Promise

<>

	(I promise to be true to you, In good times and in bad, In sickness and in health. I will love you And honour you For all the days of my life)* *Conditions Apply. -Jason		I know there will be Another time. The tables will have turned: Your heart will be on the line. And I know only because Among all the whispers that night, You didn't give me your word. But I gave you mine. -Nikita

Lines

<> 

	An inch separates them But parallel lines never meet. -Jason		You throw a fit over the colours that have spilled and run amok all over the page. But the fault's not all mine; You left me no lines To colour inside Or hide behind. -Nikita

Jump

Word-ka Shots enthusiast, Riddhi Mewada pushed us to "Jump". Being the dashingly, reckless word-nerds we are, we just got on a ledge and decided to take the plunge.  

	It kept growing Rising from the ground First a threshold, then a wall We could have still leapt over But it was a narrow lane With clearly defined lines that I crossed and waited But you didn’t… -Jason		This time just make sure a parachute's got your back. -Nikita

Salt

	They will tell you harmless insignificant details Then wonder why you flinch. They don't know about the open wounds; There is so much they don't know. -Jason		A little more Or a little less Will always catch you off guard. If it was just right you wouldn't even notice. -Nikita

Sauce

	Not that devious grin in your eyes, Or the way your nose is almost crooked, Or that perfect up turned smile, But on the edge of your lips- Sauce- Sloppy blotches of it told me I had fallen head over heels for you. -Jason		A few drops from the vial And I watched it change From clear water in a pan To something deeper Richer Capable of dark things. It twinkled innocently And we served it To so many With meatballs and spaghetti -Nikita

Empty

	She opened the irresistible urn, And her gifts left her, Escaped from her grasp, all of them. Yet, in the space that now seemed empty, One voice remained, It spoke to her (and will speak to you). When all seemed lost, Pandora had Hope. -Jason		Endless clatter As the bed knocks into the hostel's standard sized study table. Our bodies are held together By utter chaos. And our minds glued By absolute nothing. Empty vessels Make more love. -Nikita

Secret

Word-ka Shots decided to bring in a guest-writer this week. Our reader, Nikita D'Cruz, is quite the writer herself and turned out to be just the perfect sized lemon wedge to give the Shots a fresh new twist! Presenting this week's theme, Jason's chosen one: SECRET. 

 

	Conference call activated... Curious greetings... shushes Insight has traveled faster than sound Three expectant patient ears Listen to some throat clearing And then, the obvious is declared... Collective breath intake, Then loud laughter, hoots Out of place comments Guffaws, The embarrassed caller giggles ‘I’ll call you guys later. And yea...’ ‘Of course we won’t’. Four final smiles. Love exchanged. Of the strongest kind Beep. Call ended. -Nikita D'Cruz		Its warm, moist smell Attracts flies I try to wave them aside With the palm of my hand But they sniff That sticky-sweet on my fingers And know. Or do they? -Nikita Deshpande

Turn

	the blue ballerina spins around her star and turns out day and night pirouetting on an invisible line stretched across the sky she trembles once a while but goes on. why? maybe because she loves the star maybe because she loves to dance or maybe because her/our/all life depends on it. -Jason		This time I walk away. Something pulls me by the arm And says Not love Not this time Please. And I listen Not because its you But Because I'm looking The other way. -Nikita

Yellow

	Hazy and halting breaths, Have never said so much before, As when you came to leave me. Standing at the door,  Almost saying- Don't go.  You said, "You're leaving?" Words had lost their place, In this space, Like dead flowers, That were kept but forgotten. While the rotten- Yellow stains on the pages  Will later say- I, Was the one who walked away, When you were the one, Who never asked me to stay.  -Jason		powdered sunlight on your morning face like somebody smeared turmeric on your cheeks and held them up in a smile, lifting you by the chin from a dollop of thick, delicious honey-some sleep something tells you...today will be good. -Nikita

Tricky

Word-ka Shots reader Sivakami Sivakumar served us a heady little one. But we're upto an old trick of ours. Guess which piece belongs to whom. We haven't put our names on them. Again.

Drink up, lovely people...

	... they gave me ...a magician’s hat... or something black ...like coarse velvet… I was told… no, it was whispered… “pull out a dream…” I reached in… deep-  into the coarse black velvet… first hand… then head… then knees… but somewhere… in its slimy gullet… I dug my heels in… and with a retching movement I woke up resenting my abysmal magic skills.		Talking to you is like riding a unicycle. On a tightrope. With a barking dog. At each end. Six long stemmed glasses on a tray. In one hand. And 4 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica in the other. As an ostrich feather vacantly tickles my left heel.