...do they ever feel this total sense of failure, this dryness in the mouth, this furtiveness in the skin, in the pores...this creeping desperation...

I love chocolates. I think they are one of the five most useful creations of the universe. The others are: nail-cutters, disposable razors, coffee and books.

Till the age of five, Madhav, confined to the four walls of their big house, remained unaware, just like the small frog in its well, that Durga Puja wasn't the only festival celebrated in the entire world. full story

...novel writing was always a big challenge...you can't do your 10-hour work-day and after that go write your novel, that's impossible.You can't be a Sunday writer as far as a novel is concerned.

There was enough space around, yet the three trees stood close, huddled. What did this mean? ...A huddle of three widows standing distanced from the bejewled and finery-decked women at a wedding...

If it is true that travel broadens the mind then solo travel unfetters it completely... lone travellers interact furiously with the places they are visiting, and in the process they learn much about others and themselves.

Tongues started wagging in the Collectorate about the wrath of a God revered for generations by the locals. A defiant Harold sat in his sturdy chair with its red leather cover.

My Television Debut: Vimala Ramu

'Fast' Food: Reeta Mani

La la Land: Shefali Tripathi Mehta

Patriarchy, which disadvantages women, also affects men. To a large extent men may be perpetrators of crime against women. But essentially they are also victims of the same system.

But then, you would only understand if you have ever lived in a village. What would you eat when your granary is ashes; or where would you sleep when your house is burned to the ground?

Terrifying moments... are wonderful in retrospect. Back in Mumbai, I realised how much I had enjoyed the Macuco Safari. Niagara's Maid of the Mist is tame in comparison.

And when preference scores over priority, I can be found simply lolling on the couch, stretched over the window seat or curled in bed on a cold day, with book/books and tea/coffee.

A sudden tremor spreads over Tilottama's mind and body. For a second, she feels like sweeping away the constraints of time, place and people and throwing herself on that smiling man.

Research is indeed a solo trek. Busy with the shenanigans of politicians and Page 3 wallahs, the media, it seems, has little time or inclination for scholarship.

I like the way he just assumes I'll come, just like that, in half an hour.It's one of the things that are peculiar to the plane on which we operate.

Mediocrity makes a comfortable dust sheet to cover life with. That it can also make a bonsai of a person was something she did not notice in the flurry of living.

Adrift: Anindita Deo

Pang: Snehith Kumbla

Ideas of Love: Ritu Kaushal

Of Far and Near: Somnath Mukherji

Fairytale: Anjana Krishnamurthy

A-Moral: Asma Ladha

Who is Beauty: Feroz Rather

Stubbed: Amit Charles

Better 1/2: Amit Charles

Summit: K Pankajam

Bravado: Vivek Sharma