end number of betrayals by the ones she most trusted. After her brothers horrifying death her parents decide to separate leaving her in a great phase of unending depression. The story around the life of a teenager with a dysfunctional family who continuously tries to seek happiness from exterior sources and undergoes a life changing phase, a truth she hadn't known for years unveils itself in the most uncertain manner. It's the journey of a girl and her search for the idealistic world and the harsh realities of life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Jul 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482851731

Sweekriti Chand

Sweekriti Chand is a bubbly vivacious nineteen year old. Brought up in Bangalore in the, she hails from Uttaranchal, this makes her a good blend of the north and south .A dancer trained under Shiamak Davar's dance academy, a singer, badminton and squash player. She loves baking and hiking and portrays unconditional love towards all animals. She's proclaimed a drama queen by all her friends a wanderlust who can keep her feet still. Sweekriti currently lives in Delhi with her mother and ludicrous Lhasa also called magic Catch her on Facebook- sweekriti chand E-mail - [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2015 by Sweekriti Chand.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-5174-8

                eBook           978-1-4828-5173-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Partridge India

000 800 10062 62

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Preface

Epilogue

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would first and foremost like to thanks my father,

It’s all due to his support that I could actually publish this book.

Thank you to my best friend Abhishek for all the unintentional help

That he has provided me in my journey to write this book

Thanks to all the people who played a great role in inspiring characters of this book.

Finally thank you mom, for being my mom.

DEDICATION

For late Divya chand

Grandmother, guide, partner in crime

Miss you.

To all the single ladies.

-Chaos and calm-

‘When God closes a door, he always opens a window’

-The sound of music

Dear Hercules

Where art thou.

My knight in a shining armour

The purple summer nights call upon you

To be the Romeo to my balcony late night

And the Caesar to my wits

All day long

- sweekriti

Preface

I had always wanted to write a book and thought of nothing being more nourishing to our imaginative minds than feeding it with joy of reading. In 2013 when I first began writing, I sketched my characters after being inspired from a whole lot of different people. They included my own friends and family and of course myself. I was my biggest inspiration. Gradually as my own life took sharp turns and made me undergo some tough endeavours, I began spinning it all into a story.

The purpose of this book is to help understand the ‘ideal world’ syndrome which seems to instigate us to built sandcastles in the air and finally see them crash down. In my experience of being a histrionic and imagining my life to dwell on ideal conditions, I faced some of the toughest challenges. Influenced by the silver screen happy endings, I had a little cinema running in my head. Unfortunately be it high school with its prom night or the so called ‘College life’, none of it seemed satisfactory. If life gave me all the luxuries of the world then why did my world come crashing down is what everyone always wondered. My parents hated seeing me upset in spite of all their best attempts to make the sun shine for me. No matter whatever the circumstances may be I’d still have a puzzle missing in the final picture. After escaping my worries for a while by finding pillars of support in other people, I fought the battle of depression, which is equivalent to physical pain in medical terms

I find myself very lucky to overcome this ailment with the right mindset which I seemed to have adopted very recently after a whole lot of philosophical awakening and spiritual enrichment that I provided myself with. In reality and in my experience, no amount of counselling would ever be enough until you open new avenues to tread on.

I am now a different person altogether, I guess all the hits and punches on my soul have finally made it turgid and strong to face any challenge that arise in the future. It’s not like I don’t get upset anymore or never shed a tear. By all forms of human nature, it’s impossible not hide your emotions after a certain point. However I have done some amount of self policing and stopped investing my previously incorrect pursuits. However this doesn’t imply that I stopped myself from being a risk taker or hesitated from pushing my limits of tolerance, instead it’s all invested in a cause that holds a concrete justification and gains applause from the inner me.

