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So much is said about the length of this book that nothing of value is said about what it contains. I found myself lost, unsure of why I was supposed to invest so much when all I received was melodrama. The back of the book promised a story about a mother arranging a marriage but also the story of modern India. What is this about I asked? Why this story? A friend encouraged me to keep reading.…

There are moments of brilliance where you understand why Ngaio Marsh used to rank up there with Agatha Christie. Unfortunately besides a few moments of literary brilliance, Marsh turns her mystery into a chore. Her description of dew on a car windscreen will probably be something I never forget, her characters are full of zest and jockey for space on the page. Yet somehow the whole is less than…

What if you spent hours on a dish that tasted really bad? It’s easy to understand why Asako Yuzuki’s novel has gotten so popular. She’s a deeply introspective author who has got a great ear for all those thoughts about food and the body, that we have all had but have never said out loud. Ever so often I found myself forced to put the book down and spend a little time thinking about what she’d…

The wind howls as it tears into my apartmentThe windows rattle and I hear the whistle of a tempestRanging, chilling the empty home like a nervous agony in your stomachI think back to the butterflies that swarmed up before the monsoon got hereHow they flew up in the hundreds and clumped in quiet restA fleeting embrace as they floated past, glancing off meThe empty cocoons they had left behind,…

At my door a stranger named Silence, In this city where so hard it is to conjure this solace, Cast a spell with a birdsong like any other – flawless So different from the world, lawless it was to make this allianceWith nothing to divine or define, these shadows of giantsFell silent with this sorcery of happy defiance

The plant my friend gave me died A pigeon coos outside my window Looking for it’s nest, that My landlord destroyed I can’t say why But I want to move away

A quick ragged breath Taking in the damp night air Into a warm, dry throat, A gasp in the night Breaking troubled sleep In the many pathways of the night But at least, it’s a sign of life

I put a thick blanket outIn the afternoon sunI didn't wash itI just wanted some sunshine to dream withWhen I pulled it close I smelt my cat, his thick furSmelt like the sun, more comfortable than any blanketNot a word I've written since he leftBut now

I turn the keys the wrong way Everything else follows The same direction I’m outside my home Waiting to check out What time is it again? Checkout time was hours ago I could really rest If I had some moonlight

I hear the crickets after the rains I wonder if that’s from my phone I hear the birds sing while waiting in traffic I wonder if I am dreaming of home I hear my mind speak agonies I wonder if it’ll end

This novel clings to me like a ghost, pulling me into a past I’ve never lived in but descended from. The story threatened to be the usual fare, some bored City dweller runs to the hills, running into the arms of some novel savage with a heart of gold in a cliché so played out that only smutty novels can still tell such a story without embarrassment. Our narrator Romi and his friend Billy are…

You asked me how I knew You asked me what I meant I don’t know any of it It was revealed to me in a vision A scene of you laughing and smiling That was all it took honestly I’m so grateful, even if you said no To feel love is a rare thing To have said that you felt like life embracing me I’m so happy I know you Even if you say no You set me free everytime you laughed with me

Like a dragon fly darting around a garden low over the weeds, high over the flowers My heart lunges from side to side searching in the damp and dreary These wings love gave me,  after it blinded me What do I do, if even you can’t see? You seem thinner, sicker and now your eyes sadder won’t you say that you need me?

You were cold water on a dry summers day You were purring contentedly on my lap Just a lifetime away, you were my cat Still in the afterlife, I find your fur on my clothes My eyes look for you in every shadow My eyes hear your cry in every whine I hear With every ache I remember you lying next to me With every soft touch of your paw you made it go away

I ran my hand through my hairWas there was something I forgot?I pulled out a strand of your hairAre you sorceress?For there was a spell If there was a part of you I could haveI knew I wanted all of youWith that stand of hairI looked at you anewFrom passerby to burning fire in my heartI steal every glance of you I can rememberHow did I have that part of you?Did you put it there? Did you put these…

A moony lament, coloured silver The arc of orbit keeps me on the margin, Your horizon I call home Barren white, pure and desolate No light or life to call my own A soulless husk only at home in the void I could slip back for any rock to take my place So often am I eclipsed, it’s unremarkable Look at me a little longer, it feels dreamy Only now and then am I fully realised, Sometimes I am an…

Two lovers cross a Skywalk, "go" she saysBut he doesn't, watching her climb downHe hides, wearing his helmet before he's even halfwayBack to his side, back to his ride homeBehind his glassy screen, whatever he feelsHidden as he goes from pedestrian to anonymousAnother dots on the highways Two lovers part on the SkywalkAnd for their momentThe traffic stands still, the noise and dust…