Theme 222 - Adversity

From @Kanakkupullai: He looked about. Everybody was writing, some with their head down, some with a serious look. He didn’t know what to write, for he didn’t know the meaning of the word given in the ‘Essay Writing contest’. He was stuck in a paradoxical situation. Little did he know about the adversities in writing on ‘adversity’.

From @Sourcasm: Despite knowing he would face adversity from every corner if he took this risk, without listening to any advice he made a move and came out of the closet. "I am gay and I am proud of it" he finally told his family and friends. People said what they had to, "Thank god" he said.

From @Drun007: 

"India is a land of unity,

In all its shades of diversity,

And more so in times of adversity,

But let's keep it till eternity."

The lines my grandfather helped me write for a school project, when I was 10.

Why did it have to be that word that is prominent today?

From @meticulousBlues: He was a successful man. Never alone, busy faking friendships with social chameleons. He was respected, never loved. Bored fate yawned at him. He lost everything in a blink. People he called friends vanished into thin air. He was finally alone.  Adversity has a profound way of showing true colours.

From @WeirdBeardDude: It was the same routine every day. He would wake up hoping his problems would magically disappear but he knew it would take time. Losing a job and a relationship in the same week was tough, but he knew he had to get through these adverse times. This was a test of his character.

From @divigyaan: Hope and faith were the two most important baggages she took along, when left her dear home. Someone promised, made her believe, she will get better than what she has left behind. But this time, fear won. Everything turned into dust. What she got in return was the  never ending adversity and her forever-lost-home's door keys.

Theme 221 - Lies

From @PScripturient: 

Comfort, he told himself was a great fallback than being adventurous. His marriage of twelve years had started looking like the black & white film he sat watching. She tried a new recipe every day, today being an apple crumble. Nibbling his way through, he said he loved her, lying was a piece of cake.

From @weirdbearddude: 

He was worshipped by all, he was their hero.

He was made promises to by his employers and he waited patiently. Days turned to months and months turned to years, he had been lied to.

Every man has a breaking point and he did too, he decided he had had enough. It was time.

From @SummerFringe: 

From the break of dawn surrounded by rays of hope to the time you close those eyes filled with yearning. You wriggle your way out. Survive the day by being benevolent.

But the self loathing doesn't end. Because the most excruciating lies are the lies you tell yourself everyday. The lies that kill your soul.

From @preetidhingra: 

I love you. I miss you. I will always be with you. I cannot live without you. I want to marry you. You are different.

Oh my parents will not agree. Oh our cultures are different. Oh you will not fit in my family. You are different.

Truth. Lies. I'll never know. Life will continue. With you or without you. Adios!

From @Greyllusionist:

He returned home from work, but there wasn't anyone waiting for him that evening anymore, except a note on the tea-table folded in a perfect square kept under that diamond ring which seemed quite heavy with this abrupt responsibilty...

"...if only brick and mortar could have buried the lies we built this home on..."

Theme 220 - Write

From @visshy_it: They tell me I am too opinionated, too full of myself to be a good journalist. Probably it is time to rest these opinions and take a fresh perspective. Then I put my pen to paper and write. And I forget what the world yaps around.

From @meticulousBlues: 

He: Why don't you write about us in your next book?
She: I'm scared.
He: Of what?
She: Of our love not being understood. If I give our story a page to write itself and leave it in the open,I worry people may call us cowards and our love hopeless.
He: Write,anyway.
She: I may, someday.

From @discopiggu: Her memories revolved around the Gulmohar tree. She bought a new diary to pen down her thoughts. Her childhood, adolescence and her married life was always followed by a beautiful Gulmohar tree standing tall in the garden. Sitting in the verandah under its shade; her old feeble hands held a pen. But words failed her...

From @PennyKinned: 

Take syringe. Insert in vein. Draw deep-blue liquid. Release into ink pot.

Take knife. Carve under heart. Remove rib. Fashion into fountain pen.

Take tray. Breathe soul into it. Bake until sheet is set.

Your instruments are now ready. Write until your eyes water, your heart breaks, your spirit aches.

Tonight, you will write.

 

From @weirdbearddude: Every night she would just lie there, wishing something would change, nothing ever did. She would just sit there motionless, listening to their fights and write it in her diary. That was all she had really, the only thing which listened. A book with empty pages brought solace to her empty life.

