Fiction
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The Bank Manager, the Rationalist, a Boat, and a Ghost.
(2900 words, 11 minutes) The man was about to start his bath when his wife banged on the corrugated metal bathroom door. “Your bank’s attendant is here!” she said. “I’m late for school. Hurry up and have your breakfast before you go.” The bank manager finished his bath quickly. He went from the outhouse to… Continue reading
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Maleickal House
(4654 words, 17 minutes) Halfway up the hill, the young lawyer regretted taking the car. Not only was the climb steep, the road was narrow and its surface pockmarked with loose metal. The old Alto was hardly the vehicle for these roads. At around thirty minutes after he left the Main Central Road and began… Continue reading
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A Family Portrait
The old man turned the key to the door slowly so that it would not make any sharp noise. Yet, he couldn’t prevent the annoying clack at the end of the turn. He stepped inside to find his wife fast asleep on the sofa-cum-bed with the the TV on mute. He took the remote from… Continue reading
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Poop goes the Podcast
If you’re walking in the streets of Mumbai, you develop a certain skill, that of avoiding doggie poop. After a given time, it becomes a muscle memory; you learn to identify the object irrespective of its state of disintegration, and adjust your stride accordingly. Then one fine day, an expensively adorned cute little puppy and… Continue reading
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Liberation
The day started bright and sunny. The MET department said no rain was expected as did my intuition. So I left the umbrella at home – managing a backpack and a handbag in the Mumbai trains was bad enough, I thought, As it turned out, by mid-morning, it was so bad that the principal opted… Continue reading
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Happy Birthday Babu Bhai!
This is a rant that I posted recently on LinkedIn. Nothing great about it; I’ve ranted often but what I like about this one is that I typed this entirely with my right thumb in stalled traffic at Chheda Nagar Junction while staring at these ‘chamcha’ banners, of mostly unknown faces wishing random politicians on… Continue reading
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The Open Door
We must have been on the fifth slide. The presenter stopped mid-sentence with his mouth open and his face white as a sheet. He was staring at me as was everyone else in the room. I wondered if I fell asleep or something. I mumbled a sorry, and asked him to continue, only to find… Continue reading
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The Barber’s Assistant
Once upon a time, in a kingdom that once stood near where you are right now, there lived a king and a queen. The kingdom was small enough for a man on a horse to cross in a week, but large enough to have everything its people needed. To the north and east were mountains… Continue reading
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The Embers
“Would you like some more of the champagne, ma’am?” the waiter asked, shaking her out of her reverie. “Yes, please,” she said. “He will be here in a few minutes.” “No problem,” said the waiter as he topped up her glass. He was already twenty minutes late. It will be ten more by the time… Continue reading
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Jesus at the Window
Contains colloquial words spoken by dakhni people of south Tamil Nadu. “Abbu! Don’t hit her Abbu! Usko maro nako… Abbuuu!” Thwack. That disgusting sound was all I could hear. But Nur didn’t cry. She kept looking at the ceiling, or maybe at the slow whirling fan. I couldn’t understand. She had been sitting there all… Continue reading