Nothing can bring back the hour
The auto-rickshaw swerved, trying to avoid the many potholes on the road, while I clutched desperately on to my suitcases. This was going to be a long break. We were on the way to the railway station…
Clipped wings and our silences
“Care for a coffee break?”, I asked my colleague, peeping into her room. She looked at the papers strewn on her desk with a frown and shrugged. “You go ahead. I have work,” she smiled weakly. “No,…
A bloody night to remember
It was the winter of 1995. I had just wrapped up work for the day and stepped out of the Surgery ward where I was posted. “Doctor!” I heard a voice behind me. I turned around to…
A candle snuffed out
There are times when you work with all your heart, and put in every bit of your being to create a system. No one sees the work behind it. No one ever acknowledges your effort. The respect…
The smell of books
My earliest memory of Bangalore is of life at Bangalore Military School, where my father worked as the Head of the Department of Zoology. The memories are faint and fuzzy as I wasn’t even 5 years of age.…
Husbands who starve you
“I’m so fed up of you, that I’m going to title my next post ‘Husbands who starve you’!”, I hissed angrily trying to keep my voice low and still growl at him at the airport. He gave…
Photo-phobia
The alarm rang at three in the morning. I woke up groggily with my head feeling as heavy as a hundred bricks. I had hardly managed three hours of sleep. The World Cup finale had ended on…
The weakness of strengths
I am assessing a pile of answer books, when the thought first occurs to me. I find some answer sheets where it appears as if the student was born to be a doctor. Letters are scrawled across…
The letter from Taj Mahal Hotel
Our house in the staff quarters was a five minute walk away from my father’s office. So the postman usually delivered our letters to his office, irrespective of whether they had the residential address on them. There was…
