Author: Seema Taneja
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Limited horizon
lines were drawn before she was born behave yourself, sit straight don’t talk so loudly girls must be polite and submissive don’t you dare step outside after dusk stay within your limits, they dictated limits and boundaries and lines…sigh! they don’t define me, she asserted bit by bit, line by line, she inched ahead the…
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Baby Steps-Then and Now
slow down, hold my finger, he cautioned grab the handle, don’t ride fast! he shouted don’t stay out late, it’s not safe, he warned worry, excitement, anxiety, enthusiasm, joy and pride, pain and sorrow the father experienced a flurry of emotions as the son took baby steps into the big bad world . focus, see…
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The Room On The Roof
it stands tall – the house – old, abandoned, dilapidated the lawn lies bereft and barren, once abuzz with birds, bees, and butterflies today the trees stand still, silent, gloomy I tread over the carpet of dry, dead leaves the rusty teal blue door creaks as I push it open like the fragile bones of…
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Gratitude and Regret
thank you! thank you so much for choosing us, for letting us explore the world with you for making us ride along in your writing journey for letting us give shape to your characters for letting us turn your random ramblings, your geeky and freaky moods into pieces of delightful art, and pen insightful essays…
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Rewind And Replay-A New Story For Posterity
ah, they have not changed tracks the taunts, the jibes, the smirks the scathing comments, the ugly bickering -the neighborhood woman’s spiteful words I shudder, I cringe at the crass cacophony . it reminds me of another woman -me, hurling those abominable words at fellow women judging them, berating them for defying traditions little did…
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Lies, Letters and Dirge of the Placid Lake
it’s gently bowing down – the warm sun on the azure sky millions of frenzied sighs break the stillness of an unhurried afternoon I spend by the placid lake and read some letters written long ago but never posted * the papers are worn out, brown and yellow I blink at them, the words are…
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I Am Home
the door, like an old man, creaks the swollen window groans the spotted walls frown at me sniffle and snort the cobwebbed corners dank and grimy it is inside layers of dust on the floor they’ve preserved my footprints- stepping outside. * cautiously, gingerly lest the grime sully my pristine white dupatta I step inside…
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The Red Bindi On The Gilded Mirror
you unload the day’s burden and stash it in the crevices of your mind it’s been humongous, tiring, draining for years you’ve been carrying it with fortitude * you remove the heavy red bindi and stick it on the washroom mirror it waits till sunrise when you reapply it to brighten up your wan, listless…
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Masks
Beautiful smiles adorn the faces here. Smiles that mask the devious designs in spiteful eyes. * Caustic tongues and razor-sharp hands, from behind the veil of sweet words, inflict deep gashes, send furrows of pain down arched, bent spines and tender hearts, wounds, which are but gaping blue mouths rotting with the toxic hatred from…
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Sands Of Time
The deluge of your honey-coated words, the vicious web of deceit you built around me, the knots of treachery you entangled me in, were suffocating me until I decided to claw them and shovel them away before they could cleave their tentacles again and dig my grave. I ride the rainbow now unchained, unfettered. The…
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A Love Proposal
He winked and feebly waved from behind the glass panes the avalanche the soldier had just escaped ‘go home’, mumbled his blue lips. I didn’t leave him my love was the warmth the frost bitten soldier needed treacherous icy peaks his fogged brain still treaded I held his hands and back he bounced…
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Eclipsed
he is brilliant, scintillating riding a massive chariot trounces darkness all around so they say i bask in his cozy warmth thrive in his coruscating radiance he’s the protective shield around me so they say I am elated when he smiles I pale when he broods he’s what lights up my…
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Elegy To A Frozen Parchment
it glistens – a tiny dewdrop perching on the shriveled leaf just like the tear trickling down her kohl-rimmed eye it’s seeped to the core of her voice – the winter chill. the words lie scattered, abandoned, like a solitary cottage amidst an expanse of snow-clad wilderness buried deep into the recesses of…