Story‐ The Hibiscus Tree: “Have you ever dated, thammi*?” Sriya played with her cell phone as she waited for an answer.I smiled. My granddaughter often asked me questions that she never asked her parents. I was amused.

There was a dainty figure sitting on a bench. A girl bundled in a black shawl. And then a shadow emerged from the darkness. He stopped, as he spotted the girl. He approached her, hovered around her. 

Story - Beauty: Shreya wondered, ‘Are they talking about me?’ ‘But what is the use of inner beauty if the exterior is unattractive?’ Ravi asked. Her heart skipped a beat, and now she listened with the utmost alacrity.

Nisha, my friend, broke up with her boyfriend. She was devastated. While I tried to comfort her, I often wondered about the futility of love and relationships with the opposite sex.

Their walk was almost always on a circular route around their own white house. A house that waited for them always. Where those who had raised them, prayed for their safe return all the time, each day. But even before they could turn left, things took a grotesque turn.