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 […]
Betrayal
Pliant
The free online dictionary defines Pliant as: 1. Easily bent or flexed; pliable. 2. Easily altered or modified to fit conditions; adaptable. 3. Yielding readily to influence or domination; compliant. Its synonyms include: amenable, ductile, elastic, flexible, governable, limber, lissom, malleable, manageable, plastic, pliable, soft, supple, tractable, yielding. You may have heard this word used for […]
Counterfeit Virtue
Every virtue- diligence, honesty, fairness, integrity- has its antonym representing the opposite pole. Diligence has sloth , honesty has dishonesty, fairness has unfairness, integrity has lack of integrity and good has evil. A person can be fair or unfair. They may be scrupulously honest or grossly dishonest. They may be diligent or slothful. They might […]
Betrayal (V- Conclusion)
Continued from Betrayal (IV) Vasudha’s reply to Chandini’s last mail was a lot more positive in tone than all her previous mails. She seemed to have realized that a blow might have knocked her to her knees, but to stay there was an act of choice. She had bridged the fine gap between considering ‘on […]
Betrayal (IV)
Continued from Betrayal (III) It had barely been a few hours since Chandni had written her last mail to Vasudha. She had a sense of waiting. Somehow, she was sure Vasudha would reply. She waited online, mucking around listlessly, unable to call it a night and go to bed. She left the machine running and […]
Betrayal (III)
Continued from Betrayal (II) Chandini kept thinking about Vasudha all day. She was impatient to finish up at work and write another mail to her. Vasudha’s reply to her last mail was fresh in her mind. Chandni had detected the beginning of a all or none panic in her. It seemed she was determined to […]
Betrayal (II)
Continued from Betrayal (I) Chandini powered up her laptop, murmured a short prayer and began pouring her soul out on the cold glass of her screen. My dear Vasudha, I read your mail. You know my love and regard for you well enough to know what the knowledge of your pain is doing to me. […]
Betrayal (I)
Chandini logged out of her email account and closed all open windows on her laptop. She stared fixedly at the desktop wallpaper that she must have seen a million times before. It was as if she was seeing it for the first time. There was nothing extraordinary about the picture. It was a landscape showing […]
Phase Three: Sunset
I am sure the two of us must seem like two buddies enjoying the sunset. You couldn’t be farther out. We are brothers not buddies. The other is equally inaccurate. I have a compelling affinity for this place. It presents a spectacle which is rare and beautiful. Yet, I don’t come here for the […]
The Five Mile Trek
There are two kinds of people I keep myself distant from- the weak and the clueless. Make no mistake, I like people, I even love some of them. But there is also the other end of the spectrum. I have never hated anyone. It has always seemed too much trouble, besides being a pointless waste […]