A Close Brush with Death It was raining heavily the last night. Fortunately, we were in a car and my uncle, who was driving had the situation under control. We passed slowly by an oil-palm estate. The driving rain made visibility poor. So my uncle drove very carefully. He had all the lights on of the car. So did the other drivers. I could make out little blobs of light on...

A Mad Woman I went for a walk every morning. Sometimes I come across a mad woman dressed in a dark dirty sari. She probably has not taken a bath. Her hair is matted, teeth stained red with betel-nut and eyes blood-shot with the look of madness. It is never pleasant when I see her standing by the roadside. She is by no means violent but has the nasty habit of...

The Garbage Collectors  It is incredible how much rubbish we throw into the garbage bin. It always seems to be full. The smell can be quite strong. So we are very thankful to the garbage collectors who come and remove the garbage. They norm ally come thrice a week. If they miss a day or two, then the garbage bins in my neighborhood overflow onto the road. This invites stray dogs...

Confined To The House It all began with a blister on my lower eyelid. I happened to rub it accidentally and it was painful. Soon after blisters appeared on my hands and neck. I suspected that I must be coming down with something. My mother examined me and immediately pronounced “chicken-pox”. I had come down with chicken-pox. She took me to the doctor to make sure. The doctor said that what...

The Way We Eat The way we eat our food is habitual. This means that we are usually not aware of it. I have notice some of the ways people eat and they range from elegance to gluttony. My father slurps his soup. It is disgusting but we never dare to say anything and will be sorely offended if we did. On the other hand, my mother is so graceful in...

Turning Over A New Leaf Rohit was the naughtiest boy in our class. In fact I would say that he was the naughtiest in the whole school. He always seemed to get in trouble with the prefects and teachers. The prefects avoided him and the teachers had a hard time while controlling him. He was destructive, to say the least. Our classroom did not have a single window pane as he...

An Autobiography of A Motorcycle I was made in a factory in Haryana. I was one of 1.00 c.c. motorcycles that were sent down to Kuala Lumpur to be sold. So I found myself waiting patiently in a shop for someone to buy me. A few weeks later, a man came and bought me for his son. The boy was barely seventeen but his father was rich and could afford to...

Five Things I Like All of us have our likes and dislikes. So have I, and my dislikes are many. But out of my likes I have five on the top. These are poetry, music, excursions, meeting people and reading thought-provoking books and magazines. Being a student of literature, I have read Wordsworth and his poems have left their lasting effect on me. Other poets of nature who have impressed me...