“Owls painted on her room’s wall, an origami owl, an owl locket in her necklace, now she wants an owl tattoo! Doctor, surely her psyche is saying something.” Before the psychiatrist could say anything, the eleven year old said, “Mom, I’m wise in English and quite a fool in Hindi, doesn’t that say it all?” […]
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Category: Prompts
Salvage
“Sir, market value of your car is Rs. 57,000,” droned the valuator’s mechanical voice on phone, “company calculates salvage at 75%. So Rs. 42,750.” Tears trickled as he mumbled “ok”. “12 years of loyal service”, he thought, “How can they assign a Rupee value?” “So, that’s what he gets attached to?” she wondered, “Inanimate objects.” […]
Anguish
Today’s 55-word prompt, “Anguish”, got me thinking in two opposite directions. So here you go, two for the price of one. 😉 Which one did you like better? * * * 147 Kenyans killed in an university. Afghan suicide attack kills 17. Rape. Farmer suicides. Honest officers die. Corrupt politicians thrive. Not to mention, […]
Fervent
Mrs. and Mr. R worked together. It was a love angle. She loved him, he loved his work. She wanted him to talk to her. He would talk to her – about work, fervently. The more he did that, with equal passion, the missus wouldn’t want it. She found a new love – her baby. […]
Bibliophile
She liked how the word sounded when said aloud, “bibliophile”. It had a texture of naughtiness about it. It allowed her to cheat on her lover without being unfaithful – an acceptable form of adultery. After all, she loved words more than stories, for what are books without words? Another word she loved – meta. […]
Sequence
It’s like love played Benjamin Button. They are strangers and exchange glances when they meet in public. They part ways. They fight. They make up. They disagree. Their love is intense. They are fond of each other. They are smitten. They were strangers and exchanged glances when they met in public. * * * […]
Hesitation
“meow”, she prawls up to my flat as the milkman delivers. She eyes the packets for laps of her nectar. We race to the milk. She wonders if a pounce could still work. I pause, “should I claim my superiority, and shoo her anyway?”. That’s our “good morning” everyday; with hesitation. * * * […]
Love and Other Wars
Tears trickled with her sweat, as Reva struggled to hold the Yoga posture. It’s meditative, it’s introspective, it isn’t fair. Even her workout wasn’t an escape. What should she do? Abort or keep? It was the last symbol of her soldier’s love… …this is where war begins, she thought. At the root of intense love. […]
Citizens of No Place
She was good, he bad. He felt good, she bad. At times, they lay in-between. She was happy, she was sad. He was loving, he was nasty. They tried middle ground. They knew not what they were missing – beyond the linearity of neutral and extremes, was a place with nothingness, a space of bliss. […]
Paper
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there lived a species which fought against the digital age. They used their digits dexterously to hold an implement that marked thin, flat surfaces – to put their thoughts down or to make images or to humor their imagination,” said my grandchildren to their grandchildren. […]