All post by author Varsh
MADRAS, NOT CHENNAI
When someone refers to this city as “Chennai”, my first thought is always — can we please go back to calling this city Madras again? I go about making postcards out of this haven called Madras. Every person and place is a souvenir of its spirit and I’ll be in pursuit of them as long […]
I’M BAD AT GOODBYES ¿!
I truly, madly, deeply hate goodbyes. This might be such a harsh statement for an opening line but the feeling of goodbye doesn’t even come close to this. Despite being a product of a well made decision, they still hurt. I’m reminded of quotes explaining how every goodbye is a new beginning. Okay, but what […]
ENTER THE VOID
I feel things with my feet. Osmosis of physical spaces into my being happens through these little cruisers, which then turn into maps on the palm of my hand. My feet grazed the riverbed before submitting themselves to its perennial neighbor. When the nippy waters touched my feet, a wave of nostalgia gushed through me. […]
SUNSHINE BEHIND THE BARS
Sunshine is underrated. No, I’m not talking about the scorching heat of the mid-day which makes us hurl curses at the sun.Living in Chennai has taught me better than that.Our points of discussion are those soft rays that waft amidst the trees leaving a streak of light behind. It’s the kind of sunshine that touches […]
FOR THE KIND ATTENTION OF PASSENGERS
July evenings always have tricks under their sleeves. A little ray of the sun tears down through the cloud clusters making us take guesses about the weather. It was on one of these deceptive evenings that I felt I was qualified enough to travel on a local train all by myself. When the person at […]
NOTES ON THE FIRST PAGE
“Maybe working on the little things as dutifully and honestly as we can is how we stay sane when the world is falling apart.” ~ Haruki Murakami I’m a connoisseur of simple joys. By simple joys, I really mean those which get as effortless as they can. The way the sun shines on things and […]
THE WINDOW
This window never opened.The moss on the walls just stare into the world and mind their work clinging to the window in silence. Everytime I crossed the wall, the window greeted me with a sullen shut of the doors. Quite naturally, I have wondered what lies behind this passage of air and light.The rust on […]
RAIN’S NEGLECTED CHILD
My weather app predicts “Scattered Thunderstorms” and warns me to stay indoors in safety. I laugh back at it. I know it’s a hoax. I live in a place where it is 33°C but feels like 39°C. What do you expect? But a tiny corner of my rational mind wants it to be true. If […]
SONDER (n)
I have a penchant for sonder. Everytime I’m in a crowd, I try to observe the people my eye gets a hold of and try to weave my own version of them. A few months ago, I was sitting near the entrance of a train and listening to my favourite song during the night, and […]
CHETTA, RENDU KATTAN
If you read this phrase with the same intonation borrowed from your malayali encounters, welcome to the bandwagon of wannabe malayali lovers. I’ve always had this fascination for Malayalam, the language of God’s own country. As clichè as it gets, my first malayalam movie “Bangalore Days” got me instantly trying to mouth little words in […]
SNAPCHAT SKIES
“Forever that girl who gets excited when the sky is in pretty colors” Since my Instagram debut, I’ve shared this story quite a lot of times and it still ceases to resonate with me. Skies, for me, have always been a pageant of colors. I’ve even wondered if Pantone was secretly taking notes from the […]
AND THE DICE ROLLED..
Night sets in our household when we switch off our kitchen lights. What cuckoo’s call is to the dawn, these lights are to our night.As I step out of the kitchen, switching off the lights, my mother calls me by my name and asked me “Shall we play ludo?”. I look at her, perplexed at […]