The deep maroon roses hugged each other tightly in her grip as she ran to catch the low floor which had stopped ten steps ahead of the bus stop. The bus started before she was inside and she swung herself in, holding the side bars. The roses swiveled around too. The passengers in the early morning bus looked at her and then at the roses. Their gaze was fixed upon the prettiest flowers they had seen today. A curious look back at the simply dressed girl and then everyone got busy with their own businesses. The girl was very ...Read More

"Welcome back", the moss beneath her feet smiled sheepishly at her, "You had me worried. It had been so without you here and I was afraid that you may forget me. Out of sight, out of mind, you know!" She was furious. This was probably the last place she ever wanted to be back in. She put her foot out to take a giant stride. "Careful! You wouldn't want to hurt yourself on this ground. This is probably the last place you ever wanted to be in!", the moss said with genuine concern. See, when you have been together ...Read More

As she finished counting them, her eyes lit up, her whole being seemed to be shining. "Are you out your mind?", The best friend stammered with great anger. "About?", She was still shining and smiled innocently as she asked this. "Look! You should not have bought these! Did you ask the boy why he was selling these pretty flowers at such low price? Did you ask him where did he buy them from or bring the bunch from? Did you ask him what he did to earn a living? Did you..?" "Stop girlie!!" She snapped in between the ...Read More

The cold, green eyes zoomed in on her own fearful, brown eyes.. peering, angry, loathing. She whimpered under the But the green pupils didn't budge, "You write as ugly as you look like!" "No, no, no! My handwriting is not as bad!", Suddenly she spoke, and with conviction.. this time, and freed herself from the heavy, piercing, green eyes. As she opened her eyes, she heard the familiar, welcoming music. She kept staring at the ceiling for the first few minutes, glad that she had woken up from the dream. The gentle sound of the alarm clock could still ...Read More

"Darling, I have been standing at the gate for more than one hour now, where are you stuck?" The friend said so sweetly that it easily melted into an irritated tone. "Oops so so sorry! How could I not remember to tell you that I won't be coming to college today?! Sorry, yaar", the girl's voice was agitated and meek at once. "Are you okay? Or An outing today?" "Naah.. he's busy with his studies for the test. I dare not disturb him!", She was chirpy again. "Then? I hope the rose thing is not still on your mind. ...Read More

She waited for the tiffinwalah to bring her dinner. Waited and waited. Then as the clock ticked by, she she must call him. "The number you have dialed is out of network area" "The number you have dialed is out of network area" "The number you have dialed is out of network area" She put on her hoodie and ventured out to buy herself dinner. It was already late and soon the outlets would be closing. "I will be back in a few minutes", She called out to her landlady as she opened the main gate. Streets get deserted ...Read More

"I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" "Everything is alright, the monitor here is reading your vitals, stop stressing and be fine. The more you talk, the difficulty would increase for you" She got convinced and stopped gasping for air, after all, the monitor was reading her vitals and the machine couldn't be wrong. Something got switched off simultaneously. Faceless, quirky, froggy legged creatures, who jumped from one pillar to the next, much like the tree frogs, were chasing her; and she was running ahead, taking bigger steps, floating in mid air. The dilapidated structure looked much like the Tipu's ...Read More

The blue ticks enlarged themselves, became huge, covering the whole room, then with a mild explosion, disintegrated into minuscule some disappeared, some hung in the air, some resided in her eyes..the permanent irritants. She fluttered her eyelids to settle them down and found standing in front of her, the landlady's daughter-in-law, minus her sweet smile. "You got us so worried.", She said softly and a tear dropped out of her eyes. "Do you want anything from your room?" "Any news on the tiffinwalah, Bhabhi?" "Who asks about a tiffinwalah in this state?" The daughter-in-law's sad eyes toyed mischievously with ...Read More

The once erect stalks of the deep maroon roses had stooped, maybe they were tired of waiting for her. tips of the petals had started browning, yet the softness and richness of the petal blades was retained, perhaps the aspirin did work it's magic afterall. She let out a sigh of relief as she touched them, then pulled them out of the jug one by one, wiped their stalks dry, brought out the heaviest book from the shelf, put as many of the roses as she could between the pages of the book. These need to be preserved. ...Read More