Skip to main content

Clean Clothes


Cracked heels have thousands of stories. Cracked ribs have some more.

Even the trees that are six feet under, breathe when no one is looking.

Talks in pauses, thinking, not about what to say, but rather, why it should be said.  Shorter questions take more time to answer.

Are you happy

What are you looking at

What are you thinking about

Why aren't you out of bed

What did you do today

I brushed. I showered. I wore clean clothes. 

Can you do it again tomorrow?

No. 

The people around you know what they are doing. Everybody has done their homework. But you haven't, because it slipped out of your mind.

The teacher is taking her rounds now.

But, you might say, there is no homework here. There are no teachers, or braided hair, or long pleated skirts or even big blank books.

You don't need to do your homework because you don't-QUIET NOW

The teacher is close. You can smell her.

And in times like these, the stink becomes more welcoming than the scent.


- Anushruti Adhikari (अनुश्रुति अधिकारी )

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. Bhaskar DhakalMay 14, 2018 at 10:48 PM

    From nowhere to everywhere and from everywhere to nowhere. Your words have magic. Not being too generous, but I adore the reflection of emotions via your words. Kudos

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Week After The Valentine's I haven't understood love. As we grow up, our perception of love and life differs greatly. Often, we tend to overshadow one with the other, and that is exactly where we make mistakes. Balance. Balance. Balance. It's everything we want. What's worse, is that we are flawless humans, which means we have a chain of imperfections and we constantly need someone to appreciate them. Why, I wonder, can't we do it ourselves? My greatest struggle with self is acceptance. Appreciation. I'm divided. I want to show people that I am divided. Then I want them to love me even more. That's love for me. Valentine's day comes and goes, yet not a single day do you accept yourself. We leave the job of loving ourselves to each other. We praise each other, talk at lengths about each other, find ourselves in each other. Because we chose the other, before ourselves. We tend to sink in the gravity of someone else's affection. It's ou...
2 comments
Read more
You. It's strange how we crave for isolation but disgust our loneliness. Imagine this. How would you feel if you were changing the world but nobody knew? Today, my loneliness could not embrace me. I kept looking for answers, for reasons for why I am how I am. Why I exist. What difference do I make. I make no difference. I want no one to help me. My own isolation guides me. I find little, sometimes no pleasure in blending with people. What do I do then? I work. I work some more. When I'm done, who's going to be the one to see what I've done? The people of course. The people I forgot about. We all do this. If you don't, you're one step ahead of me. If you do, you're still ahead of me, that is,if you haven’t lost your mind questioning your existence like I did. How often have you not been able to explain your sorrow? The truth is, you can. You actually know the reason why you are in such a pain. Your life is purely doubtful. Your existence...
2 comments
Read more

Squiggles and Scribbles of Sashi

Sashi woke up today, annoyed and at 4 a.m. Her thinning blanket somehow turned over and her oiled-up feet were exposed to the ruthless chills of Magh. She angrily switched on the light, as if to scold the walls and windows of her room for the restless night.  Her belongings in the one-person rental flat are quite minimal, although symmetrically pleasing, like something straight out of a Wes Anderson movie, only, without the colours. Her clothes, from her mother's sarees to her work uniform had to put up a fight with her undiagnosed O.C.D; even the softest of the fabric was disciplined into a neat pile.  Her bathroom had nothing more than a single soap, dry on one side and slimy on the other. Her toothbrush, however, looked more worried, for the woman brushed ferociously, disappointed at her slightly yellow teeth which were now accompanied by often bleeding gums.  Her kitchen was completely empty, as she had decided not to eat in her room. The ventilation in the tiny flat ...
2 comments
Read more