I live on the banks of the river Narbada. The river is lavish and generous to all her children. She lets you take as much water from her as you need. She’d never refuse you, on the contrary, she would love to give all you want. She cannot be called sparing or miserly if you […]
Dreams
Stepping Back
You take out your best formals to wear at a party and find them too tight. Dismayed, you decide to re-start a regular workout regime. You retrieve (read excavate) your walking shoes from never- never- land and dust the entire Harappan civilization off them. The steely glint in your eyes could slice Mt Everest into […]
Borrowed Feathers
The world will always be full of dreamers. There will always be mavericks whose only purpose in life is to jump into as many frying pans (and fires) as possible. Forever restless, always on the move. They infect you with their madness. They are charming and magnetic in their passion. Your shell of diligent preoccupation […]
Random Chance
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 […]
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 […]
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 (VI)
[Continued from Cindered Dreams (V)] Part Six: It sounded sensible, inevitable and so completely RIGHT, it just took my breath away! How absolutely perfect was that…!? In an instant, her dream took root in my heart. It possessed me utterly. I continued to work on my novel, but I […]
Cindered Dreams (V)
[Continued from Cindered Dreams (IV)] Part Five: During that night, she told me that when the worst of her misfortune broke upon her unprepared head, she found solace and succor from an unexpected source. In her neighborhood, there lived a retired primary school teacher. All the neighborhood children gathered around her […]
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 […]