Zhuṇakyātalī Miracī Lāgalī Goḍa (झुणक्यातली मिरची लागली गोड)

Completed G

Summary: Show: Jīva Zhālā Yeḍāpisā (जीव झाला येडापिसा). The first chapter celebrates the December 29, 2019 episode, when Shiva followed Siddhi to her parents' house and cooked dinner.

Background: Siddhi helped a sexual assault victim and had Shiva arrested. Shiva punished Siddhi by kidnapping her, and a politician forced them to get married to hush up the scandal. Many months later, Siddhi drugged Shiva to make him lose the diving contest, remembering occasions when he intimidated her, but when he was being stabbed, she dived after him and saved him because she remembered occasions when he supported her in spite of hating her. While Shiva was in the hospital, the sexual assault victim revealed to Siddhi that Shiva had actually saved her. Both Shiva and Siddhi wanted to restart as friends.

Episode: When Siddhi's mother invited her home for the night, Shiva followed her. Siddhi showed Shiva how to perform citrāvatī (चित्रावती) and prayer before dinner. Siddhi had cooked only āmaṭī (आमटी) and rice, forgetting the salt. Shiva cooked a dinner of zhuṇakā (झुणका), çapātī (चपाती), potato bhājī (भाजी), aḷūçe phataphate (अळूचे फतफते), kośimbīra (कोशिंबीर), and suraḷīcyā vaḍyā (सुरळीच्या वड्या), accompanied with slices of tomato and cucumber. Siddhi had been patching up books, and her hands were sticky, so Shiva fed her the first mouthful of zhuṇakā.

The other seven chapters are about various phobias that the characters expressed. Some phobias are actual mental health issues like Shiva's fear of the dark and Siddhi's fear of cockroaches. Other phobias are unhealthy attitudes: homophobia and transphobia. Author's Note: The title झुणक्यातली मिरची लागली गोड is Marathi and means "The chili in the zhuṇakā tasted sweet."

The first chapter, a ten-word story, was an entry in the Write the Bite contest.

The other seven chapters, each a twenty-word story, were entries in the MicroPhobia contest. Trigger Warning: Extent of Trigger Warnings : moderate ; Trigger Warnings : mental health issues.

No Content Warnings.