Categories
Journal

Campus Pyar

I met my future husband for the first time during interviews at the business school we had both applied to. Along with a roomful of nervous applicants, we were assigned an obscure topic and expected to fire off insights, one after the other. He is the only one I remember meeting that day; firstly because of the unkempt, bushy beard he was sporting and secondly, because of the conviction in his voice and his eloquence. Subsequently, when he shaved off his beard one day, to finally fit in with business school protocol, it was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

What is it about campus-life that sparks love interests? With everyone eyeing everyone else as a potential connection, life on campus can seem like a long chain of checking-outs, hook-ups and dramatic break-ups, punctuated by boring exams and holidays.

Campus love is like no other—everyone knows who’s dating/mating/cheating who. Love is in the air and so is melodrama. Squabbles escalate into epic battles, boyfriend troubles can lead to three-day long crying jags and a shared cup of ice-cream can become the most memorable date ever!

Aided by suggestive songs from romantic movies, cheesy lines from romance novels and poetic couplets stolen from poetry books, campus lovers embark on the Technicolor, larger-than-life, no-holds-barred, love story of their lives. Whether they succeed or not, the point is to join in on campus pyar.

Was your college romance, love or crush the best of your life?

Categories
News & Events

Lines in the Sand

Once upon a time, a line was drawn in the sand, and suddenly two nations were born, each creating a new divided history.

Have you ever wondered what the people across the border are like? How they live, what they think, how different from you they are?

Well, we asked the same question of our authors. The result? Twelve, intriguing, insightful and inspiring stories about people making connections, building bridges and yes—even falling in love—across borders.

labOur authors gave us Sejal and Saleema, two brides-to-be who meet at the Novelty Emporium where the master craftsman Panditji is creating their wedding dresses. We also meet Anjum, a bride from Pakistan and Vandana’s new neighbor. A bride who settles in better in her new environment than the woman whose home it is.

There is Dilip who, now in his sixties, searches unceasingly for ‘a friend’ on Facebook. And Suresh, who searches for clues online of his lost love from his college days in Karachi’s DJ College.

Another story features two upwardly mobile desis  meeting in Boston. Both are far from home, but carry their pride and competitiveness with them. And we even envision a dystopian future in which both countries have become a nuclear wasteland and two youngsters must strive to understand the past and build a new future.

These and many more stories will be available for download from August 14, 2013, exclusively from Indireads’ website, Love Across Borders. Stories of people from India and Pakistan coming together in some way or the other, despite lines drawn in the sand.