A group of men in their 40s have a late-night WhatsApp discussion on romance, with comical results. Parth Pandya shows us the conversation!
Anand is tired. He has had to keep it together when he’d much rather not. At the end of a tiring day like this, what do most people do? They reach out to someone they love, seeking comfort. And so, Anand writes to his Vinodini. Saisudha tells us what he writes in his email.
In a poem, Satyam Pati throws light on the yearnings of someone who has loved but could never confess.
An apsara named Ananya wants to win the poet Kalidasa’s love. When her beauty fails to do the trick, she turns to the characters in his plays to capture his attention. Sharvani tells us what transpired between Ananya and Kalidasa.
Vani Viswanathan eavesdrops on the conversation of six middle-aged women and imagines what the various facets of their married lives are like. But life, as it were, throws in a few surprises, and Vani finds her imagination challenged.
Happy New Year and welcome to the SIXTH anniversary issue of Spark! This issue, we celebrate the year that went by and the year that awaits us by paying tribute to the “Human Spirit”, and honouring the small and big acts of courage, kindness and hope that keep humanity alive. Through art, fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photography, we capture the essence of human spirit that we hope sustains through 2016 too.
Satyam Pati’s poem is about that unwavering soul inside all of us which dares. It celebrates our ability to face great odds and still stand tall.
Be it capturing the spirit of the city, telling inspiring life stories of people or spreading positivity by aiding social causes, city-themed Facebook pages in India are becoming wonderful platforms that bring the human spirit to the fore. The people behind Humans of Bombay, Humans of Bangalore and Humans of Madras talk to Anupama Krishnakumar about what it means to be running inspiring Facebook pages that have transformed the way people look at the life of a person on the street.
