InklingsInsight

Ram Pratap Sharma woke up early in the morning, seeing a long day ahead. He got ready in his uniform to board a convoy jeep that would transfer him from Tawang to Tezpur. Early morning travel was a bliss for him, with pleasing weather and quiet roads. After all, the roads were covered with fog and chilling winds. The patriotic songs played in the background as Ram looked outside, resting on the window, feeling the serenity of the mountains. He was leaving for home after joining the armed forces for the holidays. His life changed completely. In that 12-15 hours journey, he lived several lives from being a son, to being an army officer, he felt gratitude, and his smile showed satisfaction. His mate. Dheeraj, in the driver's seat, noticed him and asked playfully, "Aur Ram, kaisa lagra hai? Pehli baar ghar jaare ho na yaha aane ke baad?" (So, Ram, how are you feeling? You are going home for the first time since you came here, right?) Coming out of his trance, Ram looked at hi...

Book Name: Mostly Mundane Author: Saugata Chakraborty Publisher: Red Grab Genre: Fiction Format: Paperback Print length: 78 pages  Rating: 3.5/5 Mostly Mundane by Saugata Chakraborty is a collection of short stories with few of them interconnected, though the protagonist of each story remains the same.   Blurb on Amazon Is your existence feeling a bit... predictable? Do the words ""chore list"" make you contemplate a permanent nap? If the thrill of alphabetizing your spice rack has worn off, you desperately need Mostly Mundane in your life. This isn't your standard how-to, find-your-purpose, or unlock-inner-peace self-help drivel. Prepare to have your mind delightfully scrambled by the sheer brilliance of the utterly ordinary. Mostly Mundane exposes the hidden hilarity waiting in the shadows of your routine. From the existential implications of facing a not so amused life skills teacher in a PTM to a weekend eating out going awry, this book turns the ever...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    "What is a peaceful moment?" Chaya asked. "Seeing a little baby growing each day not realizing how fast the time passes is a peaceful moment let leaves us thinking and wondering about each moment of the process of growth from a little kid to an adult until we become self-sufficient and lose our tenderness as a baby," Riya replied and did not realize they were sitting in their college auditorium and everybody else was listening to her along with Chaya until a loud applause broke the silence when the theatre team cheered for her analogy of a peaceful moment. "We got the perfect play script idea." Sumit, the director of the play, cheered. Everyone looked at Riya with love and congratulated her that her idea was chosen for the script of their annual cultural fest play. Riya was clueless about what happened and smiled forcefully so as to not hurt the feelings of her mates. Chaya ran to her, held both hands, and did a cir...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    "Ahhhh, isn't that beautiful how we grow up together and now we are partners?" Ahana said to Ravi looking at the night sky full of stars.  Ravi turned his face towards her and turned her face as they lay under the starry sky, rejuvenating their childhood, when they used to sleep on the terrace in their hometown when there used to be a power cut.  Back to ten years, when Ahana and Ravi were struggling to decide which stream to choose after completing secondary education. They did not know their childhood friendship was blossoming in love. It was challenging to keep them apart, and their parents were fine seeing them together. They had relief when their kids were around and together. Finally, it was time, when Ahana and Ravi decided to choose the Science stream with Mathematics as the main subject. They both were good at Maths and were confused if they should go in the same stream or choose a different one as Ravi was ...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    Nupur grew up in a joint family. She had everyone in her family, including her parents, siblings, cousins, uncle, aunt, and grandparents. But her mother was not her biological mother; she was her stepmother, Priya. Nupur loved everyone deeply in her family, but her siblings belonged to her stepmother. They did not like her. They would try every way to tease her, cause trouble for her, and make their father punish Nupur.  When Priya came to Nupur's house after marrying her father, she tried to never let Nupur feel left out, and showered all her love. But as her twins were born, things changed. Nupur's life became difficult. Even after her efforts to help Priya with taking care of her twin siblings, she was left out. Priya would often ask her to stay away from kids because she thought Nupur would hurt them. Once even when Nupur was sitting by their side, and protecting them from mosquitoes, Priya saw her and made her portra...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    Life came full circle when Karma showed Anita the consequences of the wrongs done to her.  