A Father’s Tale
A Father’s TaleTrigger warnings: Mental health, substance abuse, physical abuse, and harsh language. “Ashik, what is wrong with you? How can you be so stupid?” I exclaim. Ashik looks over at…[...]
Read More
Belle Nessa – A Gothic Story
How much did other journalists have to beg the editor to write a story? "I will come back with THE story, a wonderful one, an honest, personal account from the…[...]
Read More
A wicked cup of coffee
Raman’s Narration It was one of the big American brands that had set up shop at a prominent spot of the circular market that was the famous Connaught Place of…[...]
Read More
Childhood long lost
“Maasi, you don’t have to look after me anymore,” Jagrut said.Hena caressed his arm over the blazer and said, “Those whom I have helped grow up mean a lot to…[...]
Read More
Until Satyid Voices Wake Us
If my mother reaches Loki’s Star, I wonder. I wonder if she’ll remember us. Remember the day she left me on Earth, on the beach in Varkala. It was the…[...]
Read More
Playing With Destiny
Content warning: Injury, trauma, mental health strugglesStaring at my freshly bandaged fingers, I wished for only one thing. To go back in time and prevent the accident. Okay, maybe I…[...]
Read More
The Geriatric Counsel
The summer wind was cool. Mrs. Ray's arthritis was acting up. The first 30 minutes after getting up in the morning was brutal. Thereafter, walking along with everyone else made…[...]
Read More
The Call of the Past
It was a balmy March evening in Udaipur. The sun had set behind the Aravalli Hills, leaving a faint amber glow in the sky. In the corner of the drawing…[...]
Read More
The Light of the Past
I remember the evenings when the world felt much slower. When I would sit on the balcony with my grandmother, Ba, and listen to the stories of a town that…[...]
Read More
Angel’s Trumpet
She looked just like her.She had almond eyes, midnight-dark, each reflective shine a star in her iris. She had dimples, damp with the remnants of her resolve. Those same double-toned…[...]
Read More
story inspired by my favorite color
There is nothing like "perfect life" and you as a person own emotions vs habit. Living in a huge city is like exploring life closely and every day is an…[...]
Read More
My first air travel
The very first time I flew by an airplane was when I was in my early twenties. I was in my first job and was asked to travel from New…[...]
Read More
there is no hiding inside the passage of time
The ache is bone deep. Nova’s eyes fixed on the page. Tapah, in Sanskrit, meant both “involuntary pain experienced by the senses” and “voluntary control of the senses.” An itch…[...]
Read More
Five Letters
My dearest one,The story that you ask me to recount to you has been one you’ve desired since you were old enough to eavesdrop on my conversations with your mother.…[...]
Read More
I Just Wanted to Help
The garage door hissed open with a pneumatic sigh, and Rohan stepped inside with a box nearly as tall as him. “Alright, everyone—come here! You’re gonna want to see this.”Divya,…[...]
Read More
Everthing Except the Wedding
Today wasn’t important because of the holy matrimony of two people. The joining of a union and what have you. Today was important to the staff of the wedding venue…[...]
Read More
A question of life and death
Tick-tock, tick-tock, went the clock, as slowly and disparagingly as it could. Ameer was listening the clock tick patiently from atop the roof. He hesitantly placed one foot over the…[...]
Read More
Becoming Lily
Chapter 1: The Platform Lily stood on the cold, graffiti-covered subway platform, a large suitcase in one hand and a stiff coffee in the other. She checked and double-checked the…[...]
Read More
Edison Lights
When you have a gendered take on your undergraduate thesis, you presume it will circle to the violence that women face at the hands of men, particularly intimate partners. You…[...]
Read More
The Lost Love
July 2025, New York - “Breaking the News”Her eyes show the unconditional love he didn’t know he needed until he met Kathrine for the first time in a park. Siddharth’s…[...]
Read More
The Earrings
FADE IN: EXT. SIDEWALK - NIGHT It’s raining hard, creating puddles along the corners of the sidewalks. People rush past, umbrellas bobbing, as some stores’ neon signs flicker on and…[...]
Read More
If It’s Not Chocolate
At last, it was quiet — the kind of calm that settled over the ward once the trays had been cleared and the evening meds had made their rounds. The…[...]
Read More
For the Noble Cause
They had nothing. One morning, Sara would look for work in the dhopa ghat, where she and her mother would wash clothes for the richer people in their village.Sara was…[...]
Read More
Where the Silk Cotton Tree Grows
They say the old silk cotton tree in Crabwood Creek can swallow souls.That its roots drink more than water. That sometimes, late at night, you can hear drumming from its…[...]
