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[This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses  schools, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.]   “ Ignorance killed the cat;          curiosity was framed!"                                                                       - Quote by C. J. Cherryh Four years ago Electromagnetism is the physical interaction among electric charges, magnetic moments, and the electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field can be static, slowly changing, or form waves. Electromagneti...

   

  On one of the parapet walls on the rooftop of a deserted skyscraper stood a middle aged man. He seemed to have one of those faces with a permanent frown, huge dark circles and highly wrinkled cheeks.  He held a clear green bottle of beer in one hand and an empty one in another.    I had an urge to immediately rush his way but I had known better.  I knew for a reason that, that parapet wall gave me an electrifying sort of thrill, as though challenging me to jump. What was disturbing though, was how although I hate to admit, I liked the feeling. I feared liking the feeling, craving it and giving in to it too.   But people like this man kept coming here on this infamous rooftop occasionally, luring me towards those awaiting walls.   Within the wink of an eye, his right leg was suspended beyond the parapet over nothingness...unless of course, you count the ground fifty floors below.    This time I couldn't help but sprint towards him. I regrett...

                                               Nobody would ever believe me on this. Not my friends, not my own family, not even you.   Every single night at around 10:00 p.m. I would hear the sounds of the piano. It was feeble at first, then subtle and soft, next it was audible and gradually it reached a stage where it became unbearably deafening. I had been reporting the same in the society office for months but no actions had been taken. I even tried to ask other neighbours for help, but in vain. One day I decided that I had had enough. My board exams were approaching and the tension in the air was already enough. The disturbing music only made things worse. Determined, I got up to leave and marched up the stairs, stomping angrily at the poor floor. It didn’...

That Night One of my first and oldest memories dates back to when I was a preteen. It gives me full-body shivers to think about even today, as an adult.  It was a no moon night. As fate would have it, the entire town had a power outage. This particular night also happened to be the first time my parents let me live home alone while they were out for work. I remember shivering intensely. Tears rolled down my cheeks when I couldn’t even get myself to muster enough courage to grab a jacket. I had my head buried in my hands when my eyes caught the sight of something unfamiliar. At first, it was hard to know if it was just my sleep deprived self making up visions or something really was up.  As I inched closer to the broken wall, I figured it wasn’t broken after all.  It didn’t exist anymore! Kid you not, by this time I had lost control over my limbs. They simply felt like a few lifeless grams of flesh.  And I had a fair reason to feel that way! It’s not everyday you see...

  He hated flowers... I once met a guy who looked older than his age whose behavior was weird and opinions beyond strange He received flowers daily bouquets of beautiful Jasmine, Rose, Lily but trashed all instead "I hate flowers" he often said I wondered where that came from and asked him too he said "The answer's too deep, too dark for you" When my curiosity would reach its peak I would force him to finally speak "I've just spent too long 'round flowers" I'd wonder then, just how many hours? Just how long would that take you To wish flowers were out of your view? "So you live in a garden!" I exclaimed with surprise Just when a sad smile reached his eyes "Never grow up" he whispered and went After years I now know just what he meant As I receive bouquets from fakers and more from those I barely knew I wish I could go back in the past and forget flowers lie in cemeteries too  -Palavi Karnik

  Floating came to me naturally  I'd even swim occasionally  'cross the ocean ahead of me No matter how endless  it seemed to be The sunny air, the tides were bliss  Now it's all a part  Of what I miss Though the air's nearly the same But not quite It's all darkness I see Even though there's light Now, there are people to watch  And more to judge many to pass harsh comments  Like they hold some grudge  "We just want  to see you afloat!"  Oh, how easily  the words escape their throat  When if anything,  it's a mere lie As they provoke me to drown And watch me die

    Wish I could cart you to the past showing what you've missed,  Things that did not last I bet there'd be a list of wildlife that you've never seen How the forest was  Before in the world you've been  Oh such a pitiful thing to know and tell A cub like you has known no den  Your habitat's snatched, your rights are too I'm sorry darling, I couldn't give those to you  But though I'm old and my power's all gone I can give this in my last few breaths  it isn't much dear, just some advice to pass on don't let yourself obsess over grass  start admiring the glass 'cause those cages you know, will be your new home and in a month or two you'll be in the vulnerable few Know this though, you'll be just fine  you'll adapt well with it over time I know you'll live well by yourself But this lioness, will never forgive herself  For she's the mother who never could show you the trees,  The rivers, the forest, the moon and the breez...

Your time starts, NOW ! When I was about seven, I had heard about a trick, which totally changed the way I started looking at the world. Here I am sharing it with you, my dear readers! (it stays between us though ;) ) Ten years from now, Imagine yourself amidst loneliness and misery, sitting on a lone rock by an abandoned farmhouse. You are sitting there, filled with regret, for all the mistakes you’ve made intentionally, for all those opportunities you saw coming but ignored. You scream in remorse, once, twice and the third time, you yell out God’s name. You start begging for a second chance, desperately, deliberately, as if you have a lot of changes to make in your past and you just know exactly which and where, how and when. All you need is to go back.  God hears you, he not only hears you but blesses your wish to come true.  However, he keeps forth a condition. The condition states that although you will get back the past ten years of your life, you will remember nothing a...

