;A RECIPE FOR MASALA CHA(I)OS' by Sravanthi Challapalli

To one cup of water,

Add

A stick of cinnamon

Two cloves

One bay leaf

A tsp each of sugar and minced ginger

A tsp of dust tea

Half a cup of milk

Set to boil.

***

Sit in

The living room

with

Your phone

The newspaper

A pen

A book

***

On the phone, look out for

Your favourite analyst’s commentary of the day

Use the anagram solver (which doesn’t make the crossword much easier)

See a recipe video.

Switch

To the newspaper.

Skim the headlines

Look up a Dutch roll.

Resume reading your book.

***

There’s a change in the air.

Look around.

Go back to the book.

Read a few lines.

Put it aside.

On the phone

Open Facebook

Click on the name of the intellectual you will not follow

And begin reading their post on why it’s necessary to dislike a certain someone who just died.

Something’s the matter,

But continue reading.

You have to keep up.

Death is no reason

To stop rehashing old grudges.

Stop!

Leap up

Go to the kitchen

The tea is dead,

But you can salvage the saucepan.

Curse yourself, curse the stove, curse the day.