Fiction

                                                            The Transition She was waiting perhaps eternally waiting  for the D-day when she would be facing the distinguished audience and she on the stage delivering the  speech of thanks after receiving the prestigious literary award on the international forum. It was a dream recurring to her since her childhood. Her hollowed out eyes were overshadowed by her wispy brows which had almost disappeared by now. Her two eyes had reduced  into two slits owing to the long hauls on them since  she  spent the major chunk of her time poring over tomes of  all size and genre.Her puckered mouth would now  mumble along the written pages as it was becoming difficult for her to grasp the contents.It was during these moments when sometimes she sank into despond...

                                                  Rani In the course of Rani's life,she might have come across unlimited situations and such circumtances while going through the vagaries of growing up.The small girl as she saw herself come before her eyes now was such a restless and unattended child in her young days. Her mornings got subsumed by the approaching bright day when she revelled in full abandon.But the approaching evening cast a pall over her wild jubilations.The night stood out for her as a sore thumb.She dreaded it.Her house was a large wide building ungaurded in the modern sense of the word.Her grandmother was at the helm of the affairs,but she did not put any check on any one in the family.It was a large family comprising of uncles aunts and the grand-children.Her huge frame had the pliability and softness of a fabric doll.She was the una...

                                                                The Fly                            She heard the buzzing sound continuously circling her head and brushing along side her ear. She got annoyed and  persistently evaded it with the flourish of her hand.She was  reading her morning newspaper  but the deep droning sound compelled her to stop. Facing the mosquito menace of which she had got habitual but now this lnoe fly that too so powerful that its  buzzing distracted her completely.Flies are a nuisance  .They signify dirt and filth that too raw filth .She became wary of it and got up to make it fly out of her room but at the same time the buzzing sound sud...

                                                    She looked in the distance. It was quiet everywhere.Her legs were paining. The stench and the deserted look around compelled her to move faster.The fading light of the distant sun threw a morbid pall  on the surroundings.The vehicles zooming by disorienting  the settled muck and dust.She was going for her evening walk.She always took the narrow inner road along side the main road which lead to her destination.On the way she came across  the dwarfish dense trees lining the both sides of the road.Red wispy flowers bloomed on them.They were fragile to touch.She almost caressed them and plucked a few holding them very carefully in her hand.They turned soft in the dark and moist hollow of her closed palm.But she carried them to the end of her walking point. Here she would sit on a bench which ha...

                                                       The room is quiet.The maid has just left.The whirring sound of the fan is creating a soothing effect on the frayed nerves of suman.It is very hot outside.Inside too it is not cool.But she manages to remain so by keeping cool and managing her regular breathing.She concentrates on the rhythm of her breath.She follows it ponderously and feels her eyes drooping.She suddenly remembers that she has  to take her medicine.The lethargy has completely taken over her.She does not feel like moving.She spreads her legs on the bed and once again listens to her breathing.She turns it to catch some other soft and invisible sounds. Her quiet mind floats effotlessly to catch the diffused and muffled sounds hovering around which oterwise the noisy brain never catches.She sees the curtains shivering in the ...

The Old Lady The old lady was sittng at the bus stop. She seemed to be stooping with age and its accompanying woes.She had rested her hands on the stick which she was holding before her.Her worn out yet fleshy hands showed that she had stopped working with them.The fingers had jagged nails which had lost their sheen and colour.Her chin she rested on the arch of her stick. Her mouth was a little agape and her looks intent. Her soft fleshy lips hanged loose.Along-side were her two grand children who sat quietly looking in the same direction as her's.They looked unkept with dishevelled hair. The boy was pale in complexion and morose while the girl was in her girlish spirits.The old lady was scanning every passing bus and very eagerlychecking each passenger who stepped out of it but she could not see her son.He was not coming back from his work place for the last two days. After a long wait she pulled herself up and with the support of her stick hobbled a step ahead and the...

The air is still.I am pondering over the intricate nature of man.Is he essentially evil? I get distracted by the queer sound of some creature coming from a close-by tree.It is a shrill whistle like sound interspersed by the crowing of some robust crow.The verdant tree harbouring them stands still.It was the screech of the squarrel.I see them generally scuttling along on the boundary wall, picking on the grains scattered over it.Their pointed profiles and bushy tails created a perfect scene and became one with the surroundings.The green flowering pots stood eternally there on the wall and these nimble creatures scurried around them. They trailed after one another and were quick to feel any sort of intrusion which made them jump on the close- by tree. And this sound was contrary to this ethreal picture. My mother had created a green bower around the small courtyard in front of our house.Th...

The Wise Nothing matters. My brain was not sticking on anything.Sometimes the brain and heart coincide and , perhaps, nihilism is the outcome of the evolved intellectualism. Some sounds were emanating from the other room.I paused to listen.It was my mother's- the same droning monologues.She was trying to edify the maid servants by preaching them about the depraved morals of the society around.This was their daily routine.After finishing their work the maids joined my mother to have the tea together.Recently my mother was enamoured by one Baba who seemed to be bent upon to eradicate corruption and black money in the country.He had a huge following who got swayed by his passionate antics.My mother especially was thoroughly hypnotised by him.Her each and every waking moment was spent in singing paeons to him. .She was not ready to reason out anything regarding his ideology or his work ethics. The afternoon ho...

