• High time I quit | Abha Prakash

    A sabbatical is what I need. Catty looks, arching eyebrows, feigned inattentiveness, mind games, ego hassles — It’s time to retreat from the teenage mutants — from the Monday morning wrecks, Thursday afternoon zombies, Friday party planners — I wish for a normal workplace, humans with normal hormones. How about sweeping off those anarchic assignments…

  • Time Starts Now | Kartik Seshan

    St. Rati (14-06-22): My puppies are stuffed like potatoes in a white cloth bag dangling at the handle. I am standing on the deck the way I always do early in the morning when Sahana’s daddy takes us (grudgingly) to the ground where Sahana takes me for walkies. Only, Sahana isn’t sitting in the pillion…

  • Timeless Grace | Unaiza Qayoom

    September, few years ago. The picture in the window moved so fast that in between inhaling and exhaling, I could hardly perceive what figures, structures and lands passed us. It was Thursday afternoon, an ordinary day and I missed company like the air on that particular day missed warmth. “Any more tickets please?” My bemused…

  • Once Upon A Time by Fariel Shafee

    Fourteen years ago this day I sat next to you, your head on my shoulder, your disheveled long hair brushing my shirt softly, smelling of lavender. The sun was exceptionally bright that afternoon, flirting with the breaking shadows of white feathery sails on the waves of the Charles. Every moment elongated to encircle a lifetime,…

  • Far So Far | Georgia Amane

    After a middle-aged man who oversaw the class entered his classroom, a student on duty shouted an order. Then, all classmates stood up and bowed to him. ‘Today, I’ll teach you about Japanese ancient history,’ He said. He opened his textbook and groped for some chalk, although he didn’t touch any chalk. He continued to…

  • The Winged Crusader| Ramanujam Parthasarathy

    ‘Siraj, let’s begin with your teaching.’ I said. ‘Start the ball rolling.’ As Siraj stood up, he wrinkled his nose and twisted his mouth. I thought the effort was to produce a smile, but the result was an unintended grimace. A short portly man with a bulbous nose and a big salt-and-pepper moustache, he wore…

  • Mist in the hills | Sarpreet Kaur

    There are two constants in my life right now; a throbbing pain in my joints that cracks, clips, clops and makes many other quaint noises and the second one is my housekeeper; Sangeeta who chatters, cribs, whispers and shrieks to fill the other half of my life. I also have a daughter who is married…

  • Blue Eyes | Divy Tripathi

    The hands struggled to maintain their hold on the cusp of the washbasin. The wet fingers, dirtied by the holed-up muck that neared its brim, were wriggling their aquatic keynotes. Under the flickering yellow light of the blackened light bulb, a figure swayed uneasily on the floor. His right knee held on like a solitary…

  • The Tuner | Yuan Changming

    Facts can be more fascinating than fiction. Ming was acutely aware of that, but sometimes he wondered if he could distinguish one from the other without flights of fancy. On October 2, 2019, during his visit to his mother in Jingzhou, he went out of his way to host a gathering in Songzi, his native…

  • Clocking In | James Forman

    The tower alarm rang at 4:00 am like it always did. It would continue to ring from inside my head until both feet cleared the entrance gate and touched onto the plant grounds. Say you were running late or sick, you still couldn’t stop the ringing. The only person I ever knew who tried was…

  • Bandhavgarh: From the Ship of Golden Memories | Partha Pratim Dube

    Preamble: In the middle of March, clouds are getting together in the sky. After gazing at the heaped dark clouds for some time, Ramdin Baiga, the experienced guide of Bandhavgarh forest, said in a low tone by provoking the theory of possibility, ‘ Sir, this is the ideal environment to see tigers, leopards and bears.’…

  • Three Devils of Bengal: Origin, wealth and religion | B. Z. KHASRU

    Ever since Bangladesh’s violent birth in 1971 with India’s midwifery, Bengalis on the two sides of the Hindu-Muslim divide have pondered anew a nostalgic question: Will East Bengal [Bangladesh] and West Bengal [part of India] ever reunite? This question leads to several others: How did the Bengalis get divided in the first place? Is it…

by: Abha Prakash