“I can’t bring myself to forgive….” Maria veers off mentally, fully knowing the barrage of words that would now be spewed out. She has heard it everyday for more than quarter of a century. She is kind of immune, but the idea of being stuck in a swamp stinks. “I guess one should stop scraping … Continue reading Afraid
“These are not weeds, but garlands woven by time on your existence." It is my tenth day in the seniors’ home. I’m doing a survey for my thesis on speed of social change. I gather distilled wisdom, but the context has changed. They are unable to build a relevance for themselves in new frameworks. I … Continue reading Mechanics
“Looks like the trees fell in yesterday’s storm…” “It is of lesser consequence than the decline in business. I keep cleaning the tables, but there are no customers.” “You never know. Maybe people came to enjoy the shade on sunny days….” “I’ve asked the municipal authorities to get the trees replanted somewhere else.” “Get them … Continue reading Leading nowhere
“What have you accomplished in isolation? You left behind a fast moving career and a fortune.” "I don’t think that world remembers me, or needs to know about me." “But why? I assure you there’s a lot of curiosity about your hermitage.” “Maybe you hope to sell more copies with this story. But the maze … Continue reading One-liner
"Where’s Grandpa in this pic?" "He’s buying tickets to a place where dreams were manufactured?" "What kind of dreams?" "Driving motorcycles on walls, hands-free swinging and doing a trampoline on nets.." "You had no gyms?" "We did not have the internet either…" "Then, who gave them ideas to do all this?" https://rochellewisoff.com/2021/06/09/11-june-2021/
“This is my car which was stolen, a couple of days ago…” “Why should it be up there?” “The criminals are threatening to blow it up, unless I pay them a certain amount.” “Have you informed the police?” “I don’t want to. I would like to ground my teenage son for some time. The friends … Continue reading Crimes
“Get me all reports on the espionage case.” I notice a change. There is caution in his usually stern, authoritative voice. “All fine, Sir?” “Get used to changes.” He points at the camera installed in his plush office, concealing the gesture. “Yes, Sir! You’ll have it in an hour.” I walk out with a new … Continue reading You’re being watched
She hailed America as a perfect capitalist society. There was a Russian backdrop for contrastive effect. I’m impressed by the way she described failing organisations decades ago. I see it happening around me all the time. Her concept of second-handers helped me make sense of irrationality around me. Did she foresee that no society is … Continue reading Cynical Atlas
“We don’t have your size, Sir!” The salesgirl gestured. “Okay,” the tourist smiled congenially, “Tell me your secret, how do you maintain such fab figures and skin textures?” “It is cultural - habits passed down for generations.” “We do have a cultural background as well - a very rich heritage.” "But you got busy imitating … Continue reading Selling skills
My five-year old cousin from the countryside visited Mumbai for the first time. He had never seen high-rise buildings and box-like apartments before. While he hankered to catch sight of an actor or celebrity somewhere, and loved the sea, he was not impressed by homes. ‘What’ll you do, if there are more guests? Where are … Continue reading Portable
