The Paan Wallah prepared betel leaf with areca nut as Datu waited patiently. He never tired of watching the process as the stall holder worked his trade. The Paan Wallah held out his hand before handing over the final product and gave his red stained teeth grin. Datu reached into his money pouch and produced…
Category: Stories – Southern Asia
Stories about my S Asia working experiences
The Fugitive’s Return – Chapter 2
Fulfilled Dream Hussain picked up his cell phone and searched through the picture gallery. He leaned over to Grant. “There’s one of the family you haven’t seen this evening, can you think back as to who that may be?” Grant immediately responded. “Meenu, I suppose she’s married to some rich man somewhere in the world.”…
The Fugitive’s Return – Chapter 1
Flirting with Danger Grant emerged from the minibus with a mixture of happiness and fear. He was followed by an assortment of tourists complaining about cramped conditions on the way from Mumbai. They’d been irritated by the heat on arrival and the cramped quarters of the minibus with luggage piled around them as they’d negotiated…
कौआ (Kaua) – Chapter 4
A New Life – Conclusion Ranjubai slept fitfully through the afternoon occasionally crying out in pain as she turned on her thin cotton mattress. Her body was on fire. It was later that evening Dass returned lurching unsteadily through streets and singing loudly the latest Hindi song from the Bollywood movie currently being shown at…
कौआ (kaua) = Chapter 3
Life on the Streets “What’s your name?” The girl repeated this in several dialects until it registered with Kaua. Kaua looked at the girl and his lack of language skills distressed him. How was he to prosper in this city unless he could communicate more. “My name is Kaua!” The girl looked at him incredulously,…
कौआ (kaua) – Chapter 2
Chapter 2 – Survival After a while Kaua arose and looked around. He was hungry, tired and his muscles ached from holding on desperately all night. As he progressed back toward the station entrance and the usual cluster of barrows selling a variety of trinkets and foods his eyes focused on a stall where a…
कौआ (kaua) – Chapter 1
Chapter One – The Escape Kaua was his name, well that was not his birth name, but he’d been called Kaua since childhood and had trouble remembering what his real name was. Kaua had vague memories of his parents in his ancestral village. His father had been a village toddy maker and brewed his noxious…
The Morning Tamasha
Chandra paused from her work and listened with the practiced care of a mother who had children of her own. Baby Hilda was stirring and making muffled whimpering sounds from her cradle in the main bedroom. Memsahib had entrusted the little one to Chandra while she made a quick trip to the Darji on Main…
The Adventures of Tipu
Tipu looked out from the enclosure he occupied with Bertha and cried out in anger. The girls had emerged for their morning duties looking after needs of their zoo before catching the bus for a day at school. Tipu didn’t mind their first round of activities checking on water and food for their chickens. The…
The Broken Tool.
Ron sat at his desk pondering what should be done for the student he’d just dismissed from the office. Not enough money to register for the semester and it happened to be his last semester. He pulled the file and began to check out his progress during past semester. Grades were excellent, he’d worked in…
West Meets East – Chapter 3
An Acceptable Compromise Next day Bill was marched to the office again. He stood to attention and saluted. Then waited patiently for the officer to speak. His commanding officer continued to stare at the papers on his desk, then looked up and smiled. “There’s a possibility information supplied to me is not accurate. I’m not…
West Meets East – Chapter 2
Challenging the Norm Mahaveer was nonplussed when negotiations would proceed directly with Bill Higgins rather than a go between and almost decided to back out on his commitment, but Manoj deftly steered his father through his concerns. To Mahaveer’s surprise no dowry was asked, Manoj had greedily convinced Bill that in an inter-racial situation that…
