Mechilpuram

It’s raining cats and dogs in Bengaluru today. Having binged on a few “Appupan and the Boys” episodes and a bath later, I was ready to head to church, with the rains overshadowing a small fear on my plans.  No tip, no auto A tip and 3 minutes later, my auto anna whisked me off to St George Orthodox Church, Indranagar. Carefully made my steps up and down the stairs. A fear inside that I’m at risk of tripping with my formals Attending my first Pesaha in Bengaluru, it was satisfying to attend in unity with others at the church. Having a prayer book (in Manglish) did help my cause, or otherwise I would be standing mute The after qurbana ritual is to hail the nearest auto. It was still raining 5 minutes, 10 minutes later….. no. Church goers milling around me to grab dinner while I retreated to the church’s car park to book my auto Making the frankly courageous decision to walk all the way home was the last thing on my mind, but being new to church and having eyes cast on my hair do dete...

 16 March 2020. A date that will stay with me forever. A cold eerie dawn with an undertones of uncertainty. The day we made our way out of hostel, with the backdrop of the Covid Virus threat. Lockdown came a week later. It was like in the movies. Being smuggled out in the shadows of the dark. The narrative made it look like so (in a funny afterthought), but we had our flights in the morning Me and my friends were helped by the local driver, and got cooped up in a typical Omni van, on the way to Indore Airport. We were flying towards different directions. A fear within that I may never meet them again. Through the vast highway connecting Indore-Bhopal, our Rahul bhaiya sped on, the journey interspersed with some swathes of the Yellow/Orange streetlights that we are familiar with. Casting their long and eerie shadow on the deserted roads and lending an appearance that would add to my feelings of uncertainty. I could'nt fathom that we were travelling on a road that connected multiple ...

It's storytime... 4 pm rolled around today, and like most lazy Sundays with a Manchester United game ahead, I decided to order coffee and snacks from Swiggy Cafe 15 uneventful minutes later, a Swiggy partner glides by with my order and stops. Striding over, the partner handed me my order, mid-call and struck up a conversation with me, enquiring about my home state and language (juggling in both broken Kannada and Hindi can be tough with partners, leading to this interaction). Upon knowing that I hailed from Kerala, I saw a warm smile light up his face and he enthusiastically told me that he admired Dulquer Salman's movies. Hailing from Odisha himself, I guessed that he loved DQ's dubbed movies - which span across varied genres. What followed was a dazed walk back to my abode, with a smile on my face - as the partner glided away, now lost amongst the narrow lanes, on his way to don the role of a superhero, helping subside the tea-time and hunger pangs of fellow earthlings li...