A classic story of rodent vs human. Except in this case, it wasn't just any mouse. It was our mouse. A tiny one that we had rescued from a snowstorm and brought home to take care of. It had a name and everything. But mice will be mice. Ours escaped, and this is the story of how we caught it and bid it adieu.

Listen here.



Music is Samson by Regina Spektor, and a Count Basie song from YouTube.

Labels: animals, audio, childhood

How do you spend recess if you don't want to play kickball?

There are exactly two nylon sacks. Balls in the right sack. And jump ropes in the left. This is a choice that has already been made for Kabir.

Poor Kabir. Jump though he may, he gets "roped" back into the kickball game. Does he overreact? You decide. Hear the whole story.

A bit of fiction for the new year, set to Prashanti by Ravi Shankar. I originally wrote this piece for a open mic in DC last month organized by the peerless Regie Cabico.

Labels: audio, childhood, desi, fiction

Talk about the end of innocence. My 12 year-old brother interviews my 24 year-old brother about going to Islamic summer camp.

I remember seeing an inscription on the wall next to my bunk bed. It was very simple and straightforward. It said: On this bed, a boy became a man and a girl became a woman.

12 year-olds have the funniest reactions. Hear the complete, 5 minute audio online here.



Also featuring my father. Soundtrack by A.R. Rahman. A different version of this story will be presented by SpeakeasyDC in the coming months.

Labels: audio, childhood, islam

An evil twin can come in the smallest package. Like a baby doll. Courtney Matson got away with so much mischief as a child because she could always blame it on her naughty, naughty doll, who she appropriately named, “The Evil Chubbetta.” At times, she even embarrassed her parents in public with Chubbetta's bad manners.

Chubbetta would sneak up behind the bald man and rub his head, vigorously... I would say “Chubbetta, stop it!” But she would say, “Evil Chubbetta listens to no one.”

Hear the full-length audio online here.

Labels: audio, childhood