Footprints

     I am in the middle of writing an essay for my supervisor when a WhatsApp Group Video Call notification vibrates on my desk. I look up from the randomly splayed, unstapled sheets of paper to see my roommates calling. I pause the Malayalam Lofi playlist I was listening to, remove my earbuds and rush out of the room, unable to contain my excitement. They'd gone home for the weekend celebrations while I had chosen to stay back for work. The next ten minutes zip by fast with the three of them telling me how busy it is with preparations for the mouth-watering sadya of the day and showing how they've successfully managed to create beautiful pookkalams (flower arrangements). They log off one by one and I sit near a plant with a bright red flower, gently stroking its petals - not having the heart to pluck it and make a minimalistic last-minute pookkalam of my own. I am taken back to last year's Onam when it had been a sunny day with the kind of weather perfect for hanging a ...

 At first, there is nothing.  Just darkness that seems to surround her. She feels a shiver down her spine as she sees the haze clear. She searches for something and finds herself squinting. She is looking at a young girl, probably a few years younger than her, dressed in a white coat with her hair in a loose low bun running around. She seems to kneel down, stay put for a few moments, then move to somewhere else, repeating everything. She finds herself walking toward the maiden engrossed in whatever she was doing. She gasps when she sees that the girl is herself and at the scene unfolding before her. The girl is now kneeling in front of a man laying on his back, opening a white box with a red cross on it, and tending to his wounds. She lifts her head and attempts to understand where she is but the darkness surrounding them both refuses to show her anything. The girl suddenly looks up and rushes to another area; it's a woman this time - she treats her as well and this keeps happ...

 I see your thank you message at 7:21pm, and my mind goes back to the minute we decided to take such a day for ourselves in the first place - and how both of us just knew that we wanted to be by ourselves. We just knew that we could be in our own little world for the hours we choose to spend together. I have zero expectations when I get up in the mornings for days like this, but somehow that sudden hug in the confines of your room made me feel otherwise. It actually felt like I was going to enjoy the day to it's fullest; just because I was with you. So in our cab when you said that you're fine because you're with me, I just couldn't help but smile and sit an inch taller.   My 'clinginess' was an issue with some of my friends in the past and I didn't want to repeat the same thing with you; but then we walked - hand in hand mostly and I realized how much I missed that touch, how much I missed being myself around someone who feels the exact same way. And then...

  The clanging of a bell woke me up with a start. Sitting up hurriedly, it took a second for me to register that it wasn’t the prayer bell that usually rang at 5:45am; it was the campus bell that rang at 5:00am. Breathing in, I picked up my phone off the floor and pushed the power button – it didn’t light up. I blinked twice and tried again to no avail. Trying not to think of it too much, I plugged in the charger into the C-port and waited, yawning. A few seconds later, the image of a battery with green bars slowly rising to its top popped up on the screen. Shaking my head, I realized that I hadn’t charged my phone the previous day; and if it wasn’t for the bell that had made me get up half an hour early, I would’ve overslept and gotten late. I murmured a ‘thank you’ and grabbed my toothbrush.   Two hours later, I was at my desk in my room, clad in my Wednesday-best, jotting down the tasks I had to finish before 5:00pm that day. The unexpected pats on the back and greetin...

  Sometime in the 1920s    “You’re early today,” said the mother when her ten-year-old daughter walked in. Her daughter is usually cheerful even after a day of hard work, when she sees her mother. Today, however, something was unusual. The mother peered at her child. “What’s the matter?” she asked.  “I saw Christ today Mother,” she answered.  “How did you know it was Him?” she raised an eyebrow.  “I felt him Mother,” she shook her head. Raising her eyes onto her mother, she spoke again, “it was as if our Lord wanted to speak to me when I gave that old man on the street, half of my meal.”  “Agnes!” groaned the mother, “I must applaud your bravery my child, but what have you eaten all day then?”  “A light went into the man and he smiled, Mother.” The girl sat at the feet of her mother. “That man’s smile erased my hunger. It was our Lord smiling through that man; I’m sure of it.” Her mother paused, unsure of how to go on. This wasn't the ...

   I had heard them the night before on the roof and they were loud, unmistakable cries. I thought I’d pay the munchkins a visit – you know, to be a responsible citizen; also, mostly because I can’t just keep away from kittens. I climbed the metal stairs onto the cemented terrace and all I could think was about how quiet it was. Almost too quiet… call it spidey-sense if you want to, but my gut was telling me NOT to go further . Only, I wasn’t going to let my gut talk me into going back down. Taking guarded steps, I peered around the landing on top of the mini-terrace – nothing. No sudden blasts of color, no sudden movements and definitely no fur-balls.  “Hiss!” I froze. The sound was coming from behind me and I could tell by its intensity that I had hit the jackpot – sort of. I turned to see the origin of the deadly voice and I was five feet apart from the Mama Cat herself. Black coat glistening, lime green eyes burning, crouching in an attacking posture – she was the ep...

