An auto-fiction series that investigates the “unseen” and “unheard” parts of us—What Does a Date with your hidden Self look like?
The Birthday Detective (fat-finger drawing by Nirupa Umapathy)
The Architect of Possibility (fat-finger drawing by Nirupa Umapathy)
Ernst, the Linear Thinker (fat-finger drawing by Nirupa Umapathy)
Black spires and cityscapes hung on the wall to my left. Yellow lighting and insides sung for chicken curry, tender-like-your mother kebabs, and chai. It was just another humpy-dumpy Wednesday. At the Shad. Mecca for the cheap and the broke. India-Pakistani food at its best. My local tea-joint. My one-stop refuge when I ran out of ideas for places to meet in Jersey City.
It was just before 12:00. 11:45 AM precisely. The pre-lunch hustle had not gotten raucous YET.
From my perch at the window I watched devotees of chicken curry and multiple masalas lining up. To my right, an old man watching videos on YouTube, without headphones. Thank you Grandpa.
I was inhaling the Samosa Chaat-- a funky-dunky-mixture of fried dough, potatoes and all kinds of caloric goodness. Silently, steadily as if the world were about to come to a shrilling halt. 15 minutes before he arrived. Blindr Date no: 2, that is.
+ A Pipe Without Smoke is Fire: The Architect of Possibility
+ One If By Mountain, Two If By Sea: The Curiosity Collector
+ The Birthday Detective: The Reverse Mid-Life Crisis
+ Zero looks the same upside down. Inversions & adapting to a new center of gravity. Reframe
+ Caterpillar. Experiments. Shopping & The Cascading Effect of Small Moves
+ Introduction: Inversions, Demotions, Zero CEO