P : Pillow Talk #AtoZChallenge2020

Pillow Talk - A Short Fictional Story

Pari was in quarantine. It was her seventh day in isolation, or was it the tenth! She had no idea of the time. Loneliness can be a strange animal. For the first few days it was her pet, domesticated, acting on her whims. But as the days passed, the animal took over. 

With sunlight fading outside her window, she surely knew it was going to be night soon. But she had lost count of the days since she was in this room. She remembered, returning from her first ever solo Europe trip, with happy memories. She had partied there a lot. As if she was trying to run away from some hard reality. When she got screened at the airport, she had fever. She was immediately brought to this government facility, where she was kept in a room with spartan amenities. All her belongings were kept in a safe and she was given a fresh pair of clothes. Her interactions were limited to the visits by doctors and nurses. Food was served regularly. What she got to eat everyday, also gave her a fair idea about the time of the day. Idlis in breakfast. Dal Rice in Lunch. Light Soup in night. She had lost her appetite by the fourth day and her fever was still high.  She had never been this alone before. Long hours without talking to anyone, and being so sick from inside was totally new. She thought it was her seventh day in isolation, or was it the tenth! She had no idea of the time. For first four days, she had a lot to think about.

Her recent Europe trip ... Meeting Shawn there and a promising date with him... getting drunk on the cruise...

Her office... Colleagues... her promotion... those long nights at work... excitement around the launch...

Her first toy... Her parents' happy marriage... Her first scooter...

Her school... her friends... her break-up...

Her breakup... her marriage... her divorce... 

As the days passed, her memories became darker. She wallowed in self-pity. It was her seventh day in isolation, or was it the tenth, or was it the fourth night! She wasn't sure. She had no idea of the time. She dug her face in her pillow. And that moment was the most comforting for her in days. She was sure that the pillow was talking to her. She wasn't hallucinating. She was sure about this as some one was pulling her inside the pillow. She felt a cold, comforting breeze, on her face. It wasn't the effect of medication. She was sure. 

The pillow hugged her. It was the hug of a mother at times! And the hug of a lover at other times! But it was always comforting. She wasn't thinking of anything when the pillow used to hug her. No memories of the past. No plans for the future. No escape from the present, or from her hard reality. When the pillow talked, she was just there. There in the present. The pillow told her things. Things she didn't fully understand, but things that surely made sense. 

The pillow told her stories, which she had always known. Stories of people with fulfilling lives, happy lives. The pillow had a strange habit of using catchphrases.

Carpe Diem,  it shouted one day.

Yesterday is gone, it told the other day.

The pillow made her loneliness bearable. Loneliness was now not an animal to be domesticated. But it wasn't in control of her either. Her fever had vanished one morning! Doctors told her that she has fully recovered now and the disease is gone. They informed her that she had been there for 23 days. After discharge, as she was returning home, she knew her disease was gone. Disease of the body! And the disease of the mind! 

---

My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Lock-down Blues. I intend to write and talk about how I deal with it, what it inspires me to read or watch or any aspect of it which fascinates me. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

Previous Challenges : Letter P

2017: Perfect Response

2018: Pots in Restaurant Toilets

2019: Parallel Comedy Tracks in Hindi Films / Bollywood

L : Love in Lockdown #AtoZChallenge2020

Love in Lockdown - A Short Fictional Story

On the evening of 24th March 2020, the Prime Minister made an unprecedented announcement. The lockdown was announced for 21 days with effect from 25th March 2020. Like all midnight diktats, this one also came with a lot of pain. Lokesh was definitely not prepared for this. His hostel was being closed and he was asked to evacuate immediately. The trains to his hometown, 300 miles away, were cancelled. He was new to the city and didn't have any friends. As he was contemplating his next move, nervously moving about his office corridor, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and was surprised to see Lata.

