Mistress Of The Night..

She lies cocooned in my embrace, her body aglow and flushed after our lovemaking, her hair a wonderful tangle of messy curls caressing her cheek. Her face dazzles with happiness and my heart is filled with love, overwhelming and overpowering in its intensity. The world and its problems seem a distant memory while I gaze for countless moments at her beautiful face, so peaceful in sleep and then get up to leave.

 As I drive through the silent night back to my wife, I pat the divorce papers that sit heavy in my pocket knowing in my heart that today I must end this farce for both our sakes. But as Sudha opens the door my courage fails me while my heart quietly whispers, ‘Tomorrow, I shall tell her tomorrow...’

Written as part of the Five Sentence Fiction prompt.

Word Prompt: Dazzles

Desired..

 His muscles rippled in the sunlight, beads of sweat softly dripping down his dark skin as he swung the axe again and again and splintered the logs into pieces. Sudha stood on the terrace, her white saree draped around her body like a talisman of purity while she suffocated within its confines, looking on entranced at the sculpted muscles that swelled with exertion and shone dark in the light.  There was something innately sensual about the man and desire, warm and molten, coursed through her veins. Was this how it was supposed to feel? She had heard the women talk in whispers about it, their excited tones filling her with curiosity as she stood outside the kitchen doors listening to their tales. She had never known desire with him, never known the pleasure that a man could incite in her bosom. The lonely nights came back flooding to her mind- the smell of his old wrinkled skin, his desire for her young flesh, the forced nightly rituals that had disgusted her and Sudha closed her eyes against the wave of despair. His death had released her from the pain, from the dark tunnels that had encased her youth and filled it with sorrow. And yet she now yearned for it, yearned to feel the pleasures that unfold between a man and a woman beneath the night skies.

Nauhid felt the eyes of the mistress on his back and smiled to himself. He had seen the longing in her eyes, her enchanting beauty surrounded by an air of melancholy never failing to leave a permanent gut wrenching ache in his loins. He gathered the logs, piled them together beside the kitchen and looked up at Sudha. Of late she had withdrawn her gaze but today she met his stare, the desire written clear on her pale face. And as the moments passed, their gazes turned heated, lust filling their bodies with its might, driving sanity and thought away as all barriers came crashing down.

That night Sudha discovered the joys of womanhood, revelling in this new found ecstasy, drowning in waves of pleasure as Nauhid took her to heights hitherto unknown to her. That very night, Nauhid left her sleeping beneath the deep blue skies, his bag laden with the jewels of the mistress of the villa.

Book Review: Sidney Sheldon's After The Darkness

Sidney Sheldon’s After The Darkness by Tilly Bagshawe is an out an out Sidney thriller with all the ingredients that made Sidney a master story-teller. A young and beautiful protagonist, glamour, suspense, passion and unpredictable twists- Bagshawe’s After The Darkness has it all.

The lines on the cover of the book- What happens when a woman who has everything loses it all? And when a woman who has nothing realises she has nothing to lose? - instantaneously grips your attention and (unsurprisingly) lives upto the promise of thrill pledged by Sidney’s books.

The story begins at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building in New York where one of the most sensational cases of the decade is to unfold. Hordes of people have gathered to witness the trial of Grace Brookenstein, wife of billionaire Lenny Brookenstein, the mastermind behind the Quorum fraud that had robbed millions of their shelter. With her husband dead, Grace Brookenstein must now face reality. Was it possible that Lenny, the one she had so blindly idolised and loved, had cheated millions out of their money or was he the unfortunate victim of a web of vicious lies that included all whom she had ever trusted and loved? Grace must risk it all in an attempt to uncover the truth and change from a trusting innocent victim to a ruthless cold hunter.

As the plot unveils, Grace finds herself the scapegoat of a planned deceit that threatens all she had ever known and believed. Lenny’s tragic death in a sailing accident, the strange disappearance of 75 billion dollars of the Quorum Hedge Fund money, the unexpected turn of events wherein Grace wounds up in Bedford Hills prison and from where she eventually escapes in the back of a delivery truck build up the initial scenario which turns innocent fragile Grace, the woman who has it all, to a hard cold huntsman desperate to find the truth. Therein begins a thrilling race as NYPD detective Mitch Connors embarks on one of the most high-profile investigations of his career, to capture the elusive Grace Brookenstein.

