Rahul and Sandy by Indian best-selling Author Sabarna Roy

Indian Bestselling author Sabarna Roy has been the author of six Bestselling Literary Works: Pentacles; Frosted Glass; Abyss; Winter Poems; Random Subterranean Mosaic: 2012 – 2018, and Etchings of the First Quarter of 2020. A technocrat by qualification and a poet by passion, Roy has been an epitome of Post-Modern literature. His works have been a mirror image of his subtle thought process and is quite evident in his writings.

Two competing authors Rahul and Sandy were friends who share a love-hate relationship of mysterious proportions. Sandy started early in life and makes a name for himself. Rahul started when he got fed up of living a life where he had no room to vent his inner darkness. As an author, he struggled a lot. They met up for dinner and rum at Mocambo every Wednesday evening. The meeting started with niceties. Once gluttony and rapid drinking took over, they fought fiercely on petty issues, even on issues like which Facebook post fetched more likes and comments. Yet, they could not do without each other for the pain of writing dark tales connected them almost genetically.

On the day when Sandy was supposed to get the Sahitya Academy Award for Best Fiction in English, he called Rahul first and parted with the news chuckling mischievously at the other end. Rahul congratulated him impolitely and cut off the line.

They met that night and Rahul accused Sandy of political lobbying for his award. Delirious with alcohol he shouted, ‘You swine, I left writing when I was young, when Debalina told me I should quit writing publicly for that would take away my attention from her. I was madly in love with her and would do anything to please her. I believed her and quit writing. Had I started when you did, I would bloody hell be taking the Award from the … the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences today … The crime I committed on myself was I never understood love or the passion for writing at a young age whereas you were a jackass … smartass … but you cannot doubt that I write better than you …’

On that full moon night, these friends-or-foes fought hard with mouths and hands. They returned home fully bloodied.