Theme 176 - Solace

From @apoorvamagic: The super-devotional mom crawled through the long queue before she could enter the temple. Her baby was deep asleep on her shoulders. On entering the temple, excited mom woke up the baby and said "Look at the God my child". Confused baby slowly raised it's head, looked at mom's face, smiled and went back to sleep.

From @tweettabulous: From the time the eyes met… they knew they were meant to be together. It was more than love. They were soul-mates in the perfect sense. But, she was married. He, engaged. Social obligations thwarted their divine unison.

Now, both yearn for the moment when they will finally meet, in their Creator’s home…

From @vivekisms: They did everything they could. To make it last. To make it stay. It did not. They put an end to "togetherness" that night. They found solace for the last time in each other's arms. Just as they used to. Just like they never would.

From @ghose_1988: Susan never took leave from work .But today was different. She was at home, going through her family album, which was her only solace during melancholic times. Even after 24 years her memory was fresh .Dad and Mom looked beautiful together. She was a happy child before the accident. Everything had changed after that.

From @swordfish19: Ganpat, a daily wage worker, earns his living by ploughing the farms in the village. He owns two bullocks which he uses to till the land. He works from early morning till dusk, mostly under the harsh Sun. His wife brings him lunch at noon. After lunch he takes a short nap under a tree.

From @flirtingshadows: There she was in her bridal finery; nervous, seeking solace from her childhood mementos. The pillow that had absorbed copious tears, the balcony where she perched herself to enjoy numerous sunsets, the phone by her bedside that had fueled all those emergency 3 am chats. Today, she only had memories. Back then, it was therapy.

From @roshd: He was a much married,suave diplomat and she the quintessential social butterfly. They got along like a house on fire and embarrassed everyone with their PDA. Don't support the '50crore Girlfriend' comment but hope it makes them act their age. He's 56 and she should understand the difference between priceless and price less.

From @DNRamki:

After the nightmare that were his exams, there was little he could think of. The phone call had made things only worse. "They never understood, they never will".

He sat down, lit one and puffed away. His thoughts just as cloudy as the smoke around him.

Few things offered solace as a lit cigarette did.

From @VidulaChakraDeo: Engulfed in dirt of the world, threatened by the dreadful night, lay a little wailing. Drenched in the rains of neglect, she was unwished, undesired.  Denied the warmth of a womb,  the bin was her bed. Suddenly came an angel, held her close and tight.  She who picked up dirt, Today had picked up life!

From @divigyaan: Left in the bushes used and abused. Leaves were red and body too. Numbness was all over but eyes wandered; finding the brutal that came over. However, they returned in vain and wept again but stopped bleeding when the change felt. Unlike the previous, those hands gathered the fallen apart and sheltered the shame.

From @slokabs: Amidst days full of Incessant phone calls, meetings and discussions, social gatherings and personal commitments, long distances and time constraints and more of life’s pressures packed in, Shanti’s release came in the form of those 30 minutes of meditation at 5 am – her way of detoxing her mind to survive the rest of the day!

From @iyer_raman:  He could have taken off the rag from his mouth. His hands were now free. He could scream if he wished. But this would mean more pain, more embarrassment. He pulled up his pants, still biting into the dirty rag. By muffling the sound of his pain, the rag helped the under-trial drift into sleep.

From @absoluteme: I moved from the small town to be where real action was - crowds, noise, sleepless nights... In the big city I slogged hard, every day, to escape the crowds, drown the noise, to dream a dream... As I move back to the small town I reflect, you need distress in order to find solace.

From @lucidillusions_ :

Darkness. Dead silence. Blindly searches around. He picks it up. Thinks of what she said.
Remembers the first time they met. She smelled how summer ought to smell. They couldn't help but fall in love.
The addiction took her, and he couldn't help. After her death his only solace was her memory.
The pain won, it went numb with one last hit.

From @Poptate:

She howls on a winter night. She blares though thunderous clouds. She hides her tears through sheets of rain. Like the sun she smiles, not all in vain. She smells like wet earth. She gurgles like a baby. She swings her head and whoa, it’s Sandy. She’s unpredictable, a muse for poetry.

Nature is her face. She’s solace.

Theme 175 - Heat

From @swordfish19: Seemingly, he was going round in circles, with no sign of the city of Aboudjan. He didn’t mind the cold of the desert night. But the day-time heat was another thing. Not only did it rankle and cause thirst, but it also created mirages of oases. Like the one he was sitting in right now.

From @flirtingshadows: She believed that feeding someone hot food was the best expression of love there was in this world. There was that old-school romance about staying up night after night to heat and reheat food for the husband. The said husband would come home, take a peek at the dishes in the microwave and smile luxuriantly.

From @NumbYaar: Rakesh toiled in the burning sun for months together. He cursed the sun as he was saving a good amount to join his cousin in Denmark. Once he started working in the snow there, he started to miss the warmth.

From @deescjockey: The madness and cacophony of a big fat wedding was behind them as they shut the doors on their first night alone. It wasn't their first time; someone had warned that consummating their love before marriage would subdue the passion. As their lips touched now, they both knew that wasn't the case.

From @shakWrites: Her little fingers slowly made their way into her mother’s shut fist. The intense cold was bearing down upon the two mercilessly as the great city, oblivious of their existence, flew by in warmer cocoons. The mother’s miseries were over though. The heat of her shut fist was her parting gift for her sleepy daughter.

From @MinolAjekar:

She half-lay on the sofa panting, her legs still throbbing from the exercise earlier, sweat trickling down every inch of her skin, the fan offering no reprieve from the insane humidity.

Her skirt lay crumpled on the floor, spontaneity in the middle of the afternoon was good, but Cosmopolitan did not account for Mumbai’s weather.

From @slokabs: He puffed and panted, sprinting hard. His blood-stained hands shivered. His feet stumbled. He reached the huge brass gate, only to find it locked. The cops were closing in. Instinctively, he crouched under a thicket and didn’t dare breathe. In the snowy evening, something within him burnt and beads of sweat erupted on his face.

From @vagabondinact: He listened, gravity acting on his lower jaw. Eventually, his body swayed. He was absorbing the fervorous  milieu  around him from each pore of his body, working himself into a self burning frenzy, which heated with each passing moment. He was levitating, into nothingness. Dazed, he walked back from the rock concert, a man renewed.

From @aaroo4: “It’s been raining all day & am cooped up here, I hate this, but I love the rains” whined Razia. “Hmmm, imagine biting into hot spicy Milagai [chili] bhajjis and sipping on masala chai?” replied Gia. “I want…wait, someone’s at the…Youuuuu…” squealed Razia at her friend who stood there grinning holding a plate & a flask.

From @CruciFire:

I tattooed her topless body with chocolate, extending all the way to her navel and down. My wet pink traveler started his journey from the cave between the legs, moved north to the pool at her waist, dried it before encircling her soft breasts ending his conquest at the top of her nipple.

Hot enough?

From @tweettabulous:

We were discussing Amrit’s birthday plans. It was his 10th, had to be more special.A loud noise, I turn out and notice Amrit standing next to the broken vase. Furious I slapped him, “You shouldn’t eavesdrop!!!”Sobbing he muttered, "I hate you."How emotions transform in the heat of the moment…

Theme 174 - Wonder

From @swordfish19: Today, on Tiger Hill, it seemed as if their luck was going to change. A yellowish orange hue appeared in the east. The clouds cleared up, revealing the upper portion of the disc. A flood of sunlight burst forth and hit the snowy Kanchenjunga on the west. They looked on, speechless. Words were superfluous today.

From @shakwrites: She felt it with her fingertips. Even in the dark she could sense a smile taking birth on her lips. The raspy fabric, the familiar caress, the peppy pinch. She held it to her nose and it was like all the seasons had invaded her senses. Her blindness didn't stop her from loving the book.

From @flirtingshadows: As I stir my morning coffee, I wonder if you’ve woken up and reached out for your pills. I wonder if you grimace at the inconvenient and wasteful packaging. I wonder how many gulps of water it takes you to keep them down. I wonder if you’d still need them had we continued living together.

From @dasCapital_:

The poor kid wondered how it will be to be the man on bike.
One on bike wondered about the guy on bike with a girl on pillion.
That guy wondered about the one in car.
Fat guy in car wondered about the fit guy on that bike, with a girl behind.
Everybody dies wondering.

From @DNRamki:

“Push woman, push!” The doctor was almost screaming now, and was being relentless. Whereas she was in pain, severe pain.

She then almost passed out, hearing him say “Very good, excellent!”

A few seconds later a loud cry greeted her. She opened her eyes, and tears gently trickled down her smiling face. She was amazed.

From @divigyaan: Blue sky, green grass, multihued flowers, auburn soil, crystal clear water, all the beauty and the nature, the disaster and the savior the grief and joy the good and bad, the one we blame for all the pain and the one who created everything untamed. I am awestricken and simply wonder what is he named?

