"Pa, is this your profile for the XY dating app?"
"Yupp."
"Will vacuum, mop, wash dishes, cook chicken, fry potato. Hate BO! Immerse thyself in #lavender oil. Sex twice a week."
"Well?"
"How did you get Ma?"
"She was special. Should I rewrite?"
"Rebirth, please."
#vss365
"Where were you?"
"Wedding in village."
"Didn't your kid have school?"
"Relatives are important."
"Yeah, get her married at 18! Blink and let her future go like #lightning."
"Can't live alone like"
"How much for the ironing?"
"120."
"Not 100?"
"Kid's education."
#vss365
"What are you watching?"
"Branagh as Wallander to counter-#act Branagh as Poirot. You?"
"P0rn."
"Never admit that on a first virtual date. Genre?"
"The carrot and stick #act."
"Huh?"
"How to use the carrot as the stick and vice versa. Old tantric methods."
"Ooh."
#vss365
I am the one I was
With one change perhaps
Wanted her to like me
The way I was then
But then for many years
Forgot who I was
For usual wrong reasons
Like money success
I was liked by many
Till I gave up that
But now I realise
She will never like
Me for the right reason
She is fictitious...
There's an old photo of a young couple. Taken with a camera, with timer, on a tripod.
They are on a bed. She in a silk saree, with a shy smile, a delicate hand on his arm. He in red kurta pyjama, serious, definitely the macho breadwinner who should be in a portrait passed on for centuries.
It should have been a movie. Then, we could have seen the next scene.
"Arrey, get a car from your folks, no? So tired of walking to office."
"Boss, why don't you make sure you will get your family home?"
It's like school days here.
Some don't respond if I am
Not a #sycophant.
#vss365
#haiku #senryu ?
"Kids, when I say #infection (I), what's your first thought? Arjun?"
"As a poet: love, if only I could have that I;
as a storyteller: terror, the I with no cure;
as moi: life is a fictitious I."
"Enough! Swapna?"
"Why is Arjun the source of the I called stupidity?"
#vss365
Rage, insomnia
Kept me on razor's edge,
To get ko-ed,
Or to wait for the next fight,
On the eighth day we got water,
And I'm ready to forgive,
If only it had been
A collective misery,
But the others had plenty,
Us mere schadenfreude-providers,
Discrimination hurts,
Kills.
An Old Western
I am the man with no name, the one in fights, the one no one wants around.
You, the hooker with a golden heart, with scars within and without.
You took the bullet meant for me. Too soon.
I am a living ghost seeking the company of a #venomous rattler.
#vss365
01
It was going like every other date. I was being an ass.
We argued about terrorists who hide behind kids; about the government snooping and going against everything in the #Constitution.
Then, we leaned back and stared at each other.
02
The silent stare, prayer-like, succumbing, seeking, suppressing, a duel of souls #beyond repair.
Let's discuss, no? Without reasonable doubt! That State showcasing its best-why was the stage full of actors, not 1 erudite idiot (they too can act)?
(A Morricone BGM?)
03
"Why do we fight all the time?"
"We are good at it. We were good in other ways too."
"Like what?"
"The kiss was great."
"What kiss?"
"That which does not happen is #entwined with the fate of a relationship rather than that which happens."
"We were young."
04
"Did you love me? I didn't."
"I was young, stupid."
"I was stupid. Never young enough."
"You didn't?"
"I worshipped you."
"That never ends well."
"You were THE idea of THE ONE. Bright, bold, much sought after. A #wisp of love, and lust, would have saved me."
05
"Was it worship when you told me to marry the one I fell in love with?"
"25% principles, 75% revenge."
"The #shepherd taking sheep to the wolf! Me married to one of that faith! God with clay feet, huh? I am not ashamed I have so much to love with the help of hate."
06
"You were mature."
"I cried, protested."
"Of course."
"Sarcasm! Yes, I kept the life of the privileged. Love perches meekly on the #gauntlet of such. Great spouse, kids. No tears, no guilt."
"Marriage works best when both feel guilty."
"For your lot, perhaps."
07
"My lot has the usual tale. Death, divorce, insecurity. In the wrong order."
"#Fodder for your lot's echo chamber. Tell me a story about love, surprise."
"My lot?"
"My lot see further by standing on that large chip on your shoulder."
"Very funny."
"Story, plz."
08
"Love does not surprise me when the circumstances and catalysts are right.
But, when I'm not in love then, there’s a puzzle worth solving. Especially when the setting is good for murder too."
"With you, the ogre of murder always follows the #spirit of love. Go on."
09
"The M.O. is similar to your 'love' life."
"What?"
"Ditched lover bcos of that one's faith. Chose a spouse with same idea of love-hate. Assume your spouse now converts to your ex's faith. #Traumatized, what will you do? Love & hate is like yin & yang."
"Whatever."
10
"The falling in love part was like a trip to an exotic place. Life followed the brochure.
Pointlessness gave way to a new thrill with 2 truths as #talisman and weapon: (1) a lover can hate better than love; (2) who but a lover knows best how to turn love into hate?"
11
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