The Dark Angels

Anamika stood on the footpath, turned back to see if she could spot any cabs. She was exasperated. She looked at her watch. It was a little past 12 in the night. She looked around again, impatiently.

"Maybe I should have waited for the office cab", she cursed herself.

She then started walking again, hoping to find a cab down the road. As she continued walking, she heard a vehicle approaching. She turned back almost with a glee. But it wasn't a cab. She left out a huge sigh in despair. And turned and started walking slowly again. The vehicle slowed down and came close to the footpath where Anamika was walking. The driver honked twice to get her attention and brought the vehicle even closer to the footpath. The vehicle was now moving at the same speed as Anamika. He honked again. Anamika didn't stop or look at them.

The glass came down and the guy beside the driver put his head out. The smoke and the loud music from the vehicle smothered Anamika. She brushed the smoke away and kept walking, now at a brisk pace.

"Lost your way madam.? Need a ride.?", asked the guy in the passenger seat in the front.

Anamika still didn't stop or react and kept walking.

"Oh, come on. Don't be like that. We wont do anything to you. We have lot of space in the car. You can ride with all of us", he said and guffawed along with the two guys in the back and the driver.

"May be you guys should keep moving. I don't want any trouble", she retorted.

"What trouble can you cause us. Also we always love a little fight", he said and hi-fived with the guy in the back seat.

"Thats it. I'm calling the police", she said and put her hand in her bag to find the phone.

"Ok ok. We will back off. Cool down baby", he said. And the vehicle stopped.

Anamika turned around and continued walking. And even before she could react, someone covered her mouth with a cloth and two others lifted her. They put her in between the two guys in the back seat. The smell of alcohol and smoke inside the car was almost intoxicating. The vehicle zoomed away into the dark.

In the dark woods somewhere in the outskirts of the city a cellphone rang. Anamika picked it up.

"Hey, where are you. On the dark side of the moon.? Have been trying to call you since the past 30mins", screamed Abhaya on top of her voice.

"Seems like that. But I think I'm somewhere on the outskirts", Anamika said calmly.

"What are you doing there at this time.?", Abhaya asked.

"Cutting the front tails of few dogs", Anamika smirked.

"Aaaah that is nasty. So where did you pick up the dawgs.?", Abhaya asked.

"Actually this time they picked me up. I warned them too. Still they tried to wag their tails.", Anamika replied and smiled at her own remark.

"So gonna let them bleed to death.?", questioned Abhaya almost expecting a yes from her.

"Oh how much I would love that. But that would put them out of misery right away, wouldn't it? That's way I have called the ambulance from their phone. They will live to tell their story. So what you been up to tonight?", asked Anamika while trying to find her way through the woods.

"Thanks for asking. Tonight was good. I was returning from work when these two guys kept following me from the metro station. They kept passing comments. Describing my buttocks and breasts, you know. I just kept walking and led them to a dark alley.", said Abhaya and continued, "One of the bastards thought this was the right moment and put his hands on my shoulder."

"Tch tch tch", said Anamika.

"Yeah, he too realised his mistake after that", said Abhaya.

"So what happened next.?", prodded Anamika.

"Well, lets say he looks a lot like Voldemort now", said Abhaya and giggled.

"Aaah, the nose.?? Talk about being nasty. And what happened to the other guy.?", asked Anamika.

"I told him that he could either be a good friend and take his friend to the hospital or try to be a hero and lose his ear", Abhaya replied.

"And he chose to be a good friend", said Anamika.

"I wished. But men could be so dumb. He instead came running to attack me shouting 'You bitchhhhh'. And I fed the nose and ear to the dogs", Abhaya said in a matter of fact tone.

"Looks like we both had our share of fun tonight", Anamika said and smiled.

"Yes, that's why I want you to be back home soon. It's getting late and we have a day life too. And can you find your way back or do you want me to come pick you up.?", said Abhaya mockingly.

"Oh! Don't cha worry. Mommy can take care of herself", said Anamika and cut the call.


P.S: Too much gore..?? Well don't blame me. The final season of Dexter is on air. :P

The Bus Romance.

Ram came running and got into the bus just in time.

He was taking deep breaths. This was the only bus that went directly to his office stop. Orelse he had to change to another bus at an intersection to reach his office.

The conductor came. He bought the tickets. That is when he saw her. Sitting at a distance, facing towards him. She was looking elsewhere listening to music on her phone. Her hair tucked behind her ears. Kohl adorned her eyes. And time and again few strands of hair fell on her face which she again tucked behind her ears. In no time he was mesmerised by her beauty. He couldn't believe he was falling for her. For a woman he only saw a few minutes ago.