 

From @Sourcasm: As she sat down to write the memories they had shared together, her eyes got wet thinking of all that had faded away in time. Searching for a meaning in their story, hoping to find the answers that she was seeking. Experience will explain to her later that her questions were wrong all that while.

 

From @alksmehta: Aryan's mind lingered with thoughts and memories that had once given him life and reasons to live.Today he wanted to write to his love,once again,a last try,may be.But the rolling tears had blotted every word,blurred his vision,as he remembered losing her to cancer,his dreams unfulfilled forever!

 

From @VishalShriyan: The stories bubbled within him. Flooded his mind, coursed through his blood, filled his very being. Poverty had done little to dull his imagination. If only he could write, he thought as he looked at the stumps of his hands. A tear escaped his eyes for the umpteenth time.

 

From @HideASky: Thoughts weighed down by lead. Blunted even. Diary of painfully sketched memories. A chronic ache highlighted with any passing association. A tattoo etched in permanent ink. Bound, till he threw away all the letters she had written to him

 

From @Aaliznat: 

 

Write to forget. Write to remember. Write to laugh. Write to cry.
Write your story. Write your dreams.
Write down your ambitions. Write down your failures.
Write a love letter. Write to yourself.
Write for someone else. Write for no one else.
Write till you can't write anymore and then write some more.
Just write.

 

From @zoarcher: Ashish’s worst fears had come true. His name was dragged into the raging realty scam. Much was written about his involvement in the case. In newsprint. On social media statuses. On blog posts. The written words were overflowing with cries for justice and sensationalism. Only one thing was lost in this clamour. The truth. 

 

 

Theme 219 - Ennui

From @zoarcher: 

The family’s alarm clock. The constant hummer. The chef in a rush. The tot’s daily masseur. The occasional singer. The mothering wife. The girlfriend. The ma-in-law’s woman Friday. The damsel in distress. The unpaid, overworked home manager. The spontaneous vacationer. Peppered with interesting little twists, could Sapna’s daily routine ever feel mundane?

From @visshy_it: 

"A dry circle of tea stain remains on my desk, the computer screen flickers as if it were alive. A telephone in another cubicle rings incessantly. The ennui of sitting here, having achieved nothing, engulfs me with every passing yawn. My cell phone buzzes. It is her. I smile."

From @The_Lie_Lama: 

They loved running into staircases and secluded corners just to steal a hug or a few kisses. Happy as kids, they'd speak a thousand words just through a brief eye contact. It was a strife between the good times with love out of wedlock and the unbearable ennui at home with their respective spouses.

From @aaliznat: 

She pushed her food around the plate. Sighed, got up and threw it in the bin. Looked down at her toenails and decided to paint them another day. Strolled to the window and pulled open the curtains. Something glinted. She ignored it. Because this ennui was what she wanted to lose herself in. she did.

From @PScripturient: 

Socks rolled up, skirt pleated in impeccable falls; she’d be reprimanded if she uttered a word. Matilda sat with her tutor with endless forks and knives, fingers droning with perfection that she was forced to master. Her legs thankfully, under the tablecloth, were pirouetting away a dance, her only escape from such fine dining ennui.

From @meWant_food: 

Nothing much to do and nobody to really talk with,took a troll on her.She tried everything to keep herself occupied.Nothing worked.Gone are the days,she believed.She started living her past.She relived the good times,cried over the sad ones.Present and future seemed insignificant.Empty mind combined with an empty heart can get dangerous.

From @divigyaan: 

(door opens)

Boy: Aunty, “do you know what are stem cells?”

Lady: “No”

Boy: “You want to know?”

Lady: “No”

Boy: Please…please…please…

Lady: “Why are you behind my life?”

Boy: “I am waiting for my girlfriend from past 1 hour”

Lady: “So?”

Boy: “I want to relief my ennui”

Lady: “Bloody idiot”

(door banged)

From @nautanki24x7: 

"Why", she asked, tears swelling from her ashen eyes, "I thought you loved me. When you held my hand, our fingers entangling, i forgot what it was like to be alone. When you kissed my forehead, i could see the colors more sharply around me. If you never loved me, then WHY?"

His cold, raspy voice broke her soul, "Ennui".

