ARDHANAREESHWARA

ARDHANAREESHWARA

(acrylic)

SWARNALATHA-1

7th December 1975 - Gowri Pooja. A few hours later we became soul mates. 

(My latest pencil sketch in memory of my late wife.)

SEAFRONT

A VEILED LADY-2

WOMAN-2

A WOMAN

क़सूरवार

सुरूर-ए-निगाह-ए-हसीना ने ली क़सम क़त्ल-ए-आम की,

मेरी जान निकल गई तो मेरा क्या क़सूर?

क़ायम है

तनहाई क़ायम है, ख़िज़ाँ-ए-हयात क़ायम है, क़ायम है दर्द-ए-रुख़सत-ए-महबूब।

सफर क़ायम है, तनहा मुसाफ़िर क़ायम है, क़ायम है हसरत-ए-विसाल-ए-यार।

                                                          …श्याम सुन्दर बुलुसु

MY JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF WRITING-XVII

Not a day passes without the news about an assault on a woman, a girl, or even a baby. Not a day passes without our reading about such anguishing crimes. Not a day passes without our watching these in silent helplessness.

It is happening with sickening regularity.

There are innumerable bravehearts out there silently suffering the evil of eve-teasing, lewdness, sexual overtures, groping and pawing, stalking, assault, acid attack, molestation, and rape; many suffer silently, some fight back.

This is the story of one such braveheart, who makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect her daughter.

Through this short story, A BRAVEHEART, I pay my humble homage and tribute to all those bravehearts, who are struggling and fighting the evil every day.

There isn’t much to describe about the story. There isn’t much that you already do not know about the evil. There isn’t much that is happening by way of women’s safety. However, there is much that we all can do, as individuals and as a society.

Let us take the small first step, FIGHT BACK.

***

MY JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF WRITING-XVI

Is a village a unique entity?

Is it a geographical unit, or is it just a notional entity?

Does it have a soul of its own?

Does it represent the collective souls of its inhabitants?

***

TheVillage was my first experiment in the supernatural genre.

The story narrates the unusual experience of a husband and wife who take shelter in a rural guesthouse on a storm-hit night when their car breaks down on a highway.

To tell you the truth, when I started, I just had a vague and hazy idea of what I wanted to convey, no concrete or definite storyline. As I cogitated on the idea for quite some time, I found threads of the storyline, which developed into a well-defined narrative with characters, scenes, backdrops, and the final climax to the suspense. I took great care not to reveal even hints of the end, revealing the suspense at the very end of the story. It was well received and I was happy that I handled the new genre well.

The main aspects of this genre that I realised were creating a plausible ambience to the story, the essence of the suspense and maintaining it till the very end (or the most appropriate moment before, as is done in many cases). This bare scaffolding must be propped up with credible characters, short scenes, crisp dialogues, a fast-paced narration, effective imagery, and creating the super natural atmosphere by not saying too much at any given stage until the end.

I haven’t, deliberately, gone into details of this story since I want you to read and enjoy it.

***

VEILED LADY-1

A VEILED LADY

A HORSE

CROW

A CROW

A GHOST GOES BANANAS

A GHOST & A BANANA 

(charcoals)