When i was young and shone like a crazy diamond I had this sweater. It had a shiny purple parachute on it. I think this was also about the time when I was reading those hard bound Enid Blyton books with a bunch of weird creatures on the covers. There was one about a Wishing Chair. The Wishing Chair belonged to a pair of brother and sister, whose routine Victorian life obviously bored them to death. Post supper and changing into pyjamas and brushing and cleaning and all that other hygiene and morality that Blyton tried to teach us (Didn't work on a SINGLE Indian kid I'm sure), the brother and sister took the wishing chair and whizzed to a strange land. One time they went to visit the woman who lived in a giant shoe. One time they met Moon-face and the pixie(Silver-toes...Silky-feet?) that lived on the Faraway tree. And one time they went to a land where they met Top-Cat. This one I think I imagained. Now whenever I wore the sweater(every minute of every hour) with the magic parachute, I would go to a land of unlimited cake and merry-go-rounds the king of which was Top Cat. He would be posing on a dustbin and all of that. His actual name, not his gangsta name, was Jaykumar. I remember hanging with J.K, walking around the house and running from the police. My mother recalls being severely worried because I used to insist that a second plate of food be laid out for J. The time I remember with him most was when my parents took me to, Shimla, I think it was. Or maybe it was Ranikhet. For days the two of us collected ladybirds and picked mushrooms(OH CRAP that must've been it). After about a week of being together, that seemed like an eternity, J.K decided to jump the cliff. Literally .This all sounds so incredibly stupid, but this is one of the clearest memories I have from being a kid. I remember being in near a cliff, and I remember an erect standing cat waving to me as he cheerfully hopped off the edge of the mountain. One one foot. Just like that.

My sister(the smaller kid on the right) is wearing it in this picture. The older one one with the mushroom hair and the perfect set of teeth would be me. 
I hope we haven't donated the parachute to paradise to an ungrateful cousin with more facebook friends than imaginary ones. 


I have a paper on Modernism to write in five hours, and all I've done for two hours is stare at this photograph. And imagine filming my friends as we trudged up a mountain in the snow, swearing, smoking and dreaming aloud. 
This is how it goes in my head and usually in life:
Mo(smokes continuously): Fuck work man, FUCK, this is the life, who cares about money man? I'm going to work till I'm 26, then I'm done with this shit man, Faaaak, who cares man
K: Abbe tu itna bada chooda kyun hai dude. NO ONE cares bhenchot, apna muh band nahin rakh sakta yeh baccha
Sha(crinkling eyes and smiling at the world): 'TNT...watch me exploodddddddde'
Sols:Yeah baby, you'll explode when you're inside me...
Me: You guys one day let's buy a house on a mountain, you guys! let's get a house on every mountain. Oh man I love the mountains. Okay you guys, whadyou think we should eat? LOOK there's a river!
Shaun: Chill out, S!
Sid: Dudes and ladies, I think I've got a vision for my movie...
V: Abbe oh, the only vision I can see is me kicking you in the balls like at Christmas. 
K: Chooda
Deba: We should get direwolves, and then we should go fishing, abbe abhi chalte hain main toh kehta hoon, LETS CONQUER THE WORLD!!
DJ: ............................hmmm......
M: WOW THIS PLACE IS SO PRETTY! OH WOW, LOOK THERE'S A SHOP THAT SELLS FUDGE, YAYYYYYY!
Nish: And we sang DIRGES in the dark!! Umm, okay Mohit, but technically...(starts something that no one gets)
Jess: *chuckling* this is fun...
Me to V: Bro, I feel like everythings....right, yknow
V: Knowwhatchamean bro. I feel like *insert movie reference that no one gets*
Dibbi: arre, Birds!
Deba: AAAAAAAAAA! Main Bhagwaan hoon!
TanTan(laughs):Abbe tum sab kitne bade gadhe ho, yaar
Mo:Abbe sid, bhenkelode, stop fucking smiling like that man, fuck man what the fuck is wrong with you
Bose: easy on the profanities, young man.
Almost everyone: SHUT UP BOSE!
Kotia looks at a campaign poster and rants about something no one cares about.
Sid: Bla blaaa
K: Pet se hai ma ka lund


I apologize for the absurd interruption above. 
It is four thirty in the morning and there is a shaadi ka band playing outside my house.
I need to find that sweater. Or maybe just those mushrooms.