Book Worm

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2019

Stories (27)

27 Stories

461 karma pts

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“An ode to Dilli” by Book Worm

Aarti decided to take the Rajdhani to Delhi after years instead of flying down. She looked out of the window and recognized stations whizzing past whose names she once knew by heart – Ghaziabad, Shahdara. When the train crossed Minto Bridge, she knew they were going to arrive at New Delhi junction within a few minutes confirmed by the excited cries of “Dilli aa gaya [We have arrived in Delhi]’ fr...

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“The one who is Yours” by Book Worm

All doors and windows were tightly shut to prevent the hot wind from entering the house when the family retired for siesta on summer afternoons. Boisterous grandchildren visiting during their summer break were strictly instructed to lie down on the Persian carpet in the guest room brought from Kabul and shut their eyes. “Not a tweet out of any of you!” Grandfathe...

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“June was the Cruelest Month” by Book Worm

In the scorching heat of June when the hot gusts of loo blind those who dare to step out the house in the afternoons, Lyallpur was set ablaze by the radio broadcast of Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India. Dhaniram and Karunanand had switched on the radio and were intently listening to the broadcast on June 3 1947.  For more than a hundred years, 400,000,000 of you have lived together, and this coun...

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“On Father's Day” by Book Worm

Sonny had not met his father since his last visit to his father’s place five years ago. “Could I spend my next summer vacation with you?” Sam remembered pleading with Bob as they left for the airport. “No, you cannot,” Bob had answered in a tone that brooked no argument. Bob had not been in touch since he dropped Sonny at the airport,. News about Bob would trickle in from unexpected sou...

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“Let's Walk Alone” by Book Worm

The countdown had begun. Neena had less than 12 hours to email the manuscript of her new book to her publisher. She had resolved that she was going to complete all pending jobs before ringing in the new year. The book was the last job on her ‘To Do’ list in which all other items had been ticked off. She had been working on the book during her sabbatical and was done with the writing. But it took ...

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“The Cookie Tin” by Book Worm

The meeting was in a luxury hotel. Sunita hesitantly accepted her host’s offer of a cup of tea feeling extremely guilty about the fact that it cost almost 100 times more than what it cost in a street side teashop.  But the complimentary cookies that was served with the tea could not be found in any teashop in the city. As she bit into the handmade cookies that took the shape of the hand that moul...

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“If only I could turn the clock back” by Book Worm

Anita sat alone in a corner of the room as she did every evening and tried to rehearse the events of the last few months. Had she acted in haste? Had she taken the right decision? She asked herself this question everyday but could not find an answer. The sound of the doorbell yanked her out of her ruminations. Suraj had returned after playing with his friends. She asked him to change while she went into ...

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“Row of Lights” by Book Worm

Twenty first century Hindu families pride themselves on holding on to traditional Hindu family values and traditions while making a switchover to modern western modernity. But Aryas are an odd Hindu family. They are confused between tradition and modernity. Three generations ago, the Arya paterfamilias converted to a new Hindu reform movement that swept the subco...

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“Five for secret never to be told” by Book Worm

The Baigs were an aristocratic, highly educated, reputed family in Lucknow, which is known as the city of Nawabs. The senior Baig, Ataullah, had been sent to the UK to study law as was the tradition in pre-independent India and returned to become a highly regarded Barrister. The son Najibullah followed in the father’s footsteps and joined the family’s law practice. The law firm flourished until t...

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“The dancing flames” by Book Worm

I have not stepped out of my apartment since late spring. The lockdown was certainly one of the reasons. At my age, as the advisory warned, it was risky to step out of doors. But I used the forced confinement to take a complete break from work. I hated the back biting, politics, and gossip in my workplace and could pretend that I was in a self-serviced apartment in a green resort if I shut myself...

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“Destiny” by Book Worm

Raghav, the go-getting young man in her hobby class, wanted Rashmi to introduce him to her beautiful classmate Akira. “What is the point?”, Rashmi warned him. “Her parents are devout Tamil brahmins and she will be allowed to marry only someone whose horoscope matches hers.” Unlike most Indians who have their horoscope prepared at birth, Rashmi did not have one since her progressive paren...

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“This was Kashmir!” by Book Worm

I can’t recall the thrill when Father announced his next posting. “We are going to Srinagar”! I knew Kashmir from the Hindi films set in Kashmir and from the songs and dances of those that were not set there. If you watch those old films, you would be able to visualize how Kashmir looked like until 1989. We have no photographs of our time in Kashmir. Unlike the sel...

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“A bundle of Nerves” by Book Worm

At her age, it was absolutely unpardonable. After standing on the stage and facing nearly two hundred eyes boring into her day after day, Kala was not expected to have pre-performance jitters. But she did before every important event she had to preside over and something invariably went wrong. It didn’t help to watch ‘How to Fight your Nerves’ manuals or to listen to narratives of professional pe...

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“Fourteen-year-wait” by Book Worm

Pratiksha waited for fourteen long years for an answer to a question. Fourteen years is a long time to wait. Since Kaikeyi, King Dashratha’s youngest wife, demanded the throne for her own son and a fourteen-year-long forest exile for Rama in the Ramayana, the magic number has echoed in the Hindu mind as a signifier for an interminably long period. True to the meaning of her name, Pratiks...

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“Dead or Missing” by Book Worm

This was the year when everyone huddled around family or community radio sets to listen to names of those who were dead or had gone missing in the riots. Like every evening, the special radio bulletin began with the names of those who had died in the riots. Labhayaram, 35, son of Gainda Ram, Lahore; Bhannaram, 45, son of Fakirchand; Pyarelal,40, son of Lainaram, Lyallpur; Jagga,25, son of Gurmail Singh, Rawalpindi; Veera,16, daughter of Madanlal, Mianwali; Meshi, 8, son of Lalchand, Montgomery; Hakim Tarachan...

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Author bio

I have always been a bookworm who nurtured dreams of being a writer. Finally, I have decided to have a go at writing and am thoroughly enjoying the experience.