Pikku : The Storyteller 👧

"I hate you" the fifteen year old Ramya had angrily shouted in child-like frustration. "Oh! But I love you." Rahat, her brother, five years elder, had calmly said. "No. You don't. Why then did you complain Mumma that I cheated in exam? I. Hate. You." Her tone had remained unchanged. "Oh! You really do?" Rahat had asked alluring her with a large, glossy, violet chocolate pack. "I mean." She had thought for a while and said, "Okay, I don't hate you but I don't love you either." And then with a pause, "Is that for me?" Her eyes had developed shine; her mouth, water. "It could be. But what's the use?" Rahat had said pretending to be disappointed, "You don't love me." "Oh no! I love you Bhaiya . I love you soooo much." Ramya had said excitedly stretching her arms for a hug. Rahat had hugged her and with her ears resting on his heart, had told her how bad it was to cheat in...

"Keep your phone in your pocket." Mummy reprimanded Vivek in a whisper while carefully keeping her smile intact. Vivek was replying to his friend over whatsapp, but for the fear of the second wave of anger, immediately kept his phone in the pocket. Just then, an aunty from the girl's side taunted " Arey beta!! You are toh not eating anything. How will you become a dulheraja with this level of shyness? Learn something from our Tikku..." and everybody's eyes turned towards Tikku who was whispering something in her elder sister, Vidhi's ears. Tikku was stunned by this sudden attention. "Kyun Tikku?" The aunty said to Tikku in a teasing tone. "Bua!! Say 'Vishakha', please." However, low Tikku spoke, everybody could hear and all burst into laughter. Vivek's father's said, "So Beta Vishakha (pronouncing 'Vishakha' too clearly) Give us your opinion about Vivek. Are you okay with this...?" "Uncle......

Sanjay Sir was very excited today. After all Sudheer had promised to come home after a gap of almost an year. Last time he had come for his friend's marriage and because of his extremely busy schedule, Sanjay Sir could not even have a proper conversation with him. This time he won't let Sudheer go anywhere else. "Come on! It is his birthday today. He ought to celebrate it with the one who gave him birth." he had thought. Kanhu, half the age of Sanjay Sir, was given elaborate instructions regarding the decoration of the house and the dishes to be prepared. As Sanjay Sir was in the washroom, his phone started ringing. He became extremely impatient as if it wasn't a call rather a rocket launch- once missed, won't come back. While hurriedly turning around he hit at the shower knob. The sudden force of water fell on his back, wetting him. Still, he came running out of the bathroom holding with a pinch the wet portion of the shirt pulled away from skin to avoid ...

As he was seeing off Kalpesh ji, Suraj could feel the feverish warmth of his breath on his upper lip. Back in the room, he sat down on the sofa completely exhausted. Then he slowly turned to look at the bundle of crispy bank notes kept on the table. Four lakh rupees. The advance payment for the house that he was sitting in. He blinklessly looked at the walls, that had never before caught such a long attention. The walls hid several memories under several coats of paint. He remembered how his mother took a fake revenge on the wall, when he as a toddler accidently got hit in head. He remembered how his father had yelled at him on doing maths rough work on the wall. He was affectionately looking at those very walls when Tanu called him, softly placing her hand on his shoulder, "Suraj!! Suraj!!" He abruptly came out of the daydream and looked at Tanu, with his wobblingly transparent eyes. Tanu too was broken, but she knew that emotionally consoling Suraj at this moment would actu...

Extremely sorry for not being able to upload a proper short story this month. But here is something for you all. These are my answers to two different story related questions on "Quora". Hope you enjoy it. Ques 1. Tell me some 3-4 line stories with a twist. S he shot him once, he smiled. She shot him twice, he smiled. She shot him again and again, he smiled. Finally she declared, "Enough. Now your turn to shoot me." and handed him the camera. ***

[Disclaimer: The incident is purely fictitious and is not intended to hurt one's feelings. It is an imagination of the author, inspired from some real elements of societal structure.] "After he mends the tap and goes, sprinkle some gangajal in the house. Ok?" Pandit Birjes Prasad said to his wife after his telephonic conversation with Raghu. His wife okayed. Sadhna, his daughter, handed him, his gamchha . In his kurta pajama, he kick-started his bike, wrapped the gamchha around the face and zoooom!! he rode away. The partial unlock had eased the conditions for him. It was not that he had followed the guidelines strictly during the lockdown, however now he had not to worry about the crossroad checkpoints. His son, Suraj, had come from Mumbai couple of days ago and today he was en route to a yajman's house to fetch some advance payments of committed rituals. "Couldn't you ask him for online transfer? Why on Earth is he coming home?" Ritu was furious. ...

What do you think is more desirable- a necklace or its box? Well if you ask me, I would say, "Depends."  Here is a story that shows how... "Your Sahab has brought for me a multi slot jewellery box. So, I have emptied these old little boxes. You can take them, if you like." Ratna said to Sarla while fixing a pin to her own pallu, standing in front of the mirror. Her diamond necklace was adding glamour to her royal blue silk saree. "All of these?" Sarla asked in surprise while her eyes were stuck only to that maroon velvet box, with golden lace all around. That box seemed very costly and Sarla made up her mind to keep in it, the locket that she had thought to gift her daughter on her marriage. Thus, while there were half a dozen boxes on the bed, she unintentionally kept her hand on that very box. "No, not this one Sarla. It is this necklace's box." Ratna said in a tone that was serious but not harsh, while scrolling her fingers on the necklace...