Nestled in the lap of the ceaselessly gurgling Krishna, the idyllic tranquility of the ancient village of Amaravati is shattered one morning by a murder most foul and unnatural. Or the murder of a trader most foul and unnatural, as the denizens of the village would have you believe. Krishna Shastri, the stern and fastidious [...]
Read moreThe Ghosts of Jamun Trees
May 14, 2012
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Before he died, Karamuva was the best tree climber of the village and the clusters surrounding it. He loved to clamber up anything green with stalks and leaves, planted to the earth and capable of withstanding human weight. From ground zero, he could race to the top of the canopy within seconds, rubbing shoulders with [...]
Read moreTruth Alone Triumphs
May 6, 2012
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There was this ordinary man who having found an ordinary job found himself an ordinary girl who became his wife. Man’s parents were miffed as they had queued up several astrologically perfect girls for him to choose from. The man and wife moved ahead in worldly ways and were happy discovering the joys of being [...]
Read moreAnother Day like This
April 23, 2012
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The aqua green sedan came to a halt at the corner of the road. A yellow ‘TAXI’ sign glowed dully on its roof. The street lights were still on although the night had fallen off the sky. The driver recovered a small bag from the dashboard and proceeded to the old woman under the tree [...]
Read moreGoing Blind
April 8, 2012
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O Scorpio-cat When you have gone My eyes will turn To lumps of stone -Vikram Seth Not that he was cooking often, yet a man must have a morsel to live. Usually, he would just warm up a bun or scramble the odd egg. And just as the food was ready, he would find the [...]
Read moreThe Evening That Killed (Part-II)
April 1, 2012
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(Read the Part -I Here) Never trust the rains. Not when you have lost a ton of outdoor fun as a child to twisting torrents. Nor if your crisp comics left on the window sill had turned into a sodden mass of pulp. Nor still, if your classmate’s skull was squished like a melon under [...]
Read moreThe Evening That Killed (Part-I)
March 23, 2012
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There hangs a small painting, silent and unnoticed by most, on a wall of my house. It is a lonely work of art, facing a quiet space in the narrow passage leading to the door. It was a present from Zenia who was as reticent and prim as the stalk of flowers in that rectangular [...]
Read moreNor Sleep Nor Dream
March 19, 2012
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I slept dreamless on a Sunday noon. Marooned on an isle of lifelessness, spurned by the mattress, night after night, battling slumber’s flight, it came as a boon. Life sits heavily on the chest; The incest with the inhaler brings no rest. The blue pill is not a friend to questions un-paused by a day’s [...]
Read moreThe Sour Flute
March 15, 2012
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(Is fair work rewarded often? Du Fu was a great Chinese poet who lived from 712 to 770 AD. He was doomed to a sad and deprived life as he failed in his many attempts to qualify the official civil service examination, which had poetry as a compulsory subject. Many lesser men of his time [...]
Read moreThe Giggling Gladiator (Part II)
March 7, 2012
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(Read the ‘Part I’ here) If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, Nalini Nayan came right from Uranus. She was a female form hacked out of the purest permafrost. Everything about her was sharp and angular, right from the rhombus of a face that tapered into a pointed chin. She had thin [...]
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