Love, Pain & Little Malice
Prologue
Marilyn read the note again. On it was scribbled ‘I shall be back early’.
“Idiot”, she muttered under her breath. She hated it when Anne went out without her. She hated it all the more when Anne went out with Raj.
Early that day Anne had annoyed Marilyn for no reason at all.
“You are not leaving me alone again!!! You know how I hate….” Marilyn had complained vehemently...
“Trust Marilyn to spoil her chum’s date. Don’t be a sissy, Mar. And I promise I’ll be back early. Now tell me how’z this?” she held her new silk top by herself.
“Splendid (Absolutely ludicrous!!)”
“Should I couple it with the lace skirt?”
“Yeah, that’d be the right thing to do (Bet you couldn’t think of anything gaudier).”
Anne donned the dress quickly and stood in the posture of a mannequin displaying an outfit.
“How do I look???”
“Like a blue-eyed angel (with uncommonly long legs!!!)”
“Idiot”, she muttered under her breath. She hated it when Anne went out without her. She hated it all the more when Anne went out with Raj.
Early that day Anne had annoyed Marilyn for no reason at all.
“You are not leaving me alone again!!! You know how I hate….” Marilyn had complained vehemently...
“Trust Marilyn to spoil her chum’s date. Don’t be a sissy, Mar. And I promise I’ll be back early. Now tell me how’z this?” she held her new silk top by herself.
“Splendid (Absolutely ludicrous!!)”
“Should I couple it with the lace skirt?”
“Yeah, that’d be the right thing to do (Bet you couldn’t think of anything gaudier).”
Anne donned the dress quickly and stood in the posture of a mannequin displaying an outfit.
“How do I look???”
“Like a blue-eyed angel (with uncommonly long legs!!!)”
One
I am Marilyn. Anne calls me Mar. She is my best friend. Yes, she is. It's strange how we have absolutely nothing in common and yet we are best-friends. What if she annoys me a lot? What if she does everything that I hate? She is precious to me. She’s the only friend I have.
She says I’m sentimental. She says so as I cry at others’ pains, laugh when others do. But I myself know that the core of my heart is rock-hard. Else why would I not feel my own pain, not realize my own happiness? Anne has to remind me, “Cheer up, it’s your birthday”.
She loves frolicking around with her silly friends and fussing over unimportant matters like what to wear, how to wear, what not to wear and how not to wear. She’s so full of puerile thoughts and confined energies, so it becomes more than obvious that she would disapprove of the coy and quiet nature of mine.
Can one envy her best friend? I do. I envy Anne on everything she has. She always scores above me. She gets everything she wants. And she’s so feminine in her looks. I wish I had blue eyes like her. She has all the qualities of a poet’s muse and as Raj always says, has the most beautiful legs in the world.
And talking of me, I hate my frizzy hair, my broken chin and convince myself as much I may against it I cannot possibly fail to notice the ugly marks on my face. Yes I am that way- ugly and distasteful. And of course Anne takes all the pain to remind me every now and then that I am no good. She loves pulling my not-so-beautiful-legs.
I had a perfect antipathy for boys. They are rowdy, self-willed and unruly. But that was until I met Raj. He’s the only guy I’ve met who sends my heart ringing. He too reciprocated my feelings, I thought he did. And I poured my passion out in a letter. But I never gave it to him. For I knew Anne loves him too.
So here too Anne scored. I love her, no mistaking that. But I also hate her, for being my best-friend.
If you ever call a girl ‘sexy’ and she would look back at you thoroughly offended, you know she’s Marilyn. She typically hates what other girls love to do. What she loves is being snuggled up in the cozy comforts of her bed with a none-so-interesting book and criticizing everything that I do. I’m Anne by the way.
She gets annoyed at the slightest and I love annoying her. I hide the novel she’s been so deeply immersed in only to return it back after she has brought the whole house to shambles, saying I borrowed it for a bit of light reading. She hates loud music and I take particular care to put on a jazz record every time I find her complacent. More often than not I curse her and blame her for highly fictitious crimes and pillage her cupboard throwing all her precious books out of the window. And once I took her for an adult movie saying it was a cartoon film with the temptation of seeing her go to pieces in the hall but to no avail; she sat through the entire film with her eyes shut tightly (I couldn’t even coax her to open her eyes during the Interval!!!).
It’s not that she is completely innocent. She bores me to death by narrating the story of the latest novel she’s read. More so because her novels are hardly interesting and she tells a story rather badly. But she relishes the experience of reciting her stories to me as (she says) I am a very good listener. I let out occasional oohs, aahs & omigoshes and other sorts of murmurs which seem to have a perfect timing and they encourage her all the more. I must learn to keep shut.
The other day I was on one of my small ransacks of her cupboard when I laid my hands upon her ‘Diary’. Mar is among those fools who take all the pain to record their unimportant experiences in a diary. I was delighted!!!! I thought I would definitely find something in the diary to taunt Mar upon, some guilty secret of hers. I still remember how I flinched upon sighting a letter folded neatly between two pages with ‘Raj’ written somewhere in it. I was naturally curious to read through it. And it was pretty well that I did for as things turned out, it did matter much!!!!
