Blue Seas

It was raining outside and I was sitting in the car, Watching the droplets roll down the window, Their shadows leaving asymmetric lines on my arms. I engraved your name on my wrist, So I would not feel compelled to slice them open. But I want to cut through them anyway and disfigure myself, Because what is a battered body in front of a broken soul. I am in the shower and I hiss as the hot water rolls off my back. The thunderstorm has given way to a peaceful drizzle. The soap runs off in rivulets down my arms and I look up, The steam from the bath envelops me and I refuse to feel the pain. I welcome it. The pain settles in my shoulders and seeps into my very bones. I have a hot cup of tea to keep me company, A poor substitute for the warmth and comfort you once exuded in my life. I am tired of being a sinner in your eyes and mine. I wish for the rain to stop and the clouds to clear, And someone to tell me, you are forgiven .

I am a light sleeper. Always have been. The slightest noise wakes me up. It was no different tonight. I became aware of her stirring in her sleep. She was lying facing away from me. She twitched. Here eyeballs moved once, twice, thrice underneath her closed eyelids. Then, without warning, her arms flailed. She whimpered, and then began to sob. Hot, fresh tears coated her cheeks. I half sat up, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up. Wake up, baby, you're having another one." Her eyes flew open. She was still crying, her sobs getting caught in her throat. "What happened baby? What was this one about?" I ask softly. She shakes her head, trembling. Her voice comes out in small sobs and gasps, "I can't...I can't..." "Shh, it's gonna be okay. I got you. I'm right here." I encase her in my arms, running a free hand through her hair and then down her back. "Do you want some water?" I ask. She shakes her head in the...

"Sleeping?" I felt a finger poke me in the ribs through my thin blanket. I huffed in reply. "How long have you been sleeping?" "I didn't get any sleep last night." I protested in a muffled voice, from under the covers. A soft thump told me that my dog, Ben, had joined my father's side to wake me up from my afternoon nap. "Why?" Dad prodded. "I was scared, after watching that...horror...film." I said, refusing to take my head out from under the blanket. Dad clucked in response, probably in derision, to voice his disappointment at his twenty two year old's reaction to a B-grade exorcism. "Oh, by the way, after I climbed into your's and Mom's bed last night, you asked me, forty minutes later, mind you, 'Is it you, mamma ?' Honestly Dad, who else would it have been?" Ben was now standing on the bed, his front paws, on my Dad's chest, leaning over and trying to lick my face. I burr...

One chilly winter evening, we had an unexpected visitor drop by at our house. My grandfather had just gotten up from his nap and was pulling the curtains that covered the glass doors that led to his balcony. My brother and I were loitering around the house since it was too dark to go out and play and my mother had just set the kettle to boil for tea. Our dog Ben was waiting patiently for my grandfather to open the doors of the balcony so that he could sit outside and survey the scenery and occasionally growl at the children and street dogs that passed by below. All of a sudden, I saw Ben become tense. His hackles raised, a soft, predatory growl at the back of his throat; he began to paw furiously at the glass door.  "What is it, Ben?" I asked curiously. Ben let out a thin, reedy whine and continued to paw, his long nails hitting the marbonite floor as he bumped his nose against the glass. The unfamiliar cheep-cheep of a small bird greeted us from the other side....

The caretaker shuffled his feet uneasily, looking at the floor. I sighed and tucked a loose curl behind my left ear. I looked unhappily around the hall. It was dark and dusty as if no one had opened the windows in a very long time. Sunlight hadn't streamed in through the ornate grill pattern. The winds had not whistled through the boarded window slits. "This used to be my house," I said more to myself more than anyone in particular. "Perhaps, memsahib. But this house belongs to them now," he said uncertainly, pointing to the wall behind. I turn around around to the wall. It is lined with framed pictures of laughing children. Young girls and boys, playing and smiling and posing for the camera. In another world, at another time, I would have screamed and thrown a rock at the wall. I would have smashed each and every last framed photograph. I would have shattered the glass and ripped out each and every picture and gouged out the eyes of every last smilin...

I waited for you. Long after you were gone, I stood by the window Overlooking the trees And the white cross On the steeple of the Local church. The dark grey clouds Came and thundered And it rained. Then the storm cleared, And you didn't come back. I waited for you. I knew it was foolish, Everyone said so. How I wished They were wrong, For once. I left the window And the house With the wooden floors And creaky stairs, And sought my fortunes Elsewhere. You didn't come. I should have known. Nobody comes back. They promise, And they leave. And then the storm clears, And the sun comes out, And you think you see them On the horizon. But it's empty. They have gone. And you're left alone. My new life is mine. It's in a land far away. Sometimes I think That you will find that house, And the window Overlooking the trees And the white cross On the steeple of the Local church, And think to yourself, "Why did I let her go?" But I know you ...

Katie sat down on the sofa and frowned unhappily at the side stitch marks on her thighs made by her skin-tight jeans. She poured a little bit of Japanese Cherry Blossom body lotion in her cupped palm and began rubbing them onto her legs.  Paula turned her head to look behind her and then continued to stare down the balcony. Yesterday, in a fit to get into the holiday spirit, the girls had strung little fairy lights along the balcony railings. They were gleaming red and yellow and blue and orange and green in an alternating fashion now. Paula sighed. Alexa looked up from the floor where she was sitting and cleaning out her DSLR lenses.  "What's wrong Paulie?" she asked good-naturedly. "Nothing." said Paula absentmindedly, still staring out from the balcony which overlooked a street below. It was empty. "OOH YE-AH..." Music blasted in from the kitchen where Sandrine was cooking. She stuck her head out from the kitchen door, 'I'm making a...

