Let no one cover my grave except with greenery,
For this very grass suffices as a tomb cover for the poor.
- Fakeera Jahanara Begum
                                                                 ***************
                                                                         - 
Jahanara entered her father's prison, carefully locking the door behind her. Now bare of all its adorning opulence, she...

Let no one cover my grave except with greenery,
For this very grass suffices as a tomb cover for the poor.
- Fakeera Jahanara Begum
                                                                 ***************
                                                                         - 
Jahanara entered her father's prison, carefully locking the door behind her. The flower designs on the bare walls seemed...

When we return home, 
we still try on our toddler 
t-shirts. We grow down
into them, and disappear.

I keep telling you to throw
away those toddler
t-shirts when we finally
get back
and have to be gone.



When you throw them away,
I say, take those
building blocks and railway
tracks out too.

Take the dolls
of the boy who will never
rescue them with his soldiers
and helicopters. The half=filled 
coloring books mauled 
by crayons. Stuff them
all in...

And the fundamental question is:

I know that I hurt you, but can I be forgiven?

Sanju leaned out of the window and retched, before dissolving into another coughing fit. 
"Ladke*, you have it," the driver finally slammed on the breaks. "Get out before you infect the rest of us."
Ahmed helped Sanju climb down onto some half-paved road between their village and the city that had taken away their youth.

Sanju groaned as the truck pulled away. “That was the last ride! You should have just left me behind.”
Ahmed managed a smile between desperately...

"Why do you keep stumbling?" he asked me, his calm tone finally giving away to frustration.

I laughed, and sprawled myself supine on the sidewalk. Blood spurted carelessly down my knees and all around my body. Some sort of snow angel. 

.................................................................................................


I take my time, watching a frown slowly inch its way across his face. His hand is extended stiffly between us. Maybe to help me up, maybe to keep me down.....

"I like the view from down here."