ALSphere Foundation
The Cotton Mask
It was our first meeting, mask-to-mask. His voice felt like dew set on the morning grass. I tried not to wilt under the searching gaze of his deep brown eyes.
‘Am I falling for him?’
I cautioned myself, ‘There is nothing common between us barring the cotton masks we wear. Our religions, culture, society– all different.’
One day, he pushed a note into my hand.
‘Religion is a mere covering that needs dusting like our cotton masks that require a daily wash. The person behind that mask is what matters.’
In a glance, we exchanged a million words of love.
Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan
Barbie Doll
My 5-year-old niece was adoring her birthday gift, a Ballerina Barbie. I was amazed at her knowledge of all the existing barbie dolls. That took me down memory lane as I reminisced the first doll I ever held was a rubber doll. I had no clue what holding a barbie meant, until I held my daughter’s barbie, gifted on her sixth birthday.
At that moment, I reminisced my mother sharing once that she never had a doll as a kid.
Then it sank in that not every girl gets to hold a doll, and my eyes welled up in gratitude.
Leela Satyan
