Hola, me llamo Vijay (Hello, my name is Vijay). はじめまして (It's nice to meet you)! I’m a current master’s student at Manchester Metropolitan University, with...
You there. Sit up. Slow your breathing. Venture into your mind. Go back a year — a decade. Bring forth your youth, your carelessness. And while you bask in those memories, cast your eye toward the desolate town at the far end. Go closer. Grip the curtain that envelopes it. Yank it open. Dust off the board that reads: Abandon Hope, Ye Who Enter. Enter anyway. Look at all the half-done things — the…
Mother. Matriarch. Let me sit by your side, upon your throne, and cast eyes across our vast kingdom. No, Bradley. Let your brother sit on the sofa. You can rest below it. No. This word— I remember it from my youth. It means denial, does it not? Answer me, mother! Has my place beside you been forsaken, traded for this mewling usurper? Say it isn’t so. Silence. I knew it. Though you speak not, it…
In the pocket of an old red bag, I keep a few of my treasured memories. One of them is a ₹1 ticket. Let me take you back to June 2004. I stood at an empty bus stop with my grandfather, staring into the horizon for the faint outline of the local bus. Soon enough, just beside the orange glow of the sun, a pale blue shape appeared. It was my first day of fifth standard, and for the first time I would…
I had met this person before, yet he was a stranger, From the land where I’m from – making do in a different land. Just like me. As he spoke, the language called to me, Like a parent. A mother. He was afar, yet there was a connection. Gaze met, nods exchanged, like we were friends of old. A simple gesture – yet mighty powerful, changed the day. The flowers smelled sweeter, birds chirped louder.…
The face you see. On the side of a half-drunk bottle of whisky. In a pool of piss. That’s not you. It’s a flesh vessel. A piece of meat. One that has ambition. Dreams. And is stupid enough to believe it can be something more. More than a shitty utility slave. We wake up. Soaked in ambition. Ready to try again. Ready to give it another shot. But it’s useless. Because ambition gets us nowhere. And…
Listen up. Not everything needs to be monetized. You don’t need to be cemented to your seat. Subject to useless deliverables and eye strain. You can hustle for 40 years only to end in the same grave. Next to the guy who probably did a lot less. And got by just fine. Hustle Culture is just being a premium wage cuck. Waiting for orders. To get slapped around. To be told what a good little boy you…
“Why isn’t there a theory to shut the fuck up?” Everyone is spouting theories. Like it’s their right. There’s a theory for sleeping. Waking up. And wiping your ass. And it’s all bullshit. One theory that’s doing the rounds is the Black Cat & Golden Retriever Theory. Where the guy is the golden retriever in a relationship. Chasing the girl around. While the girl is black cat. Always brooding and…
Private Equity is a clean cut villain. Decked in expensive suits and posh scents they promise to care. Promise to bring back the institution of yore. But what they really mean is they’ll take a knife to it. Carve out its limbs and sell them off to another murderous sod like themselves and call it progress. Remember Southwest Airlines? The pinnacle of low budget airlines. That operated so…
…When I should be punching through the goddamn bag. The other day I turned 31. No major celebration. A few people wished me. Apart from that. It was another day. Maybe it’s true that you get more wisdom as you get older. Unless you get dementia and your soul is ripped out of your body. Where was I. Yeah. Being 31. As ever I was browsing through social media. And I was awash with a wave of regret.…
I walked by the beach in Brighton. Avoiding needles. The sun in my eyes. The constant din of the seagulls. Then I saw it. A couple were staring at the sunset. At least that’s what I thought. As I walked past them, one of them yelled “Get the camera out, the sun is orange enough.” At that moment, I realized something. There is no spontaneity anymore. Nobody does anything just to do it. They do it…