Her #glasses came off first. The only constant in our lovemaking.
I had to see her eyes.
I was never sure I was good enough for her. In those eyes, I found comfort and belief.
Her eyes remained closed that last day, me here she somewhere, the day we joined the dead.
#vss365
If only I could swallow the disgust
Disgust I can't keep within me,
Each time a creep who has never
Never stood alone, fought and lost,
Talks big, loud and with a gang
Gang up on a person with principles.
There were three thick-set young men, two with machetes. Lips in a #snarl, eyes wild and red.
"How much did he pay you?”
They mentioned the sum. I couldn't outbid that.
"Shall we have a drink first?"
We cracked jokes, sang dirty songs, danced.
Then they said it's time.
#vss365
borrowed from:
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/10/bumpkin.html
Stop the #racket!
Ha! My brain replied.
Just past six. Lights not on.
Light shower and setting sun flirted.
Shadows stretched towards her.
Myriad hues in those eyes.
Lashes, smile, tears mine/hers.
Can't bear the silence of memories? Miss her? Not yet brain dead?
#vss365
From
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/06/love-jihad_46.html
For me, it's a psychopathic struggle to communicate using modern means with/without single/double meaning.
How should I react to random letters, say, LOL BFF LHSX?
I like to read a sentence without emojis and guess if it has subtle #irony or slapstick humour or love.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/06/ill-have-double.html
It must be true
everyone has such a moment:
a parting with a train's #whistle,
arms-stretched tableau at the airport,
lingering handshake at the bus terminus
with someone grumbling, “Get on the bus, will you?”.
I have mine.
She has hers.
Never the twain
Shall meet.
#vss365
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-cliche.html
Those eyes cry no more.
Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
-Remembering Wilfred Owen always
"I don't who to talk to."
"What's he up to...this time?"
"Was he an alcoholic before marriage?"
"No."
"He shouts in his sleep...#gin to the left...gin to the right..."
"Oh."
"Please..."
"In school, we used this code."
"Yes?"
"Girl I Notice."
"Oh! Who else is in our bed?"
#vss365
The past isn’t what it used to be.
Comrades' company:
I walked, they did not.
The future will be what it won’t be.
In slow #blaze or craze,
After strife and penury.
The present isn’t what it is, is it?
The blank space in the triptych—
Without a shadow or murmur.
#vss365
It was love at first sight. They proposed to each other at the same time, celebrated at a fine place, rushed home, made love. Before the adrenalin rush wore off, to avoid the unavoidable #mess, they discussed open relationship, career, kids.
They disagreed about
#vss365
Life was really dull in my village. Just the usual #mess. A father killed his son's family of five, another son his mother. A 103 year old molested a 10 year old. Dozen political murders. A strange lady turned up at the temple and disappeared there. That's when...
#vss365
18 and wild, life a #fruit to be plucked, discarded.
At 9 pm, we (and a man) were on a beach.
"Let's have fun." Took out my switchblade, approached the man. "Don’t move."
He moved closer. I felt his blood. "Don't worry, son." He walked into the sea.
We walked away.
#vss365
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-gang.html
In the first year of marriage, she met what he called his '#pack': 'first crush', 'old girlfriends’, ‘my women’...
She sulked.
One of those ladies gave her a pitying look. She observed them from then on.
He did not seem to matter to them at all.
She sulked a lot.
#vss365
On my W-day, 50 couples queued up at G.
Marriage is made in heaven. Here, we hope to wrongly marry the right one.
I was 14th in the men's queue. My to-be inspected 13th (with purple velvet underwear) and 15th (used rum as mouthwash).
She grudgingly picked the #joker.
#vss365
23/5
She got in at Nagercoil. Her eyes, smile! Silent. Changed bus at Chidambaram. I carried the bags. She held a handle. Silent. Reached Neyveli. She waved to a man.
15/7
She came to my table at ICH along with the #whiff of coffee.
(no other entries in that diary)
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/06/after-assassination.html
I didn't believe in superstitions.
Now, I do.
Whenever I have a particular thought, disaster follows.
At first, like slipping on #mud.
Then, sinking in a quagmire.
Each time, a bit of life buried.
I'm not supposed to think about her.
I've lost all.
The thought too.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/11/path-of-no-return.html
A little boy who never got to enjoy boyhood, at his mother's grave, "Why weren't there photos of me with my dog during our war? Who was it who invaded us? Why were you in the bunker that they bombed?"
Say NO to ALL wars, not just the ones you can't ignore.
I tried to fit in #switcheroo
In a love poem.
