burnt in ashes

Banaras had never been easy for Aprajita. Despite being known for the redemption of the sins, the holiness of the town could not redeem the sins that were committed behind the curtain, behind the façade. And Aprajita's life was built over it, over the façade of a happy family and life.

In the effort to rise out from the falseness of her world, she takes a step for herself, which leads her far away from Banaras.

The new city too does not step back from reprimanding her for her decisions. While having encounters with smoke and acridity of liquor, she finds herself being a story for a certain writer. Amid the incessant flow of new people and experiences, Aprajita relies on memories, few handwritten verses and a telephonic number learned by rote, to remain attached to her roots.

However, to find the forgotten, sunken roots, she needs to plunge deeper in an unescapable quagmire. The dilemma of choosing one between these two seems tougher than the choices of life and death. So, she opts for the choices of latter ones and chooses what she had craved for.

This is the story, set in 1992, of a girl, who tries to escape the façade of her life, only to realize much later, that her life was dependent on that very façade.

~घर की चाहत में, घर से भागी, घर बनाने ख़ाक से, आग की तप में कहाँ ही दहकी वो, जली तो जाकर राख़ से~