Storytime

Visiting Hours II (Guest Post)

2011-09-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

“Hello,” he opened. “H-hi there,” she replied, unable and unwilling to hide her surprise. “No one told me you were coming. You didn't tell me you were coming.” He shrugged, opening his palms in greetings. He approached her bed, taking a few moments to scan his surroundings as he crossed the room. Within, the hospital room was similar to others Bruce had seen, all of which varied

Visiting Hours Part I (Guest Post)

2011-09-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

An unremarkable brown haired head peered over the edge of the single sheet of printer paper, which moments earlier had shielded his identifiable facial features from staff, patients, and visitors who might later be able to identify him. The page was carefully typed in fourteen point font, but contained only a few instructions, leaving plenty of room for handwritten addendums, one of which already

Arranged Marriage I

2010-12-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

Chris: So you're telling me that you would, in theory, just marry some random girl that your parents happened to find? Vikram: Its not that simple. There are several criteria which must be passed in order for my parents to deem a girl worthy of consideration. In addition to being beautiful, the girl would have to come from a good family, be educated at a top institution, have an interesting

Ambiguous Leaves

2010-06-23T01:32:00.000-07:00

1:"So how is life these days?"2:"I hate it when people ask me that. It's like talking about the weather.""I didn't mean it in the I-am-incapable-of-intelligent-conversation way. I actually want to know. I care.""I'll let this one slide. Life is pretty drama free; its a nice change.""Good to hear.""...So?""So what?""Your turn.""Oh. My life is not quite as drama free, but I'd say that I'm pretty

Afternoon Tea Part II

2010-03-14T01:45:00.000-08:00

“Cellphones are worse than clingy boyfriends” thought Kavita, as her cellphone kept buzzing in her pocket, trying to distract her from giving the Creed-couple, as she mentally labeled them, their check. The Creed-couple reminded her of the nerdy-but-cute guy, who had been her only respite from the Creed-couple’s painful conversations. She pulled out the whining piece of technology from her

The West Village

2010-02-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

Disha walked up the steps and into the cloudy New York evening. She was half surprised and half pleased that he'd called her randomly to say that he was in New York and wanted to catch up. The rest of her friends who had since moved out of the city hadn't bothered to keep in touch at all. After spending the summer being interns together, this would be the first time they would meet. She didn't

Earbuds (Guest Author)

2010-02-21T22:17:00.000-08:00

She sits outside on the steps alone in the warm night air. A lonely moth flutters around the porch light above her and the sounds of crickets echo in the dark of the small front yard. She stares blankly at the black river of street that extends out from the grass. She hears the screen door open with a creak behind her followed by an familiar voice."You look lonely out here."He lets the screen

Strawberries with Cream Part VI

2010-02-15T02:44:00.000-08:00

Social engineering was just a theoretical term for Anjor until recently. With 3 days left for him to leave the country, he had gained practical experience. He had managed to engineer a gathering of the social circle that he shared with Preeti. It had taken many phone calls, a lot of convincing and shifting

Strawberries with Cream Part V

2010-02-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

It is getting more and more difficult for Anjor to run around looking for strawberries and flowers without attracting attention from his friends and family. But he has to play this one close to the chest. Between meeting people and running errands around the city, he has to work hard to find fragments of time in which to pursue his girl. The efforts he is going through are downright scandalous in

Afternoon Tea I

2010-01-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

Kavita was tired of serving tea. She did enjoy working at the teashop, but she felt like she had been stuck there ever since he happened. She needed to find a way to move on with her life. In other words, it was a regular slow afternoon for her. That’s when the little bell above the door jingled.Harmeet had recently moved to the city in hope of bigger and better things. He was tired of doing

Strawberries with Cream Part IV

2010-01-17T21:51:00.000-08:00

Kaay deu bola sahib (what would you like)Ek rose pahije (I want a rose)Hee ghya (here)Kiti jhale (how much)5 rupeesAnjor gets in the car and quickly shoves the rose in the glove compartment. He doesn’t want anyone to see it before the planned time. He’s glad that he has a car now. Two trips to India ago he had to do all these shenanigans on his crappy scooter. He laughs at the thought of trying

Strawberries with Cream Part III

2010-01-05T02:16:00.000-08:00

Anjor’s hands do not normally sweat. Especially while texting. Yet the cellular phone almost slips out of his hands not once but twice. After feverishly thrashing his fingers on the keypad, going through several revisions of the message he is typing, the screen reads“I was bored today, and started wondering how many guys would try to beat me up if I took you out for coffee. So I decided that

The River

2010-01-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

"So why do we always go to the river at odd hours in the night?""Because.""...what?""Because its the river, and the river is awesome.""Heh. ok""Walking by the river makes me forget about everything else for a while, you know, I can just kick back and not think about anything.""That makes sense.""The city skyline is pretty at night""Yeah, especially with the full moon"so are you"What do you want

Inside The Box

2009-12-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

Zack was tired of people. They were all around him and they wouldn’t stop bothering him with their inane queries and their obvious observations. He didn’t know what had come over him, but it was as if he had springs sticking out from all sides which repelled him from everyone.They were all delusional and naïve. Of course he couldn’t say that to their face, because then they would delude

