ONE “Dad, let me take this summer job.” “What?! You’re just sixteen! People will think I can’t provide for my family.” “It’ll be good for my future, I’ll learn so much. Please?” “I’ll become the laughing stock of town. I’ve said no, discussion over.” The child fell silent, spirit crumpled under the weight of society’s […]
Short Stories
Enough To BE
The restaurant was dim and cool after the blistering heat outside. I had been window shopping since morning and now my feet were avenging themselves on my pointless rambling. All I had to show for my aching feet was an ugly, cheap umbrella I didn’t need to buy. It was my misguided attempt at beating […]
Hot Chocolate
“My my! Someone’s looking like thunder today? What happened Amrita?” Runoo Mosi’s (Mosi: Mother’s sister, aunt. Forming bonds with people one is not related to is very common in India) voice was concerned, her brows puckered up. “Nothing Mosi”, said little Amrita looking utterly woebegone. Her eyes lowered, she took her place amidst the other […]
A Cheap Silver Ring
Somali was excited. Her mother’s birthday was barely three days away. Somali had decided that this birthday she would buy a gift for her mother. And it would be a surprise! Somali was going to be eleven a few days after her mom’s birthday. They shared a birthday month. The thought made Somali glow with […]
Traveling With A Stranger
I took my seat in the Delhi bound AC chair car, pleased that the adjoining seat was empty. At Agra a man came and claimed it. Resentfully, I glared at him. He was a compulsive talker. In fifteen minutes, I wanted to tape his mouth. When mono-syllabic answers failed to shut him, I got progressively ruder. It was […]
Fragile
Raman’s heart sank as he feverishly searched his pockets. With rising trepidation, he turned his bag inside out- another blank. He ran his classroom and searched there. He even lay flat on the floor and peered under the ancient wooden cupboard. Almost hysterical now, he asked all his friends, begging them to end the cruel […]
Fifteen Years
He is coming home after fifteen years! They told me he was coming. A million times since then, I have repeated the sentence to myself. I have said it flatly and whispered it to myself with breathless excitement. I have tempered it with every different shade of emotion there is in the universe. I […]
A Simple Rope Swing
There was a rope swing on a tree. And there was a child. The swing was a pretty rudimentary affair- just like the simpler times which forms the story’s backdrop. Two parallel loops of ordinary, thick, jute rope tied on a thick limb of the tree. A rough wooden plank jammed between the loops, bridging […]
Untamed
I gasped in shock as the scream slammed into me. It took me a few moments to realize that the awful guttural sound of pure rage had emerged from my own throat. All of the past year I have tried to run away from that scream. It was the sole witness to that truth you […]
Turn Around
Malini was devastated. Her sister Shalini, whom she hero- worshipped, was lying helpless like a rag doll on the hospital bed. If this were not bad enough, Raja too seemed strange. She couldn’t come to terms with how much he had changed after the accident. He barely came to visit Shalini at the hospital. […]