They had interacted only once before this and that too during a meeting. He had made a presentation on marketing plans for the year, few months back, and she had sought a clarification. Lata his colleague, from engineering department, had a very delightful countenance. The moment he saw that face, his troubles melted away instantaneously. She also seemed to understand his problem, without him saying anything. She said, "I have a spare room in my apartment, as my room-mate left for her hometown last week. It is a private space and no one will disturb you. And we can share the rent too."

Lokesh agreed and moved to the apartment immediately. Lata had maintained the house very well - spick and span. She had also stocked groceries for a week or so. Lokesh was looking at her with admiration. Unlike him, she was so well organized. But he was still little awkward. Sharing a home with a woman, was a first for him. They divided the household chores that night itself, post dinner. For next few days they both were largely confined to their respective rooms and only used to eat together in the dining hall. On the 6th night, Lata heard him singing. He was humming some old Bollywood song while ironing his clothes. Lata went towards his room and stood near the door without being noticed. It was her favorite song. At that precise moment, something changed. Her heart fluttered. She came back to her room, and couldn't sleep that night. 

Lokesh completely unaware of what happened the previous night, offered to go out to buy groceries for the week. He didn't return for almost an hour. The grocery store was allowing only 4 people inside at a time. Lata got anxious and called him thrice to check on him. He took a shower after his return and completely sanitized everything. She wanted to hug him. But she wasn't sure.

As the 21 days of the lockdown were coming to an end, Lata was jittery. She couldn't imagine her life without him. Lokesh was a good companion, great to talk with and had a great taste in music. He even made her laugh several times during this dreadful lockdown. But Lokesh didn't seem to notice her at all. Yes, he was nice to her. But he didn't seem to reciprocate her feelings. She felt engineering is easier to understand than the matters of the heart. 

Today morning, on the 21st day of the lockdown, they both were watching TV at 10 am. The Prime Minister was to make a key announcement. Almost 10 minutes into his speech the PM announced that the lockdown will get extended till 3rd of May. 19 more days! Lata and Lokesh moaned in delight exactly at the same moment! Now both of them knew what they have been feeling for each other for weeks. Lata switched off the TV immediately. They didn't listen to the complete speech. 

---

My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Lock-down Blues. I intend to write and talk about how I deal with it, what it inspires me to read or watch or any aspect of it which fascinates me. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

Previous Challenges : Letter L

2017: Lucknow

2018: Left Behind

2019: Lost & Found Formula in Hindi Films / Bollywood

J : Joker in the Pack #AtoZChallenge2020

Joker in the Pack - A Short Fictional Story

Jagdish took a sharp right turn. A passenger was waiting for him near the mall entrance. He sensed panic in the passenger's voice, when he called to confirm his location. There was some news broadcast on the radio in the cab. Jagdish's mind was focused on reaching the mall fast, so he faintly registered some snatches of the news on the radio.

"Janta curfew successful"
"... an impending lockdown"
"Hoarders will be punished"

Jagdish aka Jaggu always lacked focus in life. But he was an excellent driver and knew his way around the city well. He reached the mall on time. The passenger looked familiar. But Jaggu wasn't sure. He thought he looked like his schoolmate Rohan. But he chose to remain silent. The passenger sat in his car in a hurry. He didn't even look at Jaggu. He was lost in his thoughts. And looked forlorn.

