Of Fears, Remembrance, and Balance…

What makes fear manifest itself in myriad mutations? The alarm in his mobile phone went off, disturbing the order that night had so laboriously built. He extended his arm, located the phone, felt the haptic key and used it to decide which side was to be kept up; and then as if by intuition, pressed...

Of Dreams and Delirium…

I The ringing of the bicycle's bell was the first thing Shaman heard in the morning, the chirping of the birds came later. It had always been this way. Quite unlike what they showed in the Bollywood movies. He owed his acquaintance with the reel world to the 'screen on wheels'. An arrangement in which...

Love At First Laugh – Concluded

It has been eight years since Ronit had last seen Akshita. He is sitting in front of his Laptop, his eyes fixed on a particular photo from a series of photos of all the girls named Akshita. He hovers upon her profile picture but something prevents him from clicking on it. Entering her profile would...

Love At First Laugh – Two

A few days after they had met near her PG, things had begun to change. The air of inhibition that had shrouded his natural behaviour so far had finally begun to subside. He no longer had to be careful about his hair, or if his shirt was tucked in or not, or about if there...

Of Sounds That Stay – Part Two

In her village, across the street where Sri used to live, lived Mr Naresh. Till she was thirteen, she had thought that his name was ‘Seth Ji’ for everyone around her used to call him that. It was only when a few Christian Nuns had begun to come to her village, to teach students like...

Of Sounds that Stay — Part One

Sri's house was always full of sounds. Its little dimensions and the fact that she lived alone only accentuated these sounds, giving them a theatrical touch. Everything in the house somehow managed to get in touch with some other thing and resulted in a noise. Legs of her bed screeched when they skidded over the...

Of Lights, Life, and A Little Loneliness…

The sun grappled with the clouds all day long. Tired, it went to the bed a bit early than the usual days. By the evening, the clouds had enshrouded the sky, convincing Shama that it'd rain, but it didn't. From her room on the seventh floor of a nine-floor apartment, Shama sees lights everywhere --...

That Feeling Called Love…

The last time he had let anyone touch him, Tanishq was 27 and had nothing on his body. And after the session of the passionate lovemaking was over, it had begun to rain outside, and it had continued to rain like that for some time. He was sitting on his bed, wiping the sweat off...

Of An Ant And A Man

The inept Ant began the ascent. On a day when a man's hopes shatter the way a leaf plummets down the ground and cracks up, Pran gawped at the ant trying to crawl up the room's shabby wall. The ant tried to climb up the wall but it slipped. It tried again and the result...

Of Men And Their Ways – Continued…

He always woke up before the sun shone, and it had been that way for as long as he can recall now. His wife, when she was alive, used to bicker with him for his early morning alarms. "In the morning the sound of your alarms going off, and during the day your mother with...

Of Motions and Emotions…

His stomach rumbled the third time in what could not have been more than ten minutes, convincing him that he'd finally have to get up and make his way to the toilet. The digital clock mounted on the wall displayed some numbers, but at his age and in his predicament, the numbers no longer made...