The world is ever changing; every day, decade, generation. Arguably, due to global warming, so are the seasons. Extreme weather conditions or not though, thank goodness, they stoically appear, every year, demarcating, comforting, offering us amidst all the flux and change, something reliable to latch on to. But for how long still? It is summer …
Category: stories
The Hairdresser
She told me she had spent six months living all alone after a bad break up. That was when she had learned to love and respect herself warts and all. She said that, as time passed, anxiety and fear slowly but steadily morphed into curiosity and the unknown became fascinating and a gateway to new …
At the table
Obviously, decorating, cooking and aesthetic is personal, which is why one should never be apologetic with regards. People forget that and get hung up on Martha Stewart perfectionism instead of embracing the laid back Nigella Lawson of it all. For me, setting a table and prepping a meal is a reflection of the mood and …
The Ward
I can leave the ward whenever I want to. This frees me of any fear as I wait all alone in the stillness of the after hour within its thick walls under a funky light. The end of the work day is marked by a clinging stillness. Devoid of all patients and personnel one becomes …
Empty calories
Pretend. Unwanted shores. Classroom crime scenes. Got to get off. War. War. War. Rah! Rah! Rah! Show me the money! No one is responsible for any of IT, yet IT keeps happening. Standards down. Demands up. Keep my word? Entitlement 10. Humility 0. Short term everything. Too much is not enough. When did the icing …
Rikki and Sam
Rikki wore herself, her other self, with aplomb. Hers was an expression of polite detachment and of slight boredom with it all. And cloaked in this dignified isolation, rather than give rise to pity or protection, it drew others to her with its charismatic secret quality. She had learned quickly, back in her dark days, …
Quality of language
Thwarted, incongruousness, felicitations, Frankfurter, compendium, plethora; such specificity of language. I love it! With so much being said (not) today with a multitude of initialisms/acronyms and icons, language (as we knew it) has undeniably taken a hit! An inefficiency in communication brought on by the utilization of generic abbreviated expedient words and visuals that foster …
Actually doing alright…great even
Thinking, speaking, doing. Even when not doing still doing, even when not speaking still saying something and so it goes. This ever rushing on of life and we along with it. Some in the eye of the storm, some on the sidelines and still others expertly balanced on the edge. Everyone everything everywhere moving and …
La Fiaccolata
Mystic. Pagan. The beginning. A procession makes its way along the winding mountain road, surrounded by the thick black inkiness of night. The group small and vulnerable beneath the mammoth masses of craggy rock towering above. The connection between total strangers is palpable as the crowd moves forward, following the leader through the darkened village. …
Performers
Her head is exaggeratedly poised on a stiffly held neck; her expression overloaded with feigned interest in what he is saying, which by the way, is a whole lot of nothing. He sits back languidly in his seat, legs crossed, ensuring his hand and cigarette are just so and that his expression conveys the right …
Manu writes 