Read More
Koi Beneath the Lotus
“The first time I wrote a eulogy, the person was dead. The second time, so was I.”Kochi was no place for ghosts. But Elijah Paul was trying hard to become…[...]
Read More
The Mango Heist
The day was hot and sticky and with a hint of hot air blowing in from the south, and it promised to become even brutally hot before cooling down in…[...]
Read More
Pari’s Reflections
The morning began like any other. The metro line rumbled with its usual rhythm, carrying office-goers to distant parts of the city. The cars sped in opposite directions across the…[...]
Read More
Shifting “Lakshmi”-Abandoned on 1.1.1970
I was born a girl in India in the 70s—a healthy 7-pound “Lakshmi” in the making,to my parents-a banker and a housewife until I wasn’t.. My mother had gone to…[...]
Read More
Echoes of an Unfinished Love
Unspoken, UnforgottenThe café was almost empty that rainy evening, a hush of porcelain and steam that made everything feel closer than it was. I had a book open in my…[...]
Read More
Patient Zero
2049 Saanvi walked happily, her high heels click-clacking on the road, two shopping bags hanging from each hand. As she walked, she gazed at the roadside shops selling fancy accessories,…[...]
Read More
The Prince’s Shadow
Sometime after the British India Company started advancing its control across India, there lived a young nawab of the Mughal court. He was a prince out of the fairy tales;…[...]
Read More
Fake It Till You Make It
The stench of cheap beer and regret fills my nostrils as Gavin presses me against the Kappa house bathroom's marble tiles. His hands fumble with my shirt buttons while I…[...]
Read More
The Road Not Taken
CW: Addresses abortion, emotional abuse, and themes of oppression. My mother was a twenty-four-year-old woman with a bright red bindi between her soft brown eyes, dark hair flowing down to…[...]
Read More
Through the Cracks
Don’t forget to defrost the meat.Last time you set it out too late.Make sure you wake up early and do it this time.Samira repeated the instructions to herself, burning them…[...]
Read More
Copper and Cast Iron
Khalid had never seen so many different kinds of steel before. The textures were so visceral; the copper, the stainless steel, the cast iron and the latest carbon steel, they…[...]
Read More
An Empty Plate Is Never Empty
I wake up knowing I am eighteen years old.I know this the way you know your own name, the way memory settles into bone and refuses to leave, even when…[...]
Read More
The Recipe I Didn’t Write Down (Begun Bhorta)
The plate is empty when it starts to burn.Not the food—the thing I left too close to the flame. A corner of paper, curled and blackening, the smell thin and…[...]
Read More
Chicken Curry
Brown the onions, and don’t fry them like last time.Fahim stirred the cubes of onion, watching them slowly take on the warm brown hue his mother always insisted on. Behind…[...]
Read More
Sundarban Wood
Kajol scraped the last smear of molasses from the pot, the wooden spoon warm from the stove. He rinsed the remaining sticky, brown filling and packed the rest of the…[...]
Read More
He Didn’t Look Back
It was raining harder than usual.Jay sat at the bus stand, his foot tapping against the damp concrete. Water crept in from the edge of the roof, darkening the ground…[...]
Read More
Journey by the paintings
As he walked on to his home from the school (don’t get him started about the pains of being in high school), he had to pass an alley on the…[...]
Read More
The Night’s Mourning
Today I’d like to read to you the story of a boy whose first experience with life was watching me take his mother away.Allow me a moment to find the…[...]
Read More
My Neighbor, the Mouse
As night arrived and began covering the land in darkness, a man named Alex Wertol sat in his prison cell, wondering what would happen next during the last few hours…[...]
Read More
D-o-N-ot-A-sk
D-o-N-ot-A-skThe paper was a pale, construction-paper green, the color of a mint that had sat too long in a grandmother’s glass dish. In a drafty classroom in 1960s Bridgeport, Miss…[...]
Read More
Her Last Words
The hill breathed beneath the evening wind like the breast of some sleeping thing. Long grasses rolled across its slopes in darkening waves, an endless green sea drowning slowly beneath…[...]
Read More
Truth or Dare
CW: suicide, domestic violence. The room had been fermenting for hours in the smell of vodka, sweat, boiled potatoes and fish left too long beneath plastic wrap. Heat clung to…[...]
Read More
Plum Red Musings
The restaurant had its lights dimmed down to simulate candles, an overall clatter of metal on porcelain, a spicy garlic scent, the distant hiss of sizzling, live music—piano not a…[...]