Puru was agonising over some intangible thought process which frustrated her as no clear picture was emerging. She had already accumulated a fair number of some vacuous pieces of stray writings and felt fairly occupied.Now her brain seemed numb and the intense stillness around froze her. The sun was getting intolerable.The open terrace had no shady place around.She moved to the side of the close by wall but the afternoon sun was intent on covering the remaining shady nooks. The intense heat brought her out of her stupor.She tried to concentrate and conjure up some scintilating theme to work upon but here she got immersed in deep indolence which got furtther heightened by the rustling sound of some flapping leaves coming from afar.Gradually the sound turned riotous as the wind grew in speed.Puru got up to see the direction of the tree.She was amazed to see a peepal tree which had lodged itself in the wall of a house in front of her.It was very much jutting out and stood u...

It was still dark when Reeta ,as usual got up from her bed.She could never wait for the sun to come up .She put on the light and looked to her side.Her husband was still in his deep sleep.She tried to gauge whether he gave the signs of waking up so that she could share tea with him. But he seemed to be farther away from coming up alive to the waking stage.His longish face drooped further ,the mouth and nostrils in unison making sounds of purring and hissing.She pulled herself out of the bed and proceeded towards her living room.She never put on the lights there because it highlighted the garishness of her recently overhauled furniture.It was her daughter who used to convince her that things were not that bad but she held to her views.Though she had spent a lot of money on the upholstry but the workmanship was of the poorest quality.For this she herself was held responsible by her husband and daughter.Her lethargy and lackadaisical attitude would take away the zest from her which was...

Nisha held the heating pad against her body and pressed it hard to feel the heat. It was biting cold and the heating device was not that easy to use. Nisha had to keep the switch of the gadget pressed for the current to flow uninterrupted.It was ordered by her shopaholic daughter through some on-line sky-shopping outlet which fascinated her to no end.Nisha's protestations always went over deaf ears.It petered into a sort of persistent nagging which finally got reduced to low whimpering by her daughter's one loud outburst which challenged her to try any trick to stop her from making forays into the enchanting world of merchandise.she would back out seeing her daughter's throbbing temple veins and her fiery looks.She was her only child much much pampered and precious, therefore she let it be. But then it was a big problem to make use of all the assorted items.This one gadget she was using now was one such item.The winter was turning unbearable for her. She...

Asha looked at her watch.It was past 5.30 PM, the routine time for her to go for her evening walk.She was always double- minded whether to confine it to her neighbourhood park,which was embedded between a clutch of houses surrounding it on all sides and which seemed to have gelled into its environs.The tall dusty eucalyptus trees brushed against their boundry walls and even their balconies. There generally was nobody visible there. Asha always had a curiosity to have a peek inside the houses to see the inmates.Her thirsting eyes sought out any human figure to whom she could throw a genial smile to get connected.But no body ever appeared. It was only the windy movement of the tall lean trees which created a stir in them.Any-way she would continue with her circumscribed rounds which bored her to hell and in order to get out of this rut-she would sort of go on fast runs which turned into a spin and did not leave any time for her to ruminate.The broken walk- way itself was a hindra...

To-day is the third of Jan. 2012. The date perceived not to be reached by me in my conscious self some decades ago.But now it is here staring at me point blank.The stark nearness to this date has rendered it so inconsequential for the Mayan prophesy to come true.Everything remains the same.The mornings dwindlle into the same langurous afternoons which snap into evenings which gel into theu unknown bowels of the mysterious nights when everything is fudged up. The subconscious works up through dreams which are uncluttered and seminal and the imbecile in us stares at us in the dark vicinity of our pathetic sleep. I am rumbling on perhaps I have lost the zeal and subject to go on with my writing.But then does it make any difference? What have the scholars and the great writers achieved by putting forth their wisdom in the voluminous tomes of unlimited numbers.Did they do it to alleviate the morones on this earth or did they do it to rise above the mundane and carve a niche for thems...

Rani In the course of Rani's life,she might have come across unlimited situations and such circumtances while going through the vagaries of growing up.The small girl as she saw herself come before her eyes now was such a restless and unattended child in her young days. Her mornings got subsumed by the approaching bright day when she revelled in full abandon.But the approaching evening cast a pall over her wild jubilations.The night stood out for her as a sore thumb.She dreaded it.Her house was a large wide building ungaurded in the modern sense of the word.Her grandmother was at the helm of the affairs,but she did not put any check on any one in the family.It was a large family comprising of uncles aunts and the grand-children.Her huge frame had the pliability and softness of a fabric doll.She was the unassuming and unobtrusive person who flitted along the flowing life force around.Her own grown up children circumvented...

It was the year of total chaos when the country lost its Prime Minister. He was assassinated by one of the insurgent outfits as his arbitration in the affairs of the neighbourly country infuriated them.The neighbourly country was beset by its civil strife involving two ethenic groups the one having its roots in the prevalent country The Prime-Minister had sent his forces to come over this group which proved fatal for him.He was killed by his own people.At the outset he was never interested to enter politics.Bohemian of a sort he lived his life away from the sleazy glamour of the politcs. His foreign wife was all the more wary of the political atmosphere and remained away from it.It was only after his mother likewise lost her life to the gun of the assassin . She was a mighty politician who almost ruled the country as Prime-Minister for a long time.she did not involve her sons in active politics and the elder one too lacked the zest and the zeal to pursue it. The younger o...