Himesh is fussy about the order in which ingredients should go into vegetable pulao. Butter, followed by an equal amount of mustard oil, cumin seeds, chopped chillies and onions, crushed ginger and garlic, minced mint and coriander leaves, a handful…
Tag: Fiction & Literature
A Passing Shower by Bruce Goodman — A Review
My student life ended abruptly, or shall I say, comic-apocalyptically, with the postmodernist classic by Joseph Heller, Catch-22. It happened when I wrote a chapter for my doctoral thesis, which would soon be abandoned, on the anti-war anti-novel with an…
Three Tamarind Trees -Part II
*The beginning It was half past six in the morning as I trod the bridge over the moat to the looming entrance. My heart matched the pitter-patter of my hastening steps. Unlike the stolid façade I had come upon in…
Three Tamarind Trees -Part I
I swear I shall tell you the story exactly as he whispered it to me. I first met him at Sadar Bazar in Agra. I had just purchased a paperback called Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and was sipping a…
The Bungalow by the Tracks
Five years after she fled to Delhi in an unreserved coach of Lucknow Mail on the eve of her proposed marriage, Miranda returned to the town where she had grown to be a woman from a blob in a womb.…
The Crusted Slice
Always on Dussehra, my sister, rung above me on the family ladder, would remember the elder sister who had lived with us only briefly. She was still very young when she fell ill on a winter night that thundered and…
The Scarecrow from East
(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) They moved along a track in the grass to the north. A flock of ravens burst from a nearby tree, intent on killing one of their own, filling the air with a harsh war…
The Killer in Alcatraz
(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) A dense mass of tall cowboy hats bustled about the Embarcadero, just beyond the Ferry Building. The faces buried under the wide, panning brims, their hands waved towards him, many of them holding whiplashes.…
Bridge of Sighs
(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) ‘You are going to rue this, officer.’ Vernon’s voice was getting the reedy edge, a sign he was about to explode. ‘It’s my job to put aliens and saboteurs across the Bridge of Sighs.…
Forbidden City
(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) They entered The Presidio through Marina Gate and strolled down the road fragrant with eucalyptus trees, mixed with whiffs of fresh sea foam. The breeze blew soft, laced with salt, whispering moistly in the…
If You go to San Francisco
(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) Unknown to Amar, his onerous passage through a Naga backyard was reported by the night-prowlers to the head of the tribesmen. A freshly baptised Christian who had foreclosed the skull-houses of his…
Planet of Gibbons
(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) Part of Vernon’s right foot was gone with the roof of the aircraft. His boot was missing and so were his toes. A limp mass of red and white was dangling…
One Grain Amongst the Storm 