Like Sidney Tilly Bagshawe too delves deep into the minds of her characters and weaves a thrilling plot. Be it John Merrivale who would put everything at stake for friendship or Andrew Preston, trapped in his love for extravagant wife Maria- Tilly Bagshawe explores the lives of all her characters with intricate precision. Grace’s sisters Connie and Honor Knowles, fighting their very own demons while the complicacies of their marriage unfold as you dig deeper into the book help knit a plot so twisted and unpredictable that you cannot keep the pages turning fast enough. High on suspense and excitement, the novel is one exhilarating journey of one unexpected revelation after another.

For all Sidney fans out there, Tilly Bagshawe continues the master story-teller’s grand tradition by promising a book that gives you back ten times it’s worth in price. A must read if you can’t get enough of Sheldon.

Publishers: Harper Collins
Price: Rs.250

Verdict: Go grab a copy right now!!

Rating: 4.3/5

Nosy Neighbours..

There lay the sundae, looking all glorious and yummy with the chocolate coating melting slowly down its sides, inviting me to reach out for it when alarms went off in my head. I opened one eye and groped around blindly for the annoying source of racket that had so unceremoniously deprived me of my mouth-watering sundae early in the morning. It was 6 am and I screwed up my face as I got up to perform the holy ritual of first light. (And no, it definitely doesn't include sprawling myself on the ground and offering prayers to the sacred deities.) With my hair sticking out in all directions (that includes North, South, East, West, North-West, etc.) I dragged my sleep deprived body towards the wide brown windows and pulled down the curtains one by one. Yes, for my apartment seems to hold some mysterious appeal (about which I have no idea myself) for the neighbours who live around my colony.

Like the lady-who-loves-peeking-from-behind-curtains. She lives on the first floor and has taken it upon herself to observe our daily activities from behind those sacred curtains that hide everything but her crooked little nose and measly left eye (Do not ask me if her right eye is measly too). And ofcourse I have taken it upon myself to deprive her of every juicy little detail that she hopes to find in my apartment. So everyday the battle commences early in the morning at 6 am wherein she wakes up and peeks (and I furiously make sure that the curtains are closed), she cooks and then peeks (And I desperately draw the curtains again), she washes her clothes, slings them up for drying and peeks (you get it by now) and peeks yet and yet again (yeah, drawing curtains can be tiring too).

Or the fat-young-woman who lives on the second floor and sits in the veranda and stares philosophically at our tiny bedroom all day. I can assure you there is absolutely nothing philosophical about our bedroom in the first place and I have come up with the theory that she is trying to find the solution to her ‘fat’ little problems in our ‘tiny’ apartment.

But the most interesting of all is the middle aged man who has made it his daily ritual to sit with his cup of tea in the balcony exactly opposite ours and peek relentlessly into our lives throughout the evening.  Two young women living right opposite his apartment may hold great interest to him, but if he is reading this (which is certainly highly unlikely) I would like to let him know that a middle aged man sitting with his ugly chest bared and staring at us all evening definitely holds no appeal to us.

The funniest thing is we have been living here for over a year now and despite their insane curiosity, these people have hardly ever made the effort to forward some kind of friendly gesture (a smile or a nod of acknowledgement across the street maybe?) towards us.  These people have compelled us to keep our windows shut (that too in this scorching summer, guess they expect us to die of suffocation) and their disapproving gossips about the lifestyle we lead is no secret in the colony. Two young women (sisters that too) living away from home, leading independent lives in the city and forging their own rules must be a great issue of concern indeed (right lady-who-loves-peeking-from-behind-curtains? ).

Reality and truth changes as we grow up. As a child they all said love thy neighbour. What do I say after all these years? Absolutely not.

The Liebster Award..(Yay!!)

 So all I have been looking at for the past couple of months are highly complex definitions and formulae, theory that makes you go crazy in the head and notes that seem to magically induce sleep no matter the time of day. When your brain is almost entirely jammed with conjectures that refuse to make themselves available when they are needed most, you lose your capacity to think straight and go slightly (okay not slightly) bonkers. You drink tea like your life depended on it while all your organs stop cooperating with the sudden body clock you enforce on your system.

In this crazy state (looking like a harridan and desperately needing a good night’s sleep) I decided to check out my blog that I had neglected so viciously, thanks to the exams. I was somewhere in between the about-to-doze-off state and the need-to-be-alert imposition when I was jolted awake from my zombie like stance on seeing so many comments awaiting moderation on my blog. I did a mental jig and an absolutely fantastic somersault in my head (which let me tell you, is entirely impossible for me to imitate in real life). You see, comments are what we bloggers thrive on and for the life of me I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen so many comments awaiting moderation on my blog (actually I have never seen so many awaiting moderation to be honest).

