Another short story is out there.

What does dependence breed? Gratitude?
More likely a contempt for those you depend upon. Read on to find out how.

My short story in in Issue 16 of Open Road Review.

http://openroadreview.com/a-dogs-wife-by-jyothi-vinod/

What's your problem?

I was shopping at a little organic vegetable store near my house this morning. At the billing counter the young, plump and healthy looking woman customer chatted with the shop assistants. She must have said it at least six times: “…I can’t eat…because I have a heart problem.” It didn’t elicit more than raised eyebrows.

My curiosity piqued, I was planning to ask her, “What sort of trouble?” when she left. I was confused as she had said it pointing to the packet of grapes she was having billed. If she had said she couldn’t eat them because she was diabetic, it would have been reasonable. All I discovered was that people(by this I mean the six shop assistants) had lower levels of curiosity than I did.

“I can’t see without my glasses,” scores over, “I forgot my hearing-aid.” “I have Diabetes, blood pressure and heart problems,” are said louder than “I have a gynecological complaint.” Strokes, Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are spoken of with much hedging compared to the discourses on arthritis, joint or back pains, and allergies.

I’m no doctor, but I’m sure there are many more diseases, whose names are left unuttered or uttered with contempt (by others). However nothing, nothing evokes a curiosity that a mental illness does. The sufferer sometimes isn’t aware of his/her problem, but people who are will not lose an opportunity to inform you in a voice barely above a whisper. You cannot miss the undercurrent of malice and laughter in their restrained eagerness. 

“Ayyo, Amma…ayyo, amma…” a woman’s voice cried out. I raced through the walking path to investigate. My daughter thought somebody would need CPR.

It was just the old woman who walked with her helper every evening. After they passed by and the helper assured us that there wasn’t any problem, the park gossip, an old grey-haired woman enlightened me.

“Her head isn’t okay,” she said, her old eyes alight with wicked amusement. “She lives opposite my house. She poured boiling water over her husband’s hand. She’s been to the hospital many times. No use. Giving her medicine is a huge task. They have to mix it with her food.” She held a forefinger to her head triumphantly and turned it—the classic mime to show ‘a screw loose.’

My daughter, a medical student who was with me said, “Yes, I’ve seen patients at the hospital whose family members have tried to beat ‘sense’ into the patient. There’s no understanding or sympathy for mental illnesses. How can we expect anything from ignorant public?”

Sad but very true.

Bakery Dogs.

Crushed glucose biscuits--a meal?

It's easy to observe them. They're restful and sedentary. Their life revolves around two bowls: one for glucose biscuits and one for water. You will never find them chasing cats or even crossing the road.
Let's say you have a balloon. You blow it hard and voila! It looks like a dog. The narrowest parts being the muzzle and tail. That's the best description of a dog that falls into this special category my daughter calls, 'Bakery Dogs.'
Overfed, listless and always sleepy, these dogs have 'kind' people emptying packets of these sweet, cheap, biscuits into the bowl, outside a bakery near my house.
The dogs cannot refuse the biscuits. They probably enjoy the tasty treat. They don't know sugar is bad for them. But ask anyone who owns a dog, they'll tell you.
The same story repeats in Lalbagh. But here the biscuits are a treat, not a meal, and the dogs seem healthy and alert.
I've seen 'kind' people like this. They'll force food--ghee, sweets, nuts etc., on their hapless 'dear' ones.
One lady was affronted when I asked her why she gives a regular supply of homemade ghee to her close relative. Wasn't that encouraging the already overweight elderly woman towards heart problems?
Her defiant reply: "If I don't give it to her, she'll buy ghee and use it. So it's better she uses the homemade one."
Now this 'kind' lady keeps a strict watch on what she herself eats, and follows a fitness regimen. Yet, she walks around with this false sense of altruism that she's doing the right thing by supplying her relative with ghee.
If you tell the people near the bakery to stop feeding the dogs, they'll look at you like you're asking them to whip the dog.
"Poor dogs, if we don't give them, who will? They aren't complaining. They enjoy it, see. And they're alive aren't they?"
Is that what we want to do, with homo sapiens or canines, just keep them alive because they aren't capable of deciding for themselves?
"Health be damned, stay alive," command these misguided 'kindhearted' souls.

A short listed story.

"This story is written as part of A Winter in Storyland Contest on the Tell-a-Tale blog"


The next stage the organizers tell me is the number of likes and shares my story gets.

https://www.tell-a-tale.com/four-blankets-and-a-fog/