From @VidulaChakradeo: Its 2 pm. Her cell rings. “Hello, hello.” No answer. For the next six months, the phone rings at odd hours, irritating her. She’s scared. Could it be my ex? A new stalker? One day, while checking her cell, she realizes. It’s her phone calling her. The ‘self-call’ setting of her cell is on. Shit!

From @slokabs: Tony, the man, had ‘wowed’ majestic mountain ranges, vast seas and lush forests. He had “oohed and aahed’ sunrises and sunsets, spraying the sky with their myriad hues. He had  lingered and admired imposing archaeological structures - natural and man-made. But Tony, the father, reveled most in his little daughter’s lego creations and play-doh sculptures!

From @tweettabulous:

Streaming and watching movies together on Netflix. Reading same novels, bookmarking the same page. Picking up only, Cadbury for us.Taking strolls at similar times. Gazing at the beautiful sky on every full moon.

Things, we did to make the long distance relationship work…

I still look at the moon, wondering if you do too?

From @RBtrary:

Sitting on the footpath alongside the other beggars, 9-years-old Pappu saw a boy of his age. He was in nice clothes, riding pillion to a man of Muzammil’s age, the guy who gives him food and shelter in-lieu of coins.

Pappu kept wondering how much more coins this child must be giving for such luxury!

From @roshd: Exactly 12 years after her death, she walked into his office as a 24-year old trainee.She’d died at 24. A spitting image of her. What was Leah trying to tell him? Why would she want to rock his boat? He didn’t want trouble. He assigned the trainee, Riya, to another colleague. He had matured.

From @vagabondinact: Laughing till painful tears roll out; crying till hysterical laughter takes over; raging anger till a smirk of a revengeful thought sooths; calmness till frenzy strikes; hating till care seeps in; thoughtful till apathy grows roots-  All this and more, emotions encore and I wonder why the brain churns! Resting now, till ennui grows deep.

From @ghose_1988: It was Christmas Eve. There was a huge white box on the porch, about 8 feet tall and 1 foot wide. The children were waiting for Mom to open it. She was absolutely clueless about it. She opened the door to dump the garbage and Ouch! She tripped. “What is it?” She wondered, “A box”.

From @MinolAjekar:

The bubbles are wondrous, the balloons are wondrous, the clouds are wondrous, the jangle of bangles are wondrous, ice-cream is wondrous even the clapping of hands seem magical.

I look at the joie de vivre of a two-year old, and I wonder when did I lose the wonder for life?

From @zoarcher: Any man would give an arm and leg to live his life. Chiseled looks that could only be rivalled by Greek Gods. The Mida's touch that won him all corporate awards. The bachelor's tag that every beautiful lady yearned to remove. But whenever he smiled, it didn't reach his eyes. And he often wondered why.

Theme 173 - Misunderstood

From @Mitchellez:

He sealed her heart in the letter. It was scarred yet happy. It epitomized love. The throbbing was indistinguishable. It whispered. She began hating him.

She didn’t know, until the phone rang one cloudy Sunday morning, that was a parting gift. He was going to a place far and beyond. He wanted her to live.

From @swordfish19: He felt hapless. Slipping into a roadside diner he took a seat. His life was going to the dogs. His relationship was falling apart. Who was at fault? She? He? The waiter came for his order. Looking at the menu he thought, at least there’s no ambiguity here, what you see is what you get.

From @roshd:

She was dramatic even while ordering her soup at the restaurant. “It should be piping hot with no strong flavours overshadowing it’s inherent taste. Make it salt-free and without ajinomoto. Understand?”

The waiter replied, “OK Miss, understood”

I'll just bring you a bowl of boiling water, he muttered under his breath.

From @quratzafar: She always came and sat in the corner seat for a coffee. The same order, the same drink. He’d serve her and hope she’d notice that he was interested. She’ll smile at me and I will know. Smile she did. What a nice fellow this waiter is, she thought.

From @zoarcher: “Bwahhh…Bwahhh”. ‘Oh my angel’s hungry’, thought the two day old mother as she pacified her baby. Refusing the feed, the baby continued wailing. ‘Gas’, ‘Sleepy’, ‘Sick’, Neetu’s mental checklist started working overtime. “Bwahhhh…Bwahhhhhhh…bwahhhhhhhh…bwaaahhhhhh’’. A slight stink in the air. The new mom had yet to pick up the language that didn’t use words.

From @VidulaChakradeo: They sat chatting with each other. She did some hand gestures. He smiled, replied in gestures. She smiled shyly. And again some gestures. The conversation continued. Not one word was said. Yet so much was! Their eyes, smile, fingers did a great job. And surprisingly, those with voice and words fail to understand each other.   

From @divigyaan:

Reena:  trust me I didn’t do anything

Raj: I know you didn’t

Reena: I know you don’t mean it

Raj : I really know you didn’t do anything

Reena: I know it is hard for you

Raj: arre?

Reena: Fine, I will not bother you anymore

Raj: Good, I m misunderstood

From @ghose_1988: When I see small children play, it gives me sheer joy .I remember, when I was a small kid. I, was a colony prankster. I was often misunderstood, by my neighbours.. Those days were so confusing .It was difficult for me to obey my elders fully. Still I would love to be a kid again.

From @CruciFire:

Kind heart.
Conscience.
Calm demeanor.
Good intentions.
Inquisitive mind.
Forgiving attitude.

People who have some, or all of these, are the most misunderstood.

Always.

From @thenewbnb:

Mom surveyed the mess. “Who did this?”

I looked up from my book at my brother, who was pointing at me instead. His face had that look: innocence mixed with insolence. “What? He’s lying!” Mom gave me her reprimanding look, “Your brother is just a baby. Go to your room.”

“GLADLY! Because I’m not lying!”

From @JaaTeri:

"Vineeta ma'am doesn't have the keys," I was panting.

"Idiot, I told you to get it from Vineeta, the secretary, not the teacher," screamed the class teacher, "Why can't you follow simple instructions?"

"I wish you could give simple instructions!" I wanted to say. "Sorry ma'am. I misunderstood," I said looking at untied shoe laces.

From @tweettabulous:

We loved throwing dinner parties. It was nice to have people over. I matched the beer drinking, smoking up, cracking obscene jokes and mostly beat the men at poker too.After one such party when friends were leaving, he walked out with his bag. Me, perplexed.  
 “I can’t live with such a whore…”

From @slokabs: 25 years since they had vowed never to cross paths. Two best-friends-turned-sworn-enemies who couldn’t stand the sight of each other anymore stood face to face. The wives joined them. Suddenly, the glares turned to surprise and then to shock. Finally, Mukul blurted out, “So didn’t you marry Myra?” “I thought you loved her”, Manan retorted.

Theme 172 - Brain

From @ghose_1988: Earth has cycles of day and night. Everything in it spins beautifully in its own timing for example the fluttering of the butterflies, the raging of the sea. Amazingly even the  human brain is subject to awake -sleep cycles inside it due  to  the hormone Melatonin .It is also known as the "Hormone Of Darkness".

From @roshd: Sourabh looked dead serious. When he frowned this much it only meant there was one more PJ getting served.“I’m telling you guys my mind is screaming out shit in a very raspy voice. Who does it think it is? A rockstar? A Brain Adams?” The response was a mix of abuses and loud guffaws.

From @kaloladeep: Watching her during the lectures as of only heart pays attention into the reality and brain becomes numb when she comes in front of the eyes. That day I was in the best moment which I could be in my imagination, suddenly her friend brained me with a rolling pin and dragged me into reality.

From @swordfish19:

“Your honour, this man has had a long history of arson related felonies, but has never been convicted. A sugar factory in Chira Bazaar, an oil mill in Nagpada, and…”

“But, my lord, it’s not me, it’s Mr. Pink, he makes me do all this stuff…”

“Who’s Mr. Pink?” boomed the judge.

“He’s up here..”

From @aaroo4: “Ouch, why did you do that? Dammit it hurts” whined Tia as she massaged her arm. “And what are you smiling about” she asked Han. “Nothing, just happy to see your brain is back to sending right signals” Han replied with a smile. “yes, the surgery went off well, thank you for asking” smirked Tia.

From @slokabs: The party was on in full swing. This was no mean feat for her. She had finally proved all those jeering neighbourhood children and her detractors wrong! Everyone who walked up to congratulate her couldn’t help beaming at her childlike-sprightly demeanour. She had finally graduated. She was 50. Shelley held on to her lollipop, smiling gleefully.

From @iyer_raman:

“How much do you charge?”
“Starts from 10,000, and then depends on the type of service.”
He enjoyed her services worth 25,000 for 15,000.
“How much do you charge?” he asked.
“Starts from 30,000, and then depends on the type of service.”
“I don’t have …”
“Tough luck!” said the automobile engineer and hung up.

From @agentgreenglass:

She reaches inside her body,
Past slippery membranes
Till she finds her uterus.
And then, like the waxing girl at the salon, rips it out of her body in one go.
A trail of blood runs down her hand.
Instead she sighs
And orders butter bheja
It always comforts her when she has her period.

