Enfold me in an embrace That is long enough, Strong enough, For me to sigh. But not so long that I'd cry And shrug the sky Off my shoulders. It's my nature to endure, My strength I am sure of. It's my softness that comes alive In your arms That needs renewing.
There were two other Chowkidars. The First among Chowkidars, if you will. They were (are) Jayan and Vijayan, the dwarapalaks at Vaikunth, the abode of Lord Vishnu. It is a position earned through great merit and millennia of good karma, it is indeed the greatest honour to be a Chowkidar to God. In essence, it [...]
I'm always accused of being disciplined and brave by the mere virtue of being a homeschooling parent. I swear to god, I'm none of the above. My kids are ill-brought-up and as idiotic their parents. Yesterday, in the middle of desperately yawning through ancient Egyptian history of Cheops and Isis and Osiris and Nut and [...]
I had an epiphany: We are scared of The Dark. Both inner and outer. The fragile inner nightscape, we napalm it with opioids, antipsychotics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics. We walk around like shell-shocked extras from District 12 and are deemed fixed. The outer darkness was far easier to civilize. Pluck the forests, drain the swamps, [...]
Gandhari had been pregnant for nearly two years with no signs of a baby emerging. It had been a most difficult pregnancy too. In despair she struck at her belly with an iron rod, and in that instant she went into labour and delivered, not a healthy baby but an unformed, hideous lump of grey [...]
As we walk back, late in the evening, discussing the pointlessness of human existence, how we as a species have the singular ability to desecrate everything we touch, in our arrogance how we have managed to vandalise, destroy, ruin vast tracts of the earth irrevocably. On a planet where all other organisms coexist, taking no [...]
Rishi Galava was a desperate man. And he had no one but himself to blame. He had insisted that his guru and father, Vishwamitra, accept some guru dakshina even though Vishwamitra had wanted none. Annoyed by his persistence, Vishwamitra imperiously demanded 800 steeds, white as moonlight, with one side of one ear dark as night. [...]
Daksha Prajapati, the progenitor of the human race, the preserver of balance of life, the architect of the code of conduct of civilized society, finally had reason to smile. He now knew how he would avenge himself and his pride. Shiva and he had been at loggerheads for a manvantara. If there was ever one [...]
The Hero Several people, mainly men, have expressed disgust at my choice of stories, particularly the Madhavi one. Why must you choose to write about these horrible stories, a pained friend asked. They are so regressive, harmful even. We need to put away these stories, bury them. I tried explaining that Pauranic stories are not [...]
My story of the Hag set me thinking of the feminine archetypes in mythology. Ever notice how they are classified on the basis of which side of the reproductive cycle they fall? Maiden/virgin, flush of youth, spring, the one whom wars are fought for, the one who must be possessed. Mother, lush, peak of [...]
You are a nothing 