• Crime - English

    Panchlight Lane

    July 22, 2025 - By 

    Mukund Tiwari 1 The village of Gopalpur, tucked between the dry hills of Chhatarpur, had a peculiar glow that night. Not from electricity—no, that was a rare guest—but from a string of solar-powered panchlights flickering weakly along the dusty lane that led to the banyan tree near the temple. Beneath its sprawling roots, the villagers had gathered for the annual shukravaar bhoj, hosted as always by Sarpanch Ramesh Tiwari. Plastic chairs were arranged by caste rank, older men chewed pan and gossiped in Bundeli, and a cauldron of steaming dal bafla perfumed the air with spices. Nakul Pandey, the newly…

  • English - Suspense

    The Secret of Sindhudurg Fort

    July 21, 2025 - By 

    Saurabh Kulkarni Chapter 1: Arrival at the Coastal Shadows The Konkan sky was a silver sheet of clouds when Sharvani Patil stepped off the rickety ferry onto the moss-lined jetty of Sindhudurg Fort. The Arabian Sea, though unusually calm that day, still carried a scent of restless secrets. From a distance, the fort rose out of the water like a battered crown—its laterite walls darkened by centuries of salt and time, guarding stories the world had forgotten. Sharvani adjusted her backpack, narrowed her eyes against the gusts of sea spray, and turned to her assistant. “You okay, Kabir?” she asked.…

  • Crime - English - Suspense

    The Architect’s Alibi

    July 20, 2025 - By 

    Meghna Rao 1 The skies over Bengaluru were unusually clear that Thursday morning as dignitaries, media personnel, and shareholders gathered beneath a white canopy set up in front of the city’s newest architectural marvel—Skyrise X. Towering fifty-four stories high, its glass façade shimmered like a knife under sunlight, cutting through the skyline of the tech capital with defiant elegance. Designed by the legendary Arvind Raghavan and funded by real estate giant R&R Infrastructures, the building was hailed as the future of vertical urban living—complete with rooftop gardens, automated energy grids, and helipad access. Cameras flashed, champagne flowed, and applause erupted…

  • Comedy - English

    Bachelor Biryani Bhavan

    July 19, 2025 - By 

    Siddharth Menon 1 It was a Tuesday night in T. Nagar, but the heat clung to the crumbling walls of Flat 104 like a desperate tenant refusing eviction. The creaky ceiling fan spun half-heartedly, threatening to fall with every rotation, while four men lay in various stages of exhaustion and hopelessness across mismatched plastic chairs and a cushionless diwan. Arjun, or AJ as he insisted on being called, stared at the ceiling with the focus of a man calculating the philosophical purpose of unpaid rent. “Four days left before the landlord removes us like expired chutney,” he muttered. Karthik, perched…

  • Crime - English

    The Midnight Caller

    July 18, 2025 - By 

    Kunal Sinha 1 It was a humid, sticky evening in Kolkata when Maya Sengupta first noticed something was amiss. The streets outside her apartment were bathed in the warm golden light of the streetlamps, but the stillness of the night felt heavy, almost suffocating. The only sounds that punctuated the silence were the occasional honk of distant cars and the rustling of the trees swaying under the breeze. Maya had just finished her work for the day and was sipping on a hot cup of tea when her phone rang. The sudden noise startled her. It was late — too…

  • English - Romance

    The Lotus and the Concrete

    July 18, 2025 - By 

    Sudipta Pal Chapter 1: Soumita sat by the window of her apartment in Kolkata, her fingers tracing the edges of her architectural sketches, but her mind was far away from the lines on paper. The constant hum of the city outside—honking rickshaws, chattering pedestrians, and the occasional clink of temple bells—seemed distant as she stared out at the skyline. Her family’s expectations weighed heavily on her. At 28, she had accomplished everything she had set out to do in her career: she was one of the top architects in the city, with a reputation for precision and innovative designs. Yet, despite…

  • English - Young Adult

    The Last Game of Polo

    July 17, 2025 - By 

    Arun Bhatia ONE Samir Singh stood at the edge of the polo field, the sound of hooves thundering in his ears, as he watched his father, Veerendra Singh, ride across the vast estate that had been the heart of their royal legacy for generations. The sprawling grounds, dotted with grand palaces and ancient temples, had once echoed with the clink of polo mallets and the cheers of onlookers. Now, the grandeur of it all felt like a distant dream, fading with the passing years. Samir, at just seventeen, had inherited his father’s love for the game. Polo was not merely…

  • Crime - English

    The Haunting of Kolkata

    July 17, 2025 - By 

    Animesh Tarafder 1 The sun had barely begun to set, casting a soft golden glow over the winding streets of Kolkata, when Dr. Neelav Gupta received the call that would pull him back into a past he had long buried. A murder—gruesome, ritualistic—had occurred in the heart of the city. As a renowned criminal psychologist, Neelav was often called in for such cases, but there was something unsettling about this one. The victim, an elderly woman, had been found posed in an unnatural way, her body frozen in a grotesque contortion. Strange symbols, like the markings of a forgotten language,…

  • English - Suspense - Travel

    Echoes of the Deccan

    July 17, 2025 - By 

    Devendra Joshi Chapter 1: The Call of the Deccan Vikram Roy had spent the last five years of his life chasing fleeting successes in the dusty archives and half-excavated ruins of India, always just one breakthrough away from recognition. An ambitious archaeologist from Kolkata, he had always dreamed of discovering something monumental, something that would put him on the map. But the years had not been kind to his career. Vikram had slowly become disillusioned with the field, his excitement replaced by a mechanical pursuit of academic accolades and citations. The phone call from his superior was unexpected, yet not…

  • English - Horror

    Chalk Outline

    July 16, 2025 - By 

    Nikita Kaul 1 The first time Tanvi Mehra heard about the chalk outline was during her third day at St. Augustine’s Residential Academy for Girls. It was whispered between two girls in the library, their voices low but their eyes flickering with unmistakable fear. The words “outline,” “disappears,” and “Ragini” caught Tanvi’s attention like hooks in water. She leaned further behind the old geography shelf, heart thudding—not from belief, but curiosity. She had transferred here from Delhi after a messy school suspension and an even messier stepfather situation. Her mother called this place a “fresh start.” Tanvi called it a…