From @tweettabulous: Modern age “Meena Kumari” is how I am known. Friends can only empathize. Each time I have my heart broken, I vow to never listen to it and fall for its foolish ways again. Practicality to be my new mantra.He comes. He goes.The mind simply smirks…

From @Freelosopher: "I want to lick your brain", she said. He remained silent. His lack of verbosity and perfect jawline made him irresistable to her. She slipped the long, black dress off her. He sat on the cold steel chair, bound, gagged and rapt. She was wearing nothing underneath, except a sabre holstered to her thigh.

From @thenewbnb: Peering through the glass, inching closer, the boy looked confused. His eyes traced along the tangle of wires and tubes of the life support system. That is your daddy’s new brain, the doctor had said. He turned to his mother and said, “Is Daddy coming home with the machine? ‘Cuz I think it looks cool.”

From @evansrebello: They think his rhyme skills don’t fit the bill, typecast as a black run-off-the mill. So he gets on stage, mic in the hand, “pull the cord” he don’t need no band; a capella flow that sells the show. They say they’ll give him all their money and more. The kid got brains y’all know?

From @CruciFire:

“Let's remind him of topless pictures from last night.”
“Let's add some emo into it... how about broken friendships? One-sided relationships?”
“Let's also remind him about the interview he was supposed to schedule.”
“Cool. I feel even tensions related to his engagement/marriage should be reminded.”

My Brain. My Favourite Troll.

Theme 171 - White

From @evansrebello: A smile looks better, a bride looks great. Hard candy, jail bait, purity’s my asking rate.  Tied to a table. Eyes hurt and It’s bright. My sister says “you’re not screwed on right.” I saw was a flash before she cut my throat. There was a light in the distance, but it was not white.

From @anushreekejriwa: She was sanguine by nature and could only see the world in white. God had different plans for her. She was suffering from blood cancer, deficiency of white blood cells. When asked she said "I lived and will leave in white".

From @RBtrary:

With his appointment-letter and a box-of-sweets, he ran towards his house. His poor father’s assiduous efforts and sacrifices and his own hard-work had paid-off. He got the government-job he had toiled so-hard for. He entered his house; saw his father laying there draped in a white cloth.

Life, as they say, is a great leveler!

From @swordfish19: Dawn. The old man came out of his hut, holding a pail. A rooster crowed somewhere. He went to the cattle shed and hunched near the cow. He held her udders and started exerting a slow pressure. However, nothing came out. A kilometre away, the local scoundrel Tukya was walking with a thick milk moustache.

From @riddhiaswani:

The stain spread in a perfect circle, slowly widening its circumference to cover more and more of the pristine cloth. I stood tranfixed, horrified by the sight, my precious white destroyed by a spot of ink. I shouted in frustration.
'Don't worry, surf excel hai na,' he said, before running away from my murderous scream.

From @iyer_raman:  She stood in the corner. Her eyes stared at the floor. “Did she do it on purpose?”  “Had she let him down?” He wondered. By then the enemy’s henchman arrived on a camel, to seal his fate.
 As he was being chained, he watched his queen blow a kiss. To the now victorious Black King.

From @ArmchairPsycho: He had to be perfect. So she ate lots of vegetables. Did her 60 minutes of power yoga with the instructor every day. She talked to her protruding belly all the time, about Faust, colours, LSD, hypotenuses… Then the day came. And he wailed. She tearfully looked into his eyes. Not a speck of colour.

From @VidulaChakradeo: Life is so colorful, bright, beautiful. Azure blue skies, lush green fields, vibgyor shaded flowers. Birds, butterflies, bees, dipped in God’s paint can; left to make this world multihued. Life lives such an Eastman color life. But ultimately, it has to surrender to the all-mighty white. Lie to rest under the white veil of death.

From @flirtingshadows: White was the calm, amidst the chaos. It was the bed, dusted each morning post a troubled insomniac’s slumber. It was the blank sheet of paper that drove daggers into a writer’s eyes. White was the bridal finery she had dreamt of all her life. White was the noise they fell asleep to each night.

From @deescjockey: Didi always frowned upon my fascination for white. I wanted this lovely white sari to wear at her wedding but no, one HAD to wear bright colours. White was the colour of my adolescent dreams of romance; to her, the colour of mourning. How ironic that she is the reason I am wearing white today.

From @roshd:

Wife: Why’d she smile at you like that?
Me: Well, she’s an ex-flame and I think she approves of my choice!
Wife: Liar. Why haven’t you told me about her before?
Me: She’s irrelevant now. Unless, of course you want me to introduce her to you now.
Wife: Shut-up!
I avoid telling lies. Even white lies.

From @slokabs:
Carla smiled to herself as she flipped the pages of the heavy metal-back wedding album for the umpteenth time. She couldn’t help admiring her trousseau each time she looked at it.

In the adjoining flat, Tara stared longingly at her husband’s garlanded photograph on the wall, before clearing her wardrobe of all her colourful clothes.

From @aaroo4: "Now Tom has given up and is looking for a flag to wave"."Why?" Asked Jim. "As a way of telling Jerry- peace, I give up, don't hurt me anymore" explained Sara. "What colour is it mom?"he asked. "White, like the clouds"she said in a whisper. "I wish I could see" sighed Jim.

From @ghose_1988: Never in her wildest dream had Lisa imagined that this day would come.  It was great to design her own white wedding gown. This gown had to be a special one after all, Lisa was a dwarf. She was the fiancée of Lt. Daniel Taylor. It was a joining of two hearts in true love.

From @absoluteme: A huge bungalow with a garden, a kitchen garden, 3 terraces and a balcony Rows of Chauffeur driven Ambassador and Tata cars Peons and Servants in neat uniforms at his disposal His was a perfect white collar job... Only the money that paid for his daughter's American University and son's limited edition guitar wasn't.

From @Crucifire:

He drew the devil horns sign.
He wrote a rhyming poem.
He sketched a stick figure and made it run through the breadth of the page.
He wrote apologies.
He wrote the names of his closest friends.
He inserted 'Fuck you's' and filled up the page.

White paper covering an entire wall – his dream!
From @zoarcher: She is the pristine, mesmerising, untouched virgin. Shy compared to her colourful cousins. Her elegance walks with subtle pride. She only has to raise her head high and all conflicts die. She is the romantic spot on the dusky sky. Still a small blemish is all it takes to shame white. 

From @divigyaan: I gaze at the sky sometimes on the floor. I wonder where it lies, can't find it inside the four walls. I wish i knew were all the white lies, in deterent ads or in sharukh's bungalow. In an around me or up above were each one has to go.

From @MinolAjekar:

Snow White, angels are white, white knight syndrome, mother’s milk, wanted fair and beautiful bride, white light, pure and white, beautiful as fresh snow, face bleach, hair bleach, under-arm bleach and the very sexy vagina fairness cream.

White colonial hangover or inferiority complexes, forever perplexing shall be this white beauty concept.

From @aaliznat:

Fade in. interior
Pan right. Stop. Zoom in. Hold. Zoom out. Hold.
Cut to exterior
Extreme long shot.
Cut to interior.
Zoom in subject.
Cut to extreme long shot exterior.
Cut to interior. Subject raises head and looks into camera.
Dialog: Wondering where I am going with this? Yes. Me too.
Fade to white.

Theme 170 - Alive

From @TheOtherBanana: The finger twitched. After three years of waiting by her bedside, waiting and watching and hoping, the finger twitched. His eyes immediately flicked to her face to see if he could catch a glimpse of those warm grey eyes, but there was nothing. Her finger twitched. The monitor beeped. And beeped again. And lay still. 

From @vivekisms: The regular hum of your breathing. That you are by my side. Sleeping and safe. That is enough. That is when I feel.

From @swordfish19: The war veteran slipped into a bar. He tarried a little, overwhelmed by the sight of so many people in one place, having fun. Eying a vacant seat in the corner, he took it. He ordered a beer. When it was served, he held the chilled glass in both his hands and closed his eyes.

From @kaloladeep: The days are less to live upon, but still everyday was full of rush for him, daily exercise was his walk to station and then to office. No concern to dressing neither to that of flexibility. Living too short and too fast, but yet one word he started his day with was 'I'm alive'.

From @ghose_1988: Mrs Reddy woke up early this morning light hearted and happy as ever in last forty years .She was reminiscing in every moment that she had spent with Amma last night at the railway station. She felt that her burden of bitterness was lifted off .God had freed her .She can now rest in peace.

From @agentgreenglass:

“Pulse?”
“Stable.”
“Opening now.”
The surgeon makes a deep cut in the chest.
The head nurse looks puzzled.
“Sir... it’s an appendix case!”
He doesn’t look up. The lights don’t blink.
They can see her heart, exposed.
He looks closely at the thing that once loved him.
The nurse is dialing.
The pulse is fading.

