Life - or something like it

I never knew that grocery shopping could be stressful. The simple act of getting products for daily consumption should be fun but can sometimes lead to anger and verbal abuse. As a newly married girl and living with in-laws, grocery shopping was a tough task for me. Having stayed on my own before marriage, I had my own budget and my own list of things required for survival. The list after marriage was quite dry and uninteresting, who can get excited about buying rice, lentils and oil. In addition, the idea of changing brands I preferred was like giving away my child for adoption. I survived and so did my in-laws, now I am a bit wiser and somewhat flexible. In India, grocery shopping was once a month chore. Buy raw materials from either a supermarket or your trusted, used for generations’ grocery shop and then transform it into something palatable. In 'phoren' lands, grocery shopping becomes almost a weekly affair and sometimes more often. Since there are no milkmen dropping...

I have been living in the UK for more than 2.5 years now. Here are a few of the pictures of my trips across this beautiful country. Ingleton Waterfalls The famous Ingleton Waterfalls Trail has some of the most spectacular waterfall and woodland scenery in the North of England. The trail is 4.5 miles/8 kilometres through ancient oak woodland and magnificent Dales scenery via a series of spectacular waterfalls and geological features. Crook O' Lune The River Lune meanders through a timeless landscape of lush pastures and ancient stone villages, many of which feature historic churches and wonderful traditional pubs. The Lune valley provided poetic inspiration for the likes of Thomas Gray, John Ruskin and William Worsdworth and locations such as Crook O’ Lune, a shepherd’s crook-shaped bend in the river, moved the landscape artist J M W Turner to produce numerous rustic masterpieces. Snowdonia - Wales Mount Snowdon, in Welsh, Yr Wyddfa, meaning 'the tumulus', domin...

Tracy opened her window and she heard the woman screaming ‘Please save me, I don’t want to die’. Tracy quickly unlocked the doors and gestured the woman to come from the passenger side. The woman ran towards the other side, but before she could open the door, a hand yanked the car door open and pulled Tracy out of the car. Tracy’s scream died in her throat, she heard a woman scream just before her mouth is sealed with a tape and a black cloth fell over her eyes. Tracy’s hands are tied at the back and she is dragged along roughly. She heard a man’s voice very close to her ears ‘Nosy Bitch, just do as you are told and you will live’. Tracy shivered with horror, everything had happened so fast that she was in a daze. She heard the painful cries of the woman; whose screams are laced with terror. She heard the man say ‘start walking both of you’, being blindfolded it was difficult for her to walk without the fear of falling down. She felt fingers gently grasping her arm and guiding her as...

Here are a few pictures of the Lancaster Canal which is a stone's throw away from my house. A beautiful and tranquil location for a walk, a cup of coffee and conversations.  How I envy these people, who live in these houses hugging the canal           A bright spring morning and the boat people are flocking to the canal The Water witch Pub Lancaster University Student Accommodation                               Yummy Cappuccino at The Water Witch Pub                                        The canal frozen in the winter                                                               ...

She quickly finished drinking water and washed her face. Tracy did not hear the snap of a twig. She did not hear the rustle of leaves. The cascading water had masked all the sounds. As Tracy was tying her shoelaces, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened with fear. She kept praying, turned to face the person, and screamed. Tracy got up with a sudden start, her heart beating wildly and the sheets drenched with sweat. She fumbled for the bedside lamp and switched it on and saw that it was nearly six in the morning. The dream was still lingering in her mind, so vivid and terrifying. She got up from the bed and splashed water on her face and tried to shake off the images which were still clear in her head. She got dressed, picked her cell phone, laced her shoes and decided to go for a run. She blamed the entire dream on the movie she had seen with friends the previous night. Tracy backed out her car and drove to a nearby trail, where she loved to jog. Tracy parked her car, ...

The phone call has stunned me. I need to sit down and take a breath before I faint. I look down at my forearm and see the numbers etched for a lifetime. The loose skin on it has made it difficult to read but even now, I can feel the pain. I rub my fingers across the number and I remember the day as clearly as if it was happening right now and I am just a spectator watching it from the sidelines. The whole thing was surreal. I remember sitting in the cattle train with my sister Eva, which was filled with so many people that we had to take turns to sit down to rest. Our journey had taken three nights, three nights without food and water, three nights of terror and exhaustion. On the fourth day when the train stopped, we were roughly pulled out on a platform filled with men, women and children. The guards were dressed in Nazi uniforms controlling the ferocious dogs barking at us. Eva is just fourteen and I, Lisa am 16 years old. Our parents and younger brother had boarded a different t...

Hi friends, The good folks at Indimag have launched a writing contest 'Kathasagar' and I have taken part in it. You can find my story ' Killer Instinct ' if you head over to Indimag website. I would truly appreciate if you could log in at Indimag and cast your vote 'for me' to help me win this competition. I know it is a pain to log in at a random website to cast your vote. Even if you hate the story still cast your vote, cause I know how much you love me. Thank you for your vote and I definitely owe you one. Here is a teaser for you :) _______________________________________________________________ Jake saw Helen walking in front of him. The crunch of leaves under their feet resounded in the lonely woods.  She was excited about their weekend away from the city. Jake remembered the first day he had met Helen. They had met during group grief counseling. Helen had found her fiance David murdered in their Apartment. She was trying to deal with his death an...

She was running through the dark streets of a ghost town. She could hear the snap of a wolf’s jaw near her ankles. All around her were lonely streets. The houses had an abandoned look. She started knocking on doors to escape the pack of wolves. She twisted the knob of one door and suddenly she heard a loud ringing. Raksha woke up with a start to hear her mobile phone ringing. She grabbed the phone and wondered who was calling her at this hour. It was her boss at the law firm. He had called to inform her that the police had apprehended the serial rapist who was suspected of raping at least forty women. She checked her bedside clock and saw that it was already 5.30 am. She threw her covers aside and went to the bathroom. She might as well start the day early. There was a lot of work to be done. Her firm was representing two of the victims and they needed justice. Raksha was a criminal attorney and had a fantastic track record of putting criminals behind bars. She was going to be the l...

Netra moved her hand over her scalp. It felt as soft as a baby’s bottom. She looked up to see herself in the mirror. She wanted to distance herself from the image. Her mind screamed in protest…this is not me it is someone else. She looked at the wig in her hand and remembered her long silky brown hair. Her hair had been an object of envy for many of her friends. It now lay in a heap at the bottom of a trashcan. All the things she had taken for granted were coming back to haunt her. She had been steadily losing hair once the chemotherapy had started. Netra had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She remembered the day she was diagnosed and a shiver ran down her spine. Her life had seemed completely futile to her that day. On the outside, she had put up a brave face for her son and daughter. On the inside, she had shattered into a million pieces. The reaction ‘these things always happened to other people and now how could it happen to me?’ had kept echoing in her mind. Ultimately, she...

He watched them through his night binoculars. Andre was sitting in his car outside the fancy Italian Restaurant on Aldcliffe Road. They had been sipping champagne in flute glasses and munching on cheese.  He saw his wife Anna, whisper something in her friends ears and they both laughed. Anna looked radiant in her black dress and the diamond earrings he had given her on their 15th wedding Anniversary. Her friend was a handsome man and they both looked good together. Andre was in love with his wife and it made him angry when he saw that his wife did not love him anymore. Anna was a beautiful woman and all eyes were on her whenever she entered any room. It had made him proud but also insecure many times. A few months back he had felt her drifting away from him. He had blamed it on his imagination and work stress which kept him away from her. He could not pinpoint to what made him feel this way. She behaved the same way as before but he knew something had changed between them....