She stood at the end of the long gali. He was waiting still. Standing patiently, peeping from behind the yellow minaret next to the big gate. Hundreds of pigeons sat on the gate’s rusted iron rods and the pale, cold cement of the boundary wall. She did not take her gaze off him, nor did he stop watching her.

With each step, she came closer to a world where a thousand stars sparkled in the deep black sky, as beautiful and sad like tear drops in her kohl smeared eyes. Their love was tainted too. Like the times they lived in. How was she to cover this distance between them without turning to look back even once ?

She still had in a pocket, a fistful of what she was leaving behind.  Clenched tightly in  fingers unwilling to let go. Her other hand stretched out to grab his. She struggled to hold him and to keep that balled up hand in her pocket. Was it necessary to choose between the two? Was it necessary to let go of one for the other? Couldn’t she keep that one hand in her pocket forever? Saving bits of what she grew up on?

Natascha Shah is the Editor of http://tlfmagazine.com/  Having graduated from the University of New South Wales, Sydney with a degree in Literature and Journalism, she worked as a journalist for four years and then felt a need for unrestricted creativity beyond formulaic writing. Thus TLF was conceived. And yes, she believes, every moment in life is worth tripping on.