Skip to content

Memoirs of a failed escape attempt

I looked around me and found that I was not the only one trying to escape.

Faithful Dog Hachiko Photo

I hate dogs

I hate dogs.I know that’s a statement likely to provoke outrage from dog lovers, but it’s the truth. My dislike didn’t arise from some trivial annoyance or bad experience with a neighbor’s pet. It’s something deeper, something born from loss. This thought was fresh in my mind when my wife made her latest suggestion. We were watching a movie, a modern retelling of the true story from Japan about a dog named Hachiko. I was only half-watching; I hate dogs, after all. But the story was hard to ignore. Every morning, Hachiko followed his master to the railway station, and every evening, he waited there for his return. One day, the master didn’t come back, but Hachiko kept waitingfor nine long years. The townsfolk were so moved by his loyalty that they erected a statue in his honor. The tale tugged at my wife’s heartstrings. “Let’s get a dog,” she… I hate dogs

The chair with a world around it

Ramesh settled into his chair, stretching his legs and arching his back. The chair with a world around it was his window to the world.The chair, worn from years of use, sat in the middle of a patch of grass officially referred to as “The Lawn” in the housing society’s documents. Every day, Ramesh, the society’s watchman, would spend at least ten hours in that chair. He moved it in sync with the building’s shifting shadows as the day progressed. His duty was to guard the housing society against the unseen threats of the outside world. The dull plastic chair was his throne, his kingdom. He hated it when anyone else sat in it. Protecting his chair was a never-ending battle. Just an hour ago, at precisely four in the afternoon, Ramesh had found the old gentleman from B-23 seated in his chair. The society manager had sent Ramesh to… The chair with a world around it