“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 […]
Blindness
Nuisance Value
I read something today that stunned me as if I had been hit between the eyes with a wet towel. There is something about yourself that you don’t know. Something that you will deny even exists until it’s too late to do anything about it. It’s the only reason you get up in the morning, […]
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 […]
Cindered Dreams (VII- Conclusion)
[Continued from Cindered Dreams (VI)] Part Seven: Momentum picked up on the school’s plans slowly. I was alone now and every time I sat down with our copious notes, I felt devastated afresh. Anu’s words rang in my ears, her advice and arguments wandered desolately in the empty corridors of my […]
Cindered Dreams (IV)
[Continued from Cindered Dreams (III)] Part Four: I realize that my narrative would become hopelessly jumbled if I did not give Her some name. Let me call her Anu. Anu’s father was a drug-addict. Her mother had died of tuberculosis when Anu was fourteen. She was an only child. Her […]
Cindered Dreams (III)
[Continued from Cindered Dreams (II)] Part Three: I had a sister. She was five years younger than me and I doted on her hand and foot. She could twirl me round her little finger, and she knew it. Her death was one of those senseless things you know. One moment she […]
Cindered Dreams (II)
[Continued from Cindered Dreams] Part Two: Tread softly O gentle stranger, The cinders of my dreams are warm and still alive from the fires that consumed me. Tread softly I beg… Suman’s hands were clammy and she breathed as if she had run a marathon. She shut the diary with a hasty, startled snap. “Coward”, […]