Roles We Play #FlashFiction

Niru was accompanying him to one of his creative workshops. She was no resource person or anything but just to travel with him, hear him speak. Yes, she was completely smitten by Hiten.

The venue was abuzz with the participants, all young people, some fairly attractive and there he was the cynosure of all eyes, the muse, the mentor , the artist.

Hiten was punctual, he started the workshop in time. Niru was still busy observing people, one young man in particular, reminded her of Hiten years ago, paint on his shirt, pencils scattered before him, completely lost in his creation.

Almost instinctively Niru walked up to him, put her hand on his shoulder and in a confident voice that surprised even herself , she said, " Please be careful about the intensity of your strokes, they define your depth. I am Niru , your Hiten sir's trainer years ago, now wife!"

Hiten just smiled. Niru had finally succumbed to her seven year itch and was back to painting.

This post is part of a blogathon/ BarAthon at Blogarhythm

Fame #FlashFiction

Shyamu sold cigarettes, matches, and tit-bits near a busy crossing in Delhi. He had been here since a decade and now proudly called himself a shop owner in Delhi whenever he visited his village, courtesy his small paan-shack on the pavement.

But the fact was life was as mundane as it could be, between the shop and his small 8 feet by 8 feet jhuugi in a nearby slum cluster, he was lonely and frustrated as hell. Often he visited GB road for cheap sex but that didn't resolve the loneliness part.

One late night as Shyamu was about to shut shop and go back to his room, the pavement dwellers had squattered their skimpy beddings all over the pavement near his shack, Shyamu was hit by a loud thud.....

He opened his eyes in what seemed like a government hospital, flashes clicking and TV cameras and mikes being thrust on to him from every corner....

Shyamu finally had his six minutes of fame , the lone survivor of a road rage accident involving a famous politician's son.... Shyamu was struggling with his words.

This post is part of a blogathon/BarAThon at Blogarhythm

Credentials #FlashFiction

Rosa was in the middle of one of her relationship-coaching sessions when one of the participants raised his hand for a query. The young man looked perturbed and asked, "Ma'am, sorry to say but your profiles says this is your fourth marriage, if you actually knew so much about man-woman relationship, why would your three marriages fail?"


Rosa shifted a little in her seat, suddenly she knew a 100 pairs of eyes and ears were completely focussed on her answer, she smiled and maintaining her composure said, "Good question there! Actually a relationship is two people you see, no matter how much one person works on it or two people do in different directions won't help, it works only when two people work at ot together."

She continued, "Now coming to the first part of your question. Yes I am currently in my fourth marriage, the first was back home in India, a traditional arranged marriage. Next in UK where I went for my doctorate, he was German and this was via a dating service. The third was down under in Australia where I was teaching, he was a native and my teacher, several decades older, and now this fourth one is a decade younger, and Afro-American."

"So as I see it I have seen man-woman relationship from four corners of the world and hence I am a bit over-qualified, over-experienced here."

The conference hall was filled with peals of loud laughter.

This post is part of a Blogathon/BarAthon at Blogarhythm.

The Other #FlashFiction

Sandeep waited all day for Priti to return home. She was a journalist and he was a freelance photographer. He was thus by default the housekeeping too, as they often joked. 

They were a very bonded couple, weekends were spent partying and longer ones hiking around Hongkong. Vacations were usually to exotic places and were frequent, yet often Sandeep had started noticing the odd presence between them. 

Even in their most intimate moments he would find Priti pre-occupied sometimes with the other, or he would find her completely disinterested and she would quickly rush back to this new temptation in her life.

Priti was literally addicted to candy crush, and Sandeep was feeling that three's a crowd.

This post is part of a blogathon/BarAthon at Blogarhythm

Lists #FlashFiction

Kevin felt drowsy and tired as he walked to the parking lot. Taking out the car keys from his trouser pockets his fingers touched the sticky note Paula had written the grocery list on.

Oh no ! Not again.

he had completely forgotten about the groceries during his lunch hour and now at 11 pm after a tiring day at office was in no mood to take a diversion to the supermarket or face the wrath of his cranky pregnant wife.

Regan had stopped taking his calls about a week back. She said if he loved her enough he would do anything to live with her and had given him a long list of do's and don'ts as her lover.

Stuck between two lists, he dialled Regan, the lesser of the two evils.

This post is part of a blogathon/BarAthon at Blogarhythm

Hangover (Bar-a-thon) #Flashfiction

As he opened his eyes, his head was thumping, this was one of his worst hangovers for sure. The sunlight filtering from the drapes was hurting his eyes.he extended his arm to grab the water bottle from the side table, it was missing. The lamp was fallen on the floor, the bulb broken.

Where was Sara?

He called out, "Sara ! Sara !"

No response.

As he dragged himself out from the bed and reached the fridge, he suddenly stepped on something wet. The carpet was soaking in somethin crimson, looked like blood. The trail was leading to the kitchen....