Read More
The Horologist
TW: death Tick. Tick. Tick. It is the old pocket watch on the counter to his right that Alistair can hear the loudest. The one he has just fixed. It…[...]
Read More
Chocolate and Nietzsche at the end of the world
The following is the re-telling of history as only the witnesses can tell it. Humans became putrid in these lands and died in droves. Doctors failed to diagnose the peculiar…[...]
Read More
The Fifth Treatise of a Scurvy Cur, 1747
An introduction to the collection as presented by The British Library, 3 January, 2026. Captain Judah Lind’s diary entries have been an object of some historical interest since their composition…[...]
Read More
Six Home Runs
VIDEO: Most Valuable S3E7 “” air: 6 October 2016 dir. Henry Yang CAROLYN GENNARO: Welcome to “Most Valuable” on Showtime, interviewing the athletes at the heart of the greatest moments…[...]
Read More
Blindsight
I wish I never got my sight back.That thought crossed my mind sitting outside the hospital, in the green Chevrolet Camaro my father left me. The sun rose, bathing the…[...]
Read More
The Kapalik’s Disciple
I am devastated.My parents have left me at the age of 25.As I stand next to the funeral pyre, tears falling, I feel an eerie breeze brush against my skin.If…[...]
Read More
Icarus Was Warm
The thing about stories—real stories—is that they give you something to believe in when nothing else will. Maybe that's why the Greeks turned heartbreak into myths. They knew what falling…[...]
Read More
Let’s Start Here
“Where are we going?” Nusrat questioned, her voice groggy with sleep and curiosity. “Just a few more steps,” Rafiq reassured while covering her eyes from behind. He guided her slowly…[...]
Read More
Meethe Chawal
I was only ten when the kites stopped flying in Lahore. Before "partition" was a word adults whispered, Lahore still felt like it belonged to all of us. Our gully…[...]
Read More
The Recipe I Didn’t Write Down (Begun Bhorta)
The plate is empty when it starts to burn.Not the food—the thing I left too close to the flame. A corner of paper, curled and blackening, the smell thin and…[...]
Read More
Chicken Curry
Brown the onions, and don’t fry them like last time.Fahim stirred the cubes of onion, watching them slowly take on the warm brown hue his mother always insisted on. Behind…[...]
Read More
Sundarban Wood
Kajol scraped the last smear of molasses from the pot, the wooden spoon warm from the stove. He rinsed the remaining sticky, brown filling and packed the rest of the…[...]
Read More
He Didn’t Look Back
It was raining harder than usual.Jay sat at the bus stand, his foot tapping against the damp concrete. Water crept in from the edge of the roof, darkening the ground…[...]
Read More
Journey by the paintings
As he walked on to his home from the school (don’t get him started about the pains of being in high school), he had to pass an alley on the…[...]
Read More
The Night’s Mourning
Today I’d like to read to you the story of a boy whose first experience with life was watching me take his mother away.Allow me a moment to find the…[...]
Read More
Patient Zero
2049 Saanvi walked happily, her high heels click-clacking on the road, two shopping bags hanging from each hand. As she walked, she gazed at the roadside shops selling fancy accessories,…[...]
Read More
The Prince’s Shadow
Sometime after the British India Company started advancing its control across India, there lived a young nawab of the Mughal court. He was a prince out of the fairy tales;…[...]
Read More
Fake It Till You Make It
The stench of cheap beer and regret fills my nostrils as Gavin presses me against the Kappa house bathroom's marble tiles. His hands fumble with my shirt buttons while I…[...]
Read More
Here, You Are Already Enough
When the letter arrived, Ali nearly tossed it into the recycling bin. It was tucked between credit card offers and a takeout menu, and it bore the familiar handwriting of…[...]
Read More
One-in-a-Gazillion Chance
Sharon sighed heavily as she looked out the window at the tourist signs, but didn’t say a word for a while. Finally, she exploded, “This has been a very difficult…[...]
Read More
Dear Diary, Reminder: Delete Mum
Chapter 1 Tuesday, 14th MarchSchool was… meh. Maths test. I think I failed. But then Riya said she guessed every answer and got 80%, so there’s hope for me. Mum…[...]
Read More
Echoes of Dvaraka (Part 1)
The year was 12491 AD.Humanity’s descendants, part-organic, part-synthetic, no longer called Earth home. Their bloodlines flowered among the stars — from fragile colonies on ice moons to sprawling cities orbiting…[...]
