Aslam is in his early 40s, a chubby man with a beard and a big smile.He reminded me of Santa Claus but in a white kurta pajama.He was a co-passenger on the train to Mumbai. I am not sure if he was fasting during Ramzan.His lips were dry, and in a monotonous tone, he greeted …
Category Archives: Stories
darzi
Mafatlal has been in the tailoring business for eternity.His father took him as an apprentice at age 5.Mafatlal is in his 70s. He has chickenpox marks on his face. His bread is untrimmed flying high, and his big nose is like an electricity pole in a paddy field. The Jadeja family of Rajkot had called …
U-turn
So, are we moving on, asked Shreya?As if we have any other option, replied Sanjay. Shreya got admitted to a college in the US and wanted to reboot her life. She had no time for long-distance relationships. Sanjay stayed in India to build a non-profit providing education to unprivileged kids. They were together from the …
thulla
Sirji bas English me baat karna zaruri hai kya, wo thulla thulla bolte hai hame aur batamezze karte hai. (They speak in English and treat us disrespectfully). Early morning I was at Ber Sarai sipping tea and eating bun-omelet after a night out; sleep and hunger were killing me. Mukesh Yadav was sipping tea next …
Rangdari
Paisa bhejo 5 lakh cash Nahi to kidnap kar lenge.(send us money else we will kidnap you). The call kept coming. It was an era of Jungle Raj in Bihar. Dr. Kumar is a well-known physician in North Bihar. He has a god-like love among patients, especially those who get treated for free every Saturday. …
double
I have lived in Delhi for over a decade, did schooling and my first few jobs but never visited Sanjay Van. This time around, Ayush took me there for a walk promising to show Delhi I had not seen before. And he was correct on all the accounts. I have known Ayush since his secondary …
beta
Apart from mouth-watering food, proximity to Lalbagh has been my reason to move to south Bangalore. For the past few years, I have become a regular. Earlier it was all about running, which I have cut down and mostly into walking. The knee injury has been on and off. Some faces, families in the park …
outing
It was one of those yearly team outings, where the entire organization heads for a retreat. The management talks about the roadmap, growth plans over lots of alcohol and food. For Vishal, the senior analyst, it was a special occasion. He wanted to propose to Rajni for marriage. They both have been at the firm …
Converse
I remember how attracted I was to converse shoes. From my first salary, I visited Sarojini Nagar market and bought half a dozen colors of it. Among all, I liked the red one most. I was watching too many vampires movies those days and attribute my likings to it. What I am going to tell …
earrings
It must have been around 9 pm and, the DVG market was buzzing. There were folks busy street shopping. I saw this kid staring at the box of earrings the hawker was selling. I felt like she is imagining to be wearing one of them from the collection. The city was going for a night …