When the silence is comfortable and the drive is long and the music hums softly in the stillness. When your oversized grey sweatshirt is fresh out of the dryer, the warmth hugging your body on a cold-ish California winter day. When a song takes you back to the most specific moment in time and you're levitating on a feeling that you can't quite place. When the plum you bite into is just ripe enough. When the hibiscus is in full bloom, each of the five petals curving out in perfect harmony, velvety red and passionate. When sarcasm is your love language. When you're daydreaming on the summer sand and walking through waterfalls with the sun on your back and a breeze in your hair. When you drown in the easy flow of a conversation with long lost friend, words gushing out like water rushing through a once-dried river. When you nestle under the pink paisley prints of your eighteen-year-old bedspread.
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
today, i've eaten
morning matcha, the complex caffeine neutralized by a dollop of coconut cream, leftovers from my second life. beans poriyal with rice in a shiny steel plate, subtly spiced with sambar powder from across the ocean. licked clean by my fingers and tongue as I sit cross legged in bed nourishing myself with thoughts about life.
bajji mixture, a pleasant shock of spice and tangy sweetness. bright yellow haldi doodh, the warm simmering spices seeping down my throat from delicate chinaware as I simultaneously swallow my blundering words. rose milk cake as I am devoured by memories of hot summer days, the floral flavors taking me back to a specific moment in time. the grand finale - refreshing scoops of watermelon and juicy lychee, water trickling down to my elbow, sticky sweet and soothing as I smack my lips in the sweltering heat that consumes me.
Thursday, February 9, 2023
Writing Prompts
I am curled up on my bed, my grey Nokia phone clutched tightly in my hand.
Snake has got me hooked. I dream about it day and night, my thumbs subconsciously moving between the 2,4,6, and 8 buttons on the innocent, soap-box-sized piece of plastic. I take numerous "breaks" between study sessions to see if I can beat my previous high score. I question why my rapidly growing reptile can't slither smoothly in curvier "S" shapes, as opposed to the box-like, squarish movements the phone restricts him to. It has become an obsession. If I'm not playing, I'm thinking of playing. When I'm thinking of playing, I'm strategizing the best movements. When I'm strategizing, I wonder how I could make the game better, maybe work with Nokia on building a better prototype.
Red Rangayya (Writing Prompt - Ghost Stories)
The gravestone presses against my back, cool and soothing in the sultry summer heat. I turn my head to my right to look at Shreya. She is already looking at me, her body mimicking mine, head tilted left, palms on her stomach, back casually leaning against the tombstone.
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Autofiction-ish
She labored through sweltering hot days and warm, balmy nights. She cooked and cleaned and cooked some more. Hot dosas from the cast iron pan, served with a steel spatula straight onto his shiny silver plate, her tiny feet pattering to and from the kitchen and the dining table. Back just in time to flip the next dosa on the stove, waiting for it to reach the peak of its delicious, crispy brown. On his plate she placed a spoon of coconut chutney and a heap of pappu podi, gently making a hole in the center of the lump of spiced beige powder and pouring in it some freshly melted ghee. An act so endearing but all I could think was "why can't he do that himself?" The hem of her bright blue sari grazed his starched white shirt, the colors melding together like white foam on greenish-blue waves. A formation born of turbulence in nature and a reflection of their relationship in reality - chaotic together, non-existent apart.
Thursday, January 12, 2023
31
disorder around the staircase
the rattle of metal rods and the patter of small feet
drown the gentle ringing of bells
that dangle on the door of the puja room
intricately placed within perfectly carved bell-shaped holes
mixed and mingled
with the steamy hiss of a pressure cooker in the kitchen
filled with hot, soft idlis
waiting to be devoured with ghee and karapodi
by eager hands and hungry mouths
Friday, December 2, 2022
the lucky ones
People said they were the lucky ones.