From @iyer_raman: 

Little drops of sweat trickled down through her coarse skin.
She could sense they were around.
She had nowhere to run.
Exasperated, she breathed heavily.
Her breath reached them, and they smiled.
They had to wait till sundown anyway, before bringing out the chainsaw.
They welcomed the breeze, and chose to rest under her shade.

From @zoarcher: The shiny brown body scared her. Its quick movements more so. Her palms started sweating. She knew she had to act fast. She was alone at home, so help was a no-no. She felt that either she could stay alive or the cause of her fear. She did what she had to. SMACK. RIP cockroach.

From @anushapinto: 

"what am I supposed to do with all this money?"
"enjoy your life!"
"yah, the one that gets sucked everyday? where's the time?"
"it's funny, no? time is a weird luxury, the more you have it, the bigger loser you are."
"then time can't be money."
"time is of value only if you're alive in it"
 

Theme 169 - Dust

From @swordfish19:

“Dig harder, we are almost there”

Then they hit something hard. It was the coffin. With difficulty they opened it.  Inside, were the remains of the corpse. Where the finger was, something glittered, even in the darkness of the cemetery.

“Yes! There’s the ring, pick it up, let’s go before the watchman comes…”

“Ha ha!”

From @writingchalk:

One hour. Just to shift a boulder from the world’s oldest cave’s entrance. It held the world’s most delicate jewel.

He crossed the booby trap-filled labyrinth.

Finally! He spotted the jewel. He picked it up very gingerly.

AACHOOO!!

SHATTERRR! CLASH! SCHING!

Sadly, he made his way back. His allergy had just cost him a fortune.

From @CynicalRuchi: It was all irresistible lust, darkness was evincing the must. Warmth was the need at the first, but her pain was probing with bodily thirst. Her need was filling the bust, with affection quenching the skin crust. Satisfaction stirring at midst. BOOM..... arrived the strong current of Gust, which left her with Dust just Dust.

From @RBtrary:

He coughed while taking out the wedding-album from the top-most-shelf... Covered with dust, plastic shredding out... With trembling hands, he turned the pages and saw his wife’s reflection, overlooking his shoulder.

Time had wrinkled their faces and weakened their joints but the relationship was dusted and polished each day… Free from dust, savored over years…

From @tweettabulous:

He walked into my mundane life like a beacon of hope. Things seemed rosy again. I smiled more often. My eyes sparkled. He wove magic and warmth with his words and presence. My perfect soul mate.

As fate would have it, he left and I’m listening to, “Why do all good things come to an end…”

From @kunalbaidmehta: It was brought home with great fanfare. The entire neighbourhood came to congratulate us. Soon, it became an integral part of our lives, with all events happening around it.  It was witness to our joy and sorrow over the years. Today, the black and white TV is gathering dust with no-one willing to buy it.

From @minolajekar:

“No no, it is still lodged in my eye”.

So I puffed gently into her eyes again, gently but not purposefully wanting that particle to be lost in her cappuccino colored eyes.

“ Looks like you got it”. And the perfect segue-way to our first kiss.
                                                                                                                                                               
Innocent particle of dust playing the best wing-man ever.

From @zoarcher: On a beautiful Sunday morning, Seema plonked herself on the park bench to read. Hours passed by, unhurried. When she got up to leave, she heard a tease. A few steps later, the laughs increased. She rushed home worried, only to find that she had forgotten to dust off the fabric on her dimpled cheek.

From @Crucifire:

Stereotypes. Conditioning. Experiences. Influences. Emotions. Preconceived notions. DNA.
Specks of dust on the lens of my perception towards life.
I cleaned out all of it but the glass was still dusty.
Swiped it with a cloth dabbed in humility, kindness and acceptance.

The final layer was gone – Ego.
The world was never more clearer.

From @absoluteme: He carried 2 sanitizers and neatly wrapped things in polybags. He frequently rubbed his forefinger and thumb to check for dust. He avoided carpets. He dreaded visitors. He vacuumed his office cabin twice a day - squeaky clean! He fell from the 14th floor trying to wipe his office window from outside. Death by dust!

Theme 168 - Home

From @swordfish19: He looked around and saw the bedroom, the kitchen and the living-room. He looked down and continued to read. He could hear his mother’s voice from the kitchen and the drone of the television. He felt at peace. But the others in the library couldn’t see all this. All they saw were the book shelves.

From @vivekisms: It is where you are. Done already, you say. It is ours. This place. Someone already told me that, you say. The cracks appeared sooner. Now it just remains. Walls and Floor.

From @iyer_raman: The papers were signed. The keys were handed over. He smiled. He could make a new beginning, he thought as he walked towards the elevator. While he waited, two men stripped the door he had just come out from off its name-plate. He watched his mother’s name land perfectly amidst banana peels and egg shells.

From @writingchalk:

“You don’t pay your mortgage, Stan, and it’s gone.”

This was it. One pitch. All or nothing.

Striking out was not an option. He would be on the streets.

Bat over the shoulder, he looked into the pitcher’s eyes.

It was a curveball.

THWACK!

Out of the stadium.

He sank to his knees in relief.

From @divigyaan: She fought and blamed him for being careless. He didn’t call nor did he check on her. She needed his care and support when shifting to a new abode. He kept listening to all she said only to send her a letter on behalf of her old home which said, “I KNOW YOU THE BEST”

From @kaloladeep: Weekday morning always remind him of work and constant pressure of reaching office in time. Later at office he thinks of reaching back home so that he can enjoy the pleasures what he left out for his office. A common men's desires starts and end at home.

From @ArmChairPsycho:

She was still on the swing; eyes closed, cheeks pink, leaning back with her hands loosely holding the rope. My eyes kept darting towards the gate, her mother would come any minute to grab her back.

"So what about it, mani? Ready for one long road trip with pappa?"

"And ice-cream also!"

From @roshd: He still wakes up sweating to nightmares of the orphanage he grew up in. That’s why he works so hard and compromises so much at a job he hates and a marriage so unexciting. Just so that his little boy can refer to this one room tenement as home. His son will never be homeless.

From @VidulaChakradeo: Pale blue lamps, thick fog, eerie night. Two headlights stop. Silhouette dressed in an English hat, long coat steps out in front of a mysterious English home. Classic scene from a mystery movie. Suddenly, an in-humanly laughter pierces the silence. A whisper rises. Someone has fainted in the theater. Hail Exorcist! Scariest movie till date.            

From @zoarcher: I am cursed when a beauty on vertiginous heels trips on my rugged terrain. I am mindlessly freckled with garbage for which people find no better place. I am recklessly dug up and never put back together as I’m meant to be. I am only loved by strays, for whom I am their home

From @CruciFire:

She tripped, on what she realized later was blood.  Her knees were scraped.  She tried getting up but glass shards ripped her palms apart.  A noose descended from above and pulled her into the darkness.

Broken dreams. Bleeding heart. Skeletons in the closet.

“Welcome to my *home* dear lover! My mind. My asylum.”

From @agentgreenglass: 

His mama had a favourite saying.
His mottled brain couldn't remember it.
He stared at the cold heart in the freezer
And flashes went off in his head
Her incessant cough.
The pain in his ears.
The pillow on her face.
The body in the garden.
And the heart...
Home is where the heart is.

From @DNRamki:

"He had been sitting in there for over two hours now. Surrounded by all those controls, he felt safe. He knew he was safe!

And then, he opened the door. It was a vision to behold. He smiled, waved and then he jumped. Felix Baumgartner was coming home. What a journey this had been!

From @anushapinto: She left with a packed bag and an open mind. To collect experiences that would help her find herself. In the south she explored food. In the northeast, witnessed different cultures. The north added a new dimension to her philosophy. In the west she got lost. She returned, assimilated, evaluated and found herself, at home.

Theme 167 - Darkness

From @TheScotchGirl: Shanti was the most helpful girl on the block. Her neighbours always wondered how she managed her handicap. Shanti acted like nothing was wrong with her. She didn’t have her sight, big deal! Funds were arranged via a rich childhood girlfriend. She wanted this school for the blind, only way to shut her darkness away.

From @DNRamki:  He hadn't slept for three days now, thanks to the project. And now, even after it was done, sleep wouldn't come to him, thanks to the dog outside. He had to end this misery.

Within a few minutes, he came back, said a prayer and slept in absolute peace. The night had just turned darker.

From @roshd: Shanti Avedna is where they admit the terminally ill. The inmates are mostly cancer patients who are in great pain. The nuns here administer morphine to ease their suffering and give them great love. After death, they have such a peaceful expression you'd think they've gone from darkness to light. That's what love can do.

From @minolajekar:

There was an extra spring to her step today, her mum lay out her favorite dress.

She was getting a sibling, a constant companion. She was getting a new leash of life, her eyes in her constant bleak dark world, he was going to be her hope, so much more than a seeing dog.

From @quratzafar: I keep waiting for you to come back but my tears shut out my sole vigil and now all that remains everywhere in my world is darkness.

From @loveblackmesa:

It's pitch black dark inside.