---
Rohan had come to the mall to buy groceries and vegetables, straight from his office. He wanted to stock up for next 30 days as the government was about to announce a lockdown soon. There was panic everywhere. The store at the mall was empty. He wasn't sure what he would tell his wife upon reaching home. As he boarded the cab, he was fiddling with his tie and mobile phone repeatedly. The driver inquired if something was bothering Rohan. Without looking up from his phone, he asked the driver, if he knows any place where he can get groceries and vegetables from. The driver said in a very assured voice, "Yes!". Rohan asked the driver to take him there. Rohan was sceptical, as most of his friends on WhatsApp were telling him that all the stores were empty. The driver took a detour and entered a less posh area of the town. Rohan failed to notice this. As the car came to a halt, the driver told Rohan that he will get everything here. Rohan was disgusted with the smell. But he had also realized by then, that the store here was less crowded. It seemed to him, as if the news of the lockdown hadn't reached the poorer parts of the town. He quickly went inside the store and came back in 20 minutes with three big bags filled up to the brim and a big wide smile on his face.
---
Jaggu by now had checked his passenger's name on the app, and he was happy to know it was Rohan, as he had suspected. He directly told Rohan, that he was his school mate. Rohan felt little uncomfortable, with this new found familiarity in cab driver's voice. But he made some small talk just for the sake of it. Jaggu was the proverbial Joker in the Pack. Good for nothing fellow! He always used to flunk his exams and was always punished by his teachers in school. As they kept chatting, Rohan recollected all these memories from his school days. He smirked inside his head. He had become a corporate bigwig and Jaggu a cab driver. As Rohan reached his home, he offered a big tip to Jaggu. Jaggu declined politely as he felt a tinge of sadness.
---
Ten days later, the city was under complete lockdown. No cars or cabs were allowed to ply on the road. Rohan's mother had fallen sick and had problems breathing. They called for an ambulance. Ambulance reached timely. As Rohan stretchered his mother inside the ambulance, he recognized Jaggu, despite the mask on his face. He felt assured that his mother was in safe hands. That night Jaggu informed Rohan, that as lockdown forced him to take his cab off road, he had no source of income. So he volunteered as an ambulance driver at the local hospital. There is no salary to be earned. But he is getting free meals daily for himself and his family from the hospital canteen. And some times he gets tipped by the patients' relatives. Rohan fished into his pocket for some money to tip Jaggu. But Jaggu had already left to attend to another distress call.

---

My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Lock-down Blues. I intend to write and talk about how I deal with it, what it inspires me to read or watch or any aspect of it which fascinates me. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

Previous Challenges : Letter J

2017: Joy

2018: Jugaad that we don't need

2019: Johar's Cliches - Hindi Films / Bollywood

A : Afresh Start #AtoZChallenge2020

Afresh Start - A Short Fictional Story

Avinash had a spring in his step today. He had come to office after 100 days. The lock-down was over weeks ago, but he remained in isolation for quite some time, even after that. He was scared of stepping out, of catching the virus. Fearful of people, groups and crowds in general. The period of isolation though, was not entirely futile. He read many self-help books and motivational articles. He connected with lot of his friends on video calls, friends he hadn't talked to for ages. He had learned to roll out fresh pasta with his hands. 

This stretch of isolation was not all roses. There were times, when he had self doubt, when he felt low or just stared vacantly at the ceiling of his cushy bedroom for hours.  But it was his work, that always brought him back to normal. He is a creative designer and he had kept certain hours dedicated every day to work from home. This work of his, provided some sense of normalcy to him in this time of chaos. And of course, the regular delivery of groceries by his neighborhood store - contact-less delivery - kept him alive. 

He became a regular on this particular dating app too. It was fun for him. From behind his phone screen he could pretend to be anybody. There was no real risk of a real meeting or he thought so! A very beautiful, sapiosexual (almost everyone on the app had used this adjective to describe themselves) girl finally forced him to come out of his self imposed imprisonment. 

He had a date today after office. He finally had decided to start afresh and not be fearful of the invisible enemy. 

He had a spring in his step today. A mask on his face. A bottle of sanitizer in his hand. Confident to face the world. As he sat in his cabin, working on his laptop, he dialed the number of pantry in his office. He ordered for a strong coffee. After some time, the coffee was brought in by the new pantry boy. Avinash inquired about Santosh, his favorite pantry boy, who made the world's best coffee. His face fell when he heard about Santosh's death caused due to virus outbreak in his locality. He is survived by his wife and a young son. Avinash made a mental note to send some money to them. 

He sipped his coffee. It had gone a bit cold. He perked up thinking of his evening date.

