PurplePitara

There she was, standing in front of the house most of which was now in ruins, admiring it and reminiscing the childhood spent there. It was her ancestral home. Miraculously, it stood exactly the way it was before the renovation. The wooden stairs, the jharokha in the makeshift porch on the upper floor, the cozy rooms, the narrow long kitchen on the ground floor and the whiff of nostalgia. Innumerable memories flashed through her mind. The days when her mom used to leave her under the care of grandparents when the nanny was on leave or a festival or maybe a simple occasion which was never less than a grand festival for the family and people there, the birthdays which began by a mandatory visit to the elders of the family in that house. Though it was not much, it was a home which beautifully connected the older and the new generation with love, warmth and laughter. She could visualise her grandfather with white fluff of hair, sitting in his chair and watching tv and discussing cricke...

It was dead of the night and there was an eerie silence around but the mighty predator was awake and alert. The lion pride had sensed the lone elephant passing by and the elephant too noticed the hungry lions. One of the lionesses got up and stood in front of the elephant as if challenging it to a fight. The pachyderm was trying to deal with the lioness by mock charging her and trumpeting. The lioness also stood her ground. The elephant was about to charge when two huge male lions, jumped on his back and started digging into its thick skin with their claws and canines. The tusker was shocked and before it could figure out how to deal with those lions, two more lionesses grabbed him from the hind and the lioness who was in the front went for the deathly grip of the jugular vein. Roars of the determined lions and trumpeting of the helpless elephant shook the very ground. Within a matter of minutes, the trumpeting died down, the elephant though not dead, had gone into comatose due to ...

2019 Ended on a perfect note, nippy days and a beautiful, heartwarming tale about a giant and his little friend Sophie by Roald Dahl. It wouldn’t be exaggerating if I’d say that I fell in love with this book. In the dead of the night, when BFG snatches away Sophie she is terrified, but soon she learns that he is a harmless, children loving, snozzcumber eating adorable giant, who is bullied and ridiculed by other giants in the giant country. So, what does this giant, who does not eat Human beans do when other giants are all busy gobbling either Turks who taste like Turkey or from Panama who tastes like hats or the English who taste wonderfully like crodscollop do? He drinks delicious bubbly Frobscottle tasting of vanilla and cream with just the faintest taste of raspberries on the edge of the flavour and then he Whizzpopps.  His favourite pastime is to catch dreams, bottle them, mix them into a wonderful and happy dream and blow them into the room of the childr...

35-year-old Reena was tossing and turning in her bed, staring at the fan, counting hours left for the alarm to start buzzing and she would have to be up and, in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. She was in the final trimester of her second pregnancy and the irritating Restless Leg Syndrome was keeping her awake. There was this nagging feeling as if something was creeping up and down her legs and as if her legs had a mind of their own and very adamantly refused to settle down. She tried everything, the leg gel, oil massage, evening walks, low salt diet, dipping her legs in the saltwater bucket but in vain. And there were other discomforts of pregnancy. All she wanted was a long, undisturbed sleep that seemed to have eluded her. Sometimes she even used to weep in frustration, but daytime always brought cheer to her in the form of her daughter, Arya. She was an amazing bundle of energy, a chatterbox with the sweetest voice and most delightful expressions. Days passed and...

And I fell in love, Today again I fell in love, with the sweet scent of cardamom when I crushed it for my tea. And again I will fall in love with the aroma of spices when I temper my lentils. And dear vegetable, I am not even talking about you, is that the whiff of garam masala that is tempting me so. That divine smell of freshly chopped coriander makes my senses go insane! Oh, my inner foodie, will you just give it a rest! Is that the bubbling brown cheese atop the the creamiest baked dish, accompanied by a glass of wine, Or is it the subtly flavoured hummus with the perfect crisp pita, It must be that tangy, spicy, bursting with flavours  Chinese dish loaded with oodles of noodles, that is whispering my name come hither, come hither! Dear precious chaats, you play a perfect conspiracy along with rains and fritters, why don't you let me be with my greens, though they are bitter. How can I leave you out, The perfect charcoaled tandoor, be it paneer or c...

I do not remember when I first saw you, Or felt you, Neither do I have a memory of your first look, But all that I knew was The love was true and it continues to be so. Maybe you were like a colorful rainbow with pots of gold at the end, Or like a majestic mighty animal, With tails and claws or even horned. You taught me the first words and rhymes, told tales with witches and fairies And some fables with beauties and beasts. Some forgotten and some I pass to my children. You grew and matured, as did I You told me stories from around the world, Even facts and gigs. The colorful panels, the short red-turbaned people, People from another planet still remain in my heart. You showed me how a gang of kids solved a mystery keen And how a naughty doll always landed in trouble. You gave me a group of cool teenagers hanging in a choklit shop, And made me fall in love with their friendship. You told me stories of love and happy endings ...

It was the year of 1970. Amar and Rehaan were playing outside in the snow-clad valleys of Kashmir surrounded by the mesmerizing reddish maple, the walnut, and the apple trees. Amar’s mummy just called him in for supper and Rehaan also joined him. He loved the vegetarian delicacies prepared by Amar’s mom. The two boys were simply inseparable. From dawn to dusk neither could be seen without the other. Just as much Rehaan was adored by Amar’s parents, Amar too was loved by Rehaan’s parents. Amar was an academically outstanding student and often used to help Rehaan with his studies. Rehaan, on the other hand, used to enjoy watching movies and often used to indulge in mischievous activities with other kids. But that was innocent childhood, and Rehaan’s behavior was overlooked because, he was the only male child of his parents, a brother to three sisters, and was pampered a lot. Whereas Amar was taught to differentiate right from wrong at a very tender age and despite being the onl...