Mithra

CHASTE GANGES   {14} ‘I am Simran,’ said the lovely woman gently shaking Krishna’s hand. ‘I am Krishna,’ he said with a polite smile. They were seated in a posh Coffee shop in Chennai. She ordered Cappuccino while he settled for an Ice tea. He barely made eye contact with her and absently stared out of the window for a couple of minutes. ‘By the way, I work as a Software developer in Infosys. My family lives in Lucknow and I am living in Chennai for over a year now,’ she said trying to start a conversation. ‘I see. I work in Accenture as a HR Manager and I came here eight months ago.’ He showed no interest in extending the conversation. Silently he was fuming at his mother who had put him in this situation. She had been successful in emotionally blackmailing him to meet Simran, a prospective alliance for him. Simran was a tall and pretty girl from Lucknow. She was an educated working woman who was a perfect match for Krishna in his mother’s eyes. There was ...

CHASTE GANGES   {13} ‘She is Gayathri, my daughter,’ introduced Shivani holding the hand of the cute 3-years old girl. Krishna and Nihal were surprised at seeing the unexpected little visitor with Shivani. They smiled and let them inside. ‘Thank you so much for inviting me home,’ she said with gratitude twinkling in her eyes. ‘I am very sorry for what happened, Shivani. By the way, meet Nihal, my partner and soulmate. It was his idea to invite you for lunch,’ said Krishna beaming with pride. Although Shivani was taken aback by the introduction, she was gracious enough to not let it show. Yet Krishna sensed her shock and smiled. ‘We are a gay couple. This society doesn’t let us acknowledge it openly but inside this home, we have built our own world. We are happy with each other.’ Krishna and Nihal held hands and smiled at her. She nodded empathising with them. All three of them belonged to that section of the society which was treated with unfair rules a...

A Tribute to Friendship This day means a lot to us. Or rather, it is a grim reminder of how many friends we lost in life. Friendship is like a flowing river. It connects a lot of people who choose to swim with you. Many part with us when they have to change course of their life and we end up losing a lot of them all through this journey of life. Yet we do not stop finding more people who can join us… Thanks to Facebook and WhatsApp, which still keeps us connected. We are barely a click or a touch away from each other. Yet I still prefer personal meetings to keep my friendship going, which I know is next to impossible in our busy schedules. We have been with friends in school and college who were such a big part of our life in that phase. We could barely call it a day without spending hours talking to them. Now we may not even know where they are in this world, so digitally connected but personally disconnected. It could have been years since you met that best friend of yours ...