(Photo Credit: Ceayr) The most conspicuous thing about the house was the plants. Lining the red painted steps leading towards the door, neatly clustered on the extended ledge and even delicately perched on the railings of the balcony, the pots in which the greenery was housed made for a pretty and aesthetic sight. She called … Continue reading The Ash Method

(Photo Credit: kyryll ushakov on Unsplash ) The Moody Blues were crooning "Nights in White Satins". Perched on a bar stool I nursed my third glass of Monkey Shoulder Whiskey resting my elbows on the gleaming and translucent bar counter polished to a spit and bereft of even a speck of grime.  The friendly bar tender went about … Continue reading Double Irish Dutch Sandwich & Tax Havens

(Photo Credit: Crispina Kemp) The excavator resembled a frowning caricature in red. But it was neither an Optimus Prime frolicking on fat wheels nor an improvised Avenger enjoying his moment in the Sun. The shredding of the copious proliferation of dense grass and 'reclaiming' the green acreage was the culmination of an exercise in perseverance, … Continue reading Leveling for a Laboratory

Venky had never seen the philosophical side of Ash before and what he saw for the first time thus stupefied him. "Where do you think this bridge leads to?" she asked in an otherwise innocuous manner. Venky, looking at the dilapidated and neglected structure, replied, "to the entrance of the makeshift night market?" "On the … Continue reading The Connection

(Photo Credit: Crispina Kemp) He was not taken to either reciting hymns or repeating incantations. His Gods resided between millions of pages in the thousands of books possessed by him. Manifesting in the myriad musty smells wafting out of the pages as he turned them over incessantly.  If he possessed a deified list, on top … Continue reading On a Wing and A Prayer

(Image Credit: Inga Gezalian on Unsplash) It was on a lazy summer Sunday that they found the portal. Yes, a portal. Having dined on some scrumptious fare at a quaint restaurant renowned for its pure South Indian vegetarian fare, Ash and Venky retreated to the Garden of Blaise. Supposed to be named the Garden of Bliss, the … Continue reading The Ash Portal

(Photo Credit: Terri Smeigh) It was her first day in Dublin and she was famished. The bloody flight was delayed by 3 hours’ courtesy a technical snag. ‘Technical snag’ – the refuge behind which every airline seeks to take cover to mollify angry and frustrated passengers. And in so far as Ash was concerned, it … Continue reading Ash – The Dubliner

(Photo Credit: Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash) The dry wood satiated the raging appetite of the fire as the flames leapt higher and higher. The crackling sound as the firewood snapped was as crystal clear and resonating as a pistol shot. A menacingly howling wind exacerbated the calamity further as the whistling force spread the orange glow … Continue reading Mother Nature and Hell Boy

(Image Credit: Fandango) “You have to walk if you desire to be fit”, Ash goaded Venky on as he huffed and puffed his way through the much treaded and cracked walking track. Rivulets of sweat streamed down his forehead, depositing themselves on his cheeks before plummeting down his Led Zeppelin T-shirt, which by this time … Continue reading The Ash Track

(Image Courtesy: CRISPINA KEMP) For the untrained and the unsuspecting, it was only an ugly unwashed, untenanted rectangular block of concrete, hopelessly trying to hide behind an even more ungainly sprouting of ill directed foliage. At first glimpse the man-made structure seemed a grotesque lump on the bushy hair of a gigantic head that was … Continue reading Hemingway Of The Hills