From @vidulachakradeo: 

It was born as a boat. Then it became a plane; changed its avatar to become a bird.  Bird became elephant. And no one knows when it became a grand castle. Google power had given me a powerful weapon to kill time. Hail Origami!  

Theme 218 - Remains

From @oxymoronic_me: 

She lay in bed thinking about him. He was no more in the world. She lost the track of time. Hours passed without her moving out of bed. Phone-rings did not bother her. And then, she jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. Puking incessantly. He remained in her. His baby living inside.

From @CrazyHumanKid: 

Empty her of all the feelings.

Empty her of all the anger.

Empty her to leave a void.

Empty her of her soul.

Time tells her who she is. And who she was.

She's emptied herself of all her life and her life remains.

From @Aarom_Ramsey: 

Everything was gone - the optimism, the love, the dreams, the happiness, the smile. He thought he was meant to be alone. Isolated from everything and everyone he cared about - the price for reaching the very top. His sanity fixated to the last remains of her memory. That is all that kept him going.

From @ofmywalkinglife: 

It had been close to a month since that fateful day. A month since she didn't see him, or hear his voice. What surprised everyone was that she hadn't yet shed a tear. She unlocked the other side of the cupboard today, and all that was left was his remains – and she finally broke down.

From @dangertoon: 

This would be the tenth year. Since his passing. 

“Guitar, check.”

He loved the guitar.

The annual trip to his grave. She hates this. 

The grief disappears for some time. Reappears like an unwelcome visitor at the emotional door.

She fights it. Fails miserably. Every single time.

Pain never goes away. It recedes, but remains.

From @meWant_food: 

My Niece:I want a honest answer.What happens when we die?
Me:OK.Nothing happens.
Her:What?
Me:We die.Just.Even our ashes won't remain.
Her:Nothing remains?
Me:Don't be sad.You asked for it.The thing is,nothing physical remains.
Her:What do you mean?
Me:The people,whose lives we've touched,will decide.If we are important enough,in their thoughts,we will always remain.

From @lucidillusions_ : 

He walked further into the cave. It looked like another dead end. He stumbled and lost his footing. As he fell, he accidentally pulled on the lever and found the entrance. He continued his journey and reached the chamber where he found the remains. The king was pointing towards the map sitting on his throne.

From @shekhartripathi: 

The stage lights still worked. Reds, blues, blinding yellows.

I could not feel their heat on my skin anymore though.

All I had to do was mesmerize the crowd as always.

Shocked!! Stunned!! Read the next day's newspaper. This audience reaction still remains etched in my mind.  

I, a famous actor, had forgotten my lines.

From @nautanki24x7: 

It creeps up on me, silently. It seeps through my skin, filling me up with memories that make my heart ache. Who doesn't have regrets huh? I would like to meet that person. Ask him whether he has ever loved. It's the only logical explaination, isn't it? I mean, eventually, only regret remains, right?

From @eklavyagupte: 

We were looking for some clues that could lead us to her. She looked so effervescent in her pictures, a brightness that could not just disappear without a trace. Her desk was littered with perfumes, handcream, lipstick and a torch. The torch was powerful and like those silver earrings of hers, they could blind you.

From @ushfajk: 

The stare across the table. Those legs trapping me when no one was looking. Those hands that wouldn’t let me go. I wonder if we could have saved anything when the ocean washed us back onto our respective shores. All that remains lies with us. All those lies are all that remain with us.

From @short_byte: 

"Over my dead body," he said. His slipper snuffed out the life from my Marlboro.
...
The cold metal urn stood on the mantle.  I took the last drag and tapped the cigarette on the bronze brim. Orange embers swirled down and blended into the two-days old ashes below.

Theme 217 - Privacy

From @xmanishaa: He had decided. To leave forever. Letting go is a part of love and life, isn't it? And he was ready. Ready to face reality. He thought he would grow old with her and share intimate moments. But she, she wanted privacy more than she wanted him.

From @sagarsion: She panicked, drawer where she kept her diary lookd tampered. Suddenly pressure built up her chest, but she choked over it , letting out a silent cry. Throwing away her body in bed, burrying her head in pillow she weeped. Anything but breach of dark space, where nobody was allowed, drove her mad to death.