But my blog had even more surprises stashed like a kid’s stocking in Christmas. I had been nominated for The Liebster Award by my fellow blogger Sahiti Janaswamy and my elation knew no bounds as it shot through the roof and burst into imaginary fireworks above my head!! Thank you so much Sahiti for the surprise; I was literally making faces at my pessimistic other half saying,” Oh yeah you gloomy little pig!! My blog ain’t as unpopular as you make it out to be.” You may check out her amazing works at Sahiti- Euphorian Dreams 

Being nominated for The Liebster entails the blogger to fulfil certain official rules, which I have listed below for the convenience of the upcoming five nominees.

The Liebster Award Official Rules!!

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)

3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

And now, here goes my rapid fire!!

1.                Favourite book?

          Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

2.              Are you a morning or an evening person?

          Definitely an evening person!!

3.             The best gift you received so far?

          Harry potter and The Deathly Hallows on my 16^th birthday, gifted by my father

4.             Your pastime other than blogging?

         Reading novels, listening to music and (like a true Bong) adda!!

5.             Your favourite colour?

         Black

6.             How do you control your anger?

         By plotting vengeance in silence that actually never finds its way to reality

7.             The happiest day of your life so far?

         Yet to come...

8.              Your motto for life?

          Make the best of what you have and live in the moment...

9.             Lines which you can never get off your head?

         It is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. :)

10.          Your biggest strength?

          Confidence, determination and communication...

11.          One word which defines you?

          Wacko!!

11 random facts about myself

1.             Sleeping is my solution to all problems in life. (wink!!)

2.             I’m daddy’s spoilt brat!!

3.             I’m addicted to Coke!!

4.             I’m a Potter maniac and will always be one.

5.             I love reading novels and have to thank my mom for it. Without her I would have never discovered the joy that can be found in worlds that are magical and beyond your reach.

6.             I cannot live without my laptop and the net. 

7.             I desperately wish to gain weight!! :]

8.             I would love to go bungee jumping just once in my life!!

9.             I’m a huge fan of animated movies (and no, that doesn’t make me childish). 

10.          I have a huge crush on Channing Tatum!!

And here goes my questions!!

1.             What is your hobby?

2.             Who is your favourite childhood hero?

3.             What is the best quote you have read till date?

4.             What is your weakness?

5.             Which place do you wish to visit atleast once in your life?

6.             Favourite pet?

7.             What is your favourite genre of fiction?

8.             Would you describe yourself as romantic?

9.             Childhood crush?

10.          What makes you unique and special? ( because we all are...)

Ofcourse, now it’s my turn to nominate five bloggers. I have been rummaging through innumerable blogs for the last few days and I believe these bloggers deserve to be nominated.

Saru Singhal- Words 

Cifar Shayar - lamhat(moments)

Preeti – BloggerWlogger!! 

Vinay Nagaraju - Inspire99

Tushar - tushardutta’s Blog

Congratulations to all!! And no matter what, do keep blogging!! 

Torrents of Joy!!

As the winds howl with unworldly roars

And the clouds darken with might

You unchain the shackles of long closed doors

And unleash torrents this wondrous night

The pools ripple with unbridled joy

The walls drench to your touch

As lovers welcome heaven’s envoy

And pleasures yet in their clutch

Lips soaked in your sweet nectar

Words rush to the soul

So long denied such worldly wonder

And delights but untold...

Peace enfolds my parched heart

Cold soothes bruises scorched

You shower such bliss and joyous darts

And decry faith reproached

For solace can yet be found in darkness

And comfort in dreaded cold

Just stretch your hands in holy unconsciousness

And embrace joy tenfold..

Betrayed..

The darkness weighs heavy in my heart

A thousand knives pierce its soul

Blinded by promises that overwhelm the mind

Shrouded by folly and foul.

Yet hope flutters her sprightly wings

Doubt etches rays of trust

Caught in this ever frightening whirlpool

That threatens but all to dust.

Let the pain burn ever more brighter

Until this heart is but left stoned

Waves crashing on its cold surface

May perish decried and condoned.

Still hope flutters her sprightly wings

Igniting flames of love

As tears drip down unwary cheeks

And the heavens break above.

 (This is my first attempt at writing a poem!! Eagerly looking forward to your responses!! :D)