Monday, November 27, 2006

I ask, you write 12

Thank you for all your wonderful stories. On to the next question.

She turned on the tv and screamed. What did Charu see that prompted such a reaction?

Please keep your stories short and post them in the comment box. I'm off to India and updates on this blog may be sporadic. But I look forward to reading all your stories. Thank you.

11 comments:

noon said...

Mohan had told her not to wear Indian outfits when she took her afternoon walk to the supermarket near their town home. “There are very few immigrants in this area, so until we move just try to blend in, Charu. Wear jeans and none of those ornaments or bindhi” he had told her the first day he left for work leaving her alone in her new surroundings. A bold red bindhi on her forehead, kumkum on the parting of her hair, long braid dancing along with the pallu of her saree, bright yellow mangalsutra, dazzling diamond ear rings, she spelt newly wed even from a distance. She had fallen in love with her husband and loved to think of him during her afternoon walk, admiring the snow covered mountains she could see in the distance.
He was a tall white man who looked like a decent person but had sprung out of nowhere. She didn’t know when he started walking close to her. He offered to help her carry the milk cartons she was lugging back home. She refused politely but he had insisted. As they walked the two blocks to her home, the silence had been unnerving. She thought of running but she knew it would be pointless considering the snow mounds everywhere and the heavy jacket and saree she was in. “I have to go to the front office to get something. Thank you for helping” she lied to him, grabbed the bags and hurried to the front office in her housing complex. She had recited slokas all along her walk back and thanked god a million times for getting her home safely. She called Mohan from the pay phone and told him to hurry home that evening. She was dying of thirst and felt weak and hungry after she hung up the phone. “I am probably being overly paranoid” she told herself. “Wonder if I locked the yard door when I left” she thought to herself fearfully as she walked towards her home. She unlocked the front door, entered her home and bolted the door. She felt the loud silence and wished Mohan had been home already. He had asked her to wait for a couple of hours in the front office until he got home. "Don't go home if you are nervous. I told you not to look so conspicuous! I will try to get home early ok. Don't panic" he had told her sweetly as she melted all over again thinking of her lovely husband. The office was about to close for the holiday weekend and she had felt uncomfortable to linger around for no reason. She missed home. She had never ever walked into an empty home before this she realized. Her mother and patti were always home when she got back from college. Suddenly the excitement of the new life and the beauty of the snow morphed into a feeling of loneliness and isolation.
Exhausted she sat on the couch and put her head back and controlled her tears. She reached for the remote control and turned on the TV. “America’s most wanted” was playing at that moment. The talk show host showed a picture of the man as drawn by the sketch artist. It looked just like him. She screamed in utter fear and instinctively ran to the door by the staircase. Just that instant she saw the latch move to the right. She screamed even louder and headed for the kitchen to escape through the garage door. Mohan walked in to see her ashen face. “I cannot live here anymore” she sobbed into her shaking hands.

Unknown said...

The phone was ringing non-stop. Charu washed the suds off her hands, dried her hands on her pallu and hurried to pick the call up. ‘Coming, coming!’ she yelled. As she suspected it was her husband. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked ‘Quick, switch on the TV. We are winning the match. Don’t miss the winning shots. We need only 6 runs in 12 balls. Charu quickly put the receiver down and switched the TV on. She surfed the channels till she got DD National… Yes, Kumble seemed to be the hero of the hour. Yes! Yes! Yes! We are going to…she thought as a tsunami of patriotic feeling swept over her… Then her mouth fell open… As usual, DD National had stopped the relay… with the message ‘The match can be viewed in DD Sports!’ A blood-curling scream poured forth from Charu.

Anonymous said...

She turned on the tv and screamed. What did Charu see that prompted such a reaction?

She saw the gorgeous Arjun Rampal flashing his thousand watt smile.

Oh wait, that's why I scream! hehehe

Mahadevan said...

When Charu turned on the TV, she saw Kumble and Agarkar batting and the score reading 98 for 7. Rascals ! Even against Bangladesh they cannot bat, Charu, the Indian Women's cricket team captain, screamed.

Anonymous said...

