❝You can give yourself a second chance too.❞
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After being shattered, Falak Kulkarni expects no light. Walking in seemingly endless darkness, she tries to light her own candle. Only that her hands are shaking, her eyes aren't focused, and she can ba...
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The sun was scorching, every sweat dropping by burned her skin as she walked in the bustling market, avoiding vehicles and people. As she treaded through the wholesale bazaar of garlic and ginger, the smell almost hit her throat. With her dupatta as a shield, she pinched her nose.
She had never really been here, if she had, she didn't remember it well. Charminar was known for a lot of things, its market being one of them. You could find anything you want here they said, but she hadn't been successful yet.
Ranges of colorful bangles littered the street, the smell of itaar diffused in the air as she passed by a woman rubbing it on her sleeve. She could see many people on the minar, gazing down at the market she was part of and she smiled, which she seldomly allowed herself to.
Her feet weren't aching even after she had walked a mile. She had momentarily gotten distracted by the trendy sequence sarees, and had gotten one for her mother. Firozi blue suited her well. But now as she held it in her arms, they had started aching, funnily so, her legs still moved her as they did before.
Festival season was near, it wasn't a surprise to see families, especially women touching every piece of jewelry and clothing. She wanted to buy something for herself too, she always wants to buy something for herself, but every time she returned with gifts for her family.
"Bhaiya?" she peaked into a jewelry store. "Do you know where I can find raw material for jewelry?"
"Laad Bazaar mai milega."
Her Google maps was on but she didn't fully trust it. Asking people passing by where her destination was, she was in a different place now. Though to her, every face shone the same. Her eyes fell on the torn boards, some dusted while others slightly misspelled. There was jewelry here. But not what she was looking for.
Again, she peaked in a shop, her eyes sparkling when she saw leaf beads made of glass. "How much is this for?"
The shopkeeper mumbled that one string is for 50, then he said that buying in bulk would be cheaper. But she was already walking away in disappointment, she really couldn't be buying in bulk now. Not when she'd just started her business.
"Do you have chains or charms?" She even showed him the picture of what she exactly wanted; he told her it's in Nagri Market.
But soon she just found herself in a circle, people kept sending her from one place to another but she found nothing she wanted. Finally, as she walked to the top floor of a bazaar, showing the picture to another man he frowned.
"You wouldn't find anything like this here."
Her resolve broke, she wanted to crumble as distress seeped her bones. She knew this would happen. She already had a feeling; then why did she still let her eyes burn?
"Thank you," she took her phone back, biting her lower lip. She just had to order online then; she really had no prospects here. She didn't want to take this as a sign to give up, but she was already feeling she was doing exactly that as she let her thoughts eat her.
