Life and Lies of M R Maiti

Come on! Come on! I sit behind my nephew, cheering him; whatever purpose it serves in a game of luck. The circle grows smaller. It has transformed from being a game of passing the parcel to throwing and snatching the parcel. Nonetheless, I want my nephew to win. The number of children has gone down to 10. His probability to win is rising. Apart from the lady organisers blowing their whistles, I'm the only elderly here. Wait...Elderly. Me... Woah.. didn't see that coming. The number is down to 5 now. The kid who just got dumped throws away the parcel in anger. One of the ladies rushes to console him. No matter the game, it's important to win. A lesson, we learn quite early in our lives. My nephew is playful. Sometimes, he holds the parcel a little too long making the adjacent kid nervous. I nudge him to pass it quickly. The number is down to 3. Then to 2. Now, it's just my nephew and a girl. 50% probability. Boys vs girls, some kid shouts. The music resumes. The parcel

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Is it a fact that the stage of life you are at while reading a particular book also shapes your opinion of the book? I think it might be. I loved American Gods and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (so much that I finished it in a single go) But I don't know. Something changed. Maybe it has something to with my transition from being a student to a job-holder that I didn't like this book as much I did the other two. Looks like I'm getting too old for fairy tales and Fantasy fictions. View all my reviews

House of Light by Mary Oliver My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have not read a lot of poetry. The few I did, I did because it was a part of my English Lit syllabus back in school. To name the few that I remember: The rhyme of the ancient mariner by S.T. Coleridge, The Mirror by Sylvia Plath, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, The Arrow and The Song by H.W. Longfellow. Picked an anthology for the first time as it was recommended by a friend. And I am glad that I did. A must-read for all poetry lovers! View all my reviews

"It's bedtime," my cousin tells her son. "Go to sleep!" My nephew, in turn, starts pulling on his father. It's a routine. Every night he needs a story from his father before going to sleep. "Papa is tired today," my cousin intervenes. "Go with Mama. He'll tell the story today." "Yeah sure, why not," I was about to head home but apparently not. Moments later, I'm tucking him in, still unable to come up with a suitable story. All the stories that I have ever read race past my mind but none seem appropriate. He's ten years old. What story would be fit? Panchatantra? But his father must have covered that already. For some reason, The Ugly Duckling comes to mind. What happened there, I try to remember. Oh yeah, the duckling turns out to be a swan. I finally decide on a story. It's my all-time favourite. But I wonder if it would be well suited for a bedtime story. "Mama," he calls from under the covers. He i

AIR Don't say it! “Actually...” I begin to speak, making an innocent face. I pause, seeming to hesitate. It works all the time. No, don't say it! “It's my first time.” It's not. You're lying. “Can I have the window seat?” You're going to burn in hell. My subconscious takes a back seat as the middle-aged man shifts to my seat and I take the one by the window. The plane slowly makes its way to the runaway. It takes a slow left turn. A brief pause when it flexes its muscles, its flaps, gearing up for the run. Then, it slowly breaks into speed. My headphones are plugged in. I have to time it right. The music builds up as the Airbus gains speed. And just as it lifts its nose up, leaving the ground, the lyrics come up. I LOVE THE FEELING WHEN WE LIFT OFF I relish the sunken feeling in my stomach as the world slowly shrinks below me. WATCHING THE WORLD SO SMALL BELOW After an hour of flying over the clouds, the plane is descending now. The h