Raj is the guy I’m madly in love with. You are the luckiest person on earth if you have a guy like Raj who loves you, adores you, cares for you……… but I would swap him for a friend like Mar ANYTIME!!!!
Marilyn simply stared lost for words.
Then all of a sudden Anne sprung to her feet and declared, trying to sound cheerful, “You know something? Daniel has asked me for dinner tonight. Yes, that cute-looking albino guy”, she continued without looking at Marilyn, “Now no need to make faces, I’ll return early, I promise. Tell me what to wear? How is the Blue-Dress?” she suddenly turned, smiling.
“Splendid!!” was all that Marilyn said in spite of herself…
She wanted to say ‘He loves YOU, Anne’ but couldn’t find her voice. She would go away to Brazil where her dad had ready a list of suitable grooms, she thought.
Anne slipped into the dress and chortled, “How do I look?”
“Like a blue-eyed angel”, replied Marilyn, “with the most beautiful legs” she added as an afterthought.
She says I’m sentimental. She says so as I cry at others’ pains, laugh when others do. But I myself know that the core of my heart is rock-hard. Else why would I not feel my own pain, not realize my own happiness? Anne has to remind me, “Cheer up, it’s your birthday”.
She loves frolicking around with her silly friends and fussing over unimportant matters like what to wear, how to wear, what not to wear and how not to wear. She’s so full of puerile thoughts and confined energies, so it becomes more than obvious that she would disapprove of the coy and quiet nature of mine.
Can one envy her best friend? I do. I envy Anne on everything she has. She always scores above me. She gets everything she wants. And she’s so feminine in her looks. I wish I had blue eyes like her. She has all the qualities of a poet’s muse and as Raj always says, has the most beautiful legs in the world.
And talking of me, I hate my frizzy hair, my broken chin and convince myself as much I may against it I cannot possibly fail to notice the ugly marks on my face. Yes I am that way- ugly and distasteful. And of course Anne takes all the pain to remind me every now and then that I am no good. She loves pulling my not-so-beautiful-legs.
I had a perfect antipathy for boys. They are rowdy, self-willed and unruly. But that was until I met Raj. He’s the only guy I’ve met who sends my heart ringing. He too reciprocated my feelings, I thought he did. And I poured my passion out in a letter. But I never gave it to him. For I knew Anne loves him too.
So here too Anne scored. I love her, no mistaking that. But I also hate her, for being my best-friend.
Two
If you ever call a girl ‘sexy’ and she would look back at you thoroughly offended, you know she’s Marilyn. She typically hates what other girls love to do. What she loves is being snuggled up in the cozy comforts of her bed with a none-so-interesting book and criticizing everything that I do. I’m Anne by the way.
She gets annoyed at the slightest and I love annoying her. I hide the novel she’s been so deeply immersed in only to return it back after she has brought the whole house to shambles, saying I borrowed it for a bit of light reading. She hates loud music and I take particular care to put on a jazz record every time I find her complacent. More often than not I curse her and blame her for highly fictitious crimes and pillage her cupboard throwing all her precious books out of the window. And once I took her for an adult movie saying it was a cartoon film with the temptation of seeing her go to pieces in the hall but to no avail; she sat through the entire film with her eyes shut tightly (I couldn’t even coax her to open her eyes during the Interval!!!).
It’s not that she is completely innocent. She bores me to death by narrating the story of the latest novel she’s read. More so because her novels are hardly interesting and she tells a story rather badly. But she relishes the experience of reciting her stories to me as (she says) I am a very good listener. I let out occasional oohs, aahs & omigoshes and other sorts of murmurs which seem to have a perfect timing and they encourage her all the more. I must learn to keep shut.
The other day I was on one of my small ransacks of her cupboard when I laid my hands upon her ‘Diary’. Mar is among those fools who take all the pain to record their unimportant experiences in a diary. I was delighted!!!! I thought I would definitely find something in the diary to taunt Mar upon, some guilty secret of hers. I still remember how I flinched upon sighting a letter folded neatly between two pages with ‘Raj’ written somewhere in it. I was naturally curious to read through it. And it was pretty well that I did for as things turned out, it did matter much!!!!
Raj is the guy I’m madly in love with. You are the luckiest person on earth if you have a guy like Raj who loves you, adores you, cares for you……… but I would swap him for a friend like Mar ANYTIME!!!!
Epilogue
Marilyn simply stared lost for words.
Then all of a sudden Anne sprung to her feet and declared, trying to sound cheerful, “You know something? Daniel has asked me for dinner tonight. Yes, that cute-looking albino guy”, she continued without looking at Marilyn, “Now no need to make faces, I’ll return early, I promise. Tell me what to wear? How is the Blue-Dress?” she suddenly turned, smiling.
“Splendid!!” was all that Marilyn said in spite of herself…
She wanted to say ‘He loves YOU, Anne’ but couldn’t find her voice. She would go away to Brazil where her dad had ready a list of suitable grooms, she thought.
Anne slipped into the dress and chortled, “How do I look?”
“Like a blue-eyed angel”, replied Marilyn, “with the most beautiful legs” she added as an afterthought.
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