Suddenly waking up to sounds of screams and cries made her wonder what time it was. She opened  the door, walked down the hallway and saw her mother sitting on the floor, crying. There were bruises on her face, hands, everywhere.

She stood there helpless. It's pitch black dark outside.

From @maruwahna:

Two sevens fourteen,the seven years screeched dutifully.

Dude,no.The capacitor goes into the third socket,the nerd reasoned. This revenue model time sustainable ,the Armani clad tycoon stated.

In a distant corner of the city,Anisha sorted plastic.She wanted to learn,but baba thought a world of darkness would suit her best .

Theme 166 - Power

From @deepkalola: He worked out when the time was not good for both, the execution of force he put in the moment was the best he can do for their relation, it was her chance to move a bit, but her displacement was zero and thus their relationship died because of no power left.

From @roshd: He wielded all the power. She was at best subservient. You could tell he depended on her completely. Inspite of his great need she lavished him with more love and affection. He was very demanding. Almost intolerant. She didn’t even notice. That’s the beauty of the mother-baby bond. Is it OK to be jealous?

From @vidulachakradeo: He called out for her loudly “Have you got Tiffin?” With earphones plugged in, she didn’t hear.Again came the question “Got food today?”No answer.This time, he went “choo choo choo choo.”Quickly she turned, asked him “What were you whispering?”Hail to woman’s ear power. Anything that’s a whisper always reaches her.

From @divigyaan: In those 5 days of the month, 9 months of her lifetime and 50 years till her death she didn't care less. She lived, she suffered and she worked. Excuses never met her day; life started and ended not the way she prayed. They called her powerless for whom she waited for 270 days.

From @writingchalk:

The attack was fierce. Laser beams fired continuously at the walls of the palace. Asteroid-like boulders were thrown from the sky by evil flying creatures.

Eternia was falling apart. Seasoned warrior Man-at-Arms said, “It’s time to call upon He Man, Prince Adam! Grayskull needs protection!”

That’s when he held aloft his Magic Sword and said...

From @swordfish19: Talks of the uninhabited red house in Khotachiwadi being haunted were rife. Eerie screams pierced the still of the night. Sometimes, all the rooms of the house would be fully lit through the shadows. Strangely, the electricity company had cut off the power to that house long back. Nevertheless, it was a highly charged atmosphere.

From @iyer_raman: The ant hadn’t intended to bite the huge piece of flesh he bumped into. He shuddered when the chunk quivered. It could crush him anytime now. “Let me go!” he prayed. But his prayers went unheard. Just like the cries of the piece of flesh. Which itself had been sold for 5000 bucks that night.

From @aaroo4: “What is the one thing common between Superman, Ironman & He-man?” Ritik asked his mom. “umm, they are all superheros, right?”. “Correct, but what is that one thing they all have? Tell me” urged Ritik. “I don’t know, they can fly, carry heavy things ?” Ritik shook his head vehemently. They are POWERful mom. D’oh!

From @RBtrary: “There was darkness all around and I could see his heavily-built figure moving towards me at a slow pace. I stood still, helpless as always. He started moving his fingers all over me and suddenly I was turned-on. Power was back and the darkness was gone.” -Memoirs of an MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker) main switch

From @slokabs: Velvety-black extended as far as he could see from the tiny square window. Amidst tiny blobs here and there, he distinctly saw cotton clouds drifting around a blue-green ball that he identified as his planet. For a fleeting moment, he felt like God looking down from heaven! And then, without warning, the spacecraft exploded.

From @vagabondinact: The heated debate on the television, on another scam was cut short. ‘Another power cut’, he exclaimed aloud. His nine year old daughter asked, what is power, how is it measured. He wondered, if POWER is energy used, transferred and measured in JOULES per second or if POWER is authority measured in JHOALS per day.

From @DNRamki: On turning 16, Mendax needed something to fiddle with. The computer offered him that liberty. And so it began, records, transcriptions, intercepts, files and what not. Everything started to tumble, like a stack of dominoes.  In that room, an armchair revolutionary was born. In that room, Julian had just changed the equations of power forever.

From @Greyllusionist: She refused to budge. It was completely against her morals and principles. He knew that, but he treated his constituency like his empire. It had to happen. Next morning, she was recovered from the city’s most infamous brothel. Raped or no, never remained the rudimentary query anymore. He won again. She never came back home.

From @zoarcher: Ram and Raju live in the same world. But where Ram is used to power 24x7x365, Raju is untouched by it. Ram takes power for granted; Raju yearns for it. Ram has power at his command. Raju's life is powerless. For Ram, however, all hell breaks loose if there's even an hour of power cut.

From @agentgreenglass:

She was hot.
And the only passenger in his compartment.
Yet he felt strange, almost afraid.
It was the way she looked at him over her book.
His palms felt sweaty.
Then she got up
And he realised there was no refection in the mirror overhead.
She smiled.
And the lights went off.

From @CruciFire:

“I have always been buying power from Sorceress but due to ever-increasing tariffs I can’t afford it anymore.” – He-Man

“Five of Grayskull ‘s transformers burst last week. Is this how a power company is run?” - Teela

“Bhaiyon aur behno of Eternia, welcome to Reliance Power – cheap and best!” – Mukesh Ambani, with Skeletor.

Theme 165 - Loss

From @miffalicious:

It had been a normal day. A discarded cigarette, cheap coffee from the canteen. A slight drizzle. The constant barrage of emails on her blackberry. Her usual bright lipstick and dark shades. Everything was the same.
Except for the circle of flesh on her ring finger that was paler than the rest of her skin.

From @aaroo4: She sat there after burying the shoe box and covering it with sand. Her mother watched through the kitchen window, waiting for her to come running to her. She came in with tears flowing down her cheeks. “I know honey, am so sorry. But, King Arthur is with your grand daddy, up in heaven”

From @mitchellez: She didn’t mourn during the last rites. Numb with bereavement, she stood motionless. They lowered his body into the earth and with that they also buried her spirit. She hadn’t wept at all in days. They shook her, wailed, brought forth memories of him, but to no avail.  She had lost the will to feel.

From @swordfish19: The lion was about to sink its teeth into the deer, when the report of a gun disconcerted it. It let go off the deer and scampered into the thick foliage. The deer was just about to make good its escape when it was shot by the hunter. The lion’s loss was the hunter’s game.

From @writingchalk:

“You’re going to suffer...”

Some days, he didn’t want wake up from his sleep.

His bones ached. His head felt sore every day. It was tough to cope...

On the final day, he screamed... in jubilation.

The weighing scale did not lie. It was a hard-earned victory.

“...but you’re going to be happy about it.”

From @iyer_raman: “Let’s sort this on Monday” trickled down through the limited tiers of the boutique firm. But he couldn't leave yet. He was shuffling through his 800 friends, asking the ones who were once dear and now nearby, what their plans are for tonight. He had lost the art of meeting friends without taking an appointment.

From @divigyaan: Standing near the gate I never wished him to go. He waited for a while but said, “I have to go” I didn’t feel my loss until he actually entered the gate. I realized how careless I was until tears shed but now when he is not around, I know, he always cared.

From @tweettabulous: Smart mouth. Chatter box. Non-stop radio. Few of my nicknames. I’ve had the repute of a perpetual foot in the mouth, leaving me at awkward situations with friends, colleagues or even my boss.

I don’t mean harm but end up sounding obnoxious.

Enter him.  I’m overwhelmed. And always at a loss of words…

From @flirtingshadows: I want him to know that I miss him. That festivals at home feel incomplete. That our unfinished conversations haunt me at night. That each time I flounder; I ask myself, what would he have said. I feel let down. About my limited time with him, about him ignoring his health, about him leaving abruptly.

From @vivekisms: He thought he could live without her. She thought she would survive. The small memories haunted. The big losses. The side of the bed. The half-read book. The taste of the last meal. The words last spoken. The measure of losing someone you love.

From @DNRamki:

Carrom with grandma, cycle races with his sister, mom's fretting, dad's dinner time jokes. The cartoons on TV, the lazy mornings, the school assembly, the festival food, Mahabharata on Sundays, the pillow fights, the winter vacations, the.....

He woke up sweating, the fan above him had stopped. In this hostel, he was lost!

From @agentgreenglass:

“Can’t you just give it up?”

“But baby, it’s fun. And every man needs a vice.”

“Listen, I think your brothers have enough vices for the whole family.”

“Okay, this new year I’ll give it up.”

“As long as you don’t ruin us by then.”

“Ha! Draupadi, you’re my drama queen!

From @anushapinto:

“Last time your house wasn’t full of cane furniture.”
“Well, cane is awesome. Sustainable. Eco friendly.”
“What about the Ikea spree before that?”
“That time minimalism was in”
“For how long are you gonna succumb to fads?”
“Till I forget about the teak furniture the floods ruined. And everyone it engulfed.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry”

From @zoarcher: Cockroaches grilled on skewers. Frog legs. Ox penis. Snake soup. Live octopus. Turtles. Geese meat. Yeah I know there are many who savour these exotic delicacies and probably write paeans on them. They would probably even make a trip to feed their food eccentricity. For me, it would definitely cause a loss of appetite!

