Orchids & Daffodils

On Valentine’s day, he met her outside school and handed over a gift. He couldn’t muster the courage to write her a letter, so he did the next best thing, he made her a mixtape. He labelled it Orchids.

A few days later, he received one in return. It was labelled too.

Daffodils, Vol. 1.

‘Vol. 1?’ He read and smiled. This was a beginning.

Mixtapes were the love letters they wrote to each other.

This was a time when everything had limits. A CHF60 cassette held just 12 songs. A Kodak roll captured only 36 photos. Scarcity made every choice matter, every moment more precious. Knowing something was finite, made it more valuable.

They kept going to the audio shop, a piece of paper torn from a notebook and an audio cassette. The paper carried a list of carefully curated songs. The audio shop kept overwriting songs on the cassette, volume after volume.

Orchids, Vol. 7

Finding the perfect starting point for a song was a hassle, so they made sure the two best songs were placed deliberately as the first song on Side A and the last song on Side B.

Daffodils, Vol. 9

Their mixtapes were letters that could be read over and over again. Read even when others were around, because they knew the bits that were meant just for them. They knew the inside jokes. It was their secret language.

Orchids, Vol. 11

When they traveled together, she carried her Sony Walkman and they played their cassettes, sharing one earphone each.

Daffodils, Vol. 13

When they took a rickshaw, they asked, “Deck hain?” and their own cassette went in.

Orchids, Vol. 14

When they fought, mixtapes of all the songs saying “sorry” arrived as peace offerings.

Daffodils, Vol. 27

And when their story ended, they were each left with a Daffodils and an Orchids with them.

They could have kept it. As a remembrance. As a memento. As a relic in the 'Museum of Never Moving On'. But knowing something was finite, made it more valuable.
So they went to the audio shop, one last time. They made one last mixtape. Not for each other, but for themselves.

Catharsis, Vol. 1

SIDE A - First song: Tadap Tadap - HDDCS
SIDE B - Last song: Such Keh Raha Hai Deewana - RHTDM