When it was dark

Swollen heavy and motionless,
It lies on the bed.
Not a twitch or a turn.
Like a soft, numb and cold log afloat.

The surrounding flame is still weak
Hasn't reached it yet.
Teary-eyed, he held it one last time.
"It is more disgusting to touch now than when it was animate".

It was obligatory to touch, so he did.
Surprisingly, it pulled quite a crowd.
Rituals done, his job complete.

The surrounding well was dry.
The vultures waited for the crisp bones.
As darkness gripped the place, birds began to fly.

The flow of the calls, emails and messages seemed to never dry up as the well.
Sad voices and concerned words enquired how it all happened.

In the moonlight a glow arose and flew upwards.
This was it's thousandth time,
A point of no return.
It kept wondering as it left why did it ever make its way
Why was it a drop in this wave?

#flashfiction Friday my story 14/12/18.

Parisian streets donned cherry blossom hues. Wide eyed, she kept gazing at the beauty. "Excuse me, is this the way to the Eiffel? ", a familiar voice called out to her. Turning toward the wrinkled face, she hugged him as tightly as she could.

 "Aaji, please don’t do that.", Divya pulled her. She felt like she was being torn apart from her own self. "Sorry for this. My grandmother has dementia." “ I understand. Take care of her."

Of course, she was Naina. He knew how their hug throbbed. She always listened to her heart and hugging was her natural expression. With moist eyes, he embraced her memory the last time .

172 word Flash Fiction part 2 : Tender shoots of love

 Pratham handed Radha a latte while she was wrapped in her blanket on the bed. It was a cold morning and that's exactly what she needed. Even before a word tumbled out of her, he had given her what she loved.

 Pratham asked Radha , "Do you love Shayan?" She kept staring at him for a minute. "What made you feel that?!" , she asked, stunned.

"Your eyes sparkle while talking to him. Our hug throbs when you come home, after meeting him. You seem lost in gazals more than ever before. Your paintings have assumed a warmer glow. "

He held her and said," I know what your heart feels like up close. We don't have to continue out of obligation. However, I am not like sands of time. I would not slip out to never be back."

Tears rolled down her reddened face. With moist eyes, he had already packed his bags and was ready to leave.

Keeping a sandwich and his lake painting by her side, he waved her good bye.

First attempt at flash fiction based on the Women's Web contest

Blue winding Moroccan alleys, flower blossoms scattered across a field, fragrant souqs.. So many images filled her heart as she kept looking at the aeroplane vanishing into a fine grain on that orange canvas. 

It had been a decade since she had travelled to all the romantic places she had dreamed of.
Drained by the full time juggling between her job and motherhood, she decided, travel is the balm for her tired soul.

Refreshed by the thought, she slurped the last drop of coffee, and started getting her passport and camera ready for her first ever solo trip. 

When the musk wafts across the room as he enters
And his heavy breath lulls my racing heart
When his clumsy hands undress me hastily
When his fingers drum on my bare back
Or touch me as though strumming the right strings
When our embrace tightens through the night
When he gives me a naughty pinch as though feeling a freshly baked bun
When a spiced moment leaves a wet taste of the savored kisses,

I get bathed in waters of a  frothing ocean.
An ocean that knows no bounds.

Your soul already has moulded a new me out of my molten heart.
If you create moments like these, imagine what would be of this drenched spirit, so deeply submerged in your love.
I'd have memories I simply can't wring off.

Hawa ka jhoke

Aate ho ek reshmi hawa k jhoke ki tarah
Dete ho in garm raho me rahat
Par kyun utha late ho saare kankad
Aur rula jaate ho in aankho ko?

The sandpaper scrapes and the scrub too
They leave surfaces polished
Not my words though
When you learn to peel them off,
You will sniff the aroma first
Then you will see the soft edges
Then the dense and pure light
My gentle heart emits
Peel off further and you will feel the tenderness of the bud
The forming embryo
The first splash of dew
The warm glow of the pink dawn
The first blush of a new love growing inside
The first racing heartbeat at his sight
The first sketch of a new artist born
The first crisp orange leaf of an autumnal tree
That time when the full moon is shining in glory

Tell me, then, would you still focus on the din of my words or me? 