Charu was keenly watching the afternoon cookshow program in NDTV, when her attention was drawn to the ticker tape that was at the bottom of the screen.Among news relating to corruption,murder,rape,wildlife killing and appeasing gods like Mars by some obscure cine stars was one of another MIG 21 aircraft crashing. As the ticker tape read MIG 21 crashes near Jaipur, pilot dead. Flt Lt ......, by the time the name could be flashed the commercial break started and Tantex banian and jatti advertisement was telecast with pot bellied heros dancing around some ladies. Charu was anxious and worried as her fiancee Was posted in the western front and was a dashing ace in the Indian Air Force. Those two minutes of commercial break seemed like hours and as she tried calling her fiancee's number , the recorded voice said "User out of coverage area" As the advertisement featuring some woman who was bearly dressed promoting another brand of Gutkha fininshed Charu was already sweating. As the channel resumed its ticker tape news right from the start Charu waited and prayed that the name of the pilot should not be Flt Lt Rupak. As the news about the crash flashed this time with the name of the pilot. The name of the pilot was Flt Lt Rupak. Charu screamed ................

Wyvern said...

This is very simple. She either saw tamil actors Captian vijayakanth's face or T.Rajender's face in close up and I never say jay's post before typing my comment. If I'm lieing I'm dying

The Kid said...

She turned on the tv and screamed.

There were words being displayed on the screen. Sdunely eeyrhtnihg on sreecn semeed to be jmubeld but she cluod raed it, pefrtecly. It did not look like Egnilsh but hlel it was. Waht was hppaeinng!!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Nothings aplenty said...

It was the day after one that would be remembered for a long time by everyone, particularly anyone who had been invited to the wedding the Unconquerable with the Princess. Everyone was tired. How many people got stuck the previous day in the middle of nowhere no one can tell. But, everyone had stories. "Some places did not even have power, you know."
Charu took her time getting out of bed that day. She had decided she didn't want to be pounced upon with stories just yet . At ten minutes to ten in the morning, her mobile phone started ringing. without even looking at it she knew it was her closest friend. She didn't pick up the call. "Megha will understand," she thought. But the phone kept ringing till she finally had to answer it.
Megha: Switch on the Bleddy TV!!!! Switch it on right NOW!!
Charu: Megha, stop with the shouting! You KNOW i hate that!
Megha: Shut up and just switch on the TV. NDTV. NOW!!
Charu: Alright alright. Am doing that.
Charu by now had moved groggily toward the TV and switched it on. NDTV news channel. "Oh wow," she spoke into her phone, "they are covering yesterday. How absolutely shocking."
Megha: Save your sarcasm. Just keep watching you stupid cow.
And suddenly Charu screamed. There she was, peering out of the van, looking stupidly at where the tyres should have been, but where you could only see water as the result of incessant rains for three days.

Shammi said...

Surabhi was Charu’s best friend – a seriously talented documentary-maker, writer, singer… you name it, Surabhi could do it. And did it - usually in addition to the half-dozen projects or so that she had going all at once. Consequently she was the busiest person Charu knew. Charu loved all of Surabhi’s creative writing and kept telling her to get it published… but it always got set aside in favour of something that Surabhi found more exciting, creatively speaking.

This time, though, Charu had decided to take action herself. She sent off submissions in various categories to a nation-wide competition for unpublished and first-time authors, certain that Surabhi would win in at least ONE category. It would be a nice surprise for her friend. She didn’t tell anyone about it, and keeping that secret was probably the most heroically difficult task Charu had ever undertaken.

The weeks passed and the deadline for the competition came and went. Soon the winner would be announced. On The Day, Charu switched on the TV, watched with bated breath and mounting impatience… then she gave a scream of joy! Surabhi’s short story had not only won the “Best short story” award but she had also been selected as “Most Promising New Author”.

Charu grabbed the phone and speed-dialled Surabhi’s number. She had the best news possible for her friend…

rt r said...

Her friend called her up to say she was on TV.

They were showing the protest she had participated in over the weekend.

Quick, switch on the TV, they are showing a close up of you.

She rushed to the living room, hoping that the green salwar she wore that day was not too crumpled, and that her hair was not too out of place.

She turned on the TV, and screamed.

There she was, yelling for increase in teacher's wages.

Till that moment, she never realized how much she looked like her mother when she was angry.

Anonymous said...

on the lurid blue of the dead tv, a lizard. a fly.

lizard eats fly. tv comes alive.

charu waits.