Beyond 'S'

I was going to die today, but I didn’t know then. I was sitting amidst a crowd where all were seated in a wooden chair which could fold over. It was a bit unstable and made a creaky noise as I was trying to make myself comfortable. The rocks on the ground made things even more difficult. There were lights everywhere and still couldn’t see the characters clearly without my glasses. In my forties, things hadn’t turned out the way I wanted it to. Working with the most respected men in the underworld, my brother and to have reached a position where I have to hide from him. *** On the stage, the bhagavat was expressing the scene occurring, in the form of a song. The tone and the hand gestures he made were always something I admired. The chande , maddale and taala accompanied bhagavata’s song. The characters of the Yakshagana were moving around, dancing and expressing their emotions according to the scene. It was an art form I always admired. My dad used to take me to watch th

“What are you doing up there??” she said. I was standing up on a short ladder leaning on the long book shelf that I had designed a year ago, searching for a book. “I’m looking for a book”, I said. “Ok, whatever. How come you’re up so early today??” “Early, it’s 10:30” “Oh yeah, considering the fact that you wake up at 2 in the afternoon usually” “People change dear. How come you’re here??” “Your sis asked me to check on you for a couple of days. So I’m here” I got down the ladder, holding a copy of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez classic to experience magic realism of his stories. I sat on the chair, placed opposite to the book shelf, as she stayed right beside it.  “Do you need some breakfast??” she said. “No. But I would love a cup of coffee, if you don’t mind” “I’m here for you; you can ask me anything for the next couple of days” She brought coffee in a few minutes. I placed the book next to me on the handle, bending the corner of the page and took the cup from her

“Welcome Mr. Arjun”, he said. It was a place just like Earth; Blue skies, green trees and oxygen to breathe. “Welcome to Htrae” he said. I looked at him, as my attention on the surrounding decreased. He looked just like me. I was baffled. “Thank you, you look just like me”, I said shocked. “I’m you in this world. I’m your mirror image. But not a billionaire like you to travel into this world”, he said. “What do you mean by ‘not a billionaire’??” I asked him not completely understanding his situation. “I’m still working in the same bank you worked in fifteen years ago” “How’s that possible??” He handed me the newspaper.  I turned the pages; I couldn’t recognize most of them. He took me to a nearby book store. There were books I had never even heard of. “So what do you think happens in our world”, he asked me. “I don’t know. I’m confused right now” “Ok, let me explain. Let’s go out and get some coffee” We went to a coffee shop, which didn’t exist in our world.  The in

The phone rang as I was sleeping. It was around 7:30 in the morning, and it was a bit early as long as my daily schedule was concerned. I didn’t receive it, kept the phone in flight mode and continued sleeping… It was around 9 and I was set to leave to the hospital, when I checked my phone “10 missed calls”, it read. “Oh fuck, I’m in trouble”, I said to myself. I called back to Dr. Sophie. “Hello Sophie, Good morning”, I said in a charming way so that she wouldn’t shout at me. “Where are you?? I’ve been calling you for ages. Come here in fifteen or I’m gonna kick your ass from this hospital. There’s a peculiar case that has arrived. We’ve never seen something like that in medical history”, she said and disconnected the call. “Maybe her boyfriend turned into a donkey”. I said to myself. I drove as fast as I could to the hospital. “Good Morning again, doctor. Did your boyfriend turn into a donkey??” I said. “Ha Ha. Check this report”, she said. “A man cannot smile”, first

I was sitting in front of our house in Chickmagalore, and I was with my better half sitting on a wooden swing  and we were talking. “Are we running away from our day to day life??” she asks me sounding perplexed. “Why do you think so… this is life, we are living it the way we want to, Life isn’t just going to work, coming back home, watching TV and sleeping and continuing the above process… right, we need to take breaks and live it the way we want to” I replied. “Ok ok, you and your philosophies of life…Mein toh chup hi betungi”, she says. “C’mon, how can we discover new things about each other, if you keep quiet, my dear!!” I wink at her. “Ok, you are trying to say that we retire and settle here forever??” “No, we have chosen jobs where we can’t retire. I’m a writer, you are doctor. I’m just saying we need these breaks, so we can know new things about each other” “Ok, Mr.Rohan we have been married for the past 30 years and you still don’t know things about me… Tum kehn

“Dad, what happened next??”  She asked eagerly. Ok ok, wait… last time I told you this story, I stopped right at this point because you wanted to go out and play, and now ten years later, I’m continuing it. “Really, I don’t remember anything”, she said. I added, “Just like your Mom”. So her friends joined her. She just left and went to join them. I wasn’t thinking much about her. I started browsing and watched some episodes of House of Cards. Time went by, it was around 11… when something happened that I didn’t expect. Dr.Priya came and sat write in front of me. “Why aren’t you with your friends??” I asked her. “They all slept, I wasn’t getting any” She said. “You wanna watch a movie? Have you watched 500 Days??” I asked her. “No, is it good??” she asked. “Then let’s watch it, you tell me ‘how’s it’, after watching it, Ok…” and we watched the movie. I love that movie, she also loved it…and she was explaining me, the things she liked in it. She loved that ‘Expectatio