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Ria wasn’t looking for love. She just wanted to give her two-year-old daughter a normal life. The word “normal” sounded so frivolous. What was “normal”? How could anything be normal for her again? “Normal” had ended for her two and half years ago when that phone call jolted her out of bed on a cold winter night. She still remembered the words, “I am so sorry Mrs. Mathur to bring you this…

Just as she turned the faucet on, she could hear loud music from the living room. “Oh no, not again! What’s happening here?” Suhani had arrived in Minnesota a month ago and was still trying to get used to the quiet and solitude of the small apartment she had moved into. She was from Mumbai, where solitude and silence are an impossibility. She missed the hustle and bustle of city life, the shout…

They would sit next to the railway tracks every afternoon to see the express train running through their paddy fields to Mumbai, the city everyone wanted to live in. They would imagine the dreams and hopes of the passengers as they left their homes in search of a better life. Some day, they would be on it too. Until then, Raghu and Veena would have to be satisfied with catching a glimpse of this…

Rohit had been dialing his number for the last fifteen minutes. Rafique had to be late today of all days. It was the tournament’s last round, and Rohit was on the leaderboard after the previous three rounds.  Where was this fellow? Rohit was slowly losing his calm and composure. Rafique had been his caddie for the past eight years and this was his only fault. He would be late almost every time…

They met one another when they were twenty. She would stand at the same bus stop for the morning ride to campus. He started taking the same bus even if that meant being late for his first class. They stole glances at one another throughout the journey.He didn’t dare to go up and talk to her. But Piya knew he secretly liked her. She waited for him to make the first move.This was in the winter of…

He gazed outside the window as the train sped through the green valley. He was going home after five years, back to where he had spent his childhood. It all looked familiar, the sky, hills, valley, trees, and birds. Nothing had changed but something inside of him had changed forever.  The last few years have been a struggle both emotionally and financially. Paras had relocated to Dubai where he…

Forgiveness – supporting mother and hugging daughter. She had spent her childhood in Burma (now Myanmar)growing up in a lavish house. Meenal’s father was a well-known businessman in Rangoon and belonged to an aristocratic family. As a child, Meenal had never known what it was like to crave something. She had grown up in luxury and opulence, studying in English-medium schools and spending…

When they brought her to the hospital, she was fleeting in and out of consciousness. The doctors successfully resuscitated her once the pills had been flushed out of her body. To them, she was a Jane Doe. She had no identity on her body, and besides the taxi driver who found her lying on the side of the road, no one had inquired about her. And why would they? She had not been in touch with her…

Like her name, Binsa was fearless and independent. Married off to an engineer during her final year in high school, she had left home to build a new life in Canada.Binsa was from Nagarkot in Nepal, a hilly town with breathtaking views of the Himalayas, known for its serene and natural beauty. Unlike Kathmandu, always bustling with tourists, Nagarkot was the perfect haven for nature lovers who…

Mr. Ghosh had the most boring and predictable life one could imagine. He woke up sharp at six am every day, went for his morning walk, came home and showered, had a tasteless omelet and toast, and got ready to leave for the bank. You could spot him from far away, carrying his office briefcase and a tiffin carrier. This had been his routine for almost thirty years. He married at twenty-five,…

Nina and Ranjini had been friends since nursery, sharing each other’s tiffins and secrets. Ranjini was the quieter one who trusted Nina blindly and confided in her about everything, whether it was her crush on the neighbor’s son or her disastrous Algebra marks which she was scared to tell her parents about. Nina was always around to give a shoulder to cry on and Ranjini never doubted her…

The slum near the foot of the bridge had been Bano’s home for the last five years. It was dingy and cold, dirty and cramped, but it was her safe place.  The buzz was that the slum would be demolished and the bridge rebuilt. This was going to be the flagship project of the new government, and hoardings were up all over the city showcasing glossy images of the upcoming grand bridge.  When Bano…

The plush condominium near the city center had tall buildings with luxury apartments and was home to thousands of residents. One resident known to everyone living there was Mrs. Chatterjee. She had moved in recently into one of the penthouses with views of the golf course. True to her surname, she was a complete chatterbox. Within only a few months of her stay, she became an authority regarding…

As soon as Deep informed his school buddies that he was signing up for a rock-climbing course during the summer holidays, his classmates Akash and Pratik jumped onto the bandwagon. Deep had always wanted to learn the basics of rock climbing, Akash was fond of adventure, and Pratik was happiest when he was around those two, even if that meant hours of workout. So, by the weekend, all three had…

McCluskieganj, a small hilly town tucked away in Jharkhand state, used to be the go-to holiday destination a couple of decades back for many affluent Calcuttans who were proud owners of colonial-style bungalows there. In the nineties decade, Mr. Roy and his family regularly visited this scenic town.  Mr. Roy’s uncle, Dr. Acharya, a retired doctor from Papua New Guinea, had bought an old house…

Rahul couldn’t wait to jump onto the Darjeeling Mail. It was his first trip with school friends. The boards had just finished, and after three grueling months of tuition and mock exams, the boys were waiting to celebrate. The plan was to spend the first night at Ghoom before starting the trek to Sandakphu. There were eight boys in all, with only one of them having done a mountaineering course in…