This story by Danish writer ISAK DINESEN is a revision and elaboration of an episode which originally appeared in her debut short story collection, SEVEN GOTHIC TALES. WHEN, upon the first Wednesday after Easter, the Apostle Simon, called Peter, was walking in the streets of Jerusalem, so absorbed in the thought of the Resurrection that he … Read more
The greatest storyteller of all, the old crab-crone, sits brown and withered on the searock, like one of the salt-streaked ferns clinging to its sides; the spray of the seafoam tosses against her hunched back and turtly neck, and streams down her shriveled breasts like silvered locks, gleaming with the wisdom of all the added … Read more
A translation of the Tamil short story ‘தேவகி சித்தியின் டயரி’ (1999) by B.Jeyamohan. Amma, my mother, sent me to find out whether Devaki Chithi was coming downstairs to get her coffee or not. I pushed against the door of the room where Chithappa and Chithi, my uncle and aunt, usually sleep; it was locked. So, I marched … Read more
Sometime last week, I happened to watch the Neeya Naana episode from 15.4.18. I often watch the show because I’m interested in observing and understanding its narrative — it’s also not a bad way to understand the pulse of the people. This episode did not disappoint. It was a discussion about mother tongue learning, with one group … Read more
(Originally published in the extant little magazine Madras Mag, Oct. 2017) Four hundred years ago, the world was shrinking like a ball of calico soaked in salt water. Ships with multihued sails, proud masts and busy decks were riding the ocean and sailing eastward. Towns sprouted out of the beachy sand where the land and … Read more
The morning will see you thrown upon the twisting paths With the first light as your only guide And the raging wind for your only friend. The fork lies ahead, friend, and as you know you shall go east and I shall go west. The earth is your mother, the sky Your father, … Read more
The best part was that I knew it was a dream, through and through. The car ride. The mountain. The mounds of sand. I was even able to remember details, strange for a dream. I was able to recall the strong smell of the diesel in the car, the heat shimmering from the sand. I … Read more
1 Lord Vinayaka, the elephant-headed god, the destroyer of evil, was reclining comfortably on his sofa on Mount Kailash after a heavy afternoon meal. After all, people insisted on treating him every single day with everything from coconuts to kozhukattais. No wonder, he mused, that Dr. Dhanvantri kept telling him to get more exercise on … Read more
It was under the blue sky, yes, the same blue sky that roofs yourself and myself, the blue sky under which we have spent so many happy hours unmindful of its very existence, it was right under the blue sky that I got your message written on the peepal leaf scroll. I was in the … Read more
I am the lightThat shines in a streamAcross the sands of the beach,Making the grains glimmer.Running in circlesI shine on, to penetrateTo the end of the endless skyTill the depths of the ocean’s profundity.From the heights of the cloudsTo the heads in the crowdsI look, I peek, I search, I seek.My circles, they seem eternal;I seek their culmination.Myself, … Read more
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