Pikku : The Storyteller 👧

In her blue sleek velvet gown, Apoorva looked like, beauty personified. She patiently waited for the Baraat to enter completely. She kept herself busy looking right and left and into her phone and then scratching her neck while looking at her sandal and then pretending to be over call; all to avoid the curious eyes of the non- dancing uncles and aunties. The Baraat except for these uncles and aunties was a crazy crowd of Pink turban clad men and blue shawl clad women. Perhaps it was the dress code. She stood in darkness until the complete crowd was inside the gate of the Welcome Guest House. Then, taking a deep breath and remaining vigilant to collect data on, at least, one member of the Baraat, she went in. Her ears were, as if, fitted with microsensors. As she walked in, she saw three girls, with marigold garlands in their hands, busy gossiping. "You did not notice Karan? How could someone NOT notice HIM?" She heard the first girl almost freak out at the second. This statem...

In continuation to  "Lessons from Water"  b ut can even be read separately. E ven when both, Mia and Hrithik understood the complexity of their marriage, they were willing to make it happen. Mia knew that to be a mother to a girl, who is not her daughter won't always be easy; Hrithik knew that each mention of 'Kritika' in the midst of any talk could actually put a comma in their romantic life. Kritika was a loving wife and a caring mother. Her death had left a vacuum in the lives of Hrithik and Kia. Mia had to primarily fill that vacuum before she could make a throne of her own in the hearts of the father and the daughter. Thankfully the parents of both, Mia and Hrithik, supported their decision, and Mia's mother had even invited Hrithik with his family for a final decision on marriage. They were to come today. Mia's Mumma was busy making some dishes and her Papa was busy in tasks that her mother considered utterly unnecessary. "Where is my knife?...

"But how will I take that Kanchipuram   saree delivery??" said the confused Mumma. " Kya yaar Mumma!! Okay fine. If he calls me, I shall ask him to come in the evening. Now happy?" Mia assuaged her and rushed to the garage. She was already late for the office, when she drove the car out of the garage, but just then something struck her mind. It struck her so hard that the already late Mia left the car in neutral gear and rushed in again, shouting, "Mummaaaa!! Water bottle." Mumma came out of the kitchen hurriedly with the rag wipe in the hand and asked in a curious worry, "Whaat? Aren't you late already?" "Yes I am but can you please..." and then looking at Mumma's hand, drenched in dirty water of the wipe, she quickly added, "Oh leave it.. I shall get it myself" and she hurriedly started filling a bottle from the RO. Asking Mumma to do it, meant five more minutes of delay due to the hand washing cum enquiry session....

Her throat was too heavy to swallow the situation she was going through. Tears may not have lined her eyes, but that was because she was continuously pushing a "That's none of my business" attitude against the feeling of, "This breaks my heart." The ceiling seemed to crush her and the bed seemed to engulf her whole. Her tired warm hands were numb and shivering at the same time. It seemed as if life was betraying her today.  She questioned herself, "Why the hell did you agree to help Ashish by sleeping in his bed?" Today was one of the worst days of Garima's life. Life was celebrating April Fool's Day with her, over and over again. And it wasn't funny. In the morning, when she reached the office well prepared with the presentation, the HR Manager Miss Shetty called her. "The topic of your presentation has been changed Garima. Did you check my mail? You have got Shashank's topic." She said. Garima panickily took out her phone to...

Dear readers, My sincere apologies for not being able to publish a full length short story this time. Here, is a short short story for you. Hope it touches your heart. " Sumit thought for a while, looking straight into her eyes, as his own eyes tried hard to hide the tears of both extreme love and utter hopelessness. And then he uttered, "Black." His voice stumbled, as if he was lying and indeed he was. Sumit had met Tamanna in the college camp. Both had been studying in the same college for couple of years but because of different streams of study, they met only in the Kerala camp and that too because of their common friend, Nimit. Tamanna was crazy about natural beauty. Waterfalls caused the jitters of excitement in her belly; mountains fitted her legs with springs; and sea- oh my god- sea was the anesthesia of love for her. If anything surpassed her obsession with natural beauty, it was her obsession with colours. "That isn't dark pink. That's magenta....

It was 14th February. Rashmi was busy munching her tangy potato chips sitting on a cemented chair on the platform number 4 of the Aligarh station. The platform was almost empty. The track appeared to begin and end nowhere. The cables seemed levitating because the poles could not be seen. The chill on the nose tip made her feel nose-less. "I mean really? Look at this. It should have been spring by now. Global warming? Where is it? I suppose Trump was right?" She babbled to herself.  "What a stupid thought? Oh Shut up, Rashmi!" she reprimanded herself. Her phone buzzed. It was a railway update. "The train number..... is running late by two hours and is scheduled to arrive at 07:40. We regret the inconvenience." "Thank you." she murmured to herself irritatingly and then looked at the time. 7:10. Still half an hour to wait. After a while, she thought, "What if the loco pilot gets disoriented by the fog and rams the train into the platform?"...