Writer. Editor
The short story is my most favourite form of expression – one that I am very comfortable with. My interest in writing fiction was a rather accidental discovery way back in February 2005 when I wrote a small story on love for Valentine’s Day on my blog. It didn’t take me long to realise how much I enjoyed the process of working on plots, sketching characters and crafting stories. The possibilities that the realm of fiction offers are endless. Since then, I have gone with the flow and explored a multitude of themes, but predominantly people, relationships, love and life. I am a big fan of R.K. Narayan, so you are sure to find influences of his writing style including a focus on vivid detailing and simple language in my work. Presented here are short stories that I have written over the years.
Time and again, we hear stories of how children are forced into prostitution by people close to them for the sake of money. The thought of a child being abandoned in a strange, cruel and unsafe environment and forced to live under despicable circumstances sends a chill down my spine every time. Meenakshi is the tale of a girl who grows up to be a woman that men come to for various reasons.
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Ageing is a mysterious reality and even stranger, the inevitability of death. Death is perhaps humanity’s biggest fear. Those who have conquered the fear of death have conquered life, conquered truth. When her grandfather falls sick, a grandchild ponders over the concepts of ageing and death.
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It’s important to preserve one’s individuality and space in a marriage. But is it worth it to take it to an extreme? Can there be no room for some compromise? There’s nothing more comforting than the enormous scope that fiction offers. This story was just the perfect outlet for presenting a point of view – that it doesn’t hurt to compromise a bit. It’s about a woman’s realisation.
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I love the idea of writing letters. I consider it an art that needs to be kept alive, no matter what. Nothing, I firmly believe, can replace the human touch and closeness that a handwritten letter can bring. The letter has been a central theme for a good number of my stories. This is one of the first stories that builds on the letter format. A daughter writes to her father discussing children and parenting.
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Musings on childhood led to this story of an English girl. Spring and an English setup seemed to go hand-in-hand when I thought this story up. And when you find just the right kind of picture to complement the story, it all seems perfect – just like the childhood that we unfortunately leave behind in the process of growing up.
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Deprivation is a theme I give a lot of thought to. I am intrigued by what the lives of poor would be like. Of course, whatever I know, I know little – poverty, unfortunately, is an ocean of unimaginable depth. I probably skimmed the surface as a journalism student but whatever I saw left a deep impact on me. Munni was written based on my observations and inferences on what I would call ‘the life on the other side of the fence’. Meet my bangle-selling girl on the local trains of Mumbai – Munni, in this story written in first person.
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There are times when you think too much about what’s happening to you and around you and broadly, life as such. Clarity plays a perfect hide and seek at such times and for me, the only way to clear the cobwebs of confusion out is to write my thoughts down – in a fictionalised form or otherwise. This has proved to be my biggest blessing. ‘In Conversation’ is an attempt to understand desire and suffering.
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