Such is Life – Page 6 – One Grain Amongst the Storm

Of Crows and Swans

Posted by umashankaron June 10, 2012December 28, 2017in Poems, Such is Life88 Comments

Tumbling tonight in tavernous treks, My breath reeking of Sauvignon Blanc, I have courage enough to read the blogs of whitest crows and blackest swans. “Seven best ways to flag off a blog,” She croaked to soak in a hundred…

The Northern Planes

Posted by umashankaron May 28, 2012May 15, 2016in Poems, Such is Life79 Comments

The heat is baking the Northern Planes, Frankly, I am least worried, Father's beyond all heat waves, Mother has receded into her ribs. The summers bring the mangoes too, They now grow on puny trees, Long gone are the…

The Ghosts of Jamun Trees

Posted by umashankaron May 14, 2012October 1, 2017in Fiction, Such is Life96 Comments

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 the…

Truth Alone Triumphs

Posted by umashankaron May 6, 2012August 18, 2013in Such is Life131 Comments

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…

The Evening That Killed (Part-II)

Posted by umashankaron April 1, 2012May 9, 2016in Fiction, Such is Life93 Comments

(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 classmate’s skull was squished like a melon under a passing truck when…

Nor Sleep Nor Dream

Posted by umashankaron March 19, 2012December 20, 2017in Poems, Such is Life48 Comments

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…

The Giggling Gladiator (Part II)

Posted by umashankaron March 7, 2012November 5, 2017in Fiction, Such is Life48 Comments

(Read the 'Part I' here) If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, Nalini came right from Uranus. She was a female form hacked out of the purest permafrost. Everything about her was cold, sharp and angular, the…

The Giggling Gladiator (Part I)

Posted by umashankaron March 4, 2012May 15, 2018in Fiction, Such is Life30 Comments

Chhotu is the secret police. Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti. Period. For the incredulous, yes it still exists. Of course, it has a different name. Dare me not to come clean. If I expose him here, he will be soon found floating…