Blue Seas

Our dog Ben, is now a year old. He hardly qualifies as a pup. He's nearly five feet tall, standing on his hind legs. And his formidable size and structure does his dalmatian-Alsatian ancestry justice. However, for the most part, Ben acts like a coy, spoilt, and occasionally retarded child. He barks mindlessly at  suspicious looking shadows, proceeds to ignore my brother and me if we've been spending 'quality-time' together without him, sleeps on as cats strut about his territory.  So far Ben is concerned, and both my parents, I might add, see it fit to encourage this attitude, he is not a dog. Chasing cats is a menial activity, far below his dignity. So far the aircon is on, and he has a fat pillow and a reasonably thick blanket, Ben doesn't have a care in the world. Sometimes however, Ben's canine nature overpowers him and gets the better of him. One such incident happened the other night with a piece of naan. Dad had brought some naan and kebab for din...

"I would do anything for you. Anything. Really." She could see him. She could see his lips moving, forming every word. His slightly parted, parched lips. She could see the hint of a five o' clock shadow on his jawline and upper lip. She could see the beads of sweat collecting at the side of his dark eyebrows. Yet she couldn't hear him properly. As if his voice was muted in her mind. His hand touched her cheek to turn her face towards his, in an attempt to get her to focus. "Look at me. I would go to the ends of the world for you. I'm willing to do everything. Whatever it takes to make you happy. If there's anything you want, anything at all, I'll do it for you." Outside, lightning streaked across the dark sky illuminating the horizon in one, white flash. Rumbling thunder followed. "It's going to rain," she said softly. Her voice sounded hoarse. "Look at me! Listen to me! I love you and I mean it." ' ...

I looked down. From where we were sitting, forty storeys above the road, every car and bus that whizzed past looked like the size of a toy. Every tiny walking human being looked like an ant. My vision blurred momentarily and the bright Sunday lights of the city looked like a golden haze. I yawned and turned my attention to my dangling feet. I was wearing the same dark-blue, skinny jeans, the ones you helped me pick out last summer. It was too hot for jeans. It was always too hot. But I was wearing them anyway. My nails were painted with my favourite nail-polish, the bright, dark pink one which glitters. And the single silver toe-ring twinkled back. You were sitting next to me. Your sneaker-and-jeans-clad legs drawn towards you, not dangling from the fortieth storey terrace like mine. The two glass bottles lay abandoned next to us, unfinished. "Why don't you write something? It might cheer you up," you suggested half-heartedly. I thought about that thing. And t...

Free fall. Just when I had stopped looking. I found you. As I closed my eyes. And let myself go. The wind whistling in my ears. I could almost see Fate smiling back at me.

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 ...