---

My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Lock-down Blues. I intend to write and talk about how I deal with it, what it inspires me to read or watch or any aspect of it which fascinates me. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

Previous Challenges : Letter A

2017: Away

2018: Amazing things that my ten year old self would find miraculous today

2019: Award ceremonies in Hindi Film Industry / Bollywood

S : Short Sentences / Stories #AtoZchallenge

In 2015 - 2016, I had joined a Readers' Club in Mumbai. We used to meet once in a month to discuss books. The club is now called Owlery. Some of us were also making efforts, to learn basic nuances of writing. This effort led us to attend a book writing workshop. As part of an exercise there, I wrote a fictional story which I had posted on this blog last year. Also on the WhatsApp group of this Club, a word was shared everyday on which we tried to write short (actually micro) stories. I wrote hundreds of such small sentences or stories - good, bad, ugly. I had posted 45 such sentences / stories, over 15 posts, in 2016 on this blog. Today, I decided to post 10 more of them, which were woven around 10 words shared on that group. I hope my readers will be kind and forgive any mistakes I made then or the ones I am going to make today. I am still learning a really tough task of writing good stories.

Word : Quaff

verb [kwof, kwaf, kwawf]

Meaning: to drink a beverage copiously and with hearty enjoyment

Tale: Old / New

As he quaffed his cherished single malt and puffed a costly cigar, his henchmen beat the young leader of the new street gang to a pulp, But the young man kept laughing instead of crying in pain. Then the sound of a loud desperate cough reverberated in that room. His cigar popped out and blood mixed with that single malt gushed out of his mouth with huge force. The poison had worked. The young man now controlled the entire mafia.

Word : Yom Tov

noun [yuhn tuh v, tuh f]

Meaning : holiday

Tale: Orphan

He is an orphan who doesn't  know what a full stomach means. But comes yom tov, his happiness will know no bounds. That day he will get to eat as much as he wants. He will raid the garbage bin of his rich neighbors and will feast on the leftovers of the day. 

Word: Eldritch

adjective [el-drich]

Meaning: eerie; weird; spooky

Tale: Hinges

It was a moonlit night when they got stranded in the middle of the forest. They saw a flickering light at a distance. Upon reaching the source of the light they found an old cottage. They pushed open the door. The eldritch creaking of the door was accompanied by hooting of the owls and howling of the wolves. They started trembling with fear. The caretaker of the cottage came out and applied some grease on hinges of the door. The door stopped creaking.

Word: Cunctator

noun [kuhngk-tey-ter]

Meaning: a procrastinator; delayer

Tale: Fearless

He never accomplished anything worthwhile. Every job he undertook ended in a disaster. Being a compulsive cunctator he was left behind his peers in the organizational hierarchy. But his fortunes changed one day. He didn't complete his job on time and still earned the top spot in his group. He was told to shoot a man before daybreak, when there would be no witnesses. But he shot him in the broad daylight in front of  hundreds of people. He earned that day, the moniker of Fearless Hitman.

Word: Turpitude

noun[tur-pi-tood, -tyood]

Meaning: vile, shameful, or base character; depravity

Tale: Whose fault

Every night her pimp sold her to the highest bidder. He had to feed his large family. He was a criminal in the eyes of the law.

She slept for money with the worst of the men. Her soul was pure though. But what she was doing, was illegal.

Her father had traded her when she was twelve. He had to provide for his wife's treatment and he had already mortgaged his land. He was accused of human trafficking.

The local moneylender grabbed his land as he couldn't repay his meager loan. The loan shark was the most respected man in the village.

I am not certain which act of turpitude agitates me most.

Word: Botryoidal

adjective [bo-tree-oid-l]

Meaning: having the form of a bunch of grapes

Tale: Obsession

His intestines had spilled out of his stomach and had bunched together in a botryoidal formation. I had never seen something so brutal in my life before. Later, I came to know that he was newly married and was stabbed thirty-six times by his wife's obsessed stalker.

