English
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Chilling in Cherrapunji
Pritha Mukherjee One Ani Roy stepped off the weather-stained bus and into the wet embrace of Cherrapunji’s legendary monsoon, the rain falling in silvery sheets that blurred the world into watercolor. His boots sank into the mud as he adjusted his camera bag, glancing back at Neel, who was wrestling with their gear under a…
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Chasing the LIght
Ravi Mehta Chapter 1: The Invitation Aarti Deshmukh sat at her cluttered desk in the small apartment she called home in Mumbai, staring blankly at the email on her laptop screen. The subject line read: “An Invitation to Witness the Northern Lights in Uttarakhand.” Her heart skipped a beat as she clicked open the message,…
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The Red Saree
Niyati Sharma Chapter 1: The rain was relentless as the ferry docked at Mandwa jetty. Ishita Karve stepped onto the slick platform, her umbrella barely holding against the salty wind. Beside her, Aaditya Deshmukh stood with quiet pride, his suitcase in one hand and a folded umbrella in the other. The car that awaited them—a…
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Crypt-O
Aritra Sanyal Part 1: The Vanishing Key Rahul Sen was never the brother anyone noticed. Arjun had always been the shining one—co-founder of CoinMavin, India’s first fully decentralized crypto exchange, a TED speaker at twenty-six, and a media darling whose Twitter threads shaped investment trends. Rahul, two years younger, stayed in the background, quietly running…
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The Missing Kingfisher
Namrata Das Chapter 1: The Vanishing Act The early morning sun filtered through the glass windows of the high-rise building, casting long shadows over the boardroom table where Vikram Khandelwal, CEO of Khandelwal Technologies, had sat just days ago. The office now stood eerily silent, devoid of its usual buzz, as the city of Bangalore…
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The Lazarus Protocol
Rhea Narayan 1 The rain hadn’t stopped in three days. London’s sky, swollen and sullen, pressed down on the city like a secret too heavy to bear. In a dimly lit lab tucked into the corner of King’s College, Dr. Ayesha Kapoor sat hunched over her laptop, the soft hum of servers the only sound…
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The Return to Dhanakpur
Arvind Ray Chapter 1: The Hit-and-Run Vikram Jadhav had never imagined his life would change because of a late-night accident, especially not in Mumbai, where chaos reigned at every corner. It was around midnight when he was returning from a meeting with investors. The street was dimly lit, with rainwater shimmering in the orange glow…
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Meter Down, Morale Down
Rishi Mukherjee Part 1: The Booking Blunder Sayan Roy was many things—a decent copywriter, a loyal consumer of roadside egg rolls, and a devoted user of cab apps. What he was not, however, was punctual. This particular Tuesday morning in Kolkata was no different. The clock on his wall blinked a smug 8:42 AM as…
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The Widow of Greyhill Manor
Isabelle D’Mello Part 1: The Last House on the Hill The cab hesitated at the foot of the winding, gravel road. “This is where it ends for me,” the driver muttered, eyes darting to the thick trees lining either side. The evening sky above was bruised with the last pinks of sunset, and a fog…
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The Deep Trace
Talia Verma Part 1: The Signal Beneath the Code Riya D’Souza had spent the last thirty-six hours in the analytics lab of Delphatech Systems with nothing but a lukewarm soy latte and a dozen lines of untraceable code for company. She blinked at the double-screen setup in front of her, the left monitor displaying her…
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Seasons Between Us
Elina Thomas Part 1: Spring Will Not Ask Your Name The bus wound up the narrow road, wheels kissing the edge of the mountain like a daredevil child. Aanya sat by the window, her duffel bag pressed to her side like a comfort blanket. The sky outside was an impatient shade of blue, and the…
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The Red Room Number 9
1 The lobby smelled of fresh orchids and expensive silence. Maya D’Souza pulled her oversized sunglasses lower over her nose, scanning the opulence of the Ocean View Grand, Mumbai’s most luxurious hotel. A chandelier hung like a frozen explosion of crystal above her, refracting shards of morning light across the marble floor. She hated places…