The tabla beats – two bass heavy sounds followed by a sharp tap – welcome us, the audience, into the theatre. We take our seats. The tabla makes it impossible for us to fidget or make small talk with each other. The empty stage with a single spotlight and the dhing-dhing-tap ensures we’re in aContinue reading “The masks we wear”
Tag Archives: short story
The house that whispers
As you sleep, curled into your side, a blanket raised right up to your shoulder, something moves in the darkness. You don’t sense anything in the beginning, asleep as you are. Confident that a closed door will protect you from events that may mean you harm.
The lost urn
Saksham had seen his mother cry many times – she could cry at any advertisement where a child was being horrible to their parent – but he had not seen her inconsolable before. Usually, a joke here from his father, and a funny face there from him and she would forget her tears and laughContinue reading “The lost urn”
Midnight blue citrus
I’m sitting in a chair, my legs up on the bed. You hate it when I sit like this. Say it’s bad for my back and hips and gut and legs. When that does not work, you tell me it’ll affect my productivity. A word that never fails to provoke a reaction from me. ButContinue reading “Midnight blue citrus”
Hickory dickory dock
As soon as the hour hand and the minute hand of the clock hug at the midnight mark, an unheard bell goes off inside the mind of Mr. Hickory, the caretaker of the Dickory Dock hotel. It is an unusual hotel, to be sure, and requires a special kind of person to run it. Mr.Continue reading “Hickory dickory dock”
Earl Grey
It wasn’t right, ordering a cup of earl grey in a coffee shop. There was a reason they had coffee shops and tea shops now; especially for people who liked going to coffee shops but not necessarily their coffee. She was one such person. The food though, she mused, was better in coffee shops thanContinue reading “Earl Grey”
Over a bottle of chenin blanc
Though this is a sequel of sorts to The Amethyst Library, it can be read as a standalone. A girl wanders the catacombs of Amethyst, stocking the books back in their homes. Amethyst has not had a helper before. Sarita is the only one who has taken care of the library and the souls…until now.Continue reading “Over a bottle of chenin blanc”
The Amethyst Library
The Amethyst Library is on the first floor of a college building. It has two sections: one where all the books are kept. It is a bright sort of room, dusty but maintained in such a way that if you go in search of a book and are following the right map, you will findContinue reading “The Amethyst Library”
The new mommy
The door was wide open so Vishesh did not think he would be unwelcome. He had his favourite panda clutched in one hand as he stopped at his parents’ bedroom door. He couldn’t see daddy well but he could see his new mommy. She was asleep. Vishesh remembered her smile. The cookies she had bakedContinue reading “The new mommy”
Reason number five sixty one
Yuri didn’t want to be here. He really, really didn’t want to be here. But this wasn’t the first time his thoughts on a subject were discounted as irrelevant. So he tried to distract himself by staring at the wall in front of him. If his principal shifted just a little to the left, he’dContinue reading “Reason number five sixty one”