Seashells

You do not call her over the phone. She’s like a (pungent) dream. Her life is a box full of fake chocolates. Rather, a rectangular box filled with powdered salt. She behaves like it. Like coarse salt. Her hair listens to the storm. Her nails aspire the witches. She is you, she is worse than you. It’s always a rainy day when E is around. C offee could be the reason multiple times, seldom her. Herself. She remarks at others quite often. E ate the poisoned apple that Adam was supposed to eat. Adam saved himself. Adam played a game, maybe Adam tricked E. Innocent birds forget to chirp when E starts singing! E eats eggs and men for breakfast. She digests lies and lip stains for a living!

Roven : She bakes muffins and  makes scrambled eggs for breakfast. Mariah would wear a violet knee length dress quite often. I remember calling her “love”. She would pat me on my right shoulder and whisper in my ears. Our late-night talks would often end with wine and conversations till 2 in the night. I have always noticed the mole which is right close to her left ear lobe. Mariah : He loves the way I smell and he often reminds me of the smile I have on my face after sexual intercourse. He was unpredictable on the bed. We’ve slept with our arms tangled, hands held, and souls exchanged. He would sit at the verandah in the mornings every day. The time he contemplated and tried to adjust to the life we lead. Our second daughter is autistic. She smiles like a flower. She hit puberty 3 months ago. The habit of Roven sitting at the verandah began since the day our daughter hit puberty. He found it a little difficult to adjust to. This has been on for 3 months now. He would s...

The Koyambedu flower market is a busy place. People in the market do not wait for you to start a conversation with them. The boys turn. They stare and stare until they lose sight of you. Men and women call out to you. Some complain and some narrate stories. Some smile, some ask why I only wear an anklet on one ankle. Why I speak Tamil like Sri Lankans? Why I am not-so-Tamil? The flower market is the most crowded place, followed by the fruit and vegetable market. It’s an extremely Instagram friendly place. The yellow lights lit close to the flowers, the smell of fresh flowers and the bustle asks you to wait. The drama unfolds at every corner. I made three friends at the market today. They offered Chennai is crowded. Chennai is quite different from what I imagined it to be like. The place I come from is Mumbai. Mumbai is not so harsh on your skin. The air in the city does not smell of sewage. The water tastes heavenly.   The bus I used to take to Wilson College was...

For our reporting assignment on 4 th February,2020 I was sent to, rather, I chose to report on the story about the vendors on the Foot over bridge at Chromepet railway station. It was a different experience altogether. I had not taken the MTC buses for reporting till now. When I would visit my brothers’ clinic at Chromepet, I would board a train from Indira Nagar railway station and get down at Park town station. I would take the subway and go to the Park station, after which I would get down at Chromepet Railway station. This was my usual route until a fellow friend who walked with me to the station asked me to got Thiruvanmiyur and board bus number 91. The ticket fare is extremely higher than in Mumbai. I paid Rs 31 for my ride while in Mumbai its hardly 5-10Rs. Its only when the distance is extremely far that the bus fare is higher. The bus journey was for more than half an hour. We crossed perungudi, that has many many outlets compared to the place that our college is ...