N Nivedita -- Freelance Journalist

Middle class poet

I am the middle class poet whose life revolves around recycling used bottles and plastic covers Hope means to me the servant’s presence. Depression and suffering is her absence. It matters to me it Congress or Telugu Desam rules For the power cuts are frequent under Congress’ rule. I write while the rice settles [...]

Holi War

Pichkari in the young ones’ (between 8 to 12 years old) hands Colors in the elder ones (13 to 15 years old) hands. And gulal in the older ones, We, the residents of Mount Santoshi marched with gulal-smeared faces and water balloons/pichkaris in our hands. All of us looking alike but in different [...]

Forget Hollywood – Play by Sifar

Forget Hollywood! Two actors. One stage. And very good performances. Although there was an initial hiccup of the light system but the audience waited. a) Because we all paid 100 rupees b) Because Sifar has always given memorable performances Last time, God had been unkind to them by showering rain in their previous play “The [...]

Absolute Khushwant is an Absolute Delhigt

Absolute Khushwant is an Absolute Delhigt (read Delight) Memoirs and opinions from the 1940s to the partition to his journalistic voyage and to his many confessions. This is not a book of sermons. Nor is it a book of his many whims and fantasies. It is a celebration of his passions; [...]

Lost pages

Sharpening my Nataraj 2B pencil, I write a letter today! The pencil is darker than my memories. I place the pencil on the paper but Memories refuse to flow. I remember this was the Nataraj pencil I often drew my many friend’s faces. I made caricature a and I stuck the pictures on my wall. [...]

Red Leaf Poetry evening

Date: Saturday, March 9, 2013 Venue: Landmark Bookstore, Somajiguda, Hyderabad Time: 5 pm to 7 pm. The meeting started at 5 30 pm. The half hour delay was because of waiting for the guests. After few guests gathered, we started the meet. Eventually, more people joined. It started with Subhorup Dasgupta’s introduction about the meet [...]

Of bruised knees and swollen fingers

Her fingers were swollen and her back was bruised. Wearing her shirt over the marks on her back, and sliding the tunic slowly with her swollen fingers, she wore a smile on her face. What a sunny morning! She wore a sweater to cover her bruises. The other girls in the bus teased for her [...]

Crumbled smile

Those many smiles Your full page smile where all your emotions are written in a cursive writing; Neatly, beautifully and without hiding; Your smile like a metaphor.. yes! that quick one That I often fail to crack; like a Sudoku puzzle without numbers and a metaphor which has no right answers the half-smile [...]

Something inside me has died today

Something inside of me has died today. Had it died years ago and I refused to cremate it? Or was my insistence that the corpse remain inside me. Yes! it is time I cremate what’s dead inside me Before I do, a letter to you: Dear anonymous alter ego, Hope you reincarnate and be born [...]

Only if

25,000 cases accidents this year in the city. Read the Headlines of the most-selling newspaper. It would have been 24,999 Rama Rao cynically thought. But prayed for all those who suffered like him— who woke up every day to hear their beloved’s voice but couldn’t! To hear their daughter’s demands or their wife’s commands, a [...]