From @roshd: She thought of her first love.  He was goodlooking and funny.A very good kisser too. Yet he never wanted to go all the way. “Lets remain virgins till we marry”.They split-up because he found her too clingy.And the men after him were not a patch on him. She missed him. Terribly.

From @slokabs:

To someone, it may be just a few coins. To her, it was all she had.
To someone, it may be just a piece of metal. To her, it was a lucky charm.
To someone, it may be a paper scroll. To her, it was the only way of reaching him.
How would they know?

From @vagabondinact: The hushed tones around him surprised him. The sullen faces around left him amazed. He failed to understand the sympathy and pity being showered on him. He failed to understand the, ‘we are sorry for your loss’ remarks.  Why, he wondered, couldn't they see that the loss was cathartic, for it liberated him from expectations?

From @bitchwanti:

"HBD", she typed in hurriedly, wishing her friend a "happy birthday" on her facebook wall.
"Look at me, talk to me", he implored her as kept tapping away her phone.
Her laughter, her smiles were all for the device she held in her hands. She wouldn't feel the loss of human touch, not yet.

From @preetidhingra: She was madly in love with him. She was mad. And one day she walked away from him with the faith that he will follow, will get her back. He didn't. She kept walking. When he finally followed. She was far. He lost her. Forever.

Theme 164 - Sand

From @mitchellez:

Touch the starry violet sky,
Kiss the blue horizon,
On the moon lit ocean I lie,
Draw a picture on the sand,
Draw your picture on the sand.
Sitting by the sea,
Serenity my companion,
Joyful tear’s my refuge,
I write your name on the shore,
Erase it,
To only write your name, with mine.

From @roshd: Imagine stepping out of the sea on a hot Goan afternoon and setting your bare feet on the boiling sand. You are that beach chair with the cool shade of the beach umbrella offering respite from the scorching heat. Your smile is like that chilled pint. But there is this burning sand to cross first.

From @writingchalk:

He gasped for breath beneath the sea. With the water pricking his eyes, he could barely keep them open. He flapped his hands hard, but he was drawn further into the sea. Strangely, the water was hot.

He opened his eyes.

No water. But he was sinking.

The Kalahari consumed his senses. And his body.

From @swordfish19:

“What’s this?” asked the visitor, pointing to the glass jars on the mantle.
“These are mementos; of the various deserts that my husband explored” replied the explorer’s wife.
“Oh..I see..here’s the sand from Gobi…Oh! And there’s Sahara…but why is Kalahari empty?”
“That’s because he never returned from there. That was his last desert.”

From @aaroo4: “Can i take your order, ma’am?” the waiter enquired. “Yes, i would like to order the Earl Grey Green tea please”, she said. “Yes ma’am” he replied. Few minutes later he brought the pot of hot water into which he let the tea bag drop, flipping the hour glass. Her very own sands of time. 

From @quratzafar: Another burn stinged on his hands as he roasted corn cobs for impatient people in the sand and salt mixture. He was just fourteen years old and could clearly recall a time when his mother wouldn't even ask him to get water for himself.

From @agentgreenglass:

How was it?

The usual. All day inside a conference room. Don't know why they have it in Goa, when we see nothing of the beach.

Was Tanuja there?

Yes. And get over it Neha. I said sorry a million times.

She put his clothes in the machine. There was sand in her hands.

From @RBtrary:

"She held the sand in her fist, it ran through the gap between her fingers, reminding how time ran away while meeting her long-lost-love after 10years.

She tried dusting away the wet-sand from her feet, but particles remained stuck, reminding how she’ll always carry the guilt of crossing the line and betraying her husband…"

From @iyer_raman:  They shut the doors of the empty compartment with practiced ease, and reached for her straightaway. The cop who boarded at the next station got the shock of his life. He radioed for stretchers and first aid. She needed to add more sand to her punching bag. Her punches are not yet fatal, she felt.

From @naeempachapure:

I am not unique. I don’t stand out.  I don’t love or cry. I am cold, and warm. I am as agile as the wind or gushing water. No one can tell me apart when I am with others of my kind. Yet, There is something peculiar.
I have a name.

Adam (grain of sand)

From @tweettabulous:

Reminiscing about our times together always makes me smile. The playful moments. The serious talks. The long hand in hand walks. The gazing at stars lying in each other's arms.

Yes we parted, we had our reasons. The heart thought it couldn’t stop loving. Slowly memories faded.
Our memoirs are like footprints on the sand…

From @slokabs: Mira’s greatest takeaway from the beach was this lesson! If she walked with the wave, she moved faster, but only as far as the wave. Walking against it, she stumbled awhile, before eventually steadying. But if she did nothing and just stood on the shore, her feet got gradually sucked into the wet sand beneath.

From @bitchwanti: Her fingers sifted through the sand, lying like shattered gold against the cold white marble. Every grain of sand must go back in the hourglass, that lay broken at her feet. A strong gust of wind had knocked it over, but not a grain of his memories could be lost, not to the petty wind.

From @flirtingshadows: A cozy friendship that took her by surprise. A tumultuous love that overwhelmed her. A messy heartache that left her humiliated, debased and wanting. Fuming, too. It happened all too quickly and abruptly, before she could take it all in. The thrill, the euphoria and the despair. She hadn’t been prepared for the shifting sands.

From @kunalbaidmehta: Ranbir was born with a silver spoon. All his wishes got fulfilled, making him believe that owning everything was his birth right.  When he started dating Radhika, he started getting possessive about her, which suffocated her.

He did not realize that a relationship is like sand – tighter the grip, sooner it goes out of hand.

From @DNRamki:

They ran around, like little kids set free. This break had been long overdue. As she outpaced him, he stuck a leg out to trip her, and they fell, laughing their worries away. They loved picking all those tiny shells, and pebbles.

The next day he smiled, looking at that sand in his pocket.

From @vagabondinact: It felt like a reprise, stuck at a bad note. Her life, felt like the steadily shifting sand, beneath her feet under the withdrawing wave, only to be brought back by the new wave to be scattered on her feet. All she had to do was turn the hour glass for it to be anew.

From @Pennykinned: It was a glorious, sparkling love-affair. A meeting of glances across the room. Daytime conversation and nighttime capers. A proposal, a wedding, a marriage. And then, the plane crash. He was the one who died, but it was her life that ended. The last grain of sand in the merciless hourglass had fallen.

Theme 163 - Anticipation

From @mitchellez: I brood over the remains of our love. The shadows of our past never abandoned me. Through bitter tears I smile at the memories of our togetherness. Despite the ache that consumes my soul, I’m surprisingly sanguine. My body is losing its strength and I wish death would consume me sooner. Our souls shall unite.

From @swordfish19: The fishmonger came and sat in her usual place.  The alley cats, as if guided by intuition, started coming out of their hiding places. They surrounded the fat woman and her basket, but kept a safe distance. They waited, with gleaming eyes. She flung a few prawns on the muddy ground. A scramble ensued.

From @divigyaan: A paper bag he tried to hide, I was no fool not to GUESS it right. The ‘GUESS’ logo made me realize it was the watch, I wished for life. When the time arrived, I still acted surprised. Anticipations took a back; it was a different brand in a different bag.

From @zoarcher: The decided meeting point is the new hip and happening joint on the block. The guy is someone your mother, mother’s mother, aunt, cousin, matchmaker, neighbour are going ga-ga over. You spend one, maybe two hours, more than usual dressing up. You adjust your pose till it feels picture perfect. And then, he walks in.

From @tweettabulous:

We meet. We click. We love. We fight. We reconcile. We adore. We quarrel again. We hate. We separate. We move on. We meet someone new, the heart beats a little faster and things seem beautiful. Until it happens again.

Nevertheless, the mind doesn’t succumb to disappointments, believes true love will find me one day.

From @DNRamki: "I stood in line staring at the blue door, fidgeting at the prospect of being next. Beyond that blue door sat the examiner. His expressions as nonchalant as the door itself. He glanced as I entered and asked “Your number?” “42” I said. He flipped a page and cleared his throat. The viva had begun."
From @whackydjavi:

I tend to get bored very quickly. Lose interest in things too soon.

Looking forward to something new is a way of life.

But with her I’ve been talking for so long. So many messages exchanged every day. 

How is it that I still look forward to every new message, with the same eager anticipation?

From @roshd:

“Boss, need your approval to book this deal I’ve closed.”
“ I cannot approve it. Margins are too low.”
“ The customer has promised to give us the next project which is bigger and more profitable too.”
“Sorry. In anticipation of a future profit I cannot make a loss today.”
An important lesson in Sales was learnt.

From @aaroo4:

" If you could describe your life in one word, what would it be? Asked the HR manager..
"Anticipation" replied Tanav in a flash. Puzzled, the manger asked "why so?" "Simple, I am constantly waiting for something or the other, even now am wondering if I am going to land this job or not" Tanav replied.