Read More
Under the Tiles
Sadiya walked up to the lime tree and set her suitcase down, staring at the dried up leaves resting atop the red clay tiles. They made an interlocking pattern spanning…[...]
Read More
Lost on a jarred ear
Airbase in Assam - Rakesh and Maya (Evening)The fluorescent lights of the officers' common room cast long shadows as dusk settled over the Assam airbase. Rakesh sat on the edge…[...]
Read More
Edison Lights
When you have a gendered take on your undergraduate thesis, you presume it will circle to the violence that women face at the hands of men, particularly intimate partners. You…[...]
Read More
Where the Silk Cotton Tree Grows
They say the old silk cotton tree in Crabwood Creek can swallow souls.That its roots drink more than water. That sometimes, late at night, you can hear drumming from its…[...]
Read More
story inspired by my favorite color
There is nothing like "perfect life" and you as a person own emotions vs habit. Living in a huge city is like exploring life closely and every day is an…[...]
Read More
My first air travel
The very first time I flew by an airplane was when I was in my early twenties. I was in my first job and was asked to travel from New…[...]
Read More
there is no hiding inside the passage of time
The ache is bone deep. Nova’s eyes fixed on the page. Tapah, in Sanskrit, meant both “involuntary pain experienced by the senses” and “voluntary control of the senses.” An itch…[...]
Read More
Five Letters
My dearest one,The story that you ask me to recount to you has been one you’ve desired since you were old enough to eavesdrop on my conversations with your mother.…[...]
Read More
I Just Wanted to Help
The garage door hissed open with a pneumatic sigh, and Rohan stepped inside with a box nearly as tall as him. “Alright, everyone—come here! You’re gonna want to see this.”Divya,…[...]
Read More
Everthing Except the Wedding
Today wasn’t important because of the holy matrimony of two people. The joining of a union and what have you. Today was important to the staff of the wedding venue…[...]
Read More
A question of life and death
Tick-tock, tick-tock, went the clock, as slowly and disparagingly as it could. Ameer was listening the clock tick patiently from atop the roof. He hesitantly placed one foot over the…[...]
Read More
Becoming Lily
Chapter 1: The Platform Lily stood on the cold, graffiti-covered subway platform, a large suitcase in one hand and a stiff coffee in the other. She checked and double-checked the…[...]
Read More
Belle Nessa – A Gothic Story
How much did other journalists have to beg the editor to write a story? "I will come back with THE story, a wonderful one, an honest, personal account from the…[...]
Read More
A wicked cup of coffee
Raman’s Narration It was one of the big American brands that had set up shop at a prominent spot of the circular market that was the famous Connaught Place of…[...]
Read More
Childhood long lost
“Maasi, you don’t have to look after me anymore,” Jagrut said.Hena caressed his arm over the blazer and said, “Those whom I have helped grow up mean a lot to…[...]
Read More
Until Satyid Voices Wake Us
If my mother reaches Loki’s Star, I wonder. I wonder if she’ll remember us. Remember the day she left me on Earth, on the beach in Varkala. It was the…[...]
Read More
Playing With Destiny
Content warning: Injury, trauma, mental health strugglesStaring at my freshly bandaged fingers, I wished for only one thing. To go back in time and prevent the accident. Okay, maybe I…[...]
Read More
The Geriatric Counsel
The summer wind was cool. Mrs. Ray's arthritis was acting up. The first 30 minutes after getting up in the morning was brutal. Thereafter, walking along with everyone else made…[...]
Read More
The Call of the Past
It was a balmy March evening in Udaipur. The sun had set behind the Aravalli Hills, leaving a faint amber glow in the sky. In the corner of the drawing…[...]
Read More
The Light of the Past
I remember the evenings when the world felt much slower. When I would sit on the balcony with my grandmother, Ba, and listen to the stories of a town that…[...]
Read More
Angel’s Trumpet
She looked just like her.She had almond eyes, midnight-dark, each reflective shine a star in her iris. She had dimples, damp with the remnants of her resolve. Those same double-toned…[...]
Read More
Me and My Uncle
The fortnight had come to its final day: The day to begin my journey back home, to life as it really is, had arrived. Though known and anticipated, it arrived abruptly.…[...]
Read More
The Gravity of Being Upright
I think it had started to happen a long time back—bit by bit—but I only noticed it this morning. Gravity was dead. Like Queen Elizabeth. Both of them. Yesterday, it…[...]
Read More
Umpire’s call -” Kalyug”
“Everyone I knew was glued to the TV, or their phonesThey had been waiting for this day for over three months. I was going to be on TV during on…[...]
Read More