(The male gender for the doctor and female for the patient has been chosen only for convenience and simplicity. No misandry or misogyny is intended.None of the characters are based on real people. Any resemblance is a coincidence.)
Masoom, a 26 year old divorcee, college teacher of philosophy consulted Dr. Tejas, a psychiatrist for depression. […]
She was eighty years old. The stroke had left her partially paralysed.
That morning her son shouted at her for not doing her physiotherapy exercises. She did not utter a word.
He yelled at her the following day for not swallowing her tablets. She lay quietly in bed.
The next day he lost his temper at her […]
He followed all the prescribed and proscribed diktats of his religion. He felt he was nearer to God.
She went against all that she was supposed to do as per her religion. She felt that following rituals was not a way to be nearer to God.
God was not bothered.
He believed that people who suffered did […]
They were like most couples.
They beamed at each other and said the right things in public. They tried to look the picture of happiness. Because of some vague fear of society.
When alone, they often became adversaries. Without really realising it. They tried to get their unresolved needs from childhood met from each other. […]
Once upon a time there was a man. Except he was not much there.
As a child, he would ask questions but be generally shooed down. He soon accepted his early teachings. He realized that it was irreverent to doubt. It was a sacrilege to think for himself. He did as he was told.
He had […]
The man lived in splendid isolation on an island. All Alone.
As he bathed in the morning he thought of how his colleagues would be swarming about their workplace. He smirked as he imagined how they would envy him if they could just see him all solitary.
He fantasized as he chopped wood in the afternoon […]