Reddit: Writing Prompt: "Outlaw In-Laws" by u/blackparody

Writing Prompt by u/Therandomfox:

In-laws and outlaws, and in-law outlaws.

Reddit: Writing Prompt: "Lick the Apple" by u/blackparody

Writing Prompt by u/Arroz8941:

You are desperate to become immortal because you have a terminal illness. The only way to attain it is by convincing someone to lick an apple. Unfortunately, you haven't been able to do this simple task.

Reddit: Writing Prompt: "Blessing the Devil" by u/blackparody

Writing Prompt by u/HakaBb:

You have the power to literally bless people when they sneeze but you don't know it. Here comes Satan with a proper hay fever and you are just being polite, as always.

Creative Poetry: Behind Drawn Curtains

The imagery of intimate moments is usually set in two broad categories - the act itself, or an allegorical representation. I find it amusing that most choose to avoid talking about the sweaty, sappy, emotional core of the act. This piece tries to explore the image from the perspective of a third party, so it imparts a voyeuristic flavour to it.

Musings: Smile, like a Lightning

I once wondered why relationships shown in movies are so quiet. Why is the passion in the relationships depicted on the silver screen so... calm, collected, and clean. Where's the mess that makes a relationship real? It makes me reflect on the passion I love so much about my relationship.

Write India: A Homecoming

The following is a short story penned by me as participation in Write India, a year long short story writing contest where popular authors set guidelines, and one writes and submits the story in accordance to it. You can check out about the contest here:

TOI Write India

This story is submitted as part of the month which is judged by Tuhin Sinha, who has written some amazing books like 'Of Love and Politics' and 'The edge of desire'. You can find his instructions below. Cool? Cool.

Write India: Of Loss and Family

The following is a short story penned by me as participation in Write India, a year long short story writing contest where popular authors set guidelines, and one writes and submits the story in accordance to it. You can check out about the contest here:

TOI Write India

This story is submitted as part of the month which is judged by Preeti Shenoy, of 'Why We Love the Way We Do' fame. While you can find the general rules of the contest on the first link, you can click below to read the author's specific guidelines. And then read the story as well. Capisce?

Write India: Penance

The fourth author as part of the Write India campaign is Ravi Subramanian. His competition was set in the modern society, and explored extramarital affairs. Read on for the short story I wrote for the same. Do leave feedback in the comments.

Write India: Waking from the Dream

The following is a short story penned by me as participation in Write India, a year long short story writing contest where popular authors set guidelines, and one writes and submits the story in accordance to it. You can check out about the contest here:

TOI Write India

This story is submitted as part of the month which is judged by Ashwin Sanghi, of The Krishna Key fame. You can find his instructions below. Cool? Cool.

DNA Out of Print: No One to Fight, No One to Die

DNA India recently invited submissions for short stories as part of their Out of Print edition. The theme for this year's competition is Erosion. Aspiring contestants, this author included were given full freedom to interpret the topic in any manner we saw fit - from the erosion of political freedom and its impact on society and culture, or erosion of relationships that lose meaning in many ways over generations, or physical erosion of the environment due to man, or even the disintegrating emotional stabilities of the human psyche.

The only rule was that the stories needed to be in English, previously unpublished, and about 2000 words in length. The following post, should you choose to read more, is my attempt submitted for this competition. You can read the winning stories of last year's editions here, and also those of the other finalists, where the theme was Choice.

Al right then, let's get on with the story, shall we?

Creative Poetry: Birds

Much of humanity's drive through the ages has been through a need to learn and understand the world around us. This has defined, and in some ways restricted who we are, as a species as well. The following poem was my way of feeling out the impact of such defining restrictions, and the ease of living without said chain and ball. Hope you like it.

Write India: A True Maratha

The first author as part of the Write India campaign is Amish. His competition was based on historic fiction, and revolved around women empowerment. Read on for the short story I wrote for the same. Do leave feedback in the comments.

TOI Write India: Introduction

Times of India is a big media giant, and hence a big platform for one to showcase his talent on. So their Write India competition is a very promising venture indeed. For more details of this section, please read on.

Tale Share: Purely Fictional by Arundhati

Have you ever tried to bring a world from your imagination into the real world? Or tried to capture the world around you in a canvas of words, in a manner so perfect that even blind could see? It has been my lifelong dream to be able to do that. Arundhati Bhardwaj, a friend of mine by happen-stance and a film-maker-in-making by trade (yes, I wrote it that way deliberately, shush), managed to do just the same with her small anecdotal fiction pieces. I am impressed, and it's time for you to be the same. Read on.

Tale Share: I Was 4 When My Bhai Found “Cancer” In Me And Removed It From Between My Legs Every Night

For every one of these gutting tales that we hear about, there are several that never see the light of day. Statistics tell us that less that 30% of these cases ever get reported, but who knows how many children never even tell their parents? Statistics also shows that most perpetrators of child sexual abuse are those known to the victim, close relatives - an uncle, a brother...

This article was first published at Akkar Bakkar. Read on.

Musings: Walking the Cross-Cultural Tight Rope

This is to be the first of hopefully many pieces of my Office Diaries section. I suppose it is an effort to convince myself I am one of the evil minions now - part of multiple despised guilds, including but not restricted to 'office goers' and 'working class'. Office life, as it is, is often about moderation. You want to be appropriate. Except when you end up doing that too much, to your own detriment. Read on to know how.

Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World: Conclusion

So ten weeks ago I took an online certification course on Coursera on Fantasy and Science Fiction, linked here. It has been an instructional ten weeks, and finally I have completed it successfully. Read below for more details.

Musings: Of Effeminacy, Homosexuality, and Stereotyping

A friend of mine told me today that she had heard that gay couples has normative gender roles - that is, one of them was more manly and the other was more womanly. Now I believe that she spoke of what she heard, and in all probability respects homosexuals. But the ignorant stereotyping still got to me, and here I am typing away about the most talked about, and obvious topics, just to clear my own head.

Cory Doctorow: Final Thesis

So this was the last book I needed to read and prepare for my coursera course. If I pass, I will let you know. But for the time being, let us just enjoy the fact that it is DONE! Ha! I did it! *tap dances*

Ahem. Anyway. Back to Doctorow's Little Brother. Basically it follows on Orwell's 1984 Big Brother, and asks who will put Big Brother in check? In today's world, who fights against the Police State? Whoever this person is, or this outfit, one can assume it has to be a darn hard job to get even with the Big Man with all the power. And yet who but a teenager could have the reckless bravado required? And thus we reach the novel, which you can find on the author's website. Or, you could just read on this post, which summarizes, analyses and (hypo)thesizes this novel. Onwards!

Cory Doctorow: Introduction

To know more about this segment, read on.