Sea Mist

Chapter 1

Bangalore, Ten Years later

Khushi stood in the balcony looking out at city of Bangalore. From the ninth floor, the city still looked beautiful, as lights twinkled against the backdrop of the sky shrouded with the dark colors of the night.

She had great memories of the city as a small child. She remembered enjoying the blur of traffic as she stood in the front of her father's Bajaj scooter, her hair flying with the wind. She had especially loved going to MG Road area where all the theatres mostly played English movies, where all the fashionable crowd of Bangalore came to dine, drink or simply hang out with friends. Walking amidst the crowd on Commercial Street, a narrow road flanked on either side by all the famous stores in the city was an experience in itself. It was only bettered by a tall glass of strawberry milkshake and butter masala dosa at Woody's restaurant on the same street.

She also remembered the trip to Cubbon Park with all her paternal cousins during one summer. Spread over 300 acres, the park with rich green foliage was home to thousands of trees. The children's park had a toy train running around its perimeter, a mini theater and also a small amusement park within the premises. After eating the big spread of lunch that her aunts had packed, they had even gorged on cotton candy, popcorn and ice cream bars. The way her tummy had flip flopped when the giant wheel, came down from a great height was something she could never forget.

The beauty of children's memories was the ability to remember only the positive side of life. Once you grow up you no longer view the world with rose-tinted glasses.

In broad daylight, the city was not the famous Garden City it used to be known as anymore. Having to cater to the demands of the burgeoning population, the city was bursting at its seams. It was dirty, congested and polluted. The city's beauty had deteriorated terribly — just like her life.

Her parents had divorced two years ago after being married for nearly thirty years. As a child, she had believed that they were a happy family. That is how they had looked to the outside world – a family of four plus their pet dog, living in a decent size villa. She was almost fifteen when that bubble broke and she realized that their marriage had been ridden with problems right from the beginning. Their different backgrounds was a major cause in the rift between them. Her father was hot tempered and her mother was headstrong. It was fatal combination.

After the divorce, she and her mother had moved to Chennai to live with her grandfather. She had quit her job as a journalist at a daily newspaper in Bangalore but after the move, she hadn't been able to find a suitable job in Chennai. She soon realized that it was because of her inability to adapt to the culture of the new city.

A year later, her father had died. When her uncle had called and informed her mother, she had refused to attend his funeral. So she had decided to come alone and taken care of the necessary arrangements for the last rites. After all, he was her father. In spite of all that had happened in their lives, there were some good times she could remember. While her mother had every right to hate her spouse for not taking care of her the way she deserved, as a child she couldn't do that to a man who had at least provided for her financially, if not emotionally. After the funeral, much to her mother's chagrin, she had decided to stay back in Bangalore. For better or for worse, it was her city after all.

Loud laughter brought broke her reverie. It was a gathering of long-time friends. Memories of ten years ago, when she had seen them for the first time in Udupi came rushing back. Memories were such a strange thing. Some were so strong that they stay in the mind forever, some that unravel themselves like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and there were others that felt like they never happened. That day, had been somewhat hazy in her mind for a lot had happened in her life since then. But some memories had begun to come back to her recently.