Writing Exercise : 1

Create a character with personality traits of someone you love, but the physical characteristics of someone you don’t care for.

Based on Anoop's elder brother and Rhitu,my hostel roommate who I love.

They'd always stare at him.The slouch,the swagger ,the ginormously beefy arms and those shifty eyes.Unfortunately he was short and had the likeness of a beard on his oval face(sparse facial hair-maybe he shaved bad the first time or just bad genes,who knows?).The intricate tattoos painfully inked on those huge slug like arms didn't help the image either.The overall picture painted was that of an arrogant ,rude,squatty twerp.You'd hate him,at the very first sight.

I did too.I saw him in the office car park for the first time walking towards me,looking through me like I was air.Looking in every direction except mine,he put his hand forward and muttered ' Gus'.He had just shifted into the apartment next to mine and I had heard him cursinng and yelling at the movers.Ugh,I was sorry for myself already.

But little did I know that the rudeness,brusqueness and the apparent apathy masked a heart so soft and tender,you'd live your entire life in fear of bruising it.We got talking the night the lights went out due to a heavy snowstorm and we had nothing but each other's company.We sat in the dim candle light and talked into the night.It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship and the two of us realised it the moment neither of us wanted to go to bed even though it was wee hours into morning.There were so many things to talk about and not enough time!Food,relationships,bad actors,scandals,books,music and,oh, poetry - life !!!

Gus had an extensive range of emotions .He could appear sour to everyone on the road but  had this hidden side which had uncompromised zeal for life,love and tattoos.He taught me how to smile even when things were at their darkest.There'd be evenings where all I did was roll on the carpet choking back tears of laughter as he'd say the funniest in a dry pan expression.And if he had a bad day,he'd just come pull a book out of my bookshelf and ferociously start reading until his temper blew over.Those evenings we hardly exchanged words.

He was obsessed with hygiene and cleanliness and would get moody if something was out of place.The ablutionary baths where he'd scrub himself raw would be the highpoint of his day.And he could carry a tune,quite well actually.

Gus was smart.He made his way to the top in the ad agency he worked in.Unfortunately he wasn't a sycophant,so top generals stopped his growth,but he kept at it.Working smart,creating and nurturing ideas.He had a series of bad relationships - falling in deep sometimes,sometimes not even scratching the surface.There was no grey for him,only black or white and I loved that he had opinions.Not that he'd shove them down your throat but opinions you'd want to debate on.He'd always lend a sympathetic(sometimes empathetic too)ear to my tiny girlie everyday problems.

Gus is like a books with infinite chapters.  Explosive drama,action,comedy and tragedy snowballed in each of them.I'm still flipping the pages.