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An electrical engineer by profession, a creative writer and illustrator by choice, Paresh Tiwari grew up in the labyrinthine lanes of Lucknow. The atmosphere steeped in art, history, and culture rubbed off on him and from time to time, he indulged in painting, comic strips, poetry, and fiction. He took to Japanese literary short forms in the winter of 2012.
His haiku, haibun, free-form poems, and flash fiction pieces have been published in various journals, anthologies, and books. His first collection of haiku and haibun An inch of sky was published by 20 Notebooks Press and is available internationally. He is also serving as the resident cartoonist for Cattails, a haiku journal by United haiku and tanka society, USA. Presently he is working on his first full length novel.
It's a pretty painless procedure, sir. Our highly qualified specialists have been doing it for decades now, right from the inception of the idea. You won't feel a thing.
To put it as simply as I can, we will unshackle your old one, gather it in a vial, scrape out any residue and then add a brand new shadow to your feet.
Yes, we do have designer shadows in our inventory! You can check our website.
Well, we will have to stitch it to your ankles. Believe me; you do not want a shaky-wobbly shadow following you around like a wet dog.
No, of course we cannot glue it up! What if you enter a puddle and it comes undone?
No not the Velcro either!
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Sir, I understand the portability it offers. But it's pretty easy to leave your shadow behind on a dark, rainy day unless it's permanently fixed to your ankles.
No I am afraid your medical insurance would not cover the costs of the surgery, sir. We still consider it cosmetic in nature.
Yes sir, even if the old one is in bad shape. Or like yours, severed in two.
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, August 4th, 2016
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