He was now scared, their loud arguments from last night ringing in his ears, Sara....?

Did he have one too many last night?

Enough to.....

This post is a part of a blogathon/Bar-A-thon here at Blogarhythm

The Call of the Wind

She listened

to her heart

and threw

all chains

cages

locks

to the

call of the wind !

Suns and Lovers

Fathers, husbands

brothers ,cousins

uncles, granddads

sons or grandson

Men are a part of 

every story

of women

'Suns and lovers'

Moons and friends

and yet there is

that clenched fist

any of them

could be a misogynist !

This post is part of a #blogathon here at BAR.

Lord of the Flies

Image: Google images

Rapes, abuse and deaths

suicides and silences

battered breaths

only numbers

mere statistics

Women - 

nothing to the

Lord of the flies

amidst a thousand

patriarchies !

This post is part of a #blogathon at BAR

War and Pieces

Image : Google Images

The victor's loot

and the vanquished's shame

the woman in every war

without a name

the destroyed homes

as the shadows of 

kids' tombstones increases

the collateral damages

the unsaid tale of moms

daughters and wives

in war and pieces !

Of Ice and Men

Image:Google Images

He rubbed her wrong

and you looked away

She body shamed her

and not a word to say

 the sexist jokes

and the street harassment

the discrimination

fear and embarrassment

you remained aloof

and closed your eyes

patriarchal men

as cold as ice.

This post is part of a #blogathon at BAR.

Catharsis and Epiphany #AtoZChallenge #Reflections

Image Courtesy : Google Images

#AtoZChallenge 2017 was my third consecutive one and just like the two previous ones , it came at a very crucial juncture in my life.

Battling through a personal crisis, an injury,ill health and a load of mental health challenges, this year my theme - Short Poems for Inspirational Writers, provided me lots of moments of catharsis and epiphany.

I researched the writers who have inspired my writing , added a quote that seemed most relevant to me in my post and then tried to incorporate my association and learning from them in a small poem that followed.

I did not read much of other blogs simply because of my lack of energy and strength , but tried to respond to every comment here meaningfully and pay at least some courtesy visits back to the bloggers who visited me.

Missed the Twitter Chats with everyone @AprilA2Z this time around.

Cia all until next time !

Here's a list of all my #AtoZChallenge posts.

R - Rumi ( Inspirational Writers) #AtoZChallenge

“These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.” 

( Jo dard tum mehsus karte ho, woh paigamat hain. Unhe gaur se suno.)

― Jalaluddin Rumi

Image Courtesy : Google Images

Whirl in 

words 

and silences

let it go.

#OrhanPamuk (Inspirational Writers) #AtoZChallenge

"Happiness is holding someone in your arms and knowing you hold the whole world." 

— Orhan Pamuk (Snow)

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Home is a memory

Istranbul, Lhasa, Rawalpindi

a river called

terrorism, partition, war

pins it on a map

like a dead butterfly

and calls it 

just a city.

M - Mitch Albom (Inspirational Writers) #AtoZChallenge

“Death ends a life, not a relationship.” 

― Mitch Albom

Image Courtesy : Google Images

In the book 

of life

the last lesson

is death

a compulsory epilogue

to all our stories

the moral

- Let it go.

J - James Joyce (Inspirational Writers) #AtoZChallenge

“Time is, time was, but time shall be no more.” 

― James Joyce

To see the faces

faded inside the masks

to seek epiphanies

in ordinary tasks

this life a voyage

for Ulysses at large.

I - Isaac Asimov (Inspirational Writers) #AtoZChallenge

“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.” 

― Isaac Asimov

Image Courtesy: Google Images


Of galaxies

supernovas

and stardust

a world beyond

our own 

in the universe

yet largely 

unknown.

Here is a list of all my #AtoZchallenge Posts.

G - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( Inspirational Writers) #AtoZChallenge

“The problem with marriage is that it ends every night after making love, and it must be rebuilt every morning before breakfast.” 

― Gabriel García Márquez

Image courtesy: Google Images


Love and death

from the same lens

in the same sentence

smiles often pretense

eloquent silence.

F - Fernando Pessoa (Inspirational Writers) #AtoZChallenge 2017

“I bear the wounds of all the battles I avoided.” 

― Fernando Pessoa

Image courtesy : Google Images 


We are too many souls

trapped in

one identity

In a world

scared of single voices

we have

one too many.

Here is the list of all my #AtoZChallenge posts.

E - Eve Ensler (Inspirational Writers) #AtoZBloggingChallenge 2017

“I want to touch you in real time 

not find you on YouTube, 

I want to walk next to you in the mountains 

not friend you on Facebook.” 

― Eve Ensler

Image courtesy : Google Images

Now the world

minces words

and wraps 

sex in euphemisms

Some of us

talk proudly

about

stretch marks

vaginas

and 

LOVE.