"There is an empty seat behind", the conductor told him.

"No, I'm fine", he replied.

The conductor gave him a weird look. But he was too immersed in looking at her to bother about the conductor's look. He cursed his bad luck for not finding her at a better place. Where he could have went and spoke to her. "Now this will end as soon as she reaches her stop", he thought.

"Wait, I will talk to her here. Whats wrong in that. May be I will ask for her number. And then I will ask her out. We could go on a date. I will propose to her. We would be married. We will have beautiful kids.", he thought. He shook his head slowly and smiled to himself at his thoughts. That is when he noticed, she glanced at him.

"Did she just look at me.??", he asked himself. "May be she was wondering why this fool was smiling to himself and shaking his head", retorted his sadistic self.

And then she clearly looked in his direction. He turned back slowly to see if she was looking at someone else. No, it was him. And now she smiled. Ram went weak in his knees.

"Is this really happening? Is she really smiling at me? My thoughts weren't that stupid after all. And what is this weird feeling in my stomach? Are those hypothetical butterflies flying in my stomach?", he thought. All these thoughts kept popping in his head like the corns in an oven. His smile changed to a wide grin now.

Just then he saw her getting up from her seat. "Oh shit. Has she reached her stop? Is she getting off the bus? No, I have to talk to her. And get her number. I wont let it end like this", he said to himself.

As the bus neared the stop, she went and stood near the door. Ram pushed himself through the little crowd and stood behind her hesitatingly. The stop arrived.

*cough, cough* Ram coughed to get her attention. The doors opened. Just before getting down, she turned her head, gave him a coy look, smiled at him and said, "Your fly is open".

The Evil Sneeze

Rahul entered the house quietly. The house was dark.

"Power cut. Great.!!", he thought.

He went up the stairs without making any noise. He knew the house well. The darkness didn't bother him.

He went to the bedroom, silently sneaking behind Priya, who was busy on her laptop.

"Achoooo....", Rahul sneezed.

"Bless you", Priya said turning back, only to discover that no one was behind her.


P.S: Were you spooked..?? Well if yes, thank this guy, I shamelessly try to imitate him to spook. If you weren't, then you have to surely head over to his blog to get properly spooked. And, he is getting published. :-)

Bad Omen

Ramu stepped out of home, waved his wife goodbye and left for work.

Just when he was about to cross his street a black cat crossed his path.

"Bloody cats", he cursed.

"I will take the other way", he thought and took a detour.

Few seconds into his detour, a flying sheet of metal from a nearby high-rise construction site cut his head off.

Work, Pray, Eat

Kannan had been working at a far away place for the past 18 months. He hadn't seen his family in those 18 months. An year and a half ago he had to leave his family at his village and go work as a coolie for a railway track laying project somewhere in Maharashtra. The rains failed for the third consecutive year. He couldn't afford to make a living from agriculture. He had to leave his wife and 6yr old son. But he didn't have a choice.

He sincerely sent the 15 rupees he got as salary every month to his family through Money order. He never saved for himself. He never saw the need for that. They built a makeshift shed for all the coolies who worked there. They were provided with 2 meals per day. A doctor visited once in a month for a general medical examination. He couldn't have asked for more.

After 18 months the project came to an end. He got a letter from his wife 3 months back. She mentioned that the rains were good this year. He thought he can go back and be with his family and take up agriculture again.  That month he kept some money for his journey and sent the rest to his family. On the day of travel he packed some food for his 3 day journey. He boarded the train that would take him home. 2 days into the journey, all the food he brought was over. Thanks to his generosity for sharing his food with a poor fellow passenger. The 8 annas he was given by his employer as a departing gift was spent on toys for his little son. With no food and no money Kannan thought he could mange the remaining one day without food.

On the third day at around 4 in the morning the train stopped at some unknown place. The tracks ahead were broken, someone told him. It would take 5-6 hrs to repair the tracks and get the trains running they said. The train was re-routed to a near-by station till then. It was already close to a day since he ate anything. And he had to manage almost another day. The hunger pangs started hurting his stomach. All the passengers waited at the station close to 10hrs, still there was no news about when the train would start. Kannan was trying to pacify his hunger by drinking water. It was of no use.

He didn't have money to buy food and he will not beg. He would rather die he thought. He also thought about working for food. But there were no such jobs available. As he sat on the bench clutching his stomach he saw a family having their meal from their packages. All their heads were tonsured. He got up to ask some food from them but turned away and went to drink some more water. He came back and sat on the bench. Now his eyes started blurring. Uncontrollable, he went to them and asked, "Returning from Thirupathi?"

