My Beauty Queen

Every time you looked at me, I thought, ah, you love me. Love at first sight, it was, wasn't it?

But you were only seeing yourself. Did you like what you saw? That smile that caressed your lips, so slow, so full of love, admiring... Wasn't it me who made you feel that way? Made you feel like a queen? As if the world began and ended with you? Don't you owe it to me?

And Thus Flows Life

Radhika and Satvik looked at the antique showcase they had just bought with immense satisfaction. Rearranging the room to make space for it had been challenging, and it was with great regret that they gave away two low chairs to accommodate this giant piece.

"All your books can come here," Satvik said pointing at the two sides. "All my showpieces can take the inside shelves. We can keep the big Nataraja idol here in the centre."

The Blurring Days

Days merge into night
Dawning again in silence
Seasons come and go
Into each other they flow

Words

"Why? Why don't you tell me what's bothering you?" he pleaded with her.

She looked at him confused. "No, nothing is," she said, feeling as if he were assaulting her with that tone of his voice - an urgent demand, a persistent plea that wanted to grab her heart and open it violently. She felt her heart trembling and shrinking. "Don't imagine things," she said and turned away to continue pretending that everything was as should be.

Waiting for a Change

To wake up every morning
And to be the same
A routine that is comforting
And yet unsurprisingly inane!

Number Trap

From school days I struggled
Numbers making me feel strangled
Exponents, permutations, combinations
Triggering severe perspiration

The Voice From Beyond

"Hi honey."
The voice seemed so real that Priya jumped. Though she looked up instantly, she went back to reading the instruction for the pregnancy test.
"I thought you would have outgrown this behaviour now that you are older. Still behaving like a teenager!" the voice of her mother continued in that particular exasperating tone of amusement.
Priya had to look up and was startled to see her mother actually there. "I am seeing things," she told herself loudly and went back to reading.