Encounter at the Zurich University

2009-12-16T19:54:00.000-08:00

Stéphane managed to find a relatively cosy corner in the giant atrium. The University center was teeming with students who were studying, chatting, sipping coffee, socializing. Not really sure what to do with himself, Stéphane pulled out a tattered paperback from his overflowing backpack, and turned to page 36, where he’d left off.By page 42, Stéphane’s bottom began to feel numb from the cold

Happiness

2009-11-18T17:02:00.001-08:00

"Ultimately, what do you think people want?""Fame, fortune, a spouse, kids?""Beyond that""To make their mark on the world?""Search deeper, these are all things. Why do they want these things? What drives them?""Grandkids? Great grand kids?""Come on be serious.""Sex? They want to pass on their genes and live on forever through them?""Under what circumstances would you want to live on forever?""If

Strawberries with Cream Part II

2009-09-20T01:10:00.000-07:00

The first lungful of sweaty air triggers a plethora of memories in Anjor's brain as he steps off thecommercial airliner. He remembers the last time he breathed that air in the most populatedcity in India, Bombay. He remembers what he was thinking about at that exact time, before he walked into the air conditioned airport. He remmebers who he was thinking about. The memory of her face in his mind

Strawberries with Cream

2009-08-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

Really?Really. The season is being over two months back only, sahibThere has to be somewhere in this city where I can get some strawberries. Kahin toh milna chahiye.Nahi sahib. Impossible hainBut I really really need them. Bahut jarurat hain. Can you get them from somewhere? I’ll pay you extra.Sorry sahib, nahi hoga.Anjor walks away from the fourth produce stand, the all-too-familiar conversation

An Average Train Ride

2009-06-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

I barely squeezed myself into the midst of the sweaty crowd as the automatic doors were grinding to a close. I was close enough to each person around me that I could smell each of their odors and feel different parts of each of their bodies. There was absolutely no notion of personal space. The contents of the bogey in the form of warm bodies responded inertially when the train jolting to life.

On Air

2009-04-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

"T minus 20 to air." Joe was ready for the show. He was ready with the playlist, talking points, and knew the controller board like the back of his hand. This was his third season being the host for the radio show "Walking on Air". Since the beginning, the show had skyrocketed in ratings and had somewhat of a cult following. There was no reason for him to be nervous except...this time he was

Chosen (Guest Post)

2009-03-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

The wedding band started to play. I caught the swish of a red dress out of the corner of my eye. Before I even saw her face, I knew who it was. She approached our group, and paused just for a second, bloodlessly evaluating each of us in turn. We made eye contact. "Let's go", she said. We walked out onto the dance floor."Just so you know, I can't swing dance.""Neither can I, but I bet you can fake

Lost

2009-03-06T02:13:00.000-08:00

It was getting close to 4am. He stopped in his tracks and whirled around, but there was no one. He was in a questionable part of town, but he had consciously fallen behind the group and taken the longer route. He was tired of interaction.Right now, he just needed solitude. The expanse of ice to his right was beautiful. The reflections of the city lights danced around playfully on the frozen river

Nightmare

2009-03-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

Speed. Traffic whizzing by. Steering wheel? But he didn't have a driver's license, nor did he know how to drive. But he was driving. How was this possible? But it came naturally to him. What was he doing here? Everything seemed unfamiliar. Traffic light. Cop. Don't Stop whatever, happens, the small voice in his head said. He didn't. The cop yelled something, but he stepped on the accelerator of

No Tomorrow

2009-02-27T18:05:00.001-08:00

"Well what would you do in my situation?""Hm. I guess I could do heroin, acquire a sniper rifle, climb Everest, and still be unsatisfied""...why?""Because why not?""What would satisfy you enough?""Well, I suppose if in your situation there would just be so many things that I wanted to do, it would be really hard to try them in just one day and be satisfied with the outcome. For instance, I would

Shipping up to Boston Part II

2009-02-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

The light was blinding him, and there was a sharp pain in the side of his neck. He blinked a couple of times and squinted, as his eyes adjusted to the light coming through the window. "What would you like the vegetarian or non-vegetarian option sir?" The piercing voice reminded him of why he'd woken up in the first place. "Uhh, vegetarian please", he realized how dry his mouth felt. "And what she

The Society

2009-02-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

The cold bit into Umar's cheeks as he walked along the empty street. The steam rising from the manhole covers reminded him of Gotham. As he turned the corner, he started to second guess his decision to accept the invitation. He knew it was supposed to be an honor, he was told it was for the greater good, but a couple of years ago he could never have imagined himself in this situation. Turning an

Shipping up to Boston

2009-02-09T17:13:00.000-08:00

"I hope no one comes between us", she said to him, in her slightly accented English which betrayed her Indian origins. She was quite fair for an Indian girl, which suggested that she was from the north.Chaaya, of course, was referring to the empty seat between them on the commerical airliner en route Boston. There was a sudden jolt in Aditya's gut, but he couldn't tell whether it was her words or

Fiction

2009-02-09T16:54:00.001-08:00

This is just a general disclaimer stating that most of the stories that might be written here are fiction, although they may or may not be based on real life experiences. Some stories may be based on other people's experiences so apologies to them in advance.Any similarity between characters in the stories to people in real life is coincidental.