From @BeingInane: She posted,on a social networking site,all about the fight she had with her boy friend.Some replies blamed him.Some gave advice.Some even made a pass.There was a knock on the door.She opened.'What happened?You look sad',her mother asked.'Nothing.Can't I have some privacy?',she exclaimed.She is too young to see the irony.

From @aaaroo4: She hid her face behind the veil; her hands trembling holding onto the lace edges. As he moved his hand towards her face, she cringed, making a sound like a hurt pup. “It’s ok, it’s just me” he said showing her the bolt on the door. Thank you, she murmured lifting the veil revealing scars.

From @tweettabulous: 

Sharing anecdotes was our thing, describing how our day was... Who cracked the silliest of jokes, who was mean and who looked like they didn't shower. One day she comes home and goes to her room, without the regular dose of chitter-chatter.Bewildered I ask her. "For heavens sake give me some privacy, maa"

From @short_byte: 

Everything was red. Her saree on the floor. Crushed rose petals on the bed. Streaks of blood on her thigh. Lipstick rubbed around her lips. Scratches on her arms, her neck. Tears on her cheeks. All red.

Nobody saw red.

'Do not disturb' the door had said.

From @zoarcher: 

Where do I go for a date?
Let's go rob a bank.
Had loved the red jacket in the store; must buy.
Got to get the gun loaded.
Chocolate and flowers would impress Arti.
Where to hide the loot?
With his evil side ever conflicting with his good side, neither had a moment of privacy.

From @Kanakkupullai: He drew a line, unable to think any further. All thoughts felt clichéd, void of innovation. Crowded, noisy and crazy people moved about his life, objecting to his thoughts, subsiding them, halting them. He longed for the confines of his room, his silent abode. Now, all he had left was an impossible deadline to complete.

From @sinpinklove: The newly wed bride giggled when her husband ran a finger over her delicate curves." Sanjanaaa..." her mom-in-law called out to introduce her to some relatives. Ravi caught her hand when the kids in the house wanted a photograph with their beautiful 'chachi'. He cringed. She smiled. Romance took a backseat.

Theme 216 - Falling

From @riddhiaswani: It was a recurring nightmare. I'd wake up drenched in sweat, my heart pounding right out of my chest as I mumbled incoherently. Try as I might, I could never remember it in the morning. Until you came along, my nightmare alive and I fell in love only to be shredded to pieces.

From @BeingInane: She was a cynic,who lived in her own world.She talked,but never communicated.She never trusted anyone with her thoughts or her heart.Then,he came along,changing everything.That's why,she felt lost and numb,when he left.She can feel herself falling back into her old abyss,her refuge.She didn't resist.She gave herself up,relieved.

From @karthikisthin: 

Abhijit adjusted his swivel chair’s height. He didn’t like it when others borrowed it & raised it to suit their preferences. It was his chair. And he liked it a certain way.

As he sat, he received an email notification. It was from his boss. He was being let go. His standards did him in.

From @roshd: Was this the woman he’d fallen in love with? Manish thought as he looked at the delicate woman lying unconscious on the hospital bed. A failed suicide bid. She couldn’t bear to live a life without him. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he squeezed her hand, so wanting her to Rise in love.

From @JediKhare: “So we’re quoting Freudian cliches to indulge in self-pity, are we? Stop whining, you could be worse-off.” “WHAT? You fucking freak, I was just making small talk. You know what YOU should stop? Pretending you understand my head. If you did, you’d know I’m better than using dreams involving cliffs to justify myself. Now sterilize that needle.”

From @nautanki24x7: The force of gravity pulls me, just like your glassy eyes that pulled me into this beautiful mess. Even my screams are stuck in my larynx, all that escapes to my lips is your name. I fall through the air, like a bird with broken wings, my tears scattering into the wind, carrying my story to the end of the world.

From @drun007: 

A bookworm in school, a nerd in college, a double doctorate and a professor of Physics  - Karan was indeed a loner.   He still wonders how Anukta said yes to him.

Since then, his ice-breaker with every new class has been, “You can't blame gravity for falling in love!”.  The laughter continues through the years.

From @kanakkupullai: That most beautiful moment, when a fall is loved, is when you get the taste of the fall right in your mouth. That moment when you topple to bottle over your mouth, and it flows, heavily at first, and gently so, filling your tongue with flavor that lasts long… Oh honey! You are the best!