"Yes brother." The lady replied with a smile.

"Will I get some prasadam?", he asked hesitatingly.

"Sorry brother, we don't open the prasadam package until we reach home and perform pooja", the lady said with the utmost apologetic tone.

"It's ok.", he said and turned to leave. But unbearable, he again turned towards them and asked, "Do you atleast have some food. I'm very hungry."

Feeling very sorry for him she said, "Brother, couldn't you have asked us a little earlier? We just threw away the remaining food."

Then the man of the family took Kannan to a stall and bought him idlis. Kannan hesitated.

"Think of this as the prasadam you asked us a little while earlier.", the man said.

The memories came rushing to Kannan when his 10yr old grandson asked him, "Thatha why do you pray to food before you eat?"

Society and the scary man.

*Random rant start*

When we were very young our parents told us about the Poochandi(Boogeyman) - a scary man, to scare us and make us compliant. 'Eat your food or else he will take you away', 'Take your medicines otherwise we will send you off with him', 'Behave well, if not he will come and catch you' and so on.

And when we grow up and are no more afraid of the Poochandi, our parents use the 'Society' to do the trick, albeit for different reasons. 'What will the society think if you do this?', 'What will the society think if you do that?', 'What will the society say if you behave like this?', 'What will the society think if you act like that?','The society wont accept this' and so on.

If you come to think of it, there are somethings common between these two.
Both are used to scare us and coerce us into doing things which we do not want to do.
Both of them are non-existent.
And even if they do exist, they don't give a rat's ass about you or your life.

I would have said the same about God and religion too. But they are also used for various other reasons. But Poochandi and Society are solely used for the purpose mentioned above. To scare and coerce us into doing/not doing things which we don't want/want to do.

*Random rant end*

Tell me your dreams

Anil returned from office, really tired. It was a Sunday afternoon. He had gone the previous evening and had been working for 18hrs straight.

"I must be having the most boring life, ever", he said to himself. "I mean who works on weekends, for 18 straight hours??", he thought in frustration.

He then thought about his life few years back when he was a school kid. Carefree, irresponsible, not a thing to worry about in the world. And then he remembered, the one thing that changed it all.

Deepak, the guy who moved into their neighbourhood. He was an IT professional. He dressed formally everyday. Clean shaven, neatly combed and well groomed. Went to and came back from office at odd hours. Although Anil thought Deepak had a boring and hectic life, he liked it. Actually he yearned for it. To be occupied, to be super busy and be all grown up and responsible. He said to himself, "I want to be like that".

Anil frowned at those memories. "How wrong and naive I was", he thought. "Now what I wouldn't do to be that kid", he contemplated. As much as he wanted to self-whine about it, he was also tired. Actually more tired than that. He dropped himself on the bed and went to snooze-land in an instance.

While deep in his sleep Anil heard a sound.

"What is that noise?", he wondered, still deep in sleep.

"Its a siren, no, its an ambulance on the road. But its sounds so nearby and it sounds like a bad cooing of a cuckoo. Wait, that's the doorbell ringing", the thoughts went on in his sleepy head.

He tired opening his eyes and felt like they were glued. The sound became more clear and loud.

"Its the doorbell. Who is that now. Let a man sleep in peace", he murmured as he got irritated.

He pulled himself up from the bed with his eyes still half closed. And he walked to the door all wobbly as the house spun around him. He opened the door and asked, "Woos that?" while yawning.

When he opened his eyes a little more and saw the person standing in front of him he felt as if someone threw a bucket of ice cold water on his face.

"Grandpa?", he exclaimed in surprise while taking a step back.

"Your surprise surprises me. I live here", his Grandpa replied.

"Are you going to let me in or stand there and block my way", his Grandpa asked.

Anil took his hand off the door and let him inside. While his Grandpa walked in, he said, "But you died 4yrs ago."

Grandpa stopped walking, turned back and said, "And then I got resurrected today?"
"That's a little late for resurrection don't you think", he mocked his grandson. "And why do you want me dead in your dream?", he asked, with a fake frown.

"Dream? What dream?", Anil asked wondering.

"The dream in which I'm dead, that dream", he said. "That's what happens when you sleep in broad daylight. You get crazy dreams. Like the living are dead and the dead are walking and talking", he said while chuckling.

Anil stood there bemused while his grandpa was walking away. And then someone called him from behind. Anil turned to see who it was.

"Anil, what are you doing standing there and staring at your granddad's picture?", asked his mom.

Anil turned back to look at his grandpa's smiling portrait adorned with garland.