Why Me - Part I

Amit stood smoking in the open area behind the confectionary he had opened in a busy mall in the city. From there, he could see his neighbouring restaurant, and felt a twinge of jealousy yet again. It was, as always, busy serving visitors while his team was still getting things ready. He went in and shouted, "Lazy fools! Be sharp!"

He entered his small kitchen behind the serving counter and found his chef and the cleaning lady giggling about something. "Is the food ready?" he asked sternly.

The chef, knowing how indispensible he was, asked him sharply, "What do your diners want?"

Ephemeral Life

Even exhilerating joy
Does not forever last
So also sorrows deepest
Soon from us they part

Diamonds That Became Shards

"If He resides within,
Why do I seek Him
In the wilderness without?"

He abandoned that poem, unable to proceed. That's how the saints seemed to have sung of God. He wished to, too, but could not find himself inspired enough. He decided there was nothing to be inspired about, that it was all a sham. Otherwise, wouldn't he have experienced it himself?

The Perfect Revenge - Part II

Continued from Part I

Giri's head reeled as Kala finished narrating the story of how Radhakrishnan and she got married. While his story differed in a few minor points, it was almost as if he had seen their lives playing out in front of him. The most intriguing was when Kala mentioned a stranger. "My brothers were intent on killing Radha and me for daring to cross the caste barrier and getting married. They caught us by the waterfall, meeting clandestinely. That day, they would have killed him and got me married to someone else..."

"But there was another man who happened to be there, who saw the atrocity and intervened..." Giri said with glazed eyes. It was the very nightmare he saw, the very nightmare he wrote about.

The Perfect Revenge - Part I

Giri woke up with a start, the nightmare too real for comfort. The dream had chased him through his childhood, making him run to his mother every night. When he became a teenager, he learnt to deal with his fears, but that didn't make the nightmare any less...nightmarish.

Slowly, the fear of going to bed and see this sight made him delay his bedtime. Even as an adult, he found the nightmare disturbing, and the predictable repetitive imagery compounded the problem, making him feel stressed even during the day. He worked out, not so much to keep fit as to tire himself so that he could get dreamless sleep. He found only limited success in that.

The Dis-chord - Part II

Click here for Part I

Sharada felt heart-broken. Caught up in her own misery, she remained inure to the eyes turning towards her. She was puzzled at Harish's abrupt departure. She was hurt that he had not said a word about her performance. And to think that she had kept her eager parents away for today's debut, pretending she was nervous, all the while hoping to make it special for Harish and her. What a fool, oh, what a fool! She looked up with eyes flashing, and came to her senses as she realised she was still in the dining room. Prying eyes turned towards her, making her realise that she was being melodramatic.

The Dis-chord - Part I

Sharada hummed as she walked down the street. A note jarred. She paused mid-stride and tried to get the right note, unsuccessfully. She shut her eyes to recollect how her music teacher had reached that note when someone crashed into her. Her eyes flew open and took in the young man who apologised profusely. Clearly, he had been looking at his phone when walking.

"Please watch where you are going," she snapped and walked on. Her thought flow was cut as she silently cursed the stupid people who could not take their eyes off their phones even when walking down busy streets.