Once upon a time there lived a happy family. A family with a father, mother and two kids. Both twins. While the older one was active, talkative and an extrovert, the other was coy, shy and an introvert. The older was called Sivani, the younger one was known as Sneha. Vani and Neha to family. Both had a normal childhood. Went to the best schools in the town. The parent couple was a model for all. They moved in all the known and right circles. Often hosted parties. But not all was well under the skin.
The mother had a problem of depression. The couple often quarrelled behind closed doors. The kids knew about the quarrels. They could do nothing ‘bout it though. All that they could do was cringe at the sounds coming through the door. One fine evening, in a fit of rage, the mother emptied a bottle of sleeping pills, took Vani and left in the car. Never to return. When the wreckage was found, the bodies were badly mutilated and charred beyond recognition. Neha was left behind because she had been to a friends place nearby. She never could forgive her father. She thought he was the reason behind the suicide.
Things changed after the accident. Neha turned into cold Sneha. She tried all that was possible to turn into Vani. She suddenly changed into an extrovert. But inside, she shivered each time she thought. Her father also changed. He spent more time inside his study and office. The only contact the two if ever had, it was during the dinner, sometimes only. The two avoided each other like plague.
Sneha’s palatial house had all the comforts that one could only imagine. The best cars; Ferraris, Beemers, Mercs; the best perfumes; Azzaro, Burberry; they only wore designer labels from half way across the globe;Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, Armani. The palatial house also housed a bar that the parents had made to entertain the guests who often came home. The parties always had liquor flowing like water. The favorite being one of the world’s best, Black Dog.
Sneha had taken to drinking secretly and often smuggled bottles to her room in the dead of the night. With age, her weirdness only increased, and so did her despise for her father. She was sure to do everything that she could to annoy him, including colouring her like a parrot to creating a wall decorated with all the different types of bottles of Black Dog Scotch. She showed her creative best when she had to annoy her Dad the most. She left no stone unturned. Despite all this, Sneha had grown up to be a fine lawyer and a women’s rights activist.
Her dogged family life had also left another scar on her. She could never trust a man. She had been so often in and out of relationships that it was hard to tell what was more; her ex boyfriends or her clothes in her wardrobe. Her parents’ friends now cringed at the very sight of her. She had also become an eyesore at her father’s office. The employees there cast a sad glance at her each time she would leave the office crying after one of those fights and her father’s partners tried to ensure the two, the father and daughter, never got any close.