A Thin Line

extended summary // face claims // housekeeping

Welcome to FITE, India's top engineering college. The students, among the top 0.01% in the country, believed in honest competition - you beat your opponent on the battlefield, you don't stab him in the back in the dead of the night.

There were no secrets in FITE - the playing field (the battlefield) was always level.

So everyone in first year knew within moments of arrival on campus that only a sucker ordered plain Maggi rather than cheese Maggi in the cafeteria. In an hour, he (or she) found out that if you wanted the best jobs, you tried to work with Vardhan sir on a project and not the dean. By their end of the day, they had probably seen Sanyukta Agarwal and Randhir Singh Shekhawat in a screaming match. The two best students in third year hated each other's guts.

It was ironic how Randhir's and Sanyukta's best friends were the cutest couple of FITE. Jiggy and Kaustuki had gotten together in the first month of first year, and all the girls loved how adorable the pair were. What no one knew was that lately Kaustuki had been feeling a distance growing between them.

Within a week, the first years knew that if you wanted help, you would go to Parth and he would never turn you down. Parth Kashyap was honest and patient. Girls wanted to be with him and boys wanted to be him. He was a role model to his peers, unlike Vidushi Kumar. She was selfish and mean, only doing things that would benefit her. She said one thing and meant the opposite. She was feared but not respected. Parth and Vidhushi were a study in polar opposites. Or were they?

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Request to Western Reviewers

Please judge this story as harshly as you would a story written by a native speaker.

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Shoutouts

Shoutout to @xangientx for the lovely cover.

Shoutouts to everyone who added this book to your libraries or reading list. I see you giving me views and votes. Would love it if you shared your opinion and told me how you would like the story to go.

f a c e. c l a i m s.

(under construction)

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Final Words

Please let me know what you felt so far, what was good and what needs improvement. Your encouragement means a lot to me, whether through a vote, comment or add to a reading list!

Thank you so much to @Aishami for the vote and for adding this story to your reading list!

Thank you to @PriyanshiMehta105 for the vote.

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Note on Language

This story is set in modern day India. It is written in fits and starts, as and when inspiration hits, and as I get the time on commutes to and from work. It is my first draft. Please forgive any inconsistencies in tone or mood.

Also, in chapters 1,2,3, I used Indian English for both dialogue and narration, but decided to move to Indian English only for the dialogue from chapter 4 and beyond.

Use of Hindi: I used HINDI (one of the languages we speak in India) to some extent in chapters 1,2,3, but decided to stick to English after. Please ignore the dialogue if you can't understand it, it generally adds little to the story. Translations will be added to the end of the chapter, soon. You won't need to understand Hindi to read the story, though.