sambartika

[sambartika]

UNLIKELY FASCINATION

PART III: "Forever and Ever"

It was Sunday—the laziest day of the week. Waking up at 9, I strolled past my front balcony, heading straight to the kitchen for breakfast. Then, I opened my computer to work on my project.

The clock struck twelve. As I prepared for a bath, I felt something queer. Did I forget to do something? I wondered while opening the door to the balcony.

"Oops! How could I forget this?" I mumbled.

I placed the bananas on the cupboard behind which the civet stayed.

Yes, it has been quite a few years. It grew older, and I grew up.

I really grew up. Actually, that’s misleading. Nothing much changed about me—I just became mature enough to realize what reality is. I grew from a child eager to make friends, to a teenager traumatized by friendship, to a mature person afraid to make friends.

Have any of you ever experienced living in an environment, studying in a school with your agemates, and realizing that no one—absolutely no one—thinks like you? No one understands your sense of "friendship." No one understands your definition of "loyalty." No one understands your idea of "happiness." At that point, you may feel you are innocent. And yes, I admit I was innocent, and I want to remain unchanged for my entire life.

Sometimes you will be framed. And then you may call yourself a fool, but you are not. You are just not experienced enough to understand who deserves your friendship. Friendship requires trust. Trust demands loyalty, and—

LOYALTY is an EXPENSIVE thing that you cannot expect from CHEAP people.

Hence, now I’m afraid—maybe I won’t be able to distinguish the rich from the cheap. It requires skill to distinguish a diamond from moissanite. It requires even more skill to identify a rich heart from rich apparel.

Hence, now, I am truly petrified—of friendship... with narcissists.

But don’t think I’m devoid of friendship. I do have friends, and I’m genuinely happy with them.

I’m proud to say that I’m an animal lover. I love all animals. To me, they are my best friends. Whenever I see them, I feel an eternal, inseparable bond existing between us—something rare, beyond profit, beyond ulterior motives, beyond any conditions—so natural, so resolute.

As I was placing the civet’s food, it came out, only to stare at me for a few obsessed moments. Earlier, it was introverted—it restrained itself from appearing in front of me, yet secretly watched me. That’s hypocrisy, though. But I loved how it changed. Seeing its change, I asked:

"It has been so many years, and still you haven’t answered me."

It looked at me cluelessly.

"What? Did you ever answer me whether you want to be my friend or not?"

It picked up its food and took a bite.

I smirked and walked away.

At this point, both of us knew the answer to the question. I reminisced about our sweet memories—the time when our eyes first met, that dining table incident which still gives me goosebumps, and how I developed an unlikely fascination for a civet cat, a wild, supposedly nasty species, even though I hated cats.

Oh, there’s something I must tell you all. Civet cats are not cats. Yes, the scientific name of the house cat is Felis catus. Thus, all cats are generally part of the Felis genus, although their species may differ, like Felis chaus (Jungle cat) or Felis bieti (Chinese Mountain cat). But civets are not one of them. Civets belong to the family Viverridae, and they don’t form a monophyletic group.

In West Bengal, we generally find Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Common Palm Civet) or Viverricula indica (Small Indian Civet). And believe me, I found this out on the last day of my Class 10 board exams—coincidentally, the day I studied biology for the final time for exam—since I pursued Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Computer Science as my main subjects in Class 11.

So my fascination wasn’t that unlikely, as it’s really not a cat. I know it may sound melodramatic and cheesy; it may even resemble a mistaken identity plot. It might seem like an attempt to romanticize the idea—love is all perfect and ideal—even though the shape of Earth isn’t—but for God’s sake, believe me, I didn’t make it up for the story. It’s damn true.

Anyway, aren’t you eager to know the answer to the question from earlier? Well, it was—

“Forever and Ever.”

[sambartika]

Unlikely Fascination

PART III: “Forever and Ever” It was Sunday—the laziest day of the year. Waking up at 9, I strolled past my front balcony, heading straight to the kitchen for breakfast. Then, I opened my computer to work on my project.The clock struck twelve. As I prepared for a bath, I felt something queer. Did I forget to do something? I wondered while opening the door to the balcony.“Oops! How could I forget…

[sambartika]

Part 2 of Unlikely Fascination is out on wattpad now!!!!

See y'all soon with part 3!!!!!

[sambartika]

Unlikely Fascination

Part 2: "Will you be my friend?"

It was forecasted to be a rainy day. I was, as usual, in my balcony, enjoying the scenic beauty of the environment. Suddenly—a thunderclap. At that age, during my pre-teens, I wavered between being afraid and unafraid of thunder, depending on its magnitude. Knowing this, Mom called me to enter the room. I left the door open.

A few moments later, the big clock's big and small hands struck twelve with a resounding chime. It was my fruit time. I dashed towards the fruit bowl on my dining table.

Woah! It was there! Supporting its legs on the apples and pears, it perched comfortably on the broad glass rim of the fruit bowl. Holding in its hand a branch of 4–5 bananas, it had just started to peel one with its practiced ease.

The one which holds public opinion as "nasty," to me, is sweet. It's so beautiful, almost mesmerizing. Honestly, this was the first time I saw it so closely. Our previous encounters had been brief, just quick glances. I still remember that time—a sudden power cut. Everything was dark, and I was standing by the window facing the balcony. It was there, its shining eyes locked on me. Believe me, the moment paused there. Both of us stood looking into each other's eyes. Although the silent, happy moment was abruptly interrupted by my Mom and Grandma.

As I grew up, we had many such hidden glances. Every time our eyes met, they remained so fixed—absolutely unmoved—until a third party interfered. Sometimes, in solitude, I felt quite mysterious. Why would it not move away in fear when it saw me, as it did with others?