From @iyer_raman:

The cameras show the captain running up to him and give an encouraging pat.
“Bhenchod, theek se daal, teri “G” mardoonga varna” he whispers, and runs back.
The bowler kisses the deity on his gold chain. One more. And he will never have to bowl again.
He cannot wait to get the no-ball right.
From @Pscripturient: She is a cancer patient who does not enjoy sympathy. She laughs inside her balding head about the hope people greet and sign off with. This slow waiting period is her worst enemy. She fights against these thinning seconds every day, begging the clock to let her eventually go. She is in anticipation of death.

From @randomwhiz: She was going to meet him in a month’s time. The best institute in town had started a specialization course of her choice. She had 20 days of vacation, a college festival, and a national conference coming up. She was going to turn 20. 10 new novels,3 new paintings waited. Anticipation, all around.

From @Crucifire:

He couldn't stand the feeling of them being around.
He hated them with all his heart and head.
He wanted them to die, every single one of them.

He was always on guard. His arsenal included hand washes, sanitizers, antibacterial soaps and detergents.

Mysophobes live in constant Antisep-ation.

From @vivekisms: The wait. The longing. The way he looked out of the window. He knew she would not return. And yet  he waited. Looking out of the window. Every single day.

Theme 162 - Children

From @maruwahna:

Five year old brother of mine , on a Sunday morning: “Anna , what does girlfriend mean ?“

“Go read your panchatantra raa , I‘ll tell later“ .

“Okay anna,but you have a girlfriend?You were talking to someone yesterday night at 2 o clock.“.

And then,he smiles.

We brand children “innocent“,but their knowledge astounds me sometimes.

From @kunalbaidmehta: The first raindrop was enough to send us into a frenzy. Rushing out with our  paper boats, ready to jump into puddles without a care about the world. No stress of daily rigmarole nor the rigour of the daily grind. Free spirit and a clean and creative mind. Childhood was a great stage of life.

From @roshd: As he lay on the bed, he thought of how his attitude towards children had changed since the birth of his sons. They were sleeping peacefully on either side. Rylan, the year old toddler, sleeping with his clenched fist and Rishon all of four, spreadeagled on the bed. My boys, he thought proudly, as he cuddled them.

From @DNRamki: "In that mid-summer heat a 45 minute bus journey could never be comfortable. He heard them shouting. It had been two weeks now since he met these kids. And as he entered the hall, faces of delight greeted him. Innocence and Happiness, had been just words, until now. He was tired no more."

From @Greyllusionist: children, n(pl): I hated them. You loved them. I loved puppies. They're children too, you argued. That night, it wasn't just sex, we made love.

Theme 161 - Weekend

From @servantofkrsna: The kid had heard that weekends were a time to enjoy with family, go out with parents, have a good time. All he witnessed was his mother's depression, his father's ignorance.

From @wekneweachother: Tables turn. You and I? Such a cliché. But what a beautifully orchestrated disaster was our last weekend. Locked outside my apartment, we made out in the elevator. With you, getting lost is so much fun. But something fundamental has changed. I looked out of the window and saw you greeting Monday with love.

From @AskThePankazzzz: You keep waiting for it to happen all the time & once it actually does, it gets over even before you realize. In a way, a weekend is much like those relationships. Shortlived happiness. Eternal cravings.

From @swordfish19: You can see faint traces of it on Thursday evening. On Friday, the anticipation is like a snowball, slowly rolling down, becoming bigger and bigger. By mid-day, one foot is already outside office. As the work day ends, the excitement has reached its zenith. For the next two days you live in a different world. 

From @vivekisms: It is the promise of a weekend. He had to do it. From one website to another. Chatting. Wanting. Yearning. Love maybe? The promise that fades into oblivion soon enough. Till the next weekend comes along.

From @deescjockey: In her confounded state of mind, the irretrievably stained linen disturbed her more than the dead man lying on her bed, soaking the linen with his blood. The matter of disposing the body and all evidence before the family returned on Sunday, felt like another unnecessary nuisance. Some weekend this was turning out to be.

From @aaroo4: “Mommy mommy, I know why Saturday Sunday is called weekendend” Shia chirped excitedly. “Sweety, it is weekend, and not weekended” corrected her mom. “But, when something ends, we say ended no, so that is why when a week ends, we should say weekended” Shia grinned proud of herself.  “Ok, I give up” laughed her mom

From @iyer_raman:

“1 khamba blender’s pride, 1 khamba old monk, and maal from
Colaba…weekend set hai bhai”
“Mast! Finals ke liye poora mahol set!”
An hour and half a bottle later.
“Sorry bhai, girlfriend coming over. Can you manage somewhere tomorrow?”
The next morning.
“Aaj bhi kaam kar rahe ho? Match nahi dekhoge?” asked the security guard.

From @tweettabulous: He suggested taking a vacation, packed our bags and left. Quiet “us” time, cherishing every moment and igniting all passions. I knew, he was the one. Woke me up with a kiss, “I’d like you to be mine, forever”. 15 years later and I still fondly remember how surreal our first weekend together was…

From @naeempachapure:  Another day had been logged. Its time.  Solitude awaits her, the kind that dwells in the mind, more so in the heart. All the memories come flooding back. The lonely thought is the weakest of the dams. The yearning, the warmth, the scent, they all but elude.  And then. Monday. She is alive again.

From @TheNaique: He hated college. Life was just a long wait for the weekend to arrive. During lectures, he tried to hide the boredom by suppressing the yawns, but the tears always gave it away. One year later, results were declared. He had failed. He tried to suppress the emotions, but the tears gave it away.

From @wistyloony:

"Older siblings have it worst", reflected Monday gloomily, staring at his Twitter account. He had only 6 followers : his siblings. Even boring Tuesday had more followers than him!

The youngest, Sunday, obviously had the most, with Saturday not far behind. "Humans are weird", thought Monday, "they always prefer endings to beginnings."

From @randomWhiz: It was Friday night. She smoked her last cigarette, carefully, as to not ruin her lipstick. She saw a couple of vehicles pass by. Carefree youngsters looking forward to the weekend. She sighed. She placed a carefully waxed leg in the front, bringing a car to halt. She bent forward suggestively.  She had a customer. The weekend had begun.

From @CruciFire:

He was desperate.
Friday night was going to be their first meet at home alone.
They made love all night long.
“Monday ko subah 10 baje presentation hai dude… kal office!” – Creative Head.

He fucked Saturday.

Sunday fucked him.

His weekends were starting to become one day stands.

Theme 160 - Boxes

From @swordfish19: When the kids entered the living room in their pajamas, all bleary, they saw the boxes of various colours and sizes, all neatly wrapped, near the tree. As was their wont they expressed surprise and screamed “Look! Gifts from Santa!” Even though they knew that the gifts were really their parents’.  The drill was necessary.

From @deescjockey: She was a neat packer. Bedsheets went into one box, crockery into another, books in yet another... till all her stuff disappeared into those boxes. She was careful not to touch his things. She would end this in her usual clean and dignified way; the time for emotions would come later.

From @wistyloony: Her life arrived. In colour coded boxes. She never knew the pains of moving before. She started unpacking them. The brown boxes mocked the emptiness of the house. Her life reduced to a few boxes, full of materials & memories. She wept.

From @flirtingshadows: Her heart was a neatly pieced jigsaw puzzle. Intact as long as it remained untouched. But one careless touch and it all came apart. They’d be tears, much unparliamentary language, an outpouring of anger and resentment. Until she took a day or two to recuperate and place her feelings in those tiny little boxes again.

From @vivekisms: The boxes were ready to be sent. Someone else's now. All of them. Thousands of them. He had cherished them forever and now others would. He hoped they would. He started labelling the last of them. "Young Adult Fiction", he wrote. The library car had arrived. The boxes were ready to be sent.

From @iyer_raman:

The girl in a saree and sleeveless blouse made bags drop, and wives, jealous.

A sitar-tabla jugalbandi played in his head.

He took out a 100. The kid smiled, and ran into the gaming zone.

He took out a card. The wife smiled, and ran into The Body Shop.

Both the boxes had been ticked.

From @aaroo4: “It is your turn… Go on, play, the clock is ticking away”, he urged her. “But I don’t have any interesting letters. How boring”, she whined. “C’mon, give it a shot” he grinned. “Got it” she yelped as she placed XES next to the BOX he’d made earlier -“BOXES”. Now it was his turn to stare...

From @namansaraiya: He saw her face amidst black t-shirts singing along with the angry band. Her eyes smiled back at him. Let go of him, he shouted across the room. I will, but I don't know if I can come back. Why? Just that I'm so used to living out of boxes.

From @alksmehta: Raju,Mr.gupta's servant,would invariably see Mr.gupta alone in a room with some boxes.The lust for money lured Raju to kill Mr.gupta.To his shock Raju  found nothing but memorabilia and memoirs of his wife which he had collected over the years.Now he understood that Mr.Gupta spent time with the memories of his dead wife!

