Scribbleriana

Carol was the best.  She was already a manager and by the end of the year she was going to be a senior manager.  She knew it would happen. She was brilliant at her job, kind to her staff, smart, funny, charismatic. An all round alpha.  Nothing was going to stop her from reaching the top. She put on a second layer of red lipstick, swept up her long blond stresses into a bun and walked into the office. She might be obviously confident and outgoing but she was careful to act a little unsure at times, so that she could fit in with the rest of them and she was especially careful to be sweet. None of them, the others in the office, could know what she really thought.  It would break the spell.  They loved her. They all clambered around to please her and each one thought she was their favorite. That was how she made people feel. Carol gave each of her colleagues such special attention, be that guidance on love, career, finances or advice on dealing with delicate issu...

If Kalsuma had had any doubts about Azhar’s interest in her and why he had opted for an arranged marriage they were removed on one particular day. Kalsuma had felt Azhar’s interest was indeed serious and genuine when he sent her a message that day panicking that he could no longer see her on his Whatsapp messenger.  Kalsuma had no idea why she wasn’t showing up. Even if she had blocked him he would still be able to see her name appear, while her picture would be removed. These were the joys of modern communication.  You could block someone on a messenger application to show them that you no longer wanted to speak to them.  You didn’t need to write this out, let alone verbally communicate the message to them.  As the number of people you might speak to was increasing with globalised technologies, the methods of removing someone from your life was also easier. You could unfriend, unfollow or block someone if you had the mind to.   However, in this case Kalsum...

The rain poured over their umbrellas as Bushra and Carmella hugged and smiled. They were meeting after many days. Many days later after that first meeting when they had discovered each other and had decided to become friends. Bushra snapped shut her umbrella, making the raindrops sprinkle around her. The girls walked into the restaurant giggling and cheerful, ready to unburden their heavy hearts.  The girls met from time to time and behaved like good friends. A passer by would think they were soul sisters.  though secretly they were keeping an eye on each other and making sure neither one went back to him. ‘How have you been?' Bushra asked Carmella. ‘I haven’t been doing very well at all’, Carmella said almost tearfully. Carmella was a mess. She had lost her job and she was back home living with her brother again. The loss of Gilbert had devastated her.  She had thought he was bringing hope into her life. A new start after her divorce. Bushra watched Carmella with pity. T...

Kalsuma had met so many different kinds of guys she could write a novel about which types of men were unsuitable and should be avoided by a girl looking for commitment.   In the beginning she had courted the professional ones. The architects, lawyers and bankers. These were fairly good looking prospects, mainly on the short side because she was under the impression that she, being 5’3, was a short Bengali girl. She soon found out that she was in fact not short, but quite tall for a Bengali and her dates were unhappy that she was the same height as them or almost as tall as them.  You are not as much of a midget as I thought you would be one of her first ever dates told her. They never saw each other again.  It might have been to do with her height but it might have been how she kept accidentally gushing about her crush on Tom Cruise over dinner. It was her nerves and she was trying to assure him that she didn’t care about height, but understandably he didn’t take it ...