Living Will
Outlook|February 21, 2024
A will is a love letter. A place of hope. A will is also an archive of longings
Chinki Sinha
Living Will

"Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift." - Mary Oliver

I am a single woman. I don’t have children. I don’t own a house yet. Or any land. I spend all my money travelling and on collecting books, objects and furniture. None of my furniture is in pairs. Everything is singular. Like me.

I have begun to draft my will to protect my memories. 

Everything must go like in that story called Why Don’t You Dance? by Raymond Carver in the book What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. The book lives in one of the shelves. In that story, an alcoholic man stands in his kitchen looking at his bedroom suite in his front yard. He has put everything on sale after his estrangement from his wife. In that story, the man says, “everything must go.”

In my case, “everything” includes kidneys, eyes, the Milagro Cross that I got from a monastery in Big Sur in California where I spent days looking out at the ocean in silence in the company of 13 Benedictine monks, the dream catcher, etc.

Not that in the general ordinariness of life, these objects I have collected stand out in terms of “wealth”, but for me, they are precious because they contain stories.

Bu hikaye Outlook dergisinin February 21, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Outlook dergisinin February 21, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

OUTLOOK DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
The Way Home
Outlook

The Way Home

“We comfort ourselves by reliving memories of protection. Something closed must retain our memories, while leaving them their original value as images. Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.”—Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

time-read
6 dak  |
December 01, 2024
The War Artist
Outlook

The War Artist

Cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco is in search of the truths distorted by conventional narratives

time-read
5 dak  |
December 01, 2024
Mining Adivasi Votes
Outlook

Mining Adivasi Votes

If the BJP manages to win Jharkhand, it will be the third mineral-rich state after Odisha and Chhattisgarh that will fall into the party's kitty

time-read
5 dak  |
December 01, 2024
Unequal Republic
Outlook

Unequal Republic

Political parties make promises of equal represention to women, but patriarchy continues to dominate electoral democracy

time-read
4 dak  |
December 01, 2024
The Baramati Parivar
Outlook

The Baramati Parivar

The Pawars' family bastion since 1967 is now witnessing a second uncle-nephew fight

time-read
4 dak  |
December 01, 2024
No Attention Zone
Outlook

No Attention Zone

Malaria, malnutrition, mining...the Adivasis living in Gadchiroli face multiple issues, but they feel the government is not doing enough for them

time-read
5 dak  |
December 01, 2024
The Age of Betrayal
Outlook

The Age of Betrayal

Eknath Sambhaji Shinde's tenure as chief minister has been anything but smooth

time-read
7 dak  |
December 01, 2024
Bhakt Versus Blood
Outlook

Bhakt Versus Blood

In Thane's Kopari-Pachpakhadi assembly constituency, three-time winner Eknath Shinde will face-off against his mentor Anand Dighe's nephew, Kedar

time-read
5 dak  |
December 01, 2024
Minority Report
Outlook

Minority Report

The vote bank of Muslims and Dalits is crucial in shifting the balance of power in Maharashtra

time-read
7 dak  |
December 01, 2024
Pride Over Prejudice
Outlook

Pride Over Prejudice

The fragmented political fabric in Maharashtra has left the voters confused and the leaders jittery. Amid the chaos, the subject of Marathi asmita has risen and ebbed in absence of a strong anchor

time-read
5 dak  |
December 01, 2024