“The Goddess Who Wants Out”, published in the Bombay Literary Magazine in January 2020, tells a beautifully woven narrative based on the intricacies of a childhood friendship that grows and then changes over time. Given that the story is about Ela, it develops the deep bond she enjoyed with Niranjana and the friendship that felt as intuitive as family but was still strained by their diverging paths as they navigated from youth to maturity. Through the beauty of poetic prose and the senses, the author brings to life the joy, heartbreak, and complexity that define the relationship between them and the reader, offering a glimpse into the bittersweet evolution of two lives once so closely entwined.
One of the story’s most striking aspects is the way it captures the contrast between Ela and Niranjana’s upbringing and hints at the differences that will eventually separate them. From the beginning, the story throws us into a world of parallel lives: Ela’s cosmopolitan background contrasts with Niranjana’s more rooted, traditional upbringing. As the two move through the ups and downs of their adolescence, they encounter parental expectations, societal norms, and individual insecurities—tensions seamlessly woven into the narrative. This involves colourism, academic pressure, and issues regarding body images that create a basis for their relationship and would most likely make it realistic and complex.
Such sensory language infuses the story with vividity, drawing readers to step into the world of Ela and Niranjana. School lunch textures we feel through our senses, petrol intoxicates during rebellious youth activities and warmth friction all combine for them in their typical space. Sensory riches enhance storytelling and help illustrate the layers of a relationship that have a tangibly physical and emotional element to the tie.
Meanwhile, all this gentle mischief from one to the other lies beneath the sadness in this tale and is punctuated by episodes that tell of the scars each carries. One moment of quiet turning point came about when Ela took from Niranjana a question paper for the board exams—a subtle act of betrayal telling us of far weightier ways they would one day drift apart. As they age, the underlying tension and their relationship veers towards moments of unsaid space and miscomprehensions. It was mighty when Ela washed Niranjana’s clothes. A small gesture of lingering affection and nostalgia remained unsent through Niranjana’s negligence, without Ela having anyone to appeal to her connection. This silent, one-sided act says much about how their relationship has changed in ways neither can fully repair, though she still loves him.
“The Goddess Who Wants Out” also feeds off its quiet, pointed commentary on the social pressures that shape both girls’ expectations of academic success and family values defining who each girl is and what she will do. In one beautiful metaphor, their stargazing together through a telescope becomes a metaphor for their relationship: looking at life from each other’s perspective, even if they cannot inhabit it fully. Their shared evening under the stars is an almost fleeting, almost celestial moment, encapsulating the intensity and fragility of their friendship.
This is a sensitive, layered portrayal of a friendship tested by time and life’s pressures. Through Ela’s observant and emotionally honest narration, the story becomes a celebration of the beauty and transience of childhood connections. In that light, “The Goddess Who Wants Out” resonates as a poignant reminder of how, despite our most substantial ties, life leads us down different paths, bearing memories of love, loss, and simple magic in our hearts.
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