Fiction
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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
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The Family Reunion
It was a lazy mid-morning. We were sitting in the verandah, sipping cups of tea, the newspapers well into their second life as bits of entertainment sections. The brother-in-law tried to keep us interested in the local church gossip; my sister talked fashion and cuisines with her sisters-in-law. The kids were playing somewhere in the… Continue reading
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The Beginning of the End
The story so far: the scene is 2023. The Covid-19 lockdown has continued for three years. It ends abruptly. Read the first part here: http://bij.li/fiction/the-end-of-the-lockdown Dhak dhak dhak dhak dhak. We were swerving. The car behind us sped past, missing us by a couple of inches. I had snoozed off for a few seconds. The… Continue reading
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The Stench
This is part of an exercise for a writing course I took during the Covid19 lockdown. We were asked to write a story that starts after a three-year long pandemic-induced lockdown, without using adjectives or words with more than two syllables. I don’t know if it was the choking that woke me or the stench.… Continue reading
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The Book of Guran
Everything that you read about The Phantom was a lie! Here’s what really happened. My father almost never spoke a straight sentence his whole life. If he wanted a drink of water, he would come near us and announce, “blessed are those who quench the thirst of a humble traveler.” As we would learn later,… Continue reading
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The Stakeout
If you grew up in Kerala, you would have heard this story. Or at least a version of it. It’s a bit of an urban (or rural?) legend. Sukumara Kurup is one of Kerala’s most notorious fugitives. In the 1980s, he faked his own death by killing a lookalike and had one of his accomplices… Continue reading
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Covid19 Press Conference #2 with an Imaginary Prime Minister
PIB Director: ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to our second press conference. The usual housekeeping rules apply. Thank you for those who have chosen to join the audio and video bridge. Secondly, thank you for coming here, please keep safe distance. We are glad to see this being practiced without any need for… Continue reading
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The Covid19 Speech I Would Like to Hear, But Will Never Get
Dear mitron, Thank you for tuning in to this message. I value your time and I know it is not been easy for you – many of us are going through a hard time. I would like to request your attention for the next few minutes. Not all of it is going to be good… Continue reading
