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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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When you see a man reading a book holding it upside down…
As Israel’s genocide continues in Gaza, an even more potent information war is taking place on the internet in the rest of the world. There’s information, misinformation, disinformation, pure propaganda – a huge amount of it, and disproportionately spread by global media houses. Most mainstream global media is pro-Israel and parrots Israel’s talking points without… Continue reading
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I am good (despite the evidence that says otherwise).
“I landed in Bangalore last evening and took an Uber to my hotel. It was amazing, you’d think I was in Shanghai or somewhere. The driver worked a day job in IT and said he makes more money driving than in IT. Peak Bangalore! At the hotel, the staff even picked up my luggage without… Continue reading
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Hold My Batter While Things Change Around Me
Many years later, as he faced a supermarket refrigerator stacked with ready-to-eat/cook, this writer was to remember that distant afternoon when his mother took him to buy a wet grinder for the household. My apologies to Colonel Aurelanio Beundia and his creator, but that was exactly what happened. I must have been around six or… Continue reading
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Bus Rides in South India
I usually do some warming-up before I write for work. This is one such, a bit of trip down memory lane. I don’t know if you have ever travelled in mofussil Tamil Nadu towns. I did a lot as a child. Nagercoil, Tirunelveli, Madurai and several districts were places where my parents would drag us… Continue reading
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An Astronaut in a Mumbai Local and other AI-generated Images
A selection of artwork generated by DALL-E Continue reading
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Tryst With Destiny
Seventy-five years of Indian independence. On an occasion that calls for a solemn observation of a hard-fought freedom and a violent birth, we are in the midst of cacophonic and vacuous celebrations, bereft of any honest stock-taking or introspection. Surely, the nation has achieved much, but for some of us, her achievements are overshadowed by… 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
