Tag: Fiction

And so they wait

They all loved her, the embodiment of selflessness.

She was always there, just a phone call away, waiting to listen — to sympathize and to make anyone feel better about themselves.

She was neither a nurse, nor a psychiatrist. She was a waitress, waiting tables for a job and pacifying people for mere satisfaction.

So many people knew the waitress, not her. She had been a waitress for three years, and it didn’t matter where she came from or what she did before that. She lived alone and never went on vacations. Some thought her an orphan, and anyway, she was too busy during weekends. She hardly had the time for anything except the ones who asked for it. They’d call her for money, to pick up an urgent present for a loved one, for advice, and to whine about love . And every time — she would listen.

And she seemed happy. She would smile and nod in acknowledgement. She would sit on the couch and give her rapt attention to anyone who needs it.

She knew of the love lives of all her neighbors, and of Mrs Nextdoor’s problems with her dog. When kid upstairs told her about the new girl in his class, she smiled, ruffling his hair.

She would come in early for work and stay until the manager closed the restaurant late in the evening. If anyone needed her, they knew where she’d be.

One fine day, she didn’t show up for work.

Her phone was dead, and no one knew her address. They waited. The needed her to listen; no one else would.

But she never came back.

Again, I’ve clubbed this week’s Writing Challenge with my usual Flash Fiction series. Let me know what you think.

Looking back…

He used to be lot more.

A much shorter story. My first six word story of the Flash Fiction series. Let me know what you think, and share your stories too.

A Father’s Advice

Darkness fell.

He expertly maneuvered the sedan through traffic, and safely got the madam home. He parked, and rushed to open the door for the lady. She looked exhausted but, swinging her hair back, walked purposefully towards her home, as he trudged behind with her luggage.

He came home much later. His daughter snoozed over her math homework. She jerked awake as he caressed her hair. She smiled apologetically, and he understandingly.

“Never, my dear,” he said “be a slave.”

Another short story for my collection of Flash Fiction. Let me know what you think.

These Are a Few My Favourite Books

reading 2

I’ve been into books for a long time, and over time, I’ve had a lot of favourites. These books made, completed my childhood, and some of them I still turn to whenever I’m tired of the world. (Which is, a lot of times)

So, when I realized that IndiSpire had the perfect prompt for this week, I decided to take the plunge. Here’s a list of 10 of my favourite books. In no particular order,

1. Poems for Pleasure: I love reading poetry. I don’t know why exactly, but there’s a sense of peace that engulfs me whenever I curl in a corner with this book. There’s also a sentimental value to this book – my mother bought this in a second hand sale ages ago, and she gave it to me when I first started writing.

2. Tuesdays with Morrie: I watched the movie first and was so impressed when I learnt this was a book. It’s a small, simple book, but it’s so relatable. You can’t help but agree with the ideas expressed in the book. It’s quite amazing what an ALS patient has to tell the world. Wonder what Morrie would say about the Ice Bucket Challenge?

3. Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix: It’s not the only HP book I like, but there’s something about Harry’s fifth year that strikes me hard. I remember not wanting to read this after I heard of Sirius death in this part. But ever since I read it, my love for Sirius has only increased.

4. Eragon – #1 of The Inheritance Cycle: I was so surprised when I read that Christopher Paolini was only 15 when he finished the first draft of this book. This isn’t the best book I’ve ever read, but it is a special book. I was captivated by the simplicity of the narrative. Surprisingly, Eldest (#2) and Brisingr (#3) weren’t that great. And I didn’t read Inheritance (#4)

5. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: I can’t claim that I’ve read all of the Sherlock Holmes adventures, but of the few I’ve read – I’ve never been so impressed. What an amazing man, Sherlock Holmes! Everytime I think about Sherlock’s powers of deduction, I can’t help but imagine what kind of a man Arthur Conan Doyle would’ve been!

6. Agatha Christie: Again, I haven’t read all of Agatha Christie (quite impossible, actually) But of the ones I did read, I was impressed with her writing and the complexities of her plots. “Minute,” that’s how I describe her crimes. Particularly, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. No wonder she’s the Queen of Crime!

7. A Christmas Carol: This is the first book I ever reviewed. Once in our English class, we were asked to write about “my favourite book,” and I chose this. That’s when I first learnt that when you write about something you’ve read, you get better at explaining your thoughts.

8. Les Misérables: I stayed up until 4 AM reading this book. It was a translated copy of Penguin Publications that I had borrowed from my school library. Great story, and the quotes are still etched deep in my memory: “Unwitting innocence is sometimes more penetrating than cunning.”

9. Wuthering Heights: A love story like no other. I often wonder how the literary world would be if Emily Bronte had written more than just this one book. But perhaps that’s her greatness: one book that shook the world. This book remains my favourite story of love to this date, no competition.

10. Enid Blyton’s classics: Childhood is incomplete without Enid Blyton. What hasn’t she written about? Adventure series, The Famous Five, Secret Seven and The Find-Outers mysteries, The Malory Towers and St. Clares for school goers to relate to. And so many other books every child should enjoy.

The list doesn’t end with these books though. There are countless other books that didn’t make the list, but still deeply affected my life.

Remember the Tinkle Digest? Suppandi, Shikari Shambhu, Tantri the Mantri and all those comic characters that made boring days bearable – ah, this prompt makes me nostalgic.