Archive | September, 2008

7 Times Sin is 55: Sloth

10 Sep

He squarely blamed the heat for his inertia.

Summer wasn’t a time to work.

He’d doze under the tree, occasionally letting slip a little snore, while the sun raged down on a scurrying world.

You couldn’t really blame the neighbors, therefore, when they noticed his stiff body only three days later, the snores silenced forever.

7 Times Sin Is 55: Lust

8 Sep

She looked at him with ill-concealed desire.

Taut and young, he was the color of raw ebony, waiting longingly to be caressed by her expert hands.

In a quick stride, she was by him, touching, teasing, living out her unfulfilled fantasies.

Finally, after all those years of denial, Saira had her very own grand piano.

A Scar In The Sty

5 Sep

Little Boy T was a teacher like no other. His first words to me, as I grasped his wrist, were “Fuck you!” Being two decades older than him was cancelled out by the fact that I was brought up in a home where ‘stupid’ is a cuss word. And from that moment on, I learned a few good things:

  • A 3-year-old needs exactly 2 ½ seconds to scoot.
  • If your mamma’s a junkie and she married daddy after he raped her at 14, you’re likely to be more than a little messed up.
  • Your stupid therapist who grew up under a rock will look blankly at you when she hears the word “reefer” (Okay, so in my defense, he pronounced it “weefer”.)
  • It takes time to get used to hugs if you haven’t been given any.
  • But sometimes we grow to love them pretty quickly.
  • We may all pretend to not give a tiny rat’s ass about approval, but we do, do, do.
  • Baby teeth can be deceptively vicious.
  • A mop of sandy hair bobbing at your knees each morning works better than caffeine.
  • One of the inherent qualities of the XY chromosome is the ability to aim.
  • You can tantrum with some people all of the time, with others some of the time, but you can’t be screeching “I hate you, bloody cow!” to your mamma, no sir.
  • When you hear “I’m stared by that noise in the sty” and “Oh, look at that pretty titty!”, it’s funny even the 100th time.
  • Stability is more than a house that won’t collapse in an earthquake.
  • When it comes to who’s helping whom, the lines are often blurred.

Happy Teacher’s Day, T.

Miss OJ can’t get your crinkled eyes out of her head.

7 Times Sin Is 55: Greed

4 Sep

He sidled toward her when no one was looking. Back turned to him, she was unwrapping the bright orange sweet received for knowing her numbers. A quick glance later, his teeth sank into his chubby arm and the ensuing howl ensured she was carried away, the sweet lying unopened and brightly orange on the floor.

7 Times Sin Is 55: Wrath

3 Sep

“Did she hurt you?” Mohan’s mother asked, her worried eyes scanning her son’s face.

He thought back to the early days of his marriage, when his wife’s wild rages had her smashing crockery, ripping the sheets, sending watches, forks and vases his way.

“No, Mother,” he staidly replied, nodding at the memory. “She always missed.”

7 Times Sin Is 55: Envy

1 Sep

Mahrukh’s mother laid out the girls’ pyjamas.

“Lend the new set to your friend,” she said, fingering the frayed edges of her daughter’s lilac pair.

She walked in the next morning to find two soundly sleeping girls, one in shredded nightclothes and the other clutching a pair of scissors, smiling sweetly in her dreams.

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