Bhavana penned

Copyright © Nagavalli S. Kiran “All right, let’s go. You choose, and I’ll buy” Even as Sunita spoke the words down the telephone, she knew she had some explaining to do.  Something would have to be said to placate her mother who would certainly not take kindly to Hema’s choice. Hema was everything that Sunita was not; giggly, impulsive and a great chatterbox, while Sunita was reserved, deliberate and choosy with her words. With two streets separating their houses, the two girls had been together constantly. An hour later in the autorickshaw, Hema’s voice had a certain victorious derision in it as she said, “Just look at you, dressed like a grandmother. With your figure, anyone will be in a swimsuit permanently.” “Oh, shut up,” said Sunita, enjoying the compliment nevertheless. “I’m still trying to think of what to say to amma and you are going on about swimsuits! If she catches me even near one, I’ll be dead meat in the blink of an eye.” The auto driver gave Sunita ...

Written by Kiran (my husband) The priest appointed by my friend was muttering something in Sanskrit. Less out of piety than out of habit. His hands were doing the complicated mudras of the sankalpa -- the sacred proffering of intent to the Gods before starting anything auspicious. In the waters of this one well lay the jnana of the whole world. All covered up so no one could get so much as a peek, lay the Light, contrasting with the darkness I sat in. The dawn rays were yet to travel over horizon and the December cold pierced my marrow. I was responding almost subconsciously to the sankalpa before beginning the journey, from the Jnana Vapi well passing through four of the most sacred bathing ghats on the Ganga , ending with cremation on Manikarnika Ghat, thus ensuring salvation. Staring at the mudras, I tried to summon up the wisdom I had gained in my seventy years. The life which, with all its futility, was about to end. And yet, there was no panic, no maniacal self-preserva...

Find Part-1 here Part 2: Her three year project in London was coming to an end and Nami had the feeling that time had simply whizzed past. Her team had just one month left to present the results, to come up with the analysis, and to conduct final discussions about the decision to off-shore the project to the Indian center in Bangalore . She felt her team had done a very good job given the low manpower and had given high productivity along with excellent documentations and procedure setups. *** Not just the bad headache, Nami was also in a bad mood following last night’s argument. She had once again told Arun about her project completion and that she will have to go back to India . She wanted Arun to marry her as she did not feel like leaving him. Arun was a little hesitant about getting committed this early in his life, but he loved Nami a lot. He also had told Nami that even if her project goes back, Nami can stay with him and they can work together in his business. But she was ...

Part 1: Nami woke up with a heavy head, wondering sleepily what on earth could have had caused the unbearable headache. She looked at Arun who was sleeping next to her. Arun was still asleep and was snoring lightly. Crispy sunrays were falling on his face, but it did not seem to have disturbed his sleep. It was a bright and yet a cloudy morning as it had rained last night and the weather was fresh and birds were happily chirping. Nami prepared tea and toast for her breakfast. Her head was still aching and Nami was trying hard not to think about previous night's argument about Nami’s and Arun’s marriage. Nami and Arun have been living together for sometime in London. *** Before Nami had met Arun or even before she came to London , she was working in a multinational company in Bangalore . Nami had been picked up  by her company for a 3 year's project in  London's client center. When Santosh, her Manager had selected her as a part of this project, she could not believe...

At last I boarded Boeing airbus in Mexico to reach Los Angeles. It is a very uncomfortable situation for me to find the right gate for the right flight especially in the international airports which are huge. This is because I had missed a flight in Paris once and that was my first ever experience of flying alone. It was a very stressful situation then. I was then so worried that I might have to buy a new ticket and French people are never friendly with those who do not know French but can speak fluent English. But fortunately I got a seat in the next flight. Now that I boarded this flight to Los Angeles, I took my seat hoping there would be a handsome stranger sitting next to me. But it turned out to be a woman with a frowning face and who’s dressed to look like a corporate employee. All the procedures that the passengers need to follow were announced (there is nothing new in the procedures and it is such a boring routine, isn’t it?), and we obeyed. The flight took off. I was feeli...

(This is based on a real life story narrated by one of our acquaintances Lida) A Highway in Tennessee, a red Honda Accord going towards the coast, four Czech researchers - three women and one man are driving to the seaside. Pavel - An American Citizen and a Scientist. Jana - Pavel’s wife and a scientist. Magdalena - A student from Czech Republic pursuing research in America. Lida - Czech Researcher who has visited America for a conference. Pavel is driving the car and they are listening to a CD of old Czech folk songs. Lida - Feeling so glad that I met you three Czechs in that conference. I had such a good time. Jana - Yes... it was good that we could speak in Czech with you; you can see our Czech language has deteriorated, isn’t it? Between, how are things going in Czech Republic? Lida - Economic situation is surely getting better. But we Czechs still would have preferred our country to be next to a sea, don’t you think so? (Laughs out loud) Jana - (Laughs) t...