Now Nominated for The Pushcart Prize . . .
I don’t know whether to cry or sing for joy!!
The following short story excerpted from the novel I have been working on for the past three years and, recently published in the annual 2019 issue of Green Hills Literary Lantern, has now been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
When the lights went out . . .
“Let’s play Dark Room, “ the cousin I’ve never met until today suggests with a wink. He’s fifteen, going on fifty—his greasy hair falling in untidy spirals over his glistening forehead, the sweat stains under his armpits visible under his cream polyester shirt, his fingernails colored yellow from the chicken curry he consumed at lunch.
I shudder delicately, turning away so that no one notices how I clench my palms together. How long are these relatives from Kanpur going to stay?
Nostalgia about a power cut . . .
I’m from a place in India where power outages were frequent and familiar. The lights would go off just as we were about to sit down for a meal of chicken curry, spiced okra, and hot rotis with a side of homemade yogurt. Someone would whoop on the road outside, and the power cut would fall like a blanket of silence. There would be a mad scramble for candles with my mom yelling to the maid-servant in the kitchen, “Meena, where did we keep the candles I bought from Modern Bazaar last week?”
There would be a minute or two of deepening silence, finally broken by our landlord Dr. Gupta\’s reedy voice floating up from the ground floor level.
My Adventures at Amangiri . .
What is Amangiri? A wellness spa? A billionaire’s retreat? (Kim Kardashian famously celebrated her 37th birthday here and Miley Cyrus left a day before yours truly descended on the resort.) Is it 600 acres of the Colorado plateau that wraps around the Four Corners, the high point where Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico meet? Or, is it a land of striking eroded rock formations showcasing the 160 million-year-old geology of the Grand Staircase-Escalante?
It is all that, and more.
It was something so small no one had even noticed it . . .
Gingerly she runs her tongue over her lower lip, tasting the buttery Lakme Fuschia Fury lipstick Mummy had generously slathered on her thirty minutes ago. Now she can hear her brother’s raspy voice calling her from their drawing-room. The bride viewing party must have arrived.
It was her cue to go into the kitchen and pick up the plastic tray sitting on the Formica counter with its prepared pot of tea, and four Wedgewood China teacups.
Opening the locked door . . .
It is raining. My black Mary Jane shoes—part of my uniform at Mater Dei School—are squelchy and wet from the puddles I found on the street. I ran blindly as thunder clapped and lightning rent the air, fleeing from monsters who lurk in hidden alleys —men of unsound mind who flash their private parts at innocent school girls. This is what Mamma cautions me about every night as she tucks me in, and I snuggle into the comfort of her smell—a mix of Himalayan sandalwood talc and sulphuric acid.
Why Go? 10 reasons to visit Portugal this year!
Every year there seems to be one vacation destination among all others that becomes the one most-sought-after, whether by the glitterati, weary parents lugging toddlers behind them or sun-and-thrill seekers. In the last few years, Portugal has become the trendy place to visit. History, great food, and picturesque scenery are just the beginning. Here are 10 reasons why this country—forgotten for decades in the shadows of European giants like France, Italy or Spain—should be on your bucket list.
With my mom\’s blessing, there\’s more good news . . . novel excerpt published!
I recently lost my mother (read: https://anoopjudge.com/blog/i-brought-you-into-this-world-and-i-can-take-you-out-an-indian-mother-speaks) and mother-in-law in the space of three months (read: https://anoopjudge.com/blog/mummy-tell-me-one-more-story-). But I know they’re watching over me, because the good news just keeps coming!
A 10,000-word excerpt from my unpublished novel titled ‘The Awakening of Meena Rawat’ has been published in Litbreak magazine. Click on the link below to get a preview of the novel:
http://litbreak.com/the-awakening-of-meena-rawat/
Thank you, Mom and Mummy!
Yay!!!! My short story got published in the annual issue of Truman University\’s Literary Journal!
I don’t know whether to cry or sing for joy! I always wanted to get published in a literary journal and I did!! Truman University’s annual issue of Green Hills Literary Lantern is here!
Click on the link below for the short story “Grace and Mercy\’“:
http://ghll.truman.edu/ghll30/Judge%20Grace%20and%20Mercy.html
I brought you into this world, and I can take you out . . . My Indian Mother
The greatest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude – Thornton Wilder *
My mom was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry with my brother and I, a frequently-occurring event in our household. We often got into trouble . . . ‘just wait till we get home’ was an oft-repeated threat of hers. It happened right in the neighborhood supermarket called Super Big Bazaar. My brother and I got into a scrape over a bag of Cadbury’s chocolate eclairs. I pushed him, he pushed me back . . . smack-a-dab into a Haldiram’s can display. I went sprawling and so did the can of rasogullas, tumbling everywhere like the walls of an old haveli attacked by a bulldozer. I regained my upright position and disappeared into the shelves of food just as mom’s eyes went wide with horror, her lips thin with anger. “Just you wait, Missy,” she shouted at me, cuffing the back of my brother’s head who was not so quick to escape.