Word : Embonpoint

noun [French ahn-bawn-pwan]

Meaning: excessive plumpness; stoutness

Tale: Attraction

He always got attracted to the women inclined to embonpoint. A strange kind of stirring happened in his heart and blood rushed to his loins, whenever he saw his buxom neighbor. Then one day she acknowledged him. Soon he was in his bedroom. It was a mistake. He was robbed off all his valuables by that attractive cross-dresser. 

Word: Jeremiad

noun[jer-uh-mahy-uh d, -ad]

Meaning: a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint

Tale: 49 days

His 'shoot and scoot' politics benefited from his caustic jeremiad, targeted at the ruling parties. Media gleefully lapped up his accusations without bothering to verify them. The gullible citizens voted him to power, thinking that he will bring in the change he promised. But when he was faced with the prospect of actually delivering on his promises, he ran away in 49 days.

Word: Trophic

adjective [trof-ik, troh-fik]

Meaning: of or relating to nutrition

Tale: Hallucination

Science can play havoc with human lives sometimes. When DNA cloning was introduced, everyone thought it will help humanity fight many diseases. But they used it to reproduce a carnivorous dinosaur. This has changed the balance of food chain and species at several trophic levels are now endangered. I am riding that dinosaur right now. I am a monster. I need more cocaine. 

Word : Furphy

noun [fur-fee]

Meaning : a false report; rumor

Tale: Political Fiasco

His political career was on the rise when he got caught red handed taking a bribe. He will now be taken to task by his party members. Media reports that he will be the first politician ever to be sentenced for his deeds as agencies have a watertight case against him. I can tell you it is just another furphy. He will never go to jail. No politician ever has. In fact he will emerge as a more powerful and popular leader after this fiasco.

---

My last year's challenge post from letter S was a Story about young love, titled 'The Minor Glitch'. Read it here. 

---

My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is all about writing stories, anecdotes and observations from my life in form of easy to read listicles. You can read the theme reveal post here.

S : Story

I had attended a writing workshop last year in June. One of the first exercises in it was to describe my first relationship. It was a tricky exercise for two reasons. One, my first relationship was very painful and I am very sensitive about sharing details of the same. Second, I didn't want to talk about real locations and people at all. So I decided to take the core element of that relationship and changed everything around it and weaved a fictional story. That exercise helped me in a therapeutic way. So whether my quality of writing was good or bad, it didn't matter. 

As the theme for my April Blogging Challenge was to right anecdotes from my life, I think this post will qualify, given the context above. The story I wrote then is reproduced below.

****

Story - The Minor Glitch

Anuj was a young dashing guy. He had an athletic body and girls in his class swooned over him. He was very sensitive and intelligent too. He cared for his friends and family and was a class topper.

Saakshi had recently moved to his neighbourhood. They both started interacting at a birthday party, where both were invited. While Anuj was popular in his neighbourhood, Saakshi had a strange effect on him. He was just enamoured by her beauty. Saakshi was fully aware about this effect she had on him.

One day she invited him over to her home. They both were eating nachos, when she kept her hand on his thigh. He trembled with excitement. She had charmed him and was controlling his senses. They both got into a sexual relationship and started meeting regularly. For a while, Anuj enjoyed it. He had fallen in love with Saakshi. But they never said it to each other.

Whenever they met the only thing on their minds was lust.

Initially Saakshi was aggressive in bed. Gradually Anuj in his bid to impress her, started getting rough. Saakshi didn’t like this reversal of roles.

She had chosen Anuj as she thought she can dominate him and exploit him. He was a young guy studying in 9^th grade, while she had just completed her graduation. What she was doing was illegal anyways.

With Anuj getting aggressive, she wanted a way out. One day she told Anuj, that he is a very dirty person and she can’t carry on with this abusive relationship. She made Anuj feel guilty about something he didn’t really understand at that age.

Today, Anuj is a successful entrepreneur and runs a million dollars business. But he still feels that he was responsible for abusing Saakshi. He hasn’t married till date.

****