Welcome to Unofficial Soul Search

Amy worked as a Mathematics teacher in the local school for over thirty years. Her sixtieth birthday also marked her last day at school, as a teacher. That day she remembered her last day at school as a student, how happy she was back then! How the feelings of leaving school had changed in all those years. Time had transformed her from the immature pupil to a matured teacher, who felt a mixture of emotions. A contentment of having lived through years of imparting education, of being a useful member of society, a subtle sadness of having to depart from all who were so dear and part of her daily life all these years and a small measure of some apprehensive joy for the prospective freedom from daily duties. Though she was relieved at the prospect of being free from the daily routine of teaching, she was concerned about maintaining a balanced life without the rigid framework of a disciplined routine. “Routine as though provides a skeletal framework on which we hang the clothes of momen...

The continuity of the grey and black; smoky aura of the iron foundry was broken by the contrasting orange flames of the furnace in its center. The heat of the flames and molten metal, as it poured into moulds seemed to him so analogous to the fire within himself, moulding him into a lifeless piece of cast iron. Ramesh felt as if a part of his being was poured into the moulds as he saw droplets of sweat from his brown body mix with the grey liquid metal. In moments of self-pity he cursed the poverty and hunger that seemed to have forced him into this hot labour; where day by day his body melted in this fire to the lure of meagre wages that summed to some four thousand rupees a month. This was just enough to fill the four bellies in his family but not sufficient for him to send his children to school. With such an income it was difficult to dream big, but dreaming as such has no costs, so luckily Ramesh could afford to dream. Across the street, just opposite the foundry was the ‘Hot Yo...