Neither this, nor that

‘When will it all end?’

And from somewhere in the jumble of non sequiturs that was her mind, Killer Queen drew out a miraculously logical answer. ‘It will end on the last page’.

“Neti, Neti” expands to “Na-iti, Na-iti”, the Sanskrit for “Not this, not this” literally. More semantically it is meant to mean “Neither this, nor that”. Metaphorically, it is Sophie Das’ search for Home – her own Shillong and the bigger and glitzier Bangalore. Which one will it be? Where will she fit in? Where can she fit in?

Feeling lost, having been kicked out of one’s own childhood, struggling to settle into the mirage that adulthood is. The story of everyone in his/her 20s. Can you go back to your Home when adulthood doesn’t work for you? That job that you did not like, or was kicked out from? That relationship that did not work out? Will that “home” still be there for you? Will it still be “home” for that matter?