[First published in The Hindu, MetroPlus dated Aug 26, 2016.] My sole climbing feat before I set out on a high-altitude trek of 14,000 feet in the Himalayas was climbing a 50-feet-tall water tank in Puducherry. And that too nine years ago. I often recollected, with an odd mix of amusement and shame, how myContinue reading “What a Himalayan trek taught me about perseverance”
Category Archives: Creative Writing
Unicorn and the stars
“What is the distance between the earth and the stars?” My five-year-old nephew asks, wide-eyed. The rocking horse in his bedtime story book Summons a unicorn and goes wherever it wishes. “I want to ride on that horse and get to the stars. I want to ask amma why she went away so far…” [WhenContinue reading “Unicorn and the stars”
Two fates
Coal – scum of the earth. Burned in the hearth, lent warmth, & powered the world with its labour. Diamond – precious stone. Adorned women, fuelled wars, & consumed the labour of others. [I wrote this poem at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in America last year following the murder of GeorgeContinue reading “Two fates”
खाली घर
बचपन में, घर के पास जो खाली घर था,वहाँ मैं और मेरी दीदी, ऊंची आवाज़ में,अपने नाम को पुकार कर उसकी गूँज सुना करते थे।आज सालों बाद खाली घर में अपने नाम के बजायकिसी दूसरे के नाम को गूँजता सुन करये ख्याल आया : बचपन और जवानी में यही फर्क़ हैकि उम्र के साथ केवलContinue reading “खाली घर”
तंगदिल
वो कोई तंगदिल ही होगा,जिसने प्यार के बदले प्यार ना दिया।अब हम गिला करें भी तो किस से,जब मुझे ठुकराने के चक्कर मेंवो खुद बर्बाद हुआ… © Vidya Venkat
An anthropologist among the journalists 