About a warm space

Envelope me in your smoldering grip
Consume me with your eyes
Devour me fully well
Fossilize me to my bone
Or
Mummify me in that silent chamber of yours
I am sure it'll always be warm inside

It's so cold out here
It's bone cracking cold weather
I can't hold these howling winds any longer
I beseech you to keep me wrapped in your arms forever.
I don't care about time anymore
I have been waiting for a generation now,
Same old place as we'd met before

It's getting colder now
The molecules around me have started assimilating the chill of the air

Keep me in you now and forever,
I urge you. 

The day after

Thundering and roaring,
He stormed out.

Just moments ago,
He broke free to pour.
What a relief to my parched and cracked body!
Drenching me,
greener than ever before.
Exhilarated birds sang songs of passion.

High up there, he hummed a tune of love.
He made love to me with all his might,
Bruising me and melting me, as the evening fell in love with our glow.
She blushed pink and curled up in her own fantasy of the moon.

Had he been there longer,
My thirsty offsprings would have grown and multiplied.
Refraining his spread,
he might have thought himself a floppy dead weight.

My leaves fluttered and my grass swayed.
He was called, so he drifted away.
 Tiny streams and rivulets kept emerging on my face.

Leaving his traces behind,
He rode his chariot away in fury.
Warrior of the heaven and the most sought after.
He'd care less about me now.

"Oh! Your never ending needs.
Do I not pour enough?
Why do I have to rain more?
Why do I have to rain differently than I do?
You make this king of heaven look dark in his images on your lakes! "

So he disappeared from the skies.
In solitude, my waves protested that I reach out to the heaven and speak up.
Time passed and
they started fuming and bubbling all the more.

I quaked and quivered to tell them the truth.
I have nothing without him and he is nothing without me.
Yet he is annoyed by my thirst.
It's unfortunate that he thinks it's lust.
Every atom of me is found in him
Every drop of his is mine
We have lived in each other's embrace since the dawn of time.

Through his soaring temperature,
I sense that he can not live without me.
Assuredly, then I calm the waves
He is here to be.

The lonely balloon (Age 18 months to 4 years)

Far away on the clouds, near the moon, lived a beautiful bright red balloon.
He would float for miles on end without a friend.
 He kept feeling sad and that his days were bad.
Until, one day through a hole in a cloud, he saw a chirpy little girl at play.
His eyes sparkled with joy. To earth, he thought he must find a way.
At once, he bounced on the cloud, and then made himself a way
Then he journeyed down for the first time.
What a lovely world!

He waved at the birds and the flowers on the trees,
Then he smiled at the buzzing bees.
Then he came down to meet the chirpy little girl.
"I am Red. My dear, what can your name be?"
She replied with a bright smile, "My name is Shalmali".
"Would you like to play with me? "
"Of course ", he answered eagerly.

Then, they both bounced and ran over the wet lawn and slid down the freshly bathed green slide.

In the park, Shalmali sought while Red loved to hide.
"Hey, would you like to fly?", asked Red.
And Shalmali said, "Yes please, very high."

Both of them flew by some beautiful lakes and hills and loved to feel the salty sea breeze.
Oh! Gliding far above this land is so sweet.

It started getting dark, and Red and Shalmali were very tired too.
They hugged each other as they reached the street, where the churning cows mooed.

 Shalmali waved Red good bye as it was time to get home.
Red smiled from ear to ear as he had a wonderful time.
He kept flying higher and higher as he dreamed of another day full of smiles.

Moon lovers

Flinging my body onto boulders and their cracks,
I ebb and flow and repeat..
Through the fortnight, I continue this exercise endlessly.
No fatigue, no resentment.
It's refreshing to flow into those moments naturally.

Tonight is a clear-skied bright full moon
The one that I longed for all this while.
It pulls me to increasing heights,
The heights I need to reach.
The heights that crash me into the arms of my love.
And then we become soul mates whom the moon unites
Once every fortnight.

The moon makes me wax and wane between high drama and languid solitude.
When I  am calm, I feel my blue depths.
When I'm passionate, I froth and fall on the kind shore.
This is where I eventually retreat.

That wild beast is now bound
Once a spring in the gait
Warmth in the grin
Tightness in the grip
It's now pale and limp

Even the cave was once a cozy den
To relax and rejuvenate.
Now it can't imagine the light of the day or the thundering monsoons in the woods or the whistling winds that would wave its mane

It's cold and bleak
The air is as stale as it could be
The unbearable stench of it's own urine
Always smearing the floor.
To remain this way all the time
Is a task for it, but the world sees a magnificent beast showing off it's beastly talents,
juggling and clowning and braving the unnecessary whips

A warm looking man once befriended it and that was the beginning of its end.