Poetry | Short Story | Prose 500 |
top | ||
First Prize | Second Prize | Third Prize |
Chandrika
Radhakrishnan | Anindita Janhabee Swaro | Ermelinda Makkimane |
Featured Writers | ||
Megha Nayar | Muniza Tariq | |
Gargi Mehra | Preeth Ganapathy | Romila Chitturi |
First Prize
A Lifetime within One by Chandrika Radhakrishnan
“Do you want more *curry*?” she asked him the spoon hovering over the stainless steel *tiffin* box.
It was late afternoon and the couple was perched uncomfortably on the bench placed under the lone tree of the sprawling hospital. The serpentine queue and long waiting time was sufficient proof on the popularity and success rate of the hospital.
“Worry? I am not worried.”
She did not have the heart to correct him for she knew that he was more anxious for her if his biopsy report came back positive.
After sixty years of togetherness, this inevitability of life was petrifying.
Second Prize
The Nature’s Candle by Anindita Janhabee Swaro
All that she had ever wanted to reminiscence while falling off at the eternal corridors of death with him. His very presence had been the holy water to her existence. The fruits of her love were consumed many. While she breathed her last, he stood a mile away. With misfortune’s grasp he couldn’t be by her side. With no movements, one shed invisible tears and the other died a visibly worn out death. The second person to see the dead soul was a kid, whose kite was caught in her dead body.
All that she had ever wanted to reminiscence while falling off at the eternal corridors of death with him. His very presence had been the holy water to her existence. The fruits of her love were consumed many. While she breathed her last, he stood a mile away. With misfortune’s grasp he couldn’t be by her side. With no movements, one shed invisible tears and the other died a visibly worn out death. The second person to see the dead soul was a kid, whose kite was caught in her dead body.
Third Prize
The In-Between Woman by Ermelinda Makkimane
She breezed into the train compartment as elegant as any other lady in the coach. She swiped on the screen of her smartphone, put it into her fancy purse and started moving around with practised ease. The typical clap was missing though.
Some of the commuters dropped a coin into her outstretched palm. Others ignored her. She didn't seem to mind. She finished her round and got off the train just as it was pushing out of the station.
Her exit was just as graceful as her entry had been. I wondered how the day panned out for this transgender.
Next to Godliness by Gargi Mehra
Maya slides her finger down the length of the tabletop. It's clean, but she wipes down the surface again.
A musky scent hits her nose.
He’s prowling through the house, his eagle eyes scouting potential spots of dirt.
“Maya!”
Before she knows it, he drags her by the hair to the table.
He lifts the crystal vase, and there is that confounded circle of dust.
She scrunches the cloth tighter in her fist. He raises his hand. Before his knuckle cracks her skin, her blade tears through his cheek.
Now he’s just as scarred as she is.
Where is The River? By Gitanjali Maria
“Another inch won’t hurt the river,” Susheela said to her son as he filled more earth over the marshy area adjacent to their riverside house-cum-homestay.
“Let’s add more rooms, reclaiming some parts of the riverbed,” her son said after a few months.
Debris
helped fill it. More tourists came to stay, and they got more money and
they added more and more rooms on the riverside. Their neighbours and
friends also did the same. Everybody prospered but the water shrank,
till one day a guest exclaimed, “Hey man! Where is the river?”
Honesty by Megha Nayar
Aarthi had learnt from her Amma that honesty was not always the best policy. Sometimes you had to be sly.
Like hiding the papads whenever Appa’s blood pressure shot up. Or assuring him that the lawn had been mowed so he wouldn’t rage at the old gardener.
Today, despite fervent appeals to stay indoors, Appa wanted to go to office.
“Appa, the Police Commissioner has announced that those caught in the streets will be sent to volunteer in the isolation wards.”
As Appa surrendered, Aarthi looked up and winked. Amma, from her celestial abode, smiled down at her benevolently.
Luggage by Muniza Tariq
‘You trust that the universe talks to me?’ he asks.
‘I trust everything you say,’ she says.
They are camping in the mountains. They are cold.
‘The universe has spoken to me. You will take one thing with you when your time comes. Choose and keep it close.’
From that moment, her quest for that one thing swallows her day and night.
Her parents? Her lover? No, my end shouldn’t be theirs, she thinks.
One day, she sees her reflection in the mirror and she knows.
Her lover finds her with a slashed wrist and a note: I choose youth.
The Faithful Follower by Preeth Ganapathy
Hundreds of birds sat on countless branches of the tree. They were all bickering and warbling, twittering and squabbling with one other. Until a gunshot rang out of nowhere. Startled, all the birds flew away. An eerie silence descended.
One of the birds returned. His partner had not flown with him. He frantically cooed in search of his soulmate.
He found her lying in a pool of blood, motionless on the ground.
Swooping down beside her, he waited. He wished to be an easy target for the hunters, for the next call of death.
Hearty congrats to our collegue Chandrika & all winners as well. Also my good feelings to all those who participated
ReplyDeleteAll stories are unique..each with different colour, texture and smell..a beautiful bouquet of stories...congratulations to all..
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