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Happiness has A Price

Happiness has A Price

Happiness always comes with a price tag attached. Not a tangible one, like on a Versace bag, nor an obvious one, like a room covered in blood spatter. It is a hidden cost, like those we bear when receiving subsidies or a windfall.

These hidden costs are part of life, and therefore, of writing. It is a good thing we forget about pay-up time when we are happy, or there would be no real joy for any of us.

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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3 Comments

  • damyantig says:

    Yeah, payment time is not all that great now, is it?

  • DarcKnyt says:

    Ah, the hidden costs of living. How well I know them. You’re right; it’s a fine thing to forget before the next bill comes due otherwise we wallow.

    • There are times in my life when things go incredibly smoothly and I become filled with a sense of well-being that is more than just happiness. But at the same time I am also aware that it will not last, in fact cannot, last. So too there are times of pain and grief and I comfort myself with the thought that nothing lasts forever. There are golden moments to treasure which cannot be taken away.
      Apply this to my writing and I see the joys and sorrows . The highs and lows. When getting published becomes an obsession we reach for the stars and for most of us there will be disappointments nothing less than sorrow. Even so, those golden moments remain in my treasure chest and they can only be added to — never to be taken away.


      Thanks for taking the time to reply at such length, Gladys, really appreciate it. Thankyou. I’m much the same, I think.