Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana by Edited by Anil Menon & Vandana Singh

Author:Edited by Anil Menon & Vandana Singh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: feminism, women, gender, ramayana, short stories, anthology, magic realism, surreal, cyberpunk, fantasy, science fiction, abha dawesar, rana dasgupta, priya sarukkai chabria, tabish khair, kuzhali manickavel, mary anne mohanraj, manjula padmanabhan, india, sri lanka, thailand, holland, israel, UK, USA, fiction
Publisher: Zubaan Books
Published: 2013-04-25T04:00:00+00:00

Kalyug Amended

Molshree Ambastha

After completing my lecture, I entered the staff room. A hot discussion on politics was going on between two teachers.

“Jahanvi, do you have a free period now?” one teacher asked.

“Yeah.” I took my seat and searched for the newspaper. I turned the page; it had Raam’s picture, our current Chief Minister, with the headline ‘Youth Chief Minister inaugurating…’

Who cares? I stared at Raam’s snapshot.Fifteen years can change a person a lot.

“Youth Chief Minister! Usually people above forty years of age are branded middle aged. They describe himas a youth leader,” said the teacher sitting next to me.

Both the teachers laughed out aloud. I smiled irresolutely, not seeing the joke.

When I’d joined this school I’d been homeless and a two-months pregnant divorcee; today, I am a single parent of doppelganger sons, a Lecturer in a well-known school of the town, and owned a flat in a posh apartment, on loan.

As the last bell rang, I strode out to car parking area, as soon as possible. My lads were already standing near the car, discussing some thing. I started the car and both boys jumped in, helter-skelter. Kush managed to grab the front seat, and I convinced Luv to sit at the back. We were on our way home but the fight between then continued. When we reached, I opened the door. Boys flung their schoolbags on the sofa.

“Mom, what’s our father’s name?” Kush asked. He picked a water bottle from the fridge and gave the fridge’s door a kick; it closed with a thud.

“Don’t drink directly from the bottle. Go get glasses for all of us.” I acted as if didn’t hear anything.

“Vaibhav’s mother is also a single parent but at least he knows his father’s name.” I’d forgotten Luv was still in the room.

“And he has his father’s snaps too.” Kush completed Luv’s sentence.

“We will talk about Vaibhav later. Now you guys go change your uniforms and arrange the table for lunch.”

Thankfully, both left the room with their schoolbags. But their questions were not over yet. Next section of firing questions began at the dining table.

“Mom, are we love-children?” asked Luv, with a huge grin. Both raised their hands for a hi-five. As if being a love-child was a cool thing.

I sipped some water. “Every mother loves her child,” I replied.

Where is this generation going?… all an adverse effect of movies. It is pointless to yell at striplings; after all, they are trying to figure out this complicated world in their own way.

“I told you, I got a divorce when you were in my belly. I can’t get a divorce without marriage. Can I?”

“Was yours a love marriage or was it arranged?” Luv inquired.

“Both.” I left my seat and began cleaning the table. Both the boys helped me. Our lunch was over, but my young investigators still wanted to unravel the mystery of their origin.

“How is it that possible? How can you do both?” Kush followed me to my room.

“Where did you meet him, first time?” asked Luv..

“We were in the same college.

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