Smiles - a drabble

In her new dress– technically her sister’s hand me down, but for her new. Hair done up in pretty bunches, fringe newly cut by her mother to celebrate the festive season. Standing with her mother, watching people buy the marigold garlands she spent all afternoon making.
All around her are people spending more in an evening than her family makes in an entire month. They are exhausted, fatigued, just want the festival done with. Her smile lights up the street, as does her mother’s.
Who is the luckier? People who have things, or people who remember what it is to smile?

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Drabble (n) - an extremely short work exactly one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.

Insects. Insects. So many insects.

[this is something my older son might write]

Insects. Insects. So many insects.

Ants scurrying around- fetching, carrying, always at work.
Butterflies fluttering from plant to plant– bright wings so attractive to a child’s mind.
Ladybugs with spots that you can count- sometimes you call them ladybirds.
Bees that buzz as they fly around- they make honey, but stay far away as they sting.
Mosquitos that spread diseases when they bite- you can swot them as much as you want.

Spiders with eight legs and as many eyes– they spin webs, but you never see then do so. But spiders don’t count- they are not insects after all.

First Steps

[I have always been fascinated by photographs of baby elephants taking their first steps - there is something so universal in that bond between mother and child]

You try to take a step and nearly fall. You can’t understand why you need to walk at all. But, baby, there is a whole world out there, waiting to be explored. There are places to go, vistas to see. Unless you learn to walk, how will you ever make this world your own?
I know you feel you will never learn. But that is what I am here for – to assure you it can be done, and it can be done by you.
The first steps are the hardest, but when I am there, you will never walk alone.

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Drabble (n) - an extremely short work exactly one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.

One with the Universe

‘The Darkest Hour’, they call it. For once, ‘they’ are right.
The black sea blends into the horizon. The lights on the ship are turned off. I am alone on the deck.
Alone in the featureless void. One spark of consciousness in the darkness. The Universe centers around me.
The Universe! Grander, more majestic than our mind could ever comprehend. How small I am in comparison, how insignificant!
Yet, I comprehend the idea of the Universe. I am the Universe, the Universe is me.
I am Insignificant, Infinite.

Dawn breaks, the day begins. Tomorrow, I will commune with God again.



Drabble (n) - an extremely short work exactly one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.

Random Acts of Appreciation

The elevator made an unscheduled stop, I saw a rangoli that took my breath away. Vast in scope and execution, I could just imagine how magical it must have looked at night.
I thought I knew the lady by face, but even if not, I just had to tell her how much I appreciated her work.
I called. And behind her polite “Thank you” was a pause that almost screamed, ‘and now that it is out of the way, what do you really want from me?’
Times must be bad if a pure act of appreciation is met with suspicion.

Drabble (n) - an extremely short work exactly one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.

Lakshmi - a drabble

Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity. Lakshmi, the Beautiful, the Ethereal. Lakshmi, who turns everything she touches into gold. Lakshmi, who showers blessings on everyone who worships her. Lakshmi, who does not discriminate in the favours she bestows on her followers. Lakshmi, who leaves happiness in her wake. Lakshmi, who gives you everything money can buy and teaches you be content with that.When a girl is born, they say Lakshmi has come home. When a bride enters her new house, Lakshmi enters with her.This Lakshmi sells Lakshmis for a living. Why then does she look so sad?

Drabble (n) - an extremely short work exactly one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.

Kolam - a drabble

Every morning, my grandmother would step outside, bend down, and let her fingers fly inches above the freshly-washed floor. A minute later, she would straighten up– her kolam done. A perfectly symmetrical pattern drawn with rice powder around a grid of dots. ‘All is well at home’, it would proclaim.
On Fridays, the kolams would be more elaborate, but it was on festive occasions that her creativity would really flow – elephants, peacocks, abstract motifs, all drawn around standard patterns of dots.I attempted my first kolam last year, and soon became an expert. Tradition flows even if you deny it.



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Drabble (n) - an extremely short work exactly one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.