Shreya Ramachandran writes a poem that attempts to capture the difference between life as it is and life as you sometimes wish it were. It explores the tension between trying to be fine and experiencing a tiny regret that comes with feeling an absence.
Two words don’t go down too well with Vibha. ‘Good news’. Parth Pandya’s story dwells on Vibha’s connection with these words, exploring romance from a couple’s point of view.
A lover sees a bit of his love in everything in him, oblivious to the sights around. Malcolm Carvalho’s verse tells you more.
A young engineer, Dipen, discovers his fears at the offer of unconditional love from Juniper, his college mate, during their trip to Shantiniketan. Tapan Mozumdar tells the story, set in 1988.
Don Mihsill’s poem uses food as a central trope to explore the inherent “issues” in cross-cultural relationships. It contextualises this in an exploration of a scene of ‘meet-the-in-laws’.
An unexpected rendezvous provides Priyamvada an opportunity to find closure to a past relationship. Chaithali’s story has a funny twist to how Priyamvada achieved this.
THE LOUNGE | TURN OF THE PAGE Ajay Patri reviews ‘The Return’ by Hisham Matar, a harrowing but humane memoir about the conflict in Libya and the toll it exacted on the author’s life.
THE LOUNGE | SLICE OF LIFE Suresh Subrahmanyan gets nostalgic, and a tad misty-eyed about his childhood romance with the Radio, the BBC in particular. His love for the English language he largely attributes, among other things, to the BBC World Service broadcasts.
THE LOUNGE | STORYBOARD Soumyadeep Chatterjee writes about how Chaitanya Tamhane showed him that courtroom dramas usually occur without the element of drama, at least in this part of the world, through his Marathi film ‘Court’.