• Crime - English - Suspense

    A Death in Dariba

    July 5, 2025 - By 

    Mayank Sufi Part 1: The Man in the Silver Kurta The lanes of Dariba Kalan in Old Delhi were quiet that morning, quieter than usual. The scent of ittar still hung in the air like the memory of a lover’s touch, but the shops had yet to roll up their shutters. It was barely 6:30 a.m. when a rickshaw-wala, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, noticed something odd in front of Ibrahim & Sons — Jewelers Since 1837. A man lay face-down, slumped against the closed shutter, silver kurta crumpled, a faint red trail soaking into the dust…

  • English - Suspense

    The Echoes of Room 107

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Anjali Varma Chapter 1 The taxi snaked its way up the misty incline, past shuttered tea stalls and damp pine groves, until the silhouette of the Grand Eden Hotel loomed into view—its faded Tudor façade and ivy-strangled balconies exhaling secrets of a time long past. Aanya Mehra leaned forward from the backseat, pressing her hand to the fogged-up window. She had seen photographs of the place—black-and-white postcards tucked into history books and archived reports—but nothing prepared her for the haunting elegance of the real thing. Built in 1893, the hotel was a relic of the British Raj, its corridors having…

  • English - Young Adult

    The Monsoon Letterbox

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Aarohi Jadhav Chapter 1: Rain, Reluctance, and Rust The bus ride to Dapoli was as grey and endless as the monsoon clouds that followed it. Vanya Kale sat hunched beside the window, her earbuds silent, the phone in her lap long out of charge. Her mother’s hurried goodbye still echoed in her ears — “It’s just for a month, sweetheart. He’s your grandfather, not a ghost.” But to Vanya, it was all the same. Her grandfather, Arvind Kale, a once-famous Marathi poet, now lived alone in a crumbling house overlooking the sea, speaking to no one and surrounded by furniture…

  • Crime - English - Suspense

    The Quiet Exit

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Ananya D’Souza Part 1 — The Locked Flat The rain had fallen hard the night before, and the grey morning light was doing little to scrub the city clean. Mumbai was damp, impatient, and hungover. Detective Inspector Reeva Kale lit her third cigarette of the morning as she stepped out of her beat-up white Mahindra Thar, ignoring the security guard trying to catch her attention. She hated apartment towers—too many floors, too many alibis. This one was worse: a posh building in Andheri West with glass balconies and silent lifts. Too clean to be honest. The call had come at…

  • English - Travel

    Tea, Taboos, and Tuktuks

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Deepa Krishnan 1 It began with a samosa and a breakdown. Nithya Ramanathan, 29 years old, certified English teacher and closet emotional hoarder, sat on her balcony in Chennai biting into a lukewarm snack while a pigeon judged her from the railing. The samosa’s stuffing had slipped out like her resolve, and the WhatsApp group “Kalaiyarasan Ma’am’s Wedding – RSVP ASAP” blinked expectantly on her phone screen. Everyone was going. Even Kavitha, who once pretended to faint during sports day just to avoid social interaction, had posted “Can’t wait, girl!” followed by a waterfall of emojis. Nithya, however, couldn’t bring…

  • Comedy - English

    Curry Leaves and Chaos: The PG Chronicles

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Ritika Rao 1 The building looked innocent enough from the outside—three floors of faded pink walls, a rusty blue gate, and a peeling nameplate that read Leelamma PG for Gents & Others. Rohan Nambiar stood at the gate with his duffel bag in one hand and a sinking feeling in his stomach. After a brutal breakup, a client ghosting him on payments, and being evicted from a decent flat due to an “accidental” toaster fire, this paying guest accommodation in the middle of Koramangala was all he could afford. He had found it through a very enthusiastic post on a…

  • English - Travel

    Winter in Shantiniketan

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Sudipta Sengupta Part 1: The Quiet Escape Ananya had always found solace in the chaos of Kolkata—the honking cars, the bustling markets, and the never-ending hum of the city. Yet, after months of relentless work, she felt like a piece of her soul was being swallowed by the noise. The endless deadlines, the shallow conversations, and the incessant pressure to keep up with the world had drained her. What she craved now was stillness. What she needed was a pause. And Shantiniketan, with its promise of peace, had always lingered at the back of her mind. It was the first…

  • English - Romance

    Set Point

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Saina Rathi 1 The red clay of Delhi Tennis Academy felt like home to Ananya Rai. Every morning, at exactly six-fifteen, she’d step onto Court Four, breathe in the warm scent of sunbaked dust, and begin her drills before the city’s traffic could find its voice. She lived for the thwack of the ball against her strings, for the rhythm of her shoes sliding into position, for the moment her serve arched into the perfect curve, sharp and fast. Today was no different—except for the buzz floating around the academy like static. She bounced the ball once, twice, and then…

  • English - Horror

    The Curse of Rishikesh

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Kavya Patel Chapter 1: The Legend of the Goddess Rishikesh, a serene town nestled between the towering Himalayas and the sacred Ganges River, had always been a place of peace and spiritual tranquility. Pilgrims from all over the world arrived here seeking solace, meditating by the banks of the river, and performing rituals in the ancient temples scattered around the town. But hidden deep in the forested hills beyond the town was a secret that few dared to speak of—an ancient temple, home to a vengeful goddess, whose wrath was said to curse anyone who trespassed on her sacred grounds.…

  • Crime - English

    Blueprints for a Murder

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    Sahana Iyer 1 The rain hit Pune like it meant to peel the city apart—needles of water carving through dust and metal as if the monsoon had something personal to prove. Meghna Deshpande stood at the edge of her balcony, her coffee cooling in her hand, watching the glassy sheen on the road below reflect a fractured world. Her morning had been like any other—emails, contractor calls, a delayed tender for a flyover near Shivajinagar—until the courier arrived. No sender, no company seal. Just a brown kraft-paper envelope, damp at the corners, addressed in shaky black marker to “Meghna Deshpande,…