Broken gem(s) She was walking by the street cold and pale she needed a woolen sheet to keep away the hail.   She’d been then six a poor, helpless orphan. Her shiver in the cold wasn’t rare, it was now seen quite often.   All that she had, was a little red gem inherited from her Dad, it said "with love, for my lad"   Like his presence in his absence, she always found him in the gem. The emptiness it would cover, That's how the loneliness was over.   That day felt, to be exceptionally cold her body felt numb, she lost her grip. The gem would break apart  and a beat was skipped by her heart.   The man who stood across the lane, also startled by the sound and that’s when a look at the pieces could tell him that they could earn him, a considerably good sum. To ashes the human inside him would burn. Since, he decided to do that for the money to steal a gem, gifted by a father to his honey.   Her sensitive hands joined to plead to get hers back...stolen by t...

  In the Raatwadi area of Konkan where you wouldn’t spot a soul in the range of miles, in such a deserted region there stood a crooked hut-like structure also known as Rajan uncle’s house.  As soon as Arun knocked at the door, Rajan uncle hastily let us in and guided us to the only room in his house. A girl of about 17 slept with tattered, dirty clothes and her face was stained with tears. She looked miserable and I immediately knew that no matter how tough this case was to solve, I’ll give my best to cure her. I asked Arun for my bag with the necessary equipment, pulled a stethoscope out and moved towards the girl just when a strange rotten pungent smell took me aback. I let Arun take over and made my way out of the room before I would throw up. Rajan uncle followed me with a glass of water. I gulped it in one go and sat on a half broken bench outside the house suddenly feeling weak.    "Doctor, you are our last hope. Please cure my daughter somehow..." Rajan uncle'...

Late night, heavy rains, thunderstorms, and a ridiculously long drive to reach home with a drunken man on the driver's seat, who could doze off anytime.  Meet 17-year-old Aubrey, tackling the above like a frontline warrior with stories as her shield and words as her weapons. Sounds too poetic, doesn't it? Well, she had to keep Nicolas from sleeping before he crashed the car and gave her a free pass to heaven which he seems to be ready to use at any given point of time. To make him stay alert somehow, Aubrey has been constantly bringing up topics that are engaging for him.  She talked about how she was born on Jupiter while her mother was in Africa and how she had once become invisible when she was eight and how she accidentally brought life to a toy as a preteen and lastly, how she always wished she could successfully make slime.  After the random ranting, all Nicolas bothered asking about was, which country Jupiter was located in.  Aubrey didn't care where the conve...

If I had to choose the most wanted, most favourite, most loved, most unwanted, and most hated people in my life, all the above would come down to the same person- my identical twin.  She and I haven't done a single task without each other. Sometimes I try to imagine how life would be had she not been my sister but I just can not get myself to see a reality where we are not together.  When we were younger, she would spend hours after hours talking with me. When we were in middle school, she only ever acknowledged me before she went somewhere outside the house. That was also, just for the sake of it.  Lately, she doesn't even stop to check in on me. Not that I  make any efforts on my part. You see, I've got this big ego. If she won't initiate a conversation I'd rather let the silent treatment take over than breaking the silence.  One day her ignorance had reached its zenith though. While talking with a stranger on phone she said she was the only daughter. Which ob...

What if I took you, To a room stuffed with letters,  Some red some blue  Kept together in pairs of two  What if I told you,  The letters left you with no place  To breath, to relax  Or simply have your own space  What if I convinced you,  That shards of glass Were concealed in the blue  And in the red ones,  Soft petals with a gorgeous hue  What if I broke it to you,  That the contents of these letters  Were but your thoughts  Piled together, and kept in lots  What if I asked you,  Which type would you expect to find  In your room of thoughts Hidden in your mind?  Would the blue overrule the red?  Would you hope for it to be the other way instead?  Would you wish your room wasn’t suffocating  Would you criticize it and be hating  Yourself, and more blues would be formed  And there you go!  In a vicious cycle your thoughts are transformed  But, What if I said, It's...

They missed my presence, and cried out my name, twice and thrice, but I never came... They joined their hands which would plead out of a need and wished I'd stay but that would only lead To more of me gone And their hearts that would bleed! They missed how I'd been there always, when we'd been on good terms,  in a good phase... They hated themselves for the disrespect they gave For whom they would, now only crave! I watched them helplessly from another parallel universe, Would've been with them,  If they hadn't made conditions as worse I would if I could,  Stand by their side again and be there for them If only I didn't have to suffer pain! I cannot return I'm something they had to earn I don't just pass by, I don't know how to fly I don't just disappear, they kill me and grieve  And shamelessly ask why I would leave And then start all over again to plead:  "Damn, time is all I need!"

  There’s a crack in my heart, Little had I known, From the way I taunt people For reasons unknown There’s a gap in my heart, A little too wide From the way I laugh at those Struggling behind There’s a hole in my heart Widespread in a region From the way I’m biased On the grounds of religion There’s a piece missing in my heart It’s nowhere to be seen From the way I hurt others For I’m selfish and mean By depriving people of the treatment they deserve I realize now, how much I’d been sinning And now that I pay for my deeds I know what exactly was missing That crack in my heart? That gap, that hole? The defects that had always been in my soul Being so cold wasn’t because I was heartless It wasn’t why I made people feel worthless Reasons I hid, I have to admit, I was a devil in a human body, My heart was an empty, endless pit ‘Karma’ was a joke to me, It’s effects I had never known But standing behind the gates of hell I clearly see the seeds I’ve sown