Anecdotes of my City

“When was the last time that you woke up so early in the morning?” asked a familiar voice to Palak breaking her state of trance. The voice was familiar to her to the point of being wary. She was so habituated of having it around that she did not pay much attention to it. Nonetheless, she answered, “Surely not in a while.” The never-ending sky above; the restless Ichamati tirelessly chasing its pasts towards their salvation, the tiny bees at a tree nearby busily humming around their hive, all spread a layer of tranquil contentment over Palak’s mind. She could not tell if she was awake or asleep. She could not tell if she was in her three-star hotel room, looking into the torrent through the shutters of her window or, in the midst of the mist, formed over it. She felt as if she had known the river for all her life. As if it has visited these banks over and over again, in search of her, only awaiting this moment, to give her a message. Then again, she also had the feeling that she h...

It was an important day for Tamal. He was finally going to meet the investor for his big break and if everything went as per the plan, might even sign the contract for his debut album. Yes, the investor’s proposal was a little too commercial to his liking! Yes, a larger part of the album cover would be consumed by the logo of his brand earning him a sell-out tag! And yes, he would have to mould his style a little to make his songs “palatable” for the mass; but finally, thanks to this investor he would get a chance to be called a professional singer. He can always find his way back to his own style! but for now, money is the bigger issue. After all, what has he ever achieved by clinging to his rudimentary ethics! For the past eight years, he has been trying to shake off the tag of an amateur singer without leaving his roots behind; but nobody in the industry has agreed to launch his semi classical - hard metal fusion songs. Praised his talent in talent shows, called him brave or...

Death perhaps is the most evident and yet the most shunned part of human life. People tend to avoid mention of it in their discussions in regular life, let alone living near the dead or visiting them. Even in a considerably modern city like mine, finding a companion to visit a cemetery is not very easy, never mind going there at night. Therefore, for preparation of this story, which was supposed to be an assignment, I decided to reach South Park Street cemetery at 11 pm, alone, and stay there for the night. However, due to the turn of some events, I reached some other smaller, yet equally infamous graveyard and decided to explore it instead. Due to my previous idea about the dead, and living one's careful disassociation with them, I did not hope to have any living company in the graveyard at that hour and my assumption remained unchallenged for the first half of my stay there. At the beginning of my night at the cemetery, I, as an expression of my excitement, visited each...