kanumoni held the end of the chadar and with deft, quick fingers twisted the material. in an instant, a series of three triangular folds fell across the edge of the fine white cotton with motifs in black and red, the tassels bobbed playfully. she tucked the point she was holding from where the pleats started, into khushi’s petticoat, over the mekhela. then she leaned closer to take the rest of the chadar around khushi, letting the other end fall over…
it was soft and cool against his fingers. he stroked the fabric feeling its smoothness, its supple texture. the yarn had a natural golden sheen, a deep innate gold that didn’t need to flaunt itself or glitter too obviously. it was rich and comfortable with its beauty. asr held a fistful of mooga and then slowly let it go… watching it fall. “can you make it as light as chiffon, weave a fine transparency in? what do you think, salman?”…
INDEX he frowned darkly as he looked at the faint trace of yellow on the back of his right hand where mami had put a generous dab of the turmeric paste. di had smiled widely as she’d taken a little bit of the paste off his skin and scraped it on the edge of another bowl of the haldi ceremony turmeric she was holding in her hand. “ho gaya!” she had smiled, “now we can take this over to…
should the pillars of memory topple out of my reach, i must remake the air, the steam and the soil and the leaves ~~~ pablo neruda, from “memory” ~~~ millions of stars seemed to be rushing up at her. they twinkled blue, grey, yellow, red… which constellation was this? where were they going? khushi breathed in sharply. her cool sudden breath seemed to travel down to the base of her throat and stop, caught…the stars blinked. she closed her eyes…
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 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……
love is a place & through this place of love move (with brightness of peace) all places yes is a world & in this world of yes live (skilfully curled) all worlds ~~~ ee cummings ~~~ he stood at the doorway watching her. her eyes were dreamy yet they sparkled with merriment, or was it mischief, every now and then. but then back they went to another world where likely fairies and fauns lived and also rajkumars and their princesses.…
i have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and i am not who I was, though some principle of being abides, from which I struggle not to stray. ~~~ stanley kunitz, the layers ~~~ khushi stared down at the little pink bag clutched in her hands. it was so tiny, a little shiny purse with brown edging and trimmings. her heart felt a desert wind blow through, shattered lay everything all around, a peculiar sensation right in…
but i love your feet only because they walked upon the earth and upon the wind and upon the waters, until they found me. ~~~ pablo neruda ~~~ darkness enveloped the the long narrow tunnel like corridor ahead… flapping of wings as asr held his wife’s hand and ran down into the blackness in front, pigeons flying out of nooks and crannies, disturbed again tonight. there was no time to lose. he figured shyam’s men would be lurking somewhere…