From @alwaystranquil:  He kept them all. Visited them all the time. Not a speck of dust could ever settle. Took them everywhere he went.  They were his treasure. His true worth. Acquired over years. Each, with a story. Lived them, smile and tears.

I walked in. An empty room ?? Boxes were clumsy!!  His answer. Memories.

From @Itemboi: My ex told me that you know a  person is the right one for you when he/she fits in the following boxes - Emotional attachment, physical attraction, sexual compatibility, education, financial independence and no issues with family. I looked out of the box and found the right one. I'm happy. The ex is still searching.

From @absoluteme: Strike it for fire Share it for shelter All those sweets lined for celebration And that Jack stuffed inside to scare A space for work; and self doubt A pit for made-up games, and new found friends Open up to laughters Settle in for final rest A box inside a box inside a box… Life!

From @CruciFire:

Pain. Happiness. Guilt. Empathy. Greed. Kindness. Love. Lust. Calm. Wrath.

Neatly labeled boxes lined the front of his store.
He was the only vendor of his kind.
Every day he would set up shop for a couple of hours.

“Hi, my name is Time, what would YOU like to buy today dear Sir?”

From @Greyllusionist: boxes, n.(pl): Was tiding up my home today after long. Found few memories neatly packed, at a corner. Where do I keep them now?

Theme 159 - Passion

From @DayaDarwazaTodo: He came and came again. It was like a chore now. Day in and day out, the rigor gone, but the hunger still alive. She lay there still. Machine-like. Robotic. Only if she had expressed how she’d always felt, she’d have been making love to someone else today, not merely having sex with this man.

From @ArmchairPsycho:

I could only hear the soft bristle of the knife against the toasted bread as the butter lazily spread on it. I couldn't hear her constant rattle, the screaming cooker or my phone's beep.

"Joji, you will never get rid of me!" she yelled, crazy eyes pinning me.

I laid the bread on my plate.

From @gowthamragav: There is a three word phrase in English which I hate the most for being over-used. Three words of career advise which thoroughly misinform thousands of members of Generation Y and changing them to a Generation of Why Bother. ‘Follow Your Passion’. I hate it.

From @vivekisms: They yearned for it. To bring it back in their lives. To everyone, they seemed picture perfect. Nothing was wrong. Only they knew the cracks. The distances that even poppers or any other kind of experiment couldn't reignite. They were dead. Within.

From @naeempachapure:

He locked it away. The will to read, to write. To hear , to mean. To feel, to see.
Left with the still and the silent.
Until.
Yes.
Breathes.  Soaks in every smile. Tear. Sun and rain. Devours and hungers. Relentless and Profound.
What saved him? Brought him back?
The word in your head.
Yes.

From @kunalbaidmehta: For ten years, she went to the beach every day. She felt the waves talk to her and come close to her, sometimes touching and caressing her body and sometimes teasing and going away. This was pure passion. She stopped going to the beach, the day she realized that these waves will always go back.

From @iyer_raman: The violinist always set his violin to tune with the first rays of the sun. During his wait for the crack of dawn one day, he began polishing his bow with bee’s wax.
The moment he was done, the first rays of the sun emerged. Meteorologists were baffled by a 45 minute delay in sunrise.

From @maruwahna:

“...Try writing an algorithm for this.“madam said .

I didn‘t know the specifics,but I knew I had the bent of mind. Worked my way through the jungle and understood C on my own.

Four years later .“ Why does that recursive function have an extra paranthesis?“, I ask ,confidently

Engineering 101

From @The_Buffmaster: She stretched her delicate bare arms on her sides. Her crimson red curls fell over her perfectly rounded shoulders. Satin beneath her slender legs creased, as she spread them away. Completely exposing her firm bosom, she laid on her bed, waiting for him, to take her to an intoxicating journey which she’d always dreamt of.

From @salonitia:

"Come ! Hold my hand " she said .

They held hands and steadying their feet on the rope bridge ,tried crossing it .Eyeing the crocodile below them ,she pushed her friend in water.

Her eyes gleamed seeing the red colour ,full of passion ,bloody red !!

Now to get another scapegoat to fulfil her thirst for passion.

From @alksmehta: Everyday Varun and Meera met in the nearby library. In the stillness and serenity of the library their eyes met. In the midst of words all around what was brewing between them was a series of unspoken words.Each day their emotions of love and passion for books grew bringing them together forever!!

From @nefritri: The cellar filled with cheese was her secret heaven; the aroma of gravies took her into another world. The alluring batter of flour, butter, chocolate made love to her. She used to just wash pots &pans at the hotel. But then what is a life without passion &, her passion was to be a chef.

From @agentgreenglass: She stood in the trial room. The tag on the dress said extra small. She pulled out the box from her bag. Eight brownies stared back at her. Next morning, the shop girl found a dress smeared with dark chocolate lying in a heap. And she remembered the XXL girl who left empty handed.

From @CruciFire:

She made him bend over the sink and playfully hit him with the ketchup bottle.

He moaned. She hit him with sachets.

She made him wear the cooker gasket as a crown.

She made him carry her to the bedroom, tied his arms and made love.

'Passion of the Christ' was their favorite role play!

Theme 158 - Conversations

From @whackydjavi: Don’t underestimate them at all. They can bring you things you’d never even dream of.Company on a lonely day or night. Realizing that you’re not the only one with those quirks.Some stranger who turns out to be your best friend for life.Keep having them day and night. These wonderful things called conversations.

From @agentgreenglass:

She wanted conversation. He wanted breakfast
She wanted to know how his day was. He wanted a whiskey.
She wanted to discuss the neighbours. He wanted the remote.
One night, she used the kitchen knife to chop his ears off.
He got a divorce.
She got him to listen to her all day.

From @flirtingshadows: Theirs was a romance built solely on words. Their chats resided in the virtual world. The frequency, with which they were retrieved, sometimes to prove a point, sometimes to relive the moment, made them resemble old worn-out photographs, tucked away in the corner of a wallet. Frayed at the edges, but still evoking a smile.

From @vivekisms: I could tell you everything. How my day was. How I felt. How I feel for you. How I think we should not let go. I could tell you all of it. Everything and more. But you are long gone. I have no one to converse with.

From @swordfish19:

“What language do computers understand?”
“At the lowest level they understand only 1s and 0s. But at a higher level you can make them understand various languages so long as you can convert them to 1s and 0s”
“So, basically they understand only 1s and 0s”
“Yes”
“1000010 1011001 1000101”
“Wha…..”
“BYE”

From @wannabesanyasin: An absurd silence prevailed for almost a week. D reminisced… S was nervous. She was biting her nails. After all, it was her very first semester exam. While D waited for her at the gate to enter the exam hall, S nervously looked at D. D’s assuring eyes told her it’ll be alright. S smiled.

From @brownicetea: Not an introvert, neither dumb. She prefers not to speak. Thoughts are way too many and complex to express. How much you feel and so less you can tell about it. She met him and her heart felt that something. She could never express what she felt and he could not feel and just left.

From @iyer_raman: She was clearing her inbox when her whatsapp flashed. It was her friend in the UK. She pours her heart out. She is happy.  She wants to tell everyone to get off their phones and dance, when her phone flashed again. “Has anyone got a charger?”  She asked. Her album “House Party!” got 76 likes.

From @roshd: She was mad at him and avoided all his attempts at making conversation. Giving up, he channel-surfed till he came across an episode of “Two and a half men”. The next 20minutes she watched him laughing without a care in the world. He always enjoyed a good laugh. Too bad she did not.

From @numbyaar: “I’m surprised what couples talk about”, he said. “That’s one thing that has always surprise me.” she replied as they went on discussing their lovebird friends. Little did they realise that they had already been 1 hour into their first phone conversation.

From @aaroo4: They sat there, silently staring at each other. She looked at him, but stood ground. He lifted his head, took a glance at her and turned away. And then there was this couple on the bench nearby who kept looking at each other in exasperation.  “Goo goo.”…” ga ga.”. Oh, wow…there began the cute conversations..

From @aalizznat:

A mug of coffee. Hers a latte, his a cappuccino.
She takes a sip and passes him a nervous smile. He starts looking at the pattern on the floor and the ceiling.
she finishes her coffee looks at him and his untouched mug, picks up her bag and leaves.
Conversation over coffee? He orders another one.

From @tweettabulous:

Her voice was as beautiful as a singing bird.  He could listen to her chatter all his life.
The king got to know of this fascination. She was a chambermaid. King issued an order for her tongue to be chopped. Problem solved he thought.

Foolish him, didn't realize that eyes have better conversations…

From @nishantways:

“Hello. Ya, I reached. In a lift now..hello.. Tcha..got cut”.
“Family?”
“Ya. Family-to-be”.
“I actually thought so.”
“She gets tensed when I don’t call her during my trips”.
“She loves you a lot”.
“Yesterday, she declared that she loves me more than I love her”.
“Haha. Reached my floor, I think. See ya.”
“Bye, man”.