My love scooted like a kangaroo
Before line one.
#vss365
Truth
Is a lot like
God.
We know
What it might be.
We also know
What it can't be.
The loudest voice
#Exacerbates
Such confusion
With
Certainty.
It's never
Absolute.
It's never
One for all
All for one.
It's
Relative.
It's
One for one.
Playing dice
The only answer?
#vss365
Every morn,
I wonder
If I should be
Cynical
Or
should I #extol
the stuff
I have
No more.
Like
Your love.
I could
Talk
About
A Sunday morn
Like this
When
You
Came
To my room
And...
No,
The other
Is
Easier.
Ye fools!
Such love
Exists
No more.
#vss365
(Swapna's scream woke up Arjun.)
"What is it, Swap? You're shaking."
"Someone at the window, Arj."
(Arjun inspects.)
"Nothing but rain, wind and trees."
"I saw the Monster of #Exurb-ia!"
"Your mom? Ha! Wait, what's that? Oh god!"
(Swapna snores.)
"Swa..Plz..No..AarghhH!"
#vss365
Rules of The #Exurb-an Community
1. Thou shalt not refer to thyself as Exurban/God.
2. Thou shalt not think of others.
3. If thou shalt not refer to thyself as Exurban/God, thou shalt be excommunicated.
4. Thou shalt impose sanctions on others without thought.
#vss365
No #examination scares me more than that of my love.
"Am I THE ONE in your life?"
"Tenth type in one's life is THE ONE. Older person, pen-pal, childhood friend, first crush, first love, first wife, other one, THE ONE's friend."
"That's eight."
"Ninth is kept empty."
#vss365
"I've realized a great truth."
"About?"
"Friendship."
"What's the great truth?"
"I wouldn't want my sister to marry any of my male friends. And, I do not want to marry any of my female friends."
"How did you become such an #expert on that topic?"
"By having no friends."
#vss365
When I am awake and when I dream,
I stare at the walls and the barred #exit,
Every minute ticks long by rote.
But I have learned to be with shackles,
And with my head on Memory’s lap,
She feeds new-born stories, a shared fantasy.
#vss365
Love only should #exist.
Love at first sight
Is best for that.
With one look:
Colour, savings,
Vital stats (of organic kids too),
Ideology, sanity;
Tick the list well-known.
Some take years,
Or elders,
for the same.
Cheapest will survive,
Darwin said,
didn't he?
#vss365
She was in a little black dress, he in a good suit. All eyes in the chic restaurant were on them.
Elegant. Talking softly. Subtle touches, kisses. The food they had equally exquisite.
They danced to a slow number!
Real close. Lovely!
Romance personified.
Back in their car:
"Fast, faster," they urged the other.
In jeans, T-shirt and sneakers, they raced to the nearest road-side dhaba.
Seated cross-legged on unsteady charpoy, they had a full meal of aloo paratha, butter chicken, scrambled eggs, curd, pickle, onion, chilly.
Someone tried karaoke: "...'Cause for twenty four years I've been living next door to Alice..."
The couple joined the crowd with the well-known chorus.
They high-fived each other.
"No more of that romance show."
"You look wunderrfulll tonite..."
"With tummy full..."
"We'll publish your stories after editing."
"Great!"
"Remove religion, caste, class, politics, any community."
"Oh!"
"The kickass lady who dislikes kids, pets, love will be villain."
"Bit #exacting, no?"
"Focus on the mother balancing work & home, the serial bobbitiser."
#vss365
My Uncle Hosappan is an #example of a hero.
He did not fight when his wife chose another for better opportunity, when his relatives stole his wealth, when society and career left him loony.
“What for?” he said.
When that’s a rhetorical question, a true hero speaks.
#vss365
“Never #exhume an old love.”
“Yupp, no postmortem on that.”
“Not the same.”
“It is.”
“Calling an old love to remind oneself why it’s in the past is different from wondering why it went wrong.”
“Is that why you called me?”
“No. You owe me a grand.”
“You liked that gift!”
#vss365
The ex-#expatriates
In my Mumbai office
Talked a lot
About their days
In the Wall St. office.
In Mumbai,
They are royals.
Their driver
Carries
Their tiffin
Till the security gate.
The poor royals
With so many tales to tell
Of a world
Where they were not royals.
#vss365
How do wars start
In the civilized world?
Is greed or insecurity
Or glory or empire-building
Or maniacs or idiots
Or the fake news
Or the pogroms
On both sides
The main cause?
Will that help
The dead kids?
How do wars start
In the uncivilized world?
It's the same story.
