Liquid wisdom

He gulped one drink after the other.
Time froze engulfed in vacuum.
His mind remained foggy.
Thoughts continued getting lost in his mind's labyrinth.

The liquor was working it's magic.
The distracting cacophony seemed distant.
After 36 sleepless hours finally, the pen moved.
Whiskey indeed, was his solace.

Free she was now

Free she was now,

Free and aloof from the cynicism of society,

The sorrow seemed so distant as if it belonged to a past life of hers. 

The throb in her chest subsided too.

Only happy sounds reverberated in her mind.

Free she was now,

Worry took a backseat. 

Misty eyes hid the impenetrable chronicles.

Petulant nights and unhappy verbose vaporized.

The ‘Family portrait’ seemed immaculate.

Free she was now,

HE was gone too. 

His voice seemed distant, his appearance just a faraway silhouette. 

Despite the indelible mark, the absence was liberating.

Forever is just an illusion.

Free she was now,

She opened her eyes.

With haste, the tears were fixed.

Drawn towards the edge of ecstasy, the crack faded.

She was back dancing among the crowd.

The Other

The sound sleep got disturbed as the lizard fell unannounced on top of him. She lay awake facing her back, ignorant of the intrusion. Fool that she was as it took only a second to lose him to the slimy grasp of that ugly charm. 

Amina (inspired by A loop in time – Wally Brill)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWb9dmFTUOI

Obscure visuals flashed before her eyes….  Splashes of red, purple and maroon seem to block her view… the desert seems so full of colour now (like how she had always imagined) - and did she see some plants towards the market side? Small and green shoots growing in the distance like some hope in the middle of nowhere…. The green mixed with the sky’s palette to produce a beautiful shaded effect against the setting sun…

Suddenly, hollow figures and figurines kept chasing behind her…grey, lanky, hollow and lifeless…. One pulled her hair from behind… the other one caught of her right leg and began pinning it to the sands… she could feel the nails piercing through the flesh of her feet, then her Hijab was dragged and removed from her head… her hair seemed to come off as well.. she felt strange… looked down, and she was slowly getting consumed by the cacti from her ammi’s courtyard… then she saw ammi standing at distance calling out her name ‘’ Bibi, ruk ja… ruk ja…’’ – Abbajaan stood by the wall and stared on… she knew she could not stop now…she knew what would happen next…  She just could not imagine going through it again…

She kept running and running for hours …. She felt thirsty, maybe hungry even… but she could not stop now… the figurines seemed to have vanished and followed her no more… the pain ,the weeping noises, the shrieks  receded too… now she was just on her own against the silhouette of the night sky….

Fear and pain gave her strength to carry on…. By midnight she finally made it to the border…. She could see the light from the village …

Amina finally stopped. She had made it to the good side…. The torture, abuse, whiplash, Abbahjaan, Ammi, Sakhina all seemed to dissipate from her memory….  She tried and smiled through her slit parched lips for the first time in her 10 years.