Blue Seas

Because I miss uni, so I dug up one of my older works from my laptop. ...................................................................................................................... It’s funny how once you mention it, you realise that it’s true. And that you can’t help but keep noticing it everyday. The business students always seem to have time for make-up. And hairdos. And nice shoes, either heels or loafers or the expensive strappy ones you can buy online. And they come in off- shoulder sun-dresses. The accountancy and law students are like each other. Too engrossed with the reality of their world to notice the fiction of everything else. But in their profession, power is everything and so powerfully their women must dress. Their attire suggests less college student and more working girl on the brink of becoming a woman. The IS students are a tell-tale breed by themselves. The shorts, the slippers, the plaid shirts, the hair aggressively tied in a bun or...

For Astha The thunder rolls As your words do, off my back. The rain lashes the windows Like the whip and I flinch In reflex. And I should sleep But I keep thinking of you, And how scared you used to be Of thunderstorms. I get goosebumps thinking of all the times I had to calm you When the thunder rolled, And the lightning flashed, And the rain lashed against the windows. And now it doesn't make a difference to me, Not a difference in the world. Because you are gone. And all that's left is the silence of thunderstorms.

Pretty much ever since I was born, I've heard the words, "Oh, you look just like your father!" coming out everyone's mouths - strangers, family, relatives, friends. It makes me happy, to hear those words. I look like my father. I can see the similarities for myself. The long nose, the thin, overarching eyebrows, the way our cheekbones draw in and the sides of our eyes crinkle when we smile. The similarities are not skin deep. I've noticed our matching, even tempers, our preference for inane humour, our passion for economics and football, among other things. People keep pointing out how very similar we are. But there's so much more to me than just that. Parts of me and sides of me that I discover as I grow older. Those parts and those sides that my reflect my mother. I've watched her since I was born, and from her, I've imbibed my thirst for knowledge, my pursuit of perfection, my need to complete a task to my satisfaction once I've start...

For Astha I felt the sadness seeping out of my bones, Pouring out of my mouth with word after word That came crashing like waves. Small blue waves we saw bobbing in the ocean When the green flag was waving, And it was safe for us to swim. So we swam along the reef, holding hands, Because we were large compared to the fishes. But so very small compared to the sea.

"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...

"Yes." "Yes." "Uh-huh." "Uh, no. I checked the accounts last night. I transferred it a week ago. It should have reached by now." "Yes, he's fine. I spoke with him yesterday. No, don't call him today, he has an exam. I'll tell him you'll call him tomorrow after you reach Hong Kong." "I have to leave in five minutes if I want to make it to the meeting on time." "I'm fine, dad. Are you? Did you bother to get a check-up done before you left?" "Hmm, I thought as much." "Dad, I said, Luke is fine. No, I've transferred his rent for this month. Yes, and the tuition fees." "Not bloody likely." "Fine, I won't swear." "Sorry." "I don't know, Dad! I can't tell you three months in advance if I'm going to get a leave for..." "Yeah well, when I...you know what? Never mind. I'm ...

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....