Anita and Sakshi were childhood buddies, born and raised in the same neighborhood. Anita trusted Sakshi blindly and vice-versa. When they moved from their hometown to a different city for college, things changed unexpectedly. Sakshi made new friends and tried to show off every time she went with them to new places, cafes, shopping malls, etc. Though Anita tried to show her happiness seeing Sakshi enjoying it, Sakshi used to think Anita was jealous of her new friends. Many months passed of them being away from their hometown. What they thought of being a happy and independent place turned out to be a jail for Anita. She often found herself being dragged with Sakshi to fulfill what she wanted to do as per her convenience. Lost in her world, Sakshi did not see anyone else before her. She never realized what she was doing with Anita. An...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    Surrounded by people, still, she felt lonely at times. Surbhi was a happy-go-lucky girl from childhood and needed no one to pamper her because she knew how to find a way with life in her pattern. From growing up in a joint family to living alone in the city away from home, she realized she was enough for herself to cater to her dreams and visions as the driving force of the Universe would align the right people at the right time to help her grow and flourish. For her, gratitude was very important because no matter how much she would say that she was enough, she knew pretty well the important role her surroundings and people played in her career. But life happened, and there she was left all alone to embark on a solo journey to follow her calling and thrive through the difficult times, from seeing social media profiles of family, and friends and feeling irritated to finding solace in the lap of nature when she decided to start ...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    "Why is she behaving so weird?" "Does she think I am jealous?" "Or is it just that she needs me at her convenience?" Shikha had several thoughts about her roommate's behavior. Often, she would find her around, but she would appear invisible because of her laid-back attitude and convenience of communication. After numerous such episodes, Shikha felt pissed and wanted to get rid of this feeling of being misused. She tried everything from distracting herself by indulging in different tasks, ignoring her roommate, and so on. Finally, when things did not get better she decided she needed to learn to ignore. It was an awakening for her. In her twenty-five years of life, she faced a lot of unfairness in life, but now was not the time to let it happen again. Following the mantra, "Tit for tat," Shikha found some peace though she felt a little bad at times for deliberately ignoring her. But that was the only wa...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    "Mistakes are the best teacher," said a wise human someday. It became a mantra for everyone in life. From facing obstacles to getting misunderstood, Radhika had been through a hell lot in her life. So, whenever she would end up encountering a fall, she would start all over again reminding herself of how she could make the best use of the situation for her future. Though her brother Sanchit was tired of her negligent behavior, he loved and cared for her and would do anything to protect her. Radhika did not know how he took care of the people who ever tried to come in her way or misbehave with her. She would face the trauma and walk over it. But Sanchit made sure the person suffered for his deeds and never let her know about it because he knew she would start her monologue of letting go and learning from mistakes. One morning, Radhika woke up with a nightmare, soaked in sweat and gasping for air. Sanchit and Aruna, Radhika's mot...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    "Look at her. She has started again trying to show off being stronger like boys. I do not understand why she has to do everything herself when boys can do it." Shalini told Supriya about Tarini.  "Right, let her be. You tell me how your preparation for elocution is going? Are you ready to beat her this time?" Supriya probed.  "It's quite good. At times, I feel nervous while at others I am confident that I can do it." Shalini replied. They walked back to the classroom and were surprised to see Tarini already sitting on her seat scribbling something in her notebook. Supriya walked by her side to have a look at what she was doing. She gasped and told Shalini that Tarini was writing the third draft of her elocution speech. "What??" Shalini shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. She felt embarrassed and apologised, asking everyone to resume their work. The nervousness was visible on Shalini's face,...

  You can read all A To Z Blogs  here    Another day, another chaotic morning at Mishra's house. Tinku peered from the guard post through the glass door of the living room, which opened to the garden, to see who was in trouble, Shalu or Saurav. Every morning they would throw tantrums, and either one or both fell in trouble at the mercy of their mother, Priya. "I want a Potato sandwich," Saurav yelled. "I want vegetable poha." Shalu's voice came from a different direction. "I have made paneer bhurji, and chapati. Eat silently and go to school." Priya replied to both of them. Priya's husband, Rahul was sitting at the dining table eating his food in silence while reading a newspaper. He extended his hand to take the cup of tea, which spilled as he was not looking in the direction. "Shit." Rahul rose from his chair. Priya came with a cloth, and said, "I have told you multiple times not to bring your newspaper to the dining table. Why...