Liminality

'Innocence' a word which is usually used as a synonym for purity of heart, soul and emotions, but for Manik Malhotra it is equated to stupidity. Plain and simple. Stupidity. The world he lives in has no place for such a pristine personality flaw. He has seen enough, felt enough, experienced enough to know that the blackness of the world always seeps into the milky white virginity. Somehow, somewhere there is always a crack, a traitor. From the start he tried to spare his four friends this harsh lesson, but life visited each one of them. One by one. Till they were all painted black. They struggled and clawed to the bottom of their existence till they realized that the black acted as a glue, a strong glue which binds them together. Together, to become the formidable, Fab Five.

Endurance, for some is a positive trait. A characteristic with which you can be the bigger person, a better person. To endure and then get a reward. But all of that is acceptable only up to a specific limit, after that you leave everything behind and say to hell with it. But for Nandini Murthy, there was never a choice. From that fateful incident when she was eight years old she endured it all, to every extent, till she had nothing else to give. Still she gave every ounce of her being to her family, refusing to give in. Facing off against the deadly reality of life, not letting the blackness of it taint the purity of her heart. To taunt it, like a fallen warrior who still struggles back to his feet just to piss off his opponent. One. Last. Time.

Some called it stupidity, she called it grit.