Some couples discuss their past, some don’t. Today, I’m unsure where I stand on this idea. When I met X2, I was extremely curious. Somewhere in my naive mind, knowing each other well was a way of getting closer and building trust. I was quick to blurt out my few experiences with my ex(1), how it began and how it ended. X2 wasn’t nearly as inexperienced.

She might have been 16 or 17 when she met her first boyfriend, a Hindu guy she met him during school. He was a bit older and he was possessive of her. He needed her attention and he wanted to speak to her regularly. X2 wasn’t nearly as passionate. Going by her behaviour patterns, it was clear she was perpetually distracted. Priorities would change, arbitrarily. There was never knowing what her plans were, because promises would be made, then broken without informing anyone. She moved to Pune to complete her graduation. Busy with friends and now completely isolated from her boyfriend in Bombay, she would lose track of time. Her friends were her world, then her classmates, then any activity and she could snap ties with them for her boyfriend, the next moment detach the boyfriend.

…

Uncle Marcel was five years older than my father. He was the second eldest brother in a family of 10 children. It’s not every day I write about every deceased relative, but uncle Marcel was very different. Marcel was 81 when he passed away this Sunday, the 1st of September 2019. He went for his daily walk on Saturday with the dog. A fever rose that evening and he had to be admitted. He suffered a cardiac arrest late on Sunday.

…

While I was intent on getting married and knowing her better, X2’s focus was on important things, such as the employee bonus at the company she worked at. She said she wanted to strengthen her ties with her family too. X2 didn’t like what I had learnt of her sister, but she seemed to trust me with details of the relationship with her parents. When we first started talking, she told me about her childhood and how her family struggled to make ends meet. I felt for her then, but that would change.

…

Written by TheGali

“Most children can recall memories when they are around 3.5 years of age”
-Cornell University study

Meet my younger brother, Dhruva. He looks exactly like me, has the same height and physique, a product of my mother and father but he’s not my own brother. He was adopted by my aunt, my mother’s sister when he could barely walk. My aunt, for some reason wasn’t fertile. Hence, their family decided to adopt a baby. I don’t know how they concluded to adopt my brother, or how my mom agreed to it, but the adoption went ahead.

…

Last night, my wife called two of my unmarried cousins, ‘virgin nuns’. Truth be told, I have little fondness towards them, but I am reserved in my judgements. But more on that, later. Last night, after a rant that first started with her aunt’s husbands from her mother’s side, then moved to the aunts on her father’s side, then to her cousins, who she wished would all die. She said she wouldn’t give a damn, and then the venting was directed towards my side of the family.

…