Veiled Mistresses

By Arastah Jannat Islam In the journey of life some people come to leave, things are possessed to be disposed, some moments are lived to create memories and some memories are created to get buried under the stacks of time. Some memories brightly shine and showcased in the shelf of time, reminding the moments associated, however good or bad (with equal fervour), while some just sit at the back of the shelf, in one of the deepest corner, existing yet making us oblivion to their existence. However, those taking the backseats are not any insignificant instances to have lived. Neither were they some huge grandeur of events (at least not all). These moments were simple, subtle affairs, which might not be life changing yet they have a lot of meaning attached to them. These memories are like that hint of fragrance that comes along a sudden brush of breeze, creates some ripples in your senses and vanishes in an instant. On my recent cleaning spree, I stumbled upon such myriad memories.

By: Chandra Goswami Source: Internet I often wonder at people who say they do not have any best friend. For me, it sounds like an alien concept. How can someone survive without having one? I am sure many don't feel the need to have a good friend or confidante in their life. But I must add that they are missing on the best thing that life can offer. While all other relationships are preordained, friends are the only people whom we get to choose for ourselves. A good friendship can teach us loyalty, generosity, and patience. For me, my friendship is a milestone to judge how good or bad I am as a person. But, a friendship like any other relationship needs years of work. You cannot build a strong relation in just a matter of days. In fact, let me break the romantic picture that movies have drawn around friends. Nope, friends don't always behave like Jai and Viru. They may have conflicting interest, they could be supremely competitive with each other and even qu

By Arastah Jannat Islam I am sure it's quite evident from the title itself that I am about to speak of none other than "man's best friend", that is darling dogs. This isn't anything about dog breeds (of which I have little or no knowledge at all), or anything about ways of looking after them. This is simply a penned down version of my many rendezvous with dogs (stray or housed). There is certain kind of affinity between me and them. Dogs anywhere generally get friendly with me instantly (hope this continues...touchwood!). So when I  met Lucy at my friend's place for the first, we clicked in a moment and there she was wagging her tail and sitting down licking my feet as me and my friend chatted. From that day onwards we shared this amazing bond. Whenever I visited my friend (which was quite often as she was also my neighbour) Lucy would always run to me and put her mouth on my legs and I had to pat her and fondle her for some time, only after which she

By: Mehnaz Farooque Only a few lucky ones end up in life with the best mates, the ones who you share your soul with, who you can count on in your worst times. They are called the friends. Friends are the species that belong to your clan. They are “your” people that make the happy times way happier and the sad times way lighter. A lot has already been written about friends and friendships and the stories and tales about the journeys of best friends. So I wouldn’t go to those details. I want to rather reflect on a different façade of friendship. It is the part that some of us come across. It is about the times you want to run away from your best friend. Yes, run away. We live in a world where we knowingly or unknowingly compare the degree of success, fortune and happiness with someone else. And that someone else, in most of the times, is a close friend. A friend that cleared the entrance exam, but not you; a friend that got a higher grade, but not you; a friend that may have found a h

A Short Story By: Satarupa Mishra Image: Internet Source W hen Priyasi and Garima met for the first time in college, they took each other to be the dumbest girls alive. Call it confidence or escapism girls never fancy the possibility of their own dumbness whatsoever. Anyway, be it for their common dumbness or intelligence Priyasi and Garima became good friends in just a couple of months. And by good friends, I mean friends who went to the restaurants together whenever they flanked the class test or whenever they chanced upon a conversation with that cute guy in college. Food was their common interest; and so was that cute guy. Unfortunately, their cute guy was in love with the hottest girl in college. And both Priyasi and Garima knew very well that they stood nowhere in the race. In fact, the day they came to know about his love interest, they spent a thousand bucks on chicken burgers, doughnuts, and chocolate coffee in a restaurant, consoling themselves. And how succes

By: Chandra Goswami Source: Internet Life changes shape and looks so rapidly that it is difficult to hold back the moments for a long time. Often when we reflect back on life, it feels dizzy to keep note of the flickering incidents. Just think about it; do you remember what you did exactly at 3:45 pm yesterday? Or do you remember how many calls you received last week? Can you recall the exact words you uttered in each of your conversations with people around? These might sound mundane incidents which we hardly ever bring back to our memory. But while we allow our mind to erase such meagre episodes, we let life happen to us. Life, that recedes out of our hands like the grains of sand. Our life is the cumulative whole of each of these moments, no matter how mundane they are. What really makes sense of this ever changing existence of humanity is our memory of what we have lived by. In our memory, we may not trap all the details, but there are some rare incidents that l

By: Mehnaz Farooque Since the number of rapes isn't going down, I think it has become important that at some conscious level, we prepare ourselves. This one is for the ones who have been raped. The ones who were molested by an elderly person in the family; the ones who were touched inappropriately by maybe a teacher; sexually abused by a husband; or harassed by an elderly woman. This one is for all of us who have survived the indecent stares in public, the harassing texts from a mate, and much more. And of course, this one is for the ones who might face any of the above situations in maybe their own home town, a taxi or even their own room. There have been many candle light protests, many news room debates on how we can educate the world to not rape. But very few things have been said about how to live after a rape. It is not easy to have been touched without your consent. And while we think the rape is one incident, for the victims, it is a series of unending incidents.