INDEX they glowed orange refulgent shiny, heaped almost a foot high on a large bell metal platter, next to that another sumptuous mound sat on a stainless steel plate, the largest in bua ji’s kitchen… there were a couple more formations of bright, crunchy, crisp, hot, freshly dunked in clear sugar syrup jalebis in other containers on the platform next to the stove. however, the mistress of jalebi making seemed not quite done, she had a large basin of…
INDEX lavanya knocked on asr’s door and walked in, she was in a tizzy about the pret a porter line for blooms… she was very sure the standardized sizes needed to be looked at again. the market had changed, quite drastically in fact, in the past few years. the number of young women with a taste for fashion and ready money of their own to spend had grown dramatically. this year, she had a hunch that opening up the…
INDEX now there were two girls getting married in just two days’ time. bua ji mopped her brow with her faithful red towel and then tied it tight around her head… “hai re nand kissore!” she muttered under her breath and set to work. an air of frenzy gripped her home. there was a constant rush of people coming and leaving, endless rounds of tea, jalebi and samosa. some came to see the brides to be and the wedding…
INDEX “why, arnav ji? why can’t i love someone else?” khushi whispered trembling all over. her acidity had spiraled out of control. she was holding the espresso maker so tight, its heat was transmitting through her skin permeating to a place in her chest somewhere. hey devi maiyya, what sort of acidity was this! his eyes went molten brown, a fire leaping in them. he leaned toward her, in his hand a large blood red frangipani, and as she…
INDEX water of love deep in the ground no water here to be found some day baby when the river runs free i’ll carry that water of love to me… akash’s voice rose on the last “water” and fell to a soothing mellow thereafter, and yet there was an underlying fire in it… “love to me” he sang completely immersed, his head swayed a little, his shoulders moved to the beat, his hands tapped the bench they were sitting…
INDEX khushi felt a smooth silky warmth slide over her ears and a rush somewhere far away. no, it was right inside her, a tumble in her stomach as they lifted off, what was plummeting down though? was it her heart? but how could that be, they were rising and leaving ground… the engine sound was piercing and sharp, deafening almost… she had never been in a hawai jahaaz before, surely she would fall off the plane and… and……
INDEX she was soft and pliant in his arms, her breath was hot on his throat, the crook of his neck. she was kissing him around his neck and then her lips returned to hover near his, inviting his touch. he could feel a need rise in him. a need to hold her and lie by her side, to feel her body falling against his, to be with her, just her and no one else. what’s the matter with…
INDEX anjali sat before the dressing table staring at the row of green and gold fine glass bangles she had just selected from her rack of bangles. her eyes had strayed to the pale pink ones on another stack wondering if she should combine those with the bright leaf green ones when she caught herself up short. shyam ji was a cheat. he was in police custody. what was she doing staring at bangles in the middle of that?…
garima gupta was worried. why would the raizadas cancel a havan unless something was seriously amiss. and what might that be? she sat breaking the ends off french beans and removing the strings, part of her mind pondering the seasoning for the vegetable, whether it should be cooked as a dry sabzi or one with a little gravy. these were the everyday, seemingly inconsequential things that often helped garima cope with the harshness of life. she had grown up in…
INDEX khushi sat in the back holding anjali in her arms as she lay on the seat and asr drove fast toward shantivan. when di had passed out and asr had run to catch her, without thinking much or wasting time, khushi had tried every door on the floor to find a bathroom, get water and do what she had seen done in many movies to revive an unconscious person. she had splashed cold water on anjali’s face till…