However, that day at the dining table was quite special. It saw me but continued eating with its gaze fixed on me. I stared at it in fascination, which was completely contrary to public opinion. It understood that.

When my Mom came to shoo it, it stayed unaffected, looking innocently at me. For the first time, I felt a deep, inexplicable connection with another being. I don't know if I can express that in words. I mean, that stare, that posture—it was looking curiously with its stunning eyes, sitting like a baby, holding the banana with its cute hands, somewhat similar to humans.

Frustrated by its refusal to leave, Mom scolded me: "How can you just stand there smiling while it eats your bananas?"

"Mom, observe it; it’s so cute!"

"Drive it away!" Mom instructed.

I looked at it. It understood and left with a branch of bananas.

I was astonished. How long had it known me? It could've easily fled with the bananas when it saw Mom. But it didn't.

"So, the reason for insulting people by calling them animals is just that these creatures aren't civilized. Are we even worthy to talk about them?" I asked Dad.

"They are much better, my girl," answered Dad.

Actually, that's true. At least I could totally understand that then. Probably because I was alone, without friends. Honestly, that's a lie. I did make friends; I did have my peers, but it didn’t last long. I realized that there was a huge difference—as huge as a galaxy—between those girls and me. And I admit that was completely my fault, as I didn't know that deception, betrayal, and selfishness are normal in a friendship...

It's quite ironic when these people judge an animal!

Later that evening, I saw it resting on the balustrade of the balcony. I thought of telling it my old wish, although I wasn’t sure whether it would agree. Deciding, I grabbed a few bananas and stepped towards the creature. I was nervous. It was still, looking straight into my eyes. I was sweating; my heart was racing. I placed the bananas in front of it. It started looking at the bananas. Seizing the moment, I proposed:

"Will you be my friend?"

Listening, it stared at me for a few seconds and then calmly picked up one of the bananas to eat. I gazed at it to my heart's content.

However, looking at it so closely, it didn’t look like a cat anymore.

[sambartika]

Unlikely Fascination

PART II: “Will you be my friend?“ It was forecasted to be a rainy day. I was, as usual, in my balcony, enjoying the scenic beauty of the environment. Suddenly—a thunderclap. At that age, during my pre-teens, I wavered between being afraid and unafraid of thunder, depending on its magnitude. Knowing this, Mom called me to enter the room. I left the door open.A few moments later, the big clock’s…

[sambartika]

"Unlikely Fascination" is on wattpad now!!!!

Second part coming soon. Stay tuned!!!!

[sambartika]

Relatable actually...... I'm pretty sure this period comes in everybody's life...... Love the quote......

“When the worst that can happen has come and gone And you’re still standing, remember that you won.”

— Joan Bauer, Almost Home

[sambartika]

Unlikely Fascination

Part 1: "Fond of You"

I was 3 years old back then. At that point in time, nobody could stop me from crying. My mom and grandma, after a lot of "hurly-burly," managed to stop my unceasing crying temporarily. A cool breeze of peace was blowing all around. Suddenly, a sound.

Mom and grandma went to investigate it.

"Go away, you nasty cat!" said Grandma, spotting it.

It was a civet cat. And now that I say it, it’s a vivid memory of that time, as it was the first time I learned about the existence of civet cats.

I was kind of fascinated, evident from the fact that I was giggling.

Who knew that I would become so fond of it?

As I grew older, I became more and more fascinated by it. And my elders were getting more and more angry with me about this. This was quite surprising. Nobody in my family liked cats, and neither did I. The 3-year-old me would have rather played with her German Shepherd than fed a cat. So how could I even be fascinated by such a "nasty" cat and want to pet it?!

Well, people said that was supposed to be an obvious question.

But don’t they all know that love is something beyond all logic and reason? It's completely fine that I don’t like the sweet, well-behaved house cat; instead, I like a wild species. Is that not what love is about?

But I was too young at the time to argue and defend myself. I just remained quiet with a disgusted expression, my mind completely unaffected by their reasoning.

People say that I was born to rebel. So, the little, cute, innocent, introverted Sambartika protested—even if not in the way she does now. To prove that it wasn't "nasty," whenever I was asked about my stuff, like, "Who will eat the chicken soup?", "Who will wear this cloth?", or "Who will do this?" my answer was, "Bham biral korbe" (The Civet cat will do it) instead of "I will."

I wanted it to befriend me. Believe me.

[sambartika]

Unlikely Fascination

[sambartika]

Absolutely loved it!

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

— André Gide, Autumn Leaves

[sambartika]

Remember the saying, 'one man cannot make everyone happy'? You are who you are, a unique individual. That's the supreme truth, who loves you or who hates you, it really doesn't matter.....

“Before you ask why someone hates you, ask yourself why you even care.”

— Tiffany Alvord

[sambartika]

"A Pessimist is an experienced Optimist" - Collected

Optimism is like a beacon of light and Pessimism is like a dark tunnel. Who wants to get inside a tunnel? Everyone dreams to have the light: its warmth, its shine and its fame. But life is a "Balanced Wheatstone Bridge". The potential difference at the balance point is always zero. Similarly, in life the resultant of worst and best experiences is also zero. If you want to get sunlight, you have to experience the days of thunderstorm and lightning. Initially, we are afraid of thinking such things. So when in reality we have to go through the "dark" phase of life, it appears even darker, absolutely impossible to survive. And that is the time when you are forced to be a Pessimist. Thus Optimism gives way to Pessimism. Because if you don't understand what is the intensity of "Bad", you will never understand the magnitude of dreadfulness of its consequences. And then you'll not know what is the value of "Good", thus, you'll be unaware of the difficulty you've to face to achieve it!