Ravi hitched up his backpack and left. He had come to visit them ten days ago. They lived in a village fifty kilometers away from Nagpur. Dawn was just breaking in the east. The sky was flushed with promise. For no reason at all, Ravi felt braced. Today is the first day of the rest […]
Unpacking The ‘P’ Word
The word is Positive. There, I said it! With an enthusiasm that can (and will) set your teeth on edge, proponents of Positive Mental Attitude will exhort you to Be Positive. They go about it will all the delicacy of a bull in a china shop. On an aside, have you, personally, seen a bull in […]
Ordinary Courage
Many years ago I read a story about a boy called David. David was a spastic suffering from cerebral palsy. When he was two years old his parents noticed something wrong. They were told he would never walk, talk or count to ten. They were told that the case is hopeless and David will live […]
Fifteen Useful Assumptions
These assumptions are not easy to swallow. If you are anything like me, assuming their opposites would be a lot easier. On a slightly different note, who was the smart- ass who performed that particularly pedestrian bit of alphabet play with the word ASSUME and brought in an asinine whiff of pure bad taste into […]
Women’s Empowerment: Is it a distant dream?
Reblogged from http://www.avagmah.com Today, we celebrate women and womanhood on the occasion of International Women’s Day. One can’t help but look at the challenges the working Indian woman faces at workplaces and at home. Still struggling with patriarchal mindsets, she struggles to break free from prejudices, glass ceilings, sexual harassment and other issues at workplaces. […]
Eve Teasing or Adam Terrorizing?
I think it is time I told the truth about THE BLADE. Truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God…! I had a Rampuri knife once upon a time. Rampuri is the name given to a switchblade knife. It is standard issue for Bhai-logs in Mumbai I am told. No Bhai worth his […]
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 […]
Why Did You Fail?
Minister for Exams ~ Brian Patten When I was a child I sat an exam. This test was so simple There was no way i could fail. Q1. Describe the taste of the Moon. It tastes like Creation I wrote, it has the flavour of starlight. Q2. What colour is Love? Love […]
All Sevens
The 7x7x7x7 Writing Prompt : Grab the 7th book from your bookshelf. Open it up to page 7. Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page. Begin a poem that begins with that sentence and limit it in length to 7 lines. The seventh book on my bookshelf happened to be Conversations With God […]