SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

“ZODIAC SIGNS” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #42

Meena observed that her mother was late in returning home. Yet another day of late coming, long waiting. Of late she had been coming home late. Mithun, her brother, comforted her. ‘After all, she was working hard for our sake and we needed to empathise with her and not pester her when she returns home.’ “We do not know about her workload at her office. At home also she is working for us without complaining. Have you ever seen her fretting or getting angry with us? There could be some reason for her to come late. Don’t worry. She had taken ca...

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“ZODIAC SIGNS” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Meena observed that her mother was late in returning home. Yet another day of late coming, long waiting. Of late she had been coming home late. Mithun, her brother, comforted her. ‘After all, she was working hard for our sake and we needed to empathise with her and not pester her when she returns home.’ “We do not know about her workload at her office. At home also she is working for us without complaining. Have you ever seen her fretting or getting angry with us? There could be some reason for her to come late. Don’t worry. She had taken ca...

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“LIFE FIRST” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #41

The rains, the trains and the elephants are all objects enchanting forever. Heavy rains, speedy trains, swaying elephants are very attractive. For children specially, once they notice any of them, life comes to a standstill. Ananya too was no different. In fact, she had an obsession with elephants. Some years ago, her father had taken his family to Thailand and Ananya had a chance to go on Elephant Safari. It was a free ride for children. She was too small to sit alone on the elephant. Her father had tucked her with him. Initially, she was s...

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“A FOE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #40

Priyanka came to know that her friend’s husband was admitted into Yashodha hospital for dialysis. Since the hospital was near her home at a walkable distance, she thought of visiting her. She bought some fruits and went to see her. At the hospital at every point she had to enquire and go further. She had to enquire and find out the floor number, room number, visitors’ timings, any do’s and don’ts’... She had to enquire where was the lift and get there. She came out of lift and looked for the room where her friend’s husband was admitted. Ther...

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“LOTTERY TICKET” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #40

Keerti, daughter of famous cinema producer cum director, Mister Partibhan lifted half a dozen newspapers left in the verandah of the house and handed them over to her father. She wished him good luck. “At least let today be your luckiest day, Appa. Let your hunt for spicy news turns out to be successful.”  Yrs. She was right. The director was looking for a theme for his next motion picture. He wanted that it should be based on a true incident. A real life-story! Exactly for that reason, he was scanning through the newspapers for in...

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“BHAIRAVAN” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #38

Naagu was working from home and his boss was on the line. “Yes Sir. It will be done. No problem. By the way, let me ----” Before he could complete his conversation, he got distracted by the dog under his feet. Buddy, his daughter’s pet dog was circling him and scratching and making funny sounds, trying to catch his attention. Naagu yelled at his wife to fetch the stupid stuff and throw him out. “Not at all allowing me to carry on my work even for five minutes at a stretch. What my boss will think? Will he not believe that I am playing with t...

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“QUEEN'S NECKLACE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #37

QUEEN’S NECKLACEManikarnika was standing near the bathing ghat of mighty river Ganga at Haridwar. There were many signboards cautioning the pilgrims and travellers. One board displayed, ’Slippery steps. Caution’, another one advised, ’Keep the place clean’, one more cautioned, ‘Beware of Pickpockets’, another one said, ‘Don’t use soap or shampoo’, one more instructed, ‘Don’t litter, don’t pollute’. She was watching the people taking a holy dip in the river, some reciting hymns and some just enjoying their bath in the running water. Almost ev...

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“SELF ISOLATION” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #35

Sushma was grief stricken. It was only third day today. She had to kill some twelve more days of self-imposed quarantine. Long back her school friend Damayanti had written that she would be visiting India for a conference. Due to paucity of time she would not be in a position to pay a visit to her place. She had requested Sushma to meet her at airport and drop her at the hotel or just escort her and be with her till the hotel, so that the two friends could spend some little time for themselves. That seemed a better idea as both were otherwis...

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“GO CORONA GO ” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #34

Murugan was getting bored. Standing at the balcony on 8th floor of his apartment and looking at the sky was all he could do. As far as he could see, the lanes streets and roads were empty, no one was going around, no passer-by, no vehicular movement, no sound except for some stray dogs barking and screeching. When silence is very strong, they call it ‘The sound of silence’. That eerie sound was jarring now. Because he had been made to stay at home, that too compulsorily, he was at a loss of wits. The various methods suggested to him on what’...

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“INVADERS” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #33

Indrajit and his family were visiting his friend at Bangalore for a short stay with them. The two families were meeting after a long gap of time. Of course, they were in contact with each other on mobile, video chats and so on. But face to face and in person, was happening now. His friend, Sethuraman, his wife, Sumitra and their only son, Ranjan were very fond of Indrajit’s family. Bindulata, wife of Indrajit’s wife was a teacher in a local school at Nagpur and was often writing articles on Indian culture and arts of ancient era. She was als...

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“VICTORY” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #32

Saturn was getting bored and it tried bullying the cool Fairy. “See, I am the king of vices and you are the queen of virtues. Let us play a game today. Let us choose a person and apply our forces and see who wins. I know in these modern days of Kaliyuga, I have a stronghold on anyone and everyone. But still, let us give a try. What do you say?”Fairy retained her cool calm posture and replied.“I am not into any game. I shall be a mere spectator. You do what you want to do. I will count till ten and you spot your victim and start.”“Why ten? 3-...

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“VICTORY” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Saturn was getting bored and it tried bullying the cool Fairy. “See, I am the king of vices and you are the queen of virtues. Let us play a game today. Let us choose a person and apply our forces and see who wins. I know in these modern days of Kaliyuga, I have a stronghold on anyone and everyone. But still, let us give a try. What do you say?”Fairy retained her cool calm posture and replied.“I am not into any game. I shall be a mere spectator. You do what you want to do. I will count till ten and you spot your victim and start.”“Why ten? 3-...

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“CERTAIN THINGS DO NOT CHANGE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Saraswathy, by virtue of working in the same house as cook for the past four years, knew too well about likes and dislikes of the family members. She was also aware of frequent visitors to the family and to some extent, their likes and dislikes. It so happened that their ex-colleague, Srikrishna, who worked with them at USA had come with his family to Bangalore and wanted to meet them. So Ramulu invited him and his family for dinner. He also called other colleagues and common friends known to Srikrishna, for dinner on the same day, so that t...

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“MARRIAGE REPLAY” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #28

Sulochana aunty had to go apartment no. A Block 234 and inform the ladies that her daughter in law, Hemamalini, would not be able to attend this fortnight’s kitty party cum get together, arranged in this house. She could have very well telephoned and told them. But then, she was not sure who would pick up the phone. Sulochana aunty was not good at conversing in English nor in Hindi. By going in person and telling the ladies, it was expected that one or the other woman would understand her dialect. By the way it was neither a far away place, ...

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“KALYANI” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #27

Sindhu was travelling from Chennai to Mumbai for attending an official conference. The office had arranged for her train ticket and stay arrangements. Since she thought that she would overstay at Mumbai after her office work was done, she had requested that she might be permitted to get her return journey ticket as per her convenience and it was agreed also. But in her daily chores and other preoccupations, she totally forgot about her return journey rail ticket reservation. Only on boarding for Mumbai, she remembered that she was yet to arr...

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