Weaving of Arachne

The incessant banging grew louder and louder until it became unbearable. Initially, Sharon was reluctant to go out of her room but then it occurred to her that it might be her family who have returned from the community hall. Moreover, she reasoned that what she saw was just a dream and hence it's silly of her to believe in any possible encounter with an apparition. Finally, she shrugged away all her reluctance, mustered all her courage and went out to open the front door. However, as she was unlocking the door, an eerie thought stuck her, What if it was not merely a dream but a premonition of her encounter with Samuel's apparition? The thought sent a chill down her spine and her hand froze. Meanwhile the loud banging continued uninterrupted. Sharon wanted to shout and ask who was banging the door but she couldn't find her voice. After a short while she finally managed to squeak, "Wh...Who is it?" No answer. Sharon cleared her throat and asked once again, th...

Tucked in the blanket, Sharon was staring blankly at her brightly lit phone screen. The light emitted by the screen cast an eerie glow in the dark room. It was past midnight but sleep evaded Sharon. The irrationality of her family has left her baffled. No one was ready to listen to her, even her dad who had always encouraged her to speak her mind, had asked her to stop her ' nonsense '. Sharon was hurt, incensed, outraged but most importantly determined to prove them wrong. Sharon was fervently hoping for her phone to catch network and let her access to internet. She had been trying since 1 hour but to no avail. She decided to give it a last try and hence refreshed the web page once again. Miraculously, a page propped up before her with the text: "A total lunar eclipse is sometimes called a Blood Moon, because of the reddish tinge the Full Moon takes on when fully eclipsed. The term is also frequently used to describe four total lunar eclipses that occur in a row."...

Sitting beside granny's chair Sharon thought that nothing had really changed. Gathering around granny and exchanging stories was a hallowed ritual of this house and Sharon is genuinely pleased to see this ritual still continuing. This is a common practice in many families especially the traditional ones but in Sharon's family, unlike the common rule, even the children are encouraged to share their opinions and stories rather than being the passive listener. Granny was ecstatic today to have Sharon beside her almost after a gap of 5 years. Sharon had always been granny's favourite grandchild. Both of them shared a beautiful bond. So, to celebrate Sharon's home-coming Granny was narrating the fairy-tales which Sharon loved as a child and was also fondly reminiscing her childhood memories. Bonding over stories and walking down the memory lanes ensured they had a fantastic evening. Suddenly Arash exclaimed, "Granny, do you know what blood moon is?" Granny, Est...

Today is winter solstice. The names of such astronomical events have featured regularly in our school textbooks but unfortunately, the books had always cast a dull, monochrome light on these events. Be it the solstices, the equinoxes, the neap tides, the eclipses or any other astronomical or geographical events, the school textbooks had always managed to make them dull, boring and esoteric events which are supposed to be mugged up for exams but never to be comprehended. I, like everyone else, hated memorizing those dull, arcane definitions and ended up losing any interest to delve deeper into those topics. Though these events as academic subjects have always bored me but as astronomical/geographical events they have always held my interest. Leaving the confines of classroom and entering the threshold of the expansive world, I realized that I practically know nothing. That's when I decide to enrol myself into the school of Nature and comprehend the mysteries that She holds so clo...

It had been a long and arduous journey from Lengui airport to the quaint village of Kepran but surprisingly, Sharon, rather than being tired is rejuvenated by the invigorating ambiance of rural Mizoram. Martha and Robert, Sharon's dad, had slept through their entire journey from Aizwal to Kepran but Sharon hadn't even blinked her eyes once. She is transfixed by the tall, rugged mountains, dangerously stiff cliffs, all-pervasive lush green blanket of vegetation, clear and sinuous streams, and sleepy villages insulated from the modern, anxiety-ridden life. Sharon had been transported to a past, idyllic, nostalgic world, the world of her childhood by the mystic, alluring mountains so that she didn't even realize that their SUV had halted long ago and her parents were busy unloading their baggages. Sharon was brought back from her reveries by the mirthful laughter of her cousins and the mock menacing tone of her uncle who very dramatically declared that if Sharon didn't g...

Coming out of the exam hall Sharon heaved a sigh of relief. It was the anticipation of this moment which kept her going through the gruelling exam weeks. Like most of us, Sharon too despises all kinds of examination and fervently prays for it to end soon whenever she is faced with one but this time her prayers had an unusual sense of urgency. Her exuberance and conviviality slowed down her progress towards to the home to such an extent that when she reached her home she found her mother sitting at the front gate with a sullen expression. Martha, Sharon's mother also shared the convivial disposition of her daughter but any transgression of her rules by Sharon or her dad pushed her into an abyss of gloominess. And Sharon, for one was too familiar with the ebbs and flows of her mother's moods to exacerbate the situation. So, as she reached the threshold of her home her mother launched her blitzkrieg attack and Sharon had the better sense to keep quiet and let the storm pass. ...

The soothing words of Rumi "Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder" makes the closing line of the heart-rending animated movie 'The Breadwinner' directed by Nora Twomey. It is the stories through which we continue to live in this world long after we are gone. And it is through stories that our heart finds the courage to face the daunting challenges that life throws at us. This gem of a movie presents to us the monochrome daily struggles contrasted with the colourful analogous folklore of extraordinary struggle. The movie is set in warn-torn Afghanistan and revolves around the life of a little girl named Parvana and her extraordinary quest of rescuing her ordinary, crippled father. The movie evokes our empathy in its portrayal of the atrocities and anti-women stance of Taliban. Parvana's father was a school teacher, but after Taliban's occupation when schools were closed down he was forced to sell his 'literacy' like ...