Skip to main content

Life for rent

She liked that he listened to her. She adored that he seemed to keep up effortlessly while she prattled on about everything under the sun. She appreciated that he'd consider her words for the longest time before asking his questions... always the right ones. It told her that he thought about her ideas and empathised with her emotions. That he read between the lines. She admired that he had not once offered her pity. No one else could be there on that day. On her day.

She asked him to be the witness at her wedding.

He stared silently like he was seeing her for the first time...

"What time should I be there?"

Always the right question.

Song for the moment: Dreams be dreams - Jack Johnson

Comments

bhumika said…
not as powerful as the previous two. maybe it required something more in the starting few lines to give that punch at the end.
Anonymous said…
@ bhumika - :), yea I know.
Piggy Little said…
the power of this piece, as against the previous two and here i disagree with bhumi, lies in the immense subtelty of the text.

saying it all and yet not sating, and therefore it is so much more powerful. especially, the end where she says "all the right questions."

very evocative piece of writing.

neha
girish said…
@ neha - thank you. it's a way of writing i am experimenting with, where the unsaid lets the reader contribute their own possibilities.

Popular posts from this blog

Longfellow Serenade

Dear reader, A conversation in a buzzing bar over a mug of beer got me thinking on today's theme; the writing of a letter. As with many of the shared contemplations I've had, we spoke about it for the sake of the flowing idea, the peculiarly gentle glee in being able to use what have commonly been referred to as 'big words' in actual conversation without having the threat of perplexity hanging in the air. Perhaps you have & enjoy these moments yourself. Mayhaps, you have debated the same theme ? Nonetheless, I often ponder upon the march of time & technology that has left me regarding life with some ambiguity. I appreciate technology & how it has made living easier on many levels. I do not hanker for the b/w television nor for a computer with 16 MB RAM & the large floppy disk. I thank the heavens for air-conditioning & the photocopier. I use the internet a lot. The Dark Ages or in India's case, the years up to the 1990's, had their moment in ...

Love and Happiness

The year was 1950. Having missed a prestigious Government position in Delhi by the proverbial hair's breadth, a 24 year old youth from the south of India began to look for work elsewhere. In this land, destinies were & are made in Bombay. Fate decreed that this boy, called K, had been gallivanting around the backwaters long enough and directed him to the city caressed by the Arabian Sea. Once he'd begun to work, his family wanted to check off the next thing on the list - a bride. K bluntly told his father that he was not interested in an arranged marriage, practically scandalizing everyone in the vicinity and a few ancestors for good measure. Predictably enough, his wishes were ignored and the hunt for a suitable girl began in earnest, culminating in a small town in Tamil Nadu. K was tersely informed about his upcoming nuptials and although furious, he acquiesced. Which should come as no surprise, really, as young men and women do so even today. The bride-to-be was 20i...

Many the miles

Some time ago, I decided to cut down on the whining that seems to be a major theme on this blog. After having written a couple of short story posts and one interesting challenge, I found that more commentary on life, its machinations and assorted tomfoolery just did not interest me. For the moment, at least. That also thankfully means that I can't talk about the Indian cricket team's test saga. Anyway, in recent weeks, a new trend has taken root in that fragment of the 'gang' that lives in Pune. Instead of meeting up and hitting the tipple every now and then, we meet and they discuss trekking to various forts in and around Pune. Notice how I'm not in these councils-of-war. Although I've played sports in school and college, I've never been a fan of physical toil. All these talks conjure up are images of waking up at some ungodly hour before sunrise, scooting to some random hill / fort and huffing, puffing, slipping & scrabbling around in near darkness w...