Red over tomatoes

10

Shanta cleaned the rice and put it in a vessel to boil. Today she is preparing kanji for dinner. Not that they have anything different every night. Yesterday too they had kanji. The day before too. Even the rice she had at home , she got it after much begging at the local shop. Now, she owes the shop owner Rs 600. Every month she plans to repay all the debt, but it is never easy. Earning money that is, and saving enough to repay the debt. In her profession, there are no annual pay hikes, no casual leaves, no earned leaves, no sick leaves. She goes to houses to wash dishes, sweep floors and wash clothes. And anything else she is ordered to do. By the time the kanji got ready, Shanta's husband was home. Bhaskar is a daily wage labourer. He works at construction....

Football jealousies

8

Get, set, go. Biju took off at the sound of the whistle. He raced ahead. In his head were a hundred things. If he wins, this would be his second gold. His House, Orange, will get some bonus points. But what bothered him most was another race scheduled half an hour later. The 800 metres one. Sudhir was competing in that one. And he was sure to win that contest. With that, the best athlete prize would be his. To prevent that, Biju would have to win this race and another one, probably the 200 metres. As it happened, Biju won the 100 metres race but not the 200 metres. He lost the prize he wanted dearly to Sudhir. Even today, his heart skips a beat when he thinks about the race he lost, the prize he lost. I am sure Michel Platini too....