Short Story: Man & Machine by Sangeetha G.

In this short story, Sangeetha G. narrates a powerful tale of a time when machines enter a man’s life and then blur the lines between real and artificial.

Mariam kept glancing at Ronald in between fiddling with the spoon held between her frail fingers and tossing the food on the plate. After the initial emotional upheaval, she had calmed down, but the curiosity and confusion in her eyes was that of a four-year-old girl. James, her son, had accomplished the task of getting her out of the bed and making her sit before a plate of food. Four days had passed since she had taken a proper meal. 

After her husband’s death, Mariam refused to get out of the bed. The food would sit cold on the bedside table for hours. After being insisted multiple times, she would have just two spoons of rice gruel and once again go back to bed. James didn’t even get time to think about his dead father as all his energy was spent on persuading his mother to eat. Days passed without proper food intake and she had to be put on intravenous fluids.