May 2021 – Short Stories | Fish-eye Perspective

The Taboo (Real Life)

Posted on May 31, 2021May 30, 2021 by Shaily Agrawal

My earlier post, The Taboo, sparked a lot of conversation and it reminded me of a real incident from my college days.

I was travelling by car with a bunch of family friends to a marriage. We were all between 20-25 years of age, celebrating the momentary freedom from parental supervision. (In India, you are under parental supervision as long as your parents are alive.)

On the way, we saw a scooter at a distance. A girl in her late teens was travelling with an old person, probably her father. One of my friends said, “Hey! Guess what? I can touch her hair while sitting,” and he began extending his hand to touch her.

I shouted at him to stop. He was rather surprised and said he won’t hurt her, just touch her hair. But I held my ground–Just the act will hurt her; that girls are afraid of travelling because boys take such liberties.

He was shocked. He had no idea.

I asked him how he would feel if someone did that to his younger sister. He growled, nobody would dare touch his sister. I reminded him that she probably dealt with this on a daily basis and never told him because of the fear of retaliation or the fear of being grounded for life.

He had no idea…

Life and After

Fly High

Posted on May 30, 2021May 30, 2021 by Shaily Agrawal

I was out, of course, while he called. I can’t exactly give flying lessons inside a cozy classroom.

He could have just left the message on the answering machine. But no! He had to call me 13 unlucky times before losing it and blasting his cellphone off with his wand.

He’s like, “Why don’t you carry your cellphone with you?”

Sure, I can carry it. But he should try answering calls while riding a broom driven by a shrieking first-timer trying to avoid birds, trees, humans and electrically-charged clouds.

There is no foothold. I almost drop myself ten times a day while holding a broom with both my hands. I don’t have enough hands to hold a cell phone too.

But does he understand? No! Instead, he blames me for ignoring him. Love sucks…

Random Thoughts

Published Our First Book!

Posted on May 24, 2021May 24, 2021 by Shaily Agrawal

“After an year of toil and tears, it is finally here! Our very own short stories collection…”

-Manpreet and Shaily

The Forest Bed and other short stories

Our book is now available in India in print on Pothi.com. 😊 😃 They deliver across India through courier.

Soon, it will be available worldwide as ebook and in print.

Spread the word!

Share the post, if you will. Please, pretty please! 🥺

Random Thoughts

Dreams and Crop Circles–Is this a Sign?

Posted on May 24, 2021May 24, 2021 by Shaily Agrawal

Earlier this morning, I had a dream that was on a fairytale-meets-star wars theme with princesses, prophecies, sabers and spaceships. As I sat down to prepare lunch, I was greated with this sight.

A dried top of bottle gourd had this design.

Had I been a supestitious person, I would have run out of my house declaring that Lord Ganesha (with elephant face) has visited my house in his triple face avatar. But thanks to the dream, I was on a Sci-Fi cum Fairytale mode. Hence, I decided it was a crop circle inside my house. You may say, “Hey, a crop circle is a circular pattern in crops.” I say:

Bottle gourd is a crop.
It’s top is circular.
This one a has pattern, a pretty one too. Many progressive Indian women, henceforth, shall use it in their rangoli designs.

I wonder which TV channel to contact–

Aaj Tak that will turn it into Doomsday prophecy
NDTV that will call it the next attack of a deadly microbe
National Geographic that will call it a visitation from aliens and add it to their existing series of crop circles…

Any suggestions?

Hey! Small aliens that fit inside my fridge! Now that’s a plot for story. What do you say?

Life and After, Nature