One thousand pants

Written for Trifecta 82 

This week's challenge is 'club'. I couldn't link up in time ...connection woes..but I am posting anyway....

A light went on in the old shack. There was a moment of silence when she looked all around and contented that all their secrets were safe. Every copper piece and every plant, every book and rag were exactly in the same spot. Their shrine was undefiled.

In the corner there sat a huge green trunk, slightly rusty. There was a beautiful copper vase with cheap plastic flowers gathering dust, sitting on it. Almost like the door keeper of Tutankhamen. She lifted it gently, smiling to herself and opened the trunk. Inside were roughly folded and labeled pants in all colors. She sat herself by the trunk and waited for the others to arrive.

They started to trickle in. Some had in their possession the offering to the green trunk. They submitted it to her, their unassuming undemanding but awe inspiring leader. She folded it, labeled it and deposited it. Some had brought in some sweets which they shared. They all found their smile in the club. Some had news to share. Some brought new friends. The shack seemed to fit them all somehow.

When it was discovered that all of them had joined, she slowly stood up.

“Soon it will be time for us to focus on our own lives, families. We are nearing our target. We have to burn the trunk with a thousand pants and then start afresh.”

Tears rolled down some cheeks. They had all been treated like a piece of meat for the filthy pleasure of demented men. She had fused courage in them to wield the blade for a single cut to eradicate frenzied manhood.

 “Would one thousand be enough?” a trembling voice piped up.

“We cannot keep this up for ever. We cannot let this be our whole lives. We have to discover a new path.” She replied.

They pondered on it. She made sense like always. After all they were only children. Their parents had sold them off but they would take back their freedom.

Written for Trifecta 82 

A dreamy slow dance

Summer– Oh to wake up late, breathe in the chaste fragrance of ambition-less calm, drench in the hues of wild blossoms and trickling streams, slow dance under the endless twinkling canopy, in love. 

Written for Trifecta Writing Challenge - Trifextra Week 72.
This weekend's prompt is to describe summer in our own words. Thirty-three of them exactly, of course. 

My WeChat Pack

Flooded in by mundane tasks, cornered by snoopy desperate housewives, I would jump and snatch the opportunity to connect to those I love sharing everyday stories of life. My best friend Elizabeth is the first name I would add. She lives now in Ireland and whenever she calls we have so much news to exchange. Our brain waves are very much in the same frequency.  When we were roommates in Bangalore we had a lot of escapades, mostly from the nuns who wanted us to attend mass every morning at 6:00 am and switch off room lights at 8:30 pm!!  We hid behind doors, under beds. We played all sorts of card games till wee hours of the night. We discovered Bangalore devouring sweets and savoring KFC, drenched in rain. Some nights we woke up hearing terrible ghostly noises and sat trembling under our tables. It is quite tragic that you have to grow up and be married and live so far away from those who truly know you. Growing up years are painful yet full of hope and promise to glorious years. Elizabeth’s words touch that promise of glory still eluding me. She would make me see the audacity of my ambition and the insanity of my dream. But she would applaud me on. She is the one who knows what I am feeling in the deep parts of my soul because she feels the same exact way about everything.

 When all my best laid plans fall to smithereens I imagine I am talking to her about it and how she would make me laugh about it. It would be the perfect thing if I could do that in real instead of imagining. Elizabeth my best friend, with whom I have faced ghosts and nuns alike, I add thou to my WeChat pack.

Next pops up my office cube inhabitants. We were the noisiest cubicle. Mostly we discussed transgender issues, trying to spot the effeminate guys and those with different inclinations. We also dissected the project politics and the sadistic HR policies. It helped that none of us were in the same project team. We could offload all our project frustrations on each other without fearing that it could come back to us as a CRR (ranking) down grader. So those would be Vasundhara Ray and Vipin Jain. Vipin in the funniest guy I have met till date and Ray is my fashion police too.  Now I am a full time mom battling with two boys who want to live on Lays and Cola and I miss the cube a little. My critical issues and defects which need immediate fixes are homework and science projects.  To chat with Ray and Vipin while I go about warring would be a definite calming effect. My children would highly benefit that I take my focus off them and indulge in office gossip.

Cam Tucker from Modern Family is so full drama. He choreographs every little event into a larger than life scene. I love that. To enhance the little joys, to make life a little more filled with wonder, I want to talk to Cam and be swept away in his theatrics.

Then comes to mind the eidetic memory waala Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. I want to see  how much I can combat with him – words wise, knowledge wise. I love to analyze how different people think and react and he is so radically different from anyone I have seen.

The last person on my list is my favorite author Jane Austen. I believe she has influenced me right from my teens. The noble thoughts in her stories. The beautiful form of the words. Like a melodious song lifting up a simple life into a magical ethereal romantic existence. I wish I could be able to talk like her. To conceive a world in which there is so much so love and goodness to share. I could also take hints from her on writing.

So here is my WeChat pack. The pack will increase in size over the days but this is the start.

1.     Elizabeth
2.     Vasundhara Ray
3.     Vipin Jain
4.     Cam Tucker
5.     Sheldon Cooper
6.     Jane Austen

I can see myself connecting with Cam on recipes and family event plans. I see offloading the crabbiness of the day with Elizabeth. Dueling with Sheldon Cooper. Having masti mazaa with Vipin and Ray. And taking in a breath of noble romance from Jane Austen.

For more on WeChat visit WeChat YouTube channel .