Needs Analysis

I recall living in a house with a sloping roof. Getting it cleaned was difficult. It turned out that a Dutch architect had designed the homes and provided for the melting of snow. Snow is unheard of on the Indian plains. What we need here is more housing to accommodate the burgeoning population, and they … Continue reading Needs Analysis

Subterranea

Consciousness is awareness; it is also playing by the rules, projecting an acceptable version of yourself and burying everything else underneath. It leads to sophistication, and after a while, we dare not acknowledge our instincts. They are called base instincts because we are expected to rise above those. Humans have to differentiate themselves from animals. … Continue reading Subterranea

Ubi Sunt

Where are the worlds I was destined to lead?unmanned spaceships hijacked in orbit—rendered still by civilizations unseen,those who choose silence to remain free. Basements are mute, the sky above scornsforgotten futures abandoned by life.How old would that aborted child have been—a foetus dissolved, yet aching to be? Where are the artists who birthed the impossible?Heckled … Continue reading Ubi Sunt

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #395

Welcome back! Today, I used AI to generate a prompt with specific inputs, and it turned out to be interesting. I'm sharing it with you without any changes. PROMPT #395 The Archive of Forgotten Futures Imagine a hidden archive tucked beneath a crumbling library, filled with letters, sketches, and diary entries from futures that never … Continue reading Reena’s Xploration Challenge #395

The Whistleblower

What was the whistleblower thinking when he typed the incendiary email? What kind of superpower did he assume he would be blessed with? The bloke was not aware that money will continue to exchange hands till every protesting voice was silenced; everybody has a price; one should know how to assess and pay it. When … Continue reading The Whistleblower

Choked

The bright yellow graphics painted on the door do little to alleviate the overwhelming feeling of being dwarfed by the multitude of powers that have her back. She feels hemmed in with the pressure, though viewers look upon her quaintness with amusement. She is the woman who won over gold-plated hearts with the warmth and … Continue reading Choked

Wearing the Blues

she walks through lifecovering others with flexibilityof her extended limbs -omnipresent, omniscientyet invisible-a woman of no importancewho wears decisions taken by otherscarries the weight of repressed desireson her angular shoulders -cut her veinsthe blood is bluebut there is no crownon her pretty head W3 Prompt #173 OLN #390

Clocking through

I avoid the room where time has frozen, butneed to clean cobwebs and refresh outdated conceptsMy mother lay on this bed, aah-ing and ooh-ing with painI don’t like thinking that I may inherit osteoporosisand the intense body aches. I find a prescription for calcium in the drawer creaking with age. The loud music emanating from … Continue reading Clocking through

The Coup

The city’s traffic lights started blinking in Morse code, spelling out a warning almost no one could understand. All those who could were in gaol, because their forecasts did not match the rosy picture painted by those in power. The masses were swaying to the tune of the Pied Piper, oblivious to the fact that … Continue reading The Coup