Fiction -Exam Fever

Two months to the Finals  The blue dust-laden books lie at the furthest end of my study table. I hate this subject; I should have never chosen to study it. Only, my father looked at my coursework and said, "Don't you want to add a humanities subject this year? It will make your resume look …

Short Fiction #86

The second-class sleeper coupe is hot, the lights and buzz of conversation around her make Sheila’s head ache. She settles back on the side lower berth and sips her juice. Across her, Vinay is busy looking at his phone. Sheila looks at the people in the coupe, the usual suspects on this route, and then …

Short fiction #85

We were rivals. Doctor saab had handpicked us to be his working students. And I felt privileged to be picked by him, we had read his textbooks in college, and to be working with him was a dream come true. Doctor saab had come home and talked to my parents. “I will take care of …

Short Story

My father thought I’d never get married Well, I was 34. Not an old maid yet, not a young one either. And I’d heard all the horror stories, marriage seemed to be all luck and chance. And it seemed to lose its charm way too soon. Hari was tall, had hair on his head (criteria …

Short Fiction #83

They say that the spouse always knows last. I though knew before Sarla did that she was falling in love with someone else. We had been married for 6 years. Not a short time. And I could read Sarla like a book from the time I met her. I still remember the traditional bride-seeing ceremony …

Short Fiction #82

I got married at 34. Everything in the world had conspired against what my family deemed the most important thing in my life. My horoscope (or horrorscope, as my father called it) had all the wrong planets in all the wrong places. I don’t know if I had ever cared for marriage much, but by …

Short fiction #81

“Did you love him more than you did Daddy?” Devi sighed. If only she had burned that letter. And if only her daughter, now almost 45, had not decided to snoop. But Mira was behaving as if she was 14. “He was suave, witty, he could argue wonderfully,” she said, remembering Ali. Their meetings had …

Short Fiction #80

It was a long hard day, and for once he had really felt his age. Cairo's hot sun hadn’t helped, and by the time he was home, it felt as if he had been through a wringer. But all thought of age and pain, disappeared when he entered the parlor and found her there. She …

Short Fiction#79

It is just one of those days. I’m tired, but there are things to do, and the world will not stop for me. But you firmly push me to the door. “Go and walk” you say. And so I do. Mid way, it begins to rain. Large droplets fall, and as I turn my face …

Short Fiction #77

If I could turn back time, then without a doubt I’d turn it back to early February. To the day you and I decided to picnic at end point. We set off with samosas neatly wrapped in a newspaper in your bag and two bottles of akka shop lemon juice in mine. Time spent walking …