I hope this book gives you an insight into the 20th century teenager, the problems faced and one overcomes them. If you are a teenager then learn to school your mind into the right direction first (then towards having fun, of course) and if you are an adult then it’s time to raise empathy towards your teenagers and their new age troubles. It is India typically at this tender teenage is when young boys and girls tend to drift away from their parents because of the lack of connections on the grounds of backward and forward thought conflict between the two generations. So let us begin to bridge the gap and stop this insignificant yet colossal matter that seems to simmer into almost every other teenager and yet seems unknown them or the world around.

Sweekriti Chand

April 2015

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

I’m in a club. The faint red lights are dimly illuminating the darker sections of the enclosed hall. The Disco ball casts its silvery shadow on the peachy walls and sparkles the whole dance floor with a gradient illusion. I sit across the bar, towards an extreme corner, spectating the frivolities of life. I see a group of singletons grab a spot on the couch. These men hold a peculiar look in their eyes, the one that looks into a woman’s eyes, goes down to her feet, back to her bust and then into her eyes again. All of this in a quick span of three seconds. I quickly stir my pinacolada, guiltless of the calorie consumption and the faint taste of its coconut milk caroms on my dehydrated tongue.

I watch Seth make his way in. He wore a semi formal shirt with loose fawn pants lacking over his Demi muscular frame, he looked like the bartender who was busy shaking the martini with a perpetual smile in his creamy face.

No sooner did he spot me than he walked over and grabbed a spot next to mine. He sat down with hasty embarrassment, as though he was trying to conceal something

‘Hey misha’

‘Hi’ I faintly replied

‘Oh..Pam told me about Lars. I’m so sorry to hear’ he paused ‘I sort of knew he was close to that, liver psoriasis err, it’s a slow killer’ he sighed

He’s definitely rehearsed this crap.

‘That’s none of your business’ I blankly replied ‘talking about my brother, is none of your business. It’s not your place to comment’ I rose with a protest in my glum tone

‘But one needs to move on, you should too!’ He said trying to hold my arm ‘you don’t have take it offensively, I just stated my views’

I shrugged him off irritably

His views are offensive and worthless.

‘Look Mish, I’ve known you for quite a while now, I accept on being an asshole, the worst of the lot!’ He said throwing his hands in the air with modest confession ‘But I’ve learnt my lesson the hard way, it’s been harsh and ugly. Now I dare say anything more’

‘Hmm, Maybe…You must have’ I nodded passively ‘I’m not entirely convinced with this new fabricated tale of yours’ I say looking straight into his eyes.

‘What happened was a long time ago, we were kids back then’ Seth paused as I gave him a stern look

‘I mean, not you but I was’ he corrected his statement instantly. ‘I got my socks pulled up and I know what I want for life. I want you, besides other stuff and…’

‘Sorry I’m cutting you short here but I’ve got to leave now’ I say lifting my bag in a haste

‘Already? But I just came’ he protested

‘Mother’ I guess she wants me home’ I lied ‘…and it was just last summer not such a long while ago that we were kids….oh! You… I mean’ I said with an air of truthful sarcasm ‘check your stats well next time’

‘So what? I am different now, being away from you has changed me completely’ Seth cried ‘Think about it. Far as I see you’re depressed! You may look melancholic to the world but I’ve seen you beneath this mask, I know that girl. She’s smart, She’s cute, she’s crazy out of her mind, trust me, any guy would be lucky to have you! Please… just give me one last try. Can you?’

He’s buttering you, and you must not fall into the tarred, doomed and God-dammed trap of his fallacy!

‘I will try’ I say and began darting towards the exit.

‘I will call you’ He shouted from the back. I ignored him and pushed the exit door open.

The life outside the club was faintly brighter and considerably more peaceful. Yet I couldn’t extricate the howls and screams that rang in my ears and hovered in my mind all day long, escapism wasn’t working at its best. I walked on the deserted street and felt the chills of the cool November breeze. The dried leaves rumbled on the paved grey roads and my heels cracked on the stoned path, I began to shiver and my teeth clattered with the painful numbness that I felt run up my spine buzzing into my head; as the wind blew on my pale cold face.

The fear of losing someone alive is greater