A Different Plane

We waited for all eight of us to assemble for practice. The youngest two of the dancers called in sick. The rest of us looked at each other in dismay as the program was just a week away, and we had learnt this item just two days back. But, well, we assured ourselves, there was at least a week. So we had hope.

As we finished the rehearsal for the day and chatted up, the topic of the girls being unwell came up. We wondered if they would get better by the program date, and someone suddenly said, “Oh come! You have done it. I am sure they can too!”

Dobie and Me: Chapter 20

Read the previous chapter here

My head reeled. He pulled me up and took me in his arms. “She thinks that you will never take this…relationship forward.”

I pushed him away. “Are we to marry to prove her wrong?” I asked, feeling a stirring of a slow rage within me.

Dobie and Me: Chapter 19

For the previous chapter, click here

I sat puzzling over his last words. Had he said Shivani? Had he meant Vandana?

I took my car out and drove to his house. I couldn’t stand the suspense.

He was surprised to see me there but let me in. I quickly glanced around to see her presence, or the evidence of her presence. It looked every inch a male bastion. It should have been reassuring, but it was not. I turned to look at him. “What did you say?”

Dobie and Me: Chapter 18

For the previous chapter, click here

Gautam was as if he had been released from prison. There was no holding him back.

Enjoying his new found freedom and making up for lost time, he started travelling often. I saw less and less of him. He had plans for every weekend, and he was busy reviving contact with his friends. He asked me to join him sometimes, but not always, and never hard enough for me to accept. I was relieved, in a way. Dobie was a big reason, but, I could have done something about it.

The Bucket List

A fancy house.
A luxury car.
Expensive jewellery. Well, make that just jewellery.
Fancy holidays to exotic destinations.
Best education for children.
Latest fashion.
Fun all life.

Dobie and Me: Chapter 17

 Read Chapter 16 here 

What stopped me from contacting him? Pride, of course! Every time my fingers lingered over his number, I withdrew them quickly. I did not want to sound desperate, all the more because I was desperate.

And, then the glance they exchanged, the emotions they revealed! That moment, those two faces… I shook my head to dislodge the memory. But it wouldn’t go away. I couldn’t forget the way the two had looked at each other – her eyes… That expression! That eagerness!

I swallowed, my heart fluttering.

Who Is She?

He loves her, for in her womb was he carried

He seeks her, so he may bestow on her his seed

He ravages her, when threatened by her mind free

He disdains her when there is no more life to be seen

From birth to death so is she seen

As the mother or the mother-to-be

Her boon and bane it shall be

For her womb defines her identity.