There is a space between history and mythology where stories sing…  The air was muggy. It had rained in the early evening when dusk kissed darkness and the stars came out to play hide and seek. The scent of fresh mud permeated the air along with the silt that slid through the gaps of her […]

I’ve loved Delhi, ever since I started studying history in middle school. Its culture, its history, the small noisy haunts with its plethora of fragrances and smells and the hidden ones no one knows about. But being the blunt rather acerbic person I am, I tend to call a spade a spade, and I have […]

In 2016 I had the pleasure of watching the most beautiful bharatnatyam performance choreographed and conceptualized by my guru Jyotsna Shourie. This story was inspired by her show which explored the rise and fall of the Devadasi tradition. This story is dedicated to her…      ***   There’s a river in the south where […]

The Indian Wedding, is as primordial as the great deities of old that are penned in legends and lore. It is ancient, it is traditional and well it’s a whole lot of fun. I haven’t really attended an Indian wedding in totality. No one close to me has actually gotten married. Until last week when […]

I’ve loved Delhi, ever since I’ve started studying history in middle school. Its culture, its history, the small noisy haunts with its plethora of fragrances and smells and the hidden ones no one knows about. But being the blunt rather acerbic person I am, I tend to call a spade a spade, and I have […]

My mother always told me that the sound the ocean made was the song of drowned sailors. She sang her story in her lilting voice as we sat on the white sand warmed by the sweltering sunlight upon our cheeks.That rolling expanse of deep blue hums with power as it lilts back and forth. As […]

As Editor of Vasant Valley Today, my school newspaper, I planned a special supplement for the 70th anniversary of Independence. I had a series of prose written crossing through time in 1947, 2017 and 2047 discussing a variety of issues, problems and progress through the century. I picked nationalism and communalism out of the hat. […]

To read the previous installment: LOVE LETTER (3) Sea glass. It’s the polished glass that broke off from green bottles of wine, the clear glass bottles that the milkman would bring home, or the glass that floated into the sea from wrecked ships. Rolling around in the tumultuous seas under the boiling sun and the […]

  To read the previous installment: LOVE LETTER (2) I often wonder, what life had in store for me, had I not met you. What orifices and crevices of her being would she show me. I can’t help but wonder whether you and I were ink on paper, a story penned down by destiny, or whether […]

This was a piece I had done on request of my school newspaper’s editor for our Independence Day Issue that went beyond the borders, not only of the country but of time as well. Ms. Shazia Singh, leant heavily upon her walking stick, her daughter under her arm as she stumbled over the threshold of […]