Tell Me No More of Enchanted Days

  I saw my heart on a screen today. A tiny fluttering bird, I must be a sparrow. Or a robin, I thought. I couldn't keep my eyes off it, as the nurse kept saying, 'Turn to the side please'. It opened and closed like a tiny door, in and out, in and out. It had the feeling of another, like watching the beginnings of your first born, the magical sound of a horse galloping in a field. It was the same sound. A horse bird. Looks like a bird, as fast as a horse. A Pegasus! I was a Pegasus! Just when my pride was swelling up in my beautiful heart, ready to burst out of the machine and fly around this cold, sterile room, she muttered to herself. 'Are you bicuspid?' 'Bi what?' The only Bi I know is something I could have been or probably will be, if given the chance.  'Someone who has only two aortic valves instead of three.' 'If I were, I would have known, right? What causes it?' 'It's a rare congenital condition.' 'I don't have any

 When I sat quietly, With tears rolling from my sky, Down to my lips, where I drank them in, Parched for years, sowing my songs Burying my words in the wet soil. For what good is it to know? And what good is to show? The vines will die in the scorching sun, And the flowers rot in the endless snow. The seasons will change, the moments Tear into paper and fly away like pixels. Everything is over, this is the end. Everything is past, all life is death. I looked up and saw its light,  My very own Star of Bethlehem. The panic subsided, my breath relaxed. I took it as a good omen. I looked to the East, And waited for God himself to arrive. The star continued to shine. And all was calm. And all was bright.

  He went inside the supermarket to buy some Maggi. Another Saturday, working from home. His flatmate Rohan had gone to stay with his parents in Jhansi. So boring, just another evening on the Xbox. He had even stopped reading recently. It required too much effort. A girl walked in. Every man, from the workers loading the bread from the truck outside to the uncle buying farsaan looked at her.  She was plump, slightly tanned with long wavy hair. But it wasn't the hair that everyone was looking at. It was her top. She was wearing a magenta backless bandana top, that exposed her midriff and when she turned, exposed side boobs. He slyly turned his face away. Then when she went inside, looked at her butt. It was big and round, and her jeans were not even skinny, but regular old fashioned 90s jeans, faded, light denim with deep pockets. Two aunties whispered to each other.  Side boobs, he thought. Seriously? Who shows off their side boobs in a supermarket? But, there was something hugely

  I've always had three repetitive dreams. One of missing a train, another of flying in the sky and the third one that started in childhood, that of tigers chasing me. Yesterday I had a dream that diverged from a repetitive pattern. Instead of missing a train, I dreamt that I forgot to get off the train on time. I was searching for this man who promised me that we would get off together, so when the station came, I kept waiting for him and looking for him, and the train started to move. I decided to get off without him and jumped off from the moving train. There I met a man with a grey beard and grey hair, who hugged me and said, "I've been waiting for you, you finally came." We decided to go to his house where he said we would cook food. He took me through a forest path. I wasn't scared. I don't know right now in my life who he was, but my dream self seemed to trust him. We passed a lake with green leaves growing on it, like  hyacinths or lotus, I'm not s

 Ami took me to the trial room and undid her first button. There was a pink bruise on the side of her neck.  "You got hurt?," I asked naively. "No, silly. That's a love bite." "What is a love bite? Did Sid bite you?" "Yes, but it doesn't hurt. You are supposed to suck on the skin. Not bite it." "But why does one do it?" "It's pleasurable, that's why. You are such a baby." "I am. I'm only 17. Not 21 like you." "You've never even kissed a boy?" "No. And I don't plan to." "Come on. You are joining such a fancy college. I'm sure you will have a boyfriend." "I don't like boys." "Okay, girls then." "Cheeee. What rubbish you talk!" "Not rubbish. By the way, if my Baba sees this, I'm dead." "Are they very strict, your parents?" "They are typical Gujjus. Want me to get married soon." "What abo