  February 2018   She was scrolling through his profile again, clicking on his pictures, zooming in and out, not sure of why she was even doing it. A soft tap on her forehead made her look up from her phone. He pulled the covers off her face, plopped a pillow upright against the headboard and got into bed with her, laying against the pillow while she nestled into him.  “You’re cold,” she said.  “Am I?”  “No, I’m just warmer,” she smiled. He patted the top of her head with his right hand. “I can’t remember the last time you’ve been gone this long!” She was whining.  “I wanted to see what you would do,” he said. “Seems like I missed a lot eh?” he asked. She looked up at him. He was smiling but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.  “You’re disappointed.”  He shrugged his shoulders lightly, “I thought you would wait for me and hear my opinion and then decide.”  She didn’t take her eyes off him, “No, you just didn’t want to be here whe...

  He was smiling awkwardly.  His light blue shirt was now clinging to his slightly overweight torso but his black slender trousers looked comfortably snug.  He had a black bag that seemed heavy but looked light with the way he had it casually over his left shoulder. “Thanks!” she said to the man slightly taller than her.  He made a ‘swipe-left’ with his hand, “You don’t have to.”  “I don’t have to what?” she looked at him.  He looked away, “Pretend to have to talk to me just because of what happened back there.”  Confused, she blinked for a second, “I just wanted to know what made you do something; compared to the rest of the people on this train.”  He looked over at her and looked away again smiling, “My father says we should treat everyone like someone’s son or daughter.”  “Huh.” She raised her eyebrows, “So you’re saying that treating someone’s son involves stomping them on their feet?”  “Oh yes! Especially if you can...

 Running down the stairs – trying not to jump two at a time, she almost cursed under her breath. She was running late by half an hour.  “I’ll be here before 6pm Ma,” she’d said that morning while leaving for college.  “ Ji , aajana, warna tumhe saree pehenke Metro se aana padega!” (transl.: ‘you’d better, else you’ll have to ride the Metro wearing a saree’ in Hindi), her mother had told her and she’d been horrified. The Delhi Metro in the evening was not the best mode of transport to attend a family friend’s wedding reception.  At the queue, she checked her wrist-watch again – 6:35pm. The previous metro had been headed to Central Secretariat; and so was the next one. ‘Doesn’t matter,’ she thought, ‘I’ll just change in between.’ She breezed through the security check and entry gates and took the flight of stairs down to the platform. She made it just in time before the doors closed and she let out a gratified sigh. The pianist began playing his tune and she pi...

 It had been a long, completely engaging day and she had just finished three lectures and four lab practical hours when Anita knocked on her hostel room door and pushed it in.  “Hi Ani!” Her seemingly-always-cheery roommate Rani looked up from her desk.  “Hey Akka! (transl.: ‘Elder sister’ in Tamil)”  “How was your day?”  Ani looked up at her almost-adopted-elder sister and smiled. She was from Kerala while Akka was a native of the neighboring state. They had only been together for the past nine months but it felt shorter every day as it went by. They were known as the ‘symbiotic sisters’ among most people but to friends, they were titled ‘partners-for-the-common-good’!  “You know you always make me smile as soon as I enter our room,” Ani walked up to Rani’s desk and gave her a hug from behind, “and that makes all the difference!”  “I just really like to see you smile.”  “Aww!” Ani grabbed her sister’s cheeks and pulled playfully....

 “ Akka (transl.: ‘Elder sister’ in Tamil) come quick,” the knocking at my hostel room’s door was becoming loud and impatient.  “Who is it?” I answered, pulling the covers off my legs. It was one of those lazy-Sunday-afternoons. I had finished off my weekend tasks, had a hearty lunch - courtesy of the ‘Biriyani Corner’, spoke to my mom about the Sunday service and was lying down to watch a movie.  “ Akka it’s me Shivi,” she answered back. I opened the door.  “What’s going on Shivi? Are you okay?” I looked my junior up and down.  “Can you come out?” she asked, “It’s important.” I raised my eyebrows, there goes my movie time!  When a junior comes to see you, it’s mostly because of some guy problem or some homework issue or some gossip-misunderstanding-trust-issue between best friends – so that’s what I expected Shivi to tell me. Instead, she’d taken me up to her third floor room and opened the door, asking me to go inside.  “Oh my God,” the w...