I am not a story writer. Nor do I have the talent for it. A story writer should naturally be an art connoisseur, and I am not even an art novice. But I have come across a ‘plot’ for gifted story writers, and hope they can erect an impressive structure on this ‘plot’. There is […]

“Don’t say that a hundred thousand Hindus and a hundred thousand Muslims died. Say two hundred thousand people died. Muslims might have thought that by killing a hundred thousand Hindus, the Hindu faith would be wiped out. But it’s alive and will continue to live. Similarly, after killing a hundred thousand Muslims, Hindus might have […]

What can I say about the girl in the green dress but that it was just the way she wore it and to me she was a cross between Lucille Ball and Snoopy. Or maybe it was Julia Roberts and a host of great Spanish poets. The first time I saw her wear the green […]

We had been on the terrace a quarter of an hour, silently sipping our cold drinks, when my cousin Vinil muttered, ‘Look.’ ‘Look where?’ I said. There was plenty to look at. It was 8 pm on Diwali; the streets were exploding with fireworks. Showers of sparks flew up from the driveways on every side […]

Snow When the snow first started falling, no one knew that it wouldn’t stop. The people were grateful because they had never seen snow. Now theirs would be a snow town for a while. Articles were written because it was a miracle. Then, the first houses started caving in. There was snow inside the toilet […]

He had been running every night for almost five years now. Some days he ran towards something, some days he ran away. Mostly, he just ran to reassure himself that he could still move. He would imagine hurtling through time and space, his body an arrow, his will a sharp blade cutting away at lassitude […]

I will write. And if the words don’t come to me, I will write about the not coming of words. The flow of an unused tap, the water rusty and excruciating in its slowness. Because it comes down to this. I have to write. Or I will be driven mad by the drip drip of […]

It was the end of winter when he came, to the town which was just about a town, a kasba. The festival season was over and there was a listlessness in the air of the main road. It would continue till Holi. People were looking for something to break the monotony. The business in shops […]

Subhadra In the old house, there was a tree at its porch, and in that tree was a Vairavar. One Vairavar, different from all the others, in temples and in other trees. I never thought they were the same, the one at our temple and the one in our tree, although when I was a […]

There it is. The jacket. Hanging on the side of the chair, glowing in the morning light. Iridescent blue, with a tinge of green; its color vibrates like a deep bass string. Saraswati picks up the tray too fast. Coffee sloshes over the side of the cup, pooling in the saucer, as her feet negotiate […]