Karthik C

Today is my birthday. Twenty three years old. Feels like I have been in this hell all eternity. The perfect circle of life. Hmm, in a way it is. Ah, warm and soft; clean and dry. Just the way I like it. No creases on the bed anywhere. The sheets are crisp, clean and over flowing with whiteness. The door is locked. Lights, switched off. Phone, burnt.  Oh yes, I made sure of that. No one knows where I am. Silence. Pin drop silence. Pillow is perfect. Light breeze from the air conditioner, check. Good. It was hard to find a piece which didn't make that horrid humming noise which drills right into your brain. Shut up, Sujay. Focus. Don’t think. Is it possible for you to focus in order not to think? You are thinking again. Stop it. You know you can’t fail this time. Everyone who bothered you is gone. No one will disturb you. You are all alone. And what more, you have really earned it. It’s your own gift on your birthday. The best damn gift.   It had all started eight year...

                Visiting Australia has always been my pipe dream. Being a person who is born and brought up from the “Garden city of India ”; it is ideal for me to go to Australia ’s garden city, Melbourne . I can envisage my visit quite clearly. The bright sunshine as I come out of Tullamarine airport is both warm and welcoming. The first thing that hits me as I stroll around the city is how clean it is. Credit must go to the Melbourne city council for their Spring Clean initiative. The courteousness and hospitality of Melbournians is enough catalyst for one to feel at home in the island down under. Right from 1835 when Melbourne was founded, it has never seized to be historic. The various antique buildings which have stood the tests of times like Parliament house, Old Melbourne Goal, Victoria barracks, Treasury reserve have survived since the Victorian Gold Rush is a relish to the eyes. A truly metropolitan city with a cosmopolitan touch....

– Life is not forever but love is.   Marriage is by definition a celebration of love. It is an acknowledgement of the love that the two joining souls authenticate. But unfortunately in India we still follow the ridiculous norm of arranged marriage which gives a false sense of safety and security in the matrimony. It is just a subliminal ego boost to the parents who can turn the illusion of control they have on their children into reality. The procedure involved in arranged marriage is equally tedious and bafflingly biased for no particular reason. The bride’s parents starts to find the perfect match from the day their daughter is born. Finding a suitor who is supposedly a perfect match for your child after carefully scrutinizing their entire pedigree from wealth to health, from social status to genetic background, from their doctor to their tailor. Saving up penny after penny so as to fulfill the hideous greed of the vultures. The groom’s parents on the other hand strive...

I don’t know when I fell in love with bikes. I remember the adrenaline rush I used to have each time I saw an episode of Street Hawk. I used to collect information about them and then irritate, especially my uncle with pretty useless trivia. Barraging him with my did you knows like Hayabusa means falcon, Kawasaki also makes spaceships, Ducati made radios and Yamaha builds swimming pools and unmanned helicopters. It’s been three years since I bought him, my one and only bike. Black Hero Honda Splendor + with blue and grey streaks. My journey on my iron stallion has just been that, a royal splendor. No electric start, no disc brakes, no alloy wheels, no fifth gear but I love him just the same. His beauty lies in his simplicity. There is a special and sacred bond that I share with him. He was the first gift from me to me. I remember the first day I rode him from the dealer to the temple very vividly. I must confess that I was a very shaky driver then. It took me no less than thirty...

There is a deadly disease which is threatening our country. A vicious virus slowly eating us from inside. Corruption. No one is immune from its far reaching rabid hands. Few are ignorant while many don’t even know that they are the hapless victims of this monster. There are countless instances where the hard earned lifelong savings of poor and illiterates are swallowed by the merciless blood suckers at each and every step. The sad part is that the victims because of lack of basic education are so naïve that they don’t realize that they are being cheated. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. One example of that is Nagarajiah. In my village, Anagadanahalli on the outskirts of Bangalore there was an old illiterate man, who not knowing any better had signed the deed for his land to a landlord thinking that it was a written request by the villagers to the government for water supply. He lost his ancestral property and his only source of liveli...

     I do, always, what I must do, because I cannot undo it. This is the harsh truth of reality. I hunt humans and thrive on their blood. I send a shudder to many souls. I don't want to be the monster that I am. Especially in the current situation considering the subject of my love.      I saw him for the first time when he came to the market going from fruit to fruit smelling some and taking a bite here and there. He looked so calm, elegant and above all harmless. He saw me   and gave me a childlike smile. I was head over heels in love with him. A social outcast like me, a bloodsucker was in love with this soft and caring angel. That's when I decided that its time for change. I will never hunt for blood again. I know its going to be tough to face my kind, I might be ousted from my community but its going to be infinite times difficult to control the carnal perpetual thirst that I have for the warm crimson viscous liquid. But I have to make my ...