Three Hour Difference

Erica was typing furiously on keyboard, which was the only sound in the room. She knew people upstairs will start working out in 15 minutes reverberating thumping sound for at-least half-an-hour. It’s 7:45 am on digital alarm clock in California but 10:45 am in East Coast. The person Erica is chatting with is in Boston. She never met him and probably won’t meet him again. There is not much information available on his Facebook account just like her account. They are not even Facebook friends which could be the reason of limited visibility. ‘Should I send him the request?’, she thought? She hovered her mouse pointer around ‘Add Friend’ button but decided not to click on that. She feared if he comes closer to her life, he will go away just like others.

James was on his way to work in his car which hasn’t moved for ten minutes because of traffic due to maintenance work on road. He looked on dashboard clock and sighed as if he expected this delay. It’s been a year since he graduated and started his career. He was doing good in his job and is saving for further studies in business school which can be quite expensive. Jame started doing mental calculation to figure out how many years it will take to save for tuition fees. His computation was interrupted by movement of car in front of him and he followed it soon. As soon he resumed driving, the phone rang multiple times and James knew someone sent him the message and he knew who that

Towards Uncharted Space

 

As we stand before the infinite sea,

Wondering what lies beyond.

Heard some tales from those

Who are on journey to somewhere.

As we step forward towards the start,

Fear and excitement deluge us.

We remember the storm that can strike

Anytime and anywhere. It capsizes

Strongest ships and swallow it as if 

It’s on a feast. The other choice is to 

Stay on land and listen to songs of far-away

Land of adventure and excitement, so 

It is better to take a step to uncharted space.

Courage

Life is all about choice, but there is a catch,

it doesn’t allow you to revert your decision.

We need to live with our choices for a long time,

at times forever. We think about the other path that we

never tread and what lies beyond the ominous mist.

Sometimes we dwell at that moment for too long, losing

A story shorter than short story

The subway was unusually quiet today. Maybe the reason was that it’s 3 pm on Wednesday and a swarm of people might be on its way in a couple of minutes. Till then Erica could be glad not being surrounded by the crowd, for a change. She often felt claustrophobic in a crowded place struggling to breathe the same air shared by numerous people in a small room. The train will come in ten minutes, as per the LED board. There were around ten people and most of them were glued to their smartphones and others had headphones on, isolating themselves from this chaotic world. Suddenly, she saw a man who comes down the stairs. There was nothing conspicuous about this person in formal attire and glancing his watch after every couple of seconds as if it could accelerate the passage of time. Suddenly, Erica remembered something as she went about six years ago. She was staring at that man for about ten seconds before turning her eyes away. Erica was smiling for some unknown reasons. “Why am I smiling so much? That didn’t happen when we were in university, even though we were in same class”, she

Just a random thought

Hello everyone, It has been a couple of months since I wrote a story or post. I am working on a short story but struggling to make it structured. Anyways, I will definitely post another story soon.

“I should wait for some more time. By that time I would be ready and fear would go away”. Such kind of thoughts are pervasive and often hit our mind. In fact, it seems to

Silent Raconteur

Though, anyone can claim our species

has one face, but in reality, we have three.

One, we show it to the world. A smiling and

confident face, ready to take on world head-on.

Second, we show to our closed ones, which is often

not pretty and don’t leave any chance to hide it from others.

Third, we show it to nobody, but ourselves. It’s like a

shadow only we can see. It reflects those unwinding revelry

at night, which we are unwilling to share, to avoid

uncalled-for response from others. This face wants to

tell a story about the success, blunders and failure

yet it couldn’t because apparently, it wants to remain a silent

raconteur. Each of us is fighting a battle with an

invisible, invincible and insidious demon within us. We want to

share each and every battle we had but couldn’t find

anyone who wouldn’t pity us. So, we all act like

a silent raconteur waiting to find a listener among

the surfeit of people who are just like us.

Too Close yet Too Far

The incessant voice in our head calls for

action from us. We are yet to break that

invisible and almost-invincible chain.

Encumbered by lightness of status-quo

and heaviness of stagnancy in life. We are

too close yet too far from our evolved and rejuvenated

version of the person, who is now too afraid to gain

Ubiquitous Paradox

In a five star hotel, a woman was staring the Hong Kong city at night from the 12th floor. The cars were looking like firefly crawling on the ground.
She wanted to quit her job to spend more time with her family, but her husband won’t allow that. ‘Sacrificing the career is not a prudent thing to do in any case.’, her husband always ended the argument when she initiated the discussion with him. John believes that career provides structure and confidence to one’s life. ‘Sacrificing the career is not a prudent thing to do in any case.’ She was feeling that something more important was being sacrificed in her life.
‘But I am earning 400,000 bucks every year and that’s what makes me good about myself, but I am missing my Johnnie so much. It feels like decades since I felt him. I wish to start my own family,……. but when?’, she was looking at the sky. Nothing was visible, maybe it was cloudy or city lights occluded the star light, it was tough to comprehend for her. Actually, she was too tired to try that. She went back to her room and picked up her smartphone

That ferocious creature

The creature seems to disappear, yet it absence

sometimes elicit chill to our spine, making us

spineless, helpless and hapless. It appears

without warning, for it enjoys the element of surprise.

It chases it prey inexorably, sometimes giving the hiatus

period only to chase us for longer distance. We are too afraid

Confounded Certainty

Staring at the stars as if it would guide

Us like the pole star, we implore the night

Sky for direction. Just like a night sky obscured by

The city light, we get the blank answer. We reach

Where we were expected, yet we feel like a captain on

A ship surrounded by ice sheet rendering the ship