Part I - all that glitters.....

is probably part of the golden gang.... the golden gang....aaah what can I say about them...a series of stars glittering, dancing and lighting up the monotonous drivel of a college full of traditional lamps. They stood out, sometimes for their brilliance and sometimes for their fragile ability to burn up at the slightest provocation.

They were unique, or atleast they thought they were…..they were a group of six single (at various points of time) females, in an atmosphere that was never really meant for them and never really understood them. They formed a constellation by dis-association, they could not get along with anyone else…hence they got along together.

They knew everything and everyone, they were the lord-esses of all they surveyed….and like all true royalty had their fair share of notoriety and public washing of private linen. They knew they were better than everyone else and so of course everyone else knew they had to bring them down ….some were more successful in that….. and some tried really really hard. In the end, they stood the test of time, of bitching and back-biting, of the rigors of school and the fragility of friendships.

I would call this a coming-of-age story but in a post full of clichés that would just be the last straw.

Sonali – the one who betrayed the code, the deserter, the one who chose to walk away and ride the fickle wave of popularity rather than hold on to a bond of friendship.

Malvika – our own little princess, bright and funny, preened when guys were around and gossiped when women were around, the one who's eyes would light up the brightest whenever we thought of something fun (illegal) to do - and yet maybe the most practical of the lot.

Bimba – the nurturer, the mother, the sensible one and the other half of the mal/bim inseparable duo, mimic extraordinaire, and yet the only one who could make us all quake in our boots.

Pritika – our own posh spice, posh for her fancy cars and mobile phones, fancy life and spice for all the fun she was, the one with the biggest dreams and the most will power to make them happen. She was the counterpart of Mal, two of the brightest stars of our little constellation.

Shikha – the bridge between everyone, one who had the greatest arc of self-discovery in her years as founder member of the golden gang

Natasha – the one who always sat on the fence.