In this two-part story, Elizabeth shares moments in the life of Nancy, an expatriate who is trying to fit into an unfamiliar culture. In the first part, Nancy is flummoxed about how the idea of helping refugees is seen by high-society women as an opportunity to let go of superfluous things at home. The second part deals with Nancy’s emotions as she struggles to let go of some tiny artefacts that represent the memories of her past.
Letting go of grief often gives rise to misgivings in the person who has lost a loved one. It may result in them either trying to overcome their sorrow with a dogged determination or clinging on to it desperately as the only way to preserve what has been irretrievably lost. Mandira’s poem is addressed to anyone who is or has been in such a dark place.
We are often unable to let things take their own course. The idea of ‘letting something go’ necessitates that we do not doubt our own actions, own convictions. Mayur’s poem is a lament by a voice that makes an appearance in our lives once too often.
A group of cousins recollect the number of times their grandfather ‘let go’, wondering at his resilience and resolution to carry on despite setbacks. Vani’s story questions people’s ideas of when one is supposed to have ‘let go’.
Failure in life, and especially in love, is often inevitable. We can either clamp down and shrink ourselves or show up and shine anyway. This is a poem on resilience; a whimsical sketch of a woman, a romantic, who refuses to be hardened by the hard experiences.
Here we are, on the fifth of another month, with a new issue on the theme ‘The Wait’! Read wonderful fiction and poetry, and soak in some lovely photographs, exploring a range of emotions that waiting induces.
Anushree’s story is a narrative on the lingering fondness between two friends who are forced to live in separate cities because of circumstances. The ‘missing’ is ripe; even as the narrator waits to hear from her friend, she doesn’t want to consider the possibility of the two drifting further apart.
Nine women. Nine emotions. And their waits. Anupama Krishnakumar writes nine bite-sized stories centered on women and the Navarasas. Part 2 features Raudram (Anger), Kāruṇyam (Compassion), Vīram (Courage) and Śāntam (Peace).
