Dheeraj Kalgutkar

Mehmud walked and walked and walked with a bag hanging by his shoulder; a bag made of clothes and plastic threads, covered in dirt and also torn here and there. He had forgotten the distance he had walked so far. He had forgotten the lanes he had taken. He was on a mission today. He had to collect enough valuable trash that would fetch him hundred odd rupees for the day. On an average day he would make 60 to 70 rupees which would be enough for his sustenance but today he had set his target, a full sum of a hundred rupees. Sunday of coming week was a special day for him. It was his mother’s birthday which he celebrated with all smiles and clean clothes. Clean clothes was a luxury that he couldn’t afford every day. It was one of the many things that was out of reach for people living in his jhuggi . The long tenuous day that involved mostly walking in sun from one trash pit or smelly mountain to another would suck most of his energy leaving him with no time to take care of his clot...

They will tell you They wanna disappear Far away from the madness of this world Away from hate, failures, breakups, heartbreaks They wanna walk into wilderness Into open fields and clear streams Jungles where elephants make sounds And deers run from roaring lions Into trees that grow supporting one another A world that exists onto itself Where seeds fall down and come to life when it pours from the skies But you know what? That’s not disappearing You want to be found You are longing to be discovered You are crying to meet thyself and you will But disappear you will not You will vanish only when death embraces you When you will become one with thin air That would be disappearance… Thanks for reading above poem. Do Share if you liked what you just read. It means a lot to me and helps other people to discover it :)

Our society and brain has a thing where it makes you think you are in love when you are not. It forces you into finding that person, to fall in love, propose because that’s what ‘all’ do at this age. You may be comfortable and enjoy someone’s company but partner? That’s whole different stuff. Love doesn’t need to occur to you just because it occurred to your friend. Here’s one such story. Read to know as they narrate their tale. SHE It all began in the college. Wait, not college but in school itself. Yes, it’s that old. I don’t remember who started it first. Given the fact that I was kind of recluse and shy back in those days (and still I’m. Don’t I?), we can safely say it was him. He was from a rich family, so was I. He was flamboyant, I was no less. I don’t know about perfect match but we were quite of a character back in the days. Our other classmates used to envy our households — born with a silver spoon if you may. It was certain for both of us to...

They were sitting. Quietly at their eleventh floor office. One in white and another in light pink. Their workstation a perfect pedestal to savor rains without getting wet. From there they used to see people walk down the lane that lead to main gate, see people sipping tea sitting on bench under that shady almond tree. They enjoyed watching people from above. It made them feel like super-humans. They watched people walk away from their tower and come to it, in group of two, three, four and sometimes lonely souls. But today was unlike those days. Nobody was looking through glass walls. The eyes that watched people from eleventh floor were busy onto something else today. Fingers were pointed at one another, mouths opened wide and shut, the poor rack of files were getting punched and kicked from their restive place. A war was upon them. Every other occupant of eleventh floor was staring at the screen before them. The blue, white, yellow screens with black texts. But the...