The stove goes click-click-burn under Juanita's fingers as she turns on the electric fire. A frying pan is placed on the stove.  Out comes the cutting board.  Outside, the clouds began to gather and rumble. Juanita pays no attention to it. She slams the vegetables on the cutting board and looks for the knife.  The knife is nowhere to be found.  She tucks a loose curl behind her ear and instead pours a cap full of oil into the pan, followed by a pinch of cumin. The oil starts to hiss and the cumin starts to pop. Juanita steps back a little. The spicy, acrid smell of cumin and heat from the angry, hissing oil combined with the humidity from the cloud-covered sky infused another throb to her already paining forehead. Juanita turns to hunt for the knife again.  This time she finds it, in the same place she had looked minutes ago. She begins to dice the beans and carrots in quick, alternating hand movements, her knife smacking the wooden cutting board, mak...

It didn't start with a ''Once upon a time...''. It's not going to end with a ''...and they lived happily ever after''. I don't know what true love is. But I do know, of that time when you had organized and pulled off your first national level debate, and the contestants were on the stage, and the judges in the front row, and your family in the crowded hall, you, in a sari, leaped from the stage to hug me, as I stood in the aisle. And there was that time when we were sitting in silence in the cafe, and, without saying anything to me, you reached over the table and took my half-used sugar sachet and poured it over your own coffee. You stay up till 4.00 a.m., studying, long after I've gone to sleep. You're tired, and you have college tomorrow. But without being asked, or told, you take out the suit I have to wear at tomorrow's presentation and iron it. And before switching off the lights you murmur "Sweet dreams......

Large group of police cadets patrolling in front of the MRT... P: See S, I'm so glad we decided to step outside for dinner. A: Why? You like one of them? *nodding her head in their direction* S: *without looking up from her cell phone* She likes all of them. *** On the way back from CNY holiday in the tropical mangrove forests... N: You know what the highlight of the trip was? P: What? N: Those three hot, shirtless Spanish guys we passed on bicycles. P: Let me get this straight. S took us to a magical, tropical island with mangrove swamps and coral beaches on a freaking ferry-boat. We hiked for fifteen kilometers and had the most amazing lunch. And you think three hot, shirtless Spanish guys whizzing past you on their bicycles was the highlight of the trip? N: *pauses to think for a second* Yeah. S: *rolls eyes* N: I wish we could meet another of them though... Lady at the jetty: I need three volunteers to accompany this gentleman on the ferry boat. N: Yeah! Wi...

One cold and rainy Monday afternoon in our Social Science class. "Today for the in-class exercise I want each of you to take Rubin's Quiz Part A and B," said Prof, "All of you take a copy..." I look down at the stapled sheets of thirty odd MCQs in front of me and read the bold black lettering on the first page. THINK ABOUT THE PERSON YOU ARE CURRENTLY DATING OR LAST DATED AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. "What?" I said stupidly. 'Oh dear God..." said the girl sitting next to me. After twenty-five minutes of soul-searching Prof called out, "That's it. Time's up! Lets discuss the answers, shall we? But first! Tell me...what did you think of Rubin's Quiz A? What do you think its really about?" "Commitment?" said a student. "Sacrifice?" ventured another. "A waste of time?" followed by a smattering of laughter. "No guys! Come on...its about love!" said Prof ...

We sat there on the steps by the waterfront. The night breeze from the river whipped our faces. We flicked the hair from our faces and pulled the beer cans closer to our knees. In the distance, through the dark I could make out the wonderfully painted windows of the MICA building. 'Peculiar city this is', I thought to myself, remembering the statues of the six cartoon animals in the field next to the MICA building. I saw them everyday on the way to the university. They looked like six giant cream puffs and were called the 'Sorority Lion' or something like that. S looked across the river from where we were sitting at the restaurant on the opposite bank. Hooters. They were playing some kind of catchy music. She sighed and muttered, 'I hate this damn country. They have no bandhs, no strikes. It rains everyday but it never even floods. They freaking don't even have load-shedding.' Somewhere within the dark, silent waters of the river, a small, white fis...

Now before I start, you must know that this is only the second year that I've been living alone. I mean before that, I did nothing, literally nothing on my own. I didn't have to lift a finger. And now suddenly I found myself thrown into a world of laundry and midnight library sessions and half-baked microwave lasagne. But clearly, that wasn't enough for me, or my roommate because we decided to do something interesting this fall break. And by interesting I don't mean renting bikes at ECP (though that would've also been cool). We decided to take a short weekend trip to another country. So it was a typical day at home. I was sitting at the desk, working on my laptop (read: trying to download the latest episode of How I Met Your Mother) and Sakshi was sitting on the bed listening to music. Sakshi: You know what? We should go to Bintan in the break. Me: We should totally go to Bintan this break! Wait, let me Google it... Bintan is one of the many islands of Indonesi...