• English - Horror

    The Curse of Kalapahad

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Amitava Dasgupta Chapter 1 High in the mist-wrapped hills of the Western Ghats, where the dense forests whispered old secrets and the air carried the tang of moss and rain-wet stone, stood the ruin of St. Thomas’s Church. The church had once served a small colonial outpost in the 1800s, built atop what locals called Kalapahad — Black Hill — a place they had always regarded with quiet dread. Now, over a century later, it was little more than a crumbling shell of stone, its bell tower broken, its arched windows gaping like blind eyes. The jungle had begun to…

  • English - Romance

    Silent Evenings, Hidden Mornings

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Sudipta Sen The Pause Between Verses The morning fog had lifted just enough to let the sun trace the old Mughal arches of Lodhi Gardens. It was January in Delhi, the kind of cold that didn’t bite but lingered, like a half-finished conversation. Rituporna wrapped her shawl tighter around her and sipped from the paper cup of lukewarm coffee she’d picked up from the small kiosk outside Gate No. 3. She wasn’t here for solitude, not really. She came to watch. Watch the joggers who ran like they were escaping something. Watch the couples who thought ruins made their love…

  • English - Young Adult

    Likes, Lies & Lemonade

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Pulak Mitra 1 The light in Tripti Sethi’s room wasn’t sunlight—it was ring light. The walls weren’t pink by default; they were painted with PR-sent pastel samples from a sustainable decor brand that wanted to look “soft but aspirational.” At 17, Tripti had mastered the art of the illusion: flawless hair curled with a borrowed straightener, DIY eyelash extensions she stuck on with half a prayer, and an Instagram grid so coordinated it looked like a magazine. Her followers—75,208 and counting—believed she was living the dream. But just behind her tripod, her bed was piled with chemistry worksheets, her brother’s…

  • Crime - English

    The Seventh Morning

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Aditya Karnik Shadows at Dawn The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the mist already draped over the ancient stone temple like a shroud. Birds refused to sing. In the village of Chittakere, Karnataka, morning was no longer a time of peace—it was a countdown to death. Detective Prasant Sharma stepped out of the jeep, his boots sinking slightly into the wet red earth. His khaki coat bore the weight of night-long travel and older memories he didn’t want stirred. Behind him, constables Sanjay and Latha looked equally grim, both glancing toward the towering temple spire that loomed against the pale…

  • English - Romance

    Pages from Kolkata

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Riyaan Chatterjee Chapter 1: The monsoon had arrived in Kolkata with its usual flair—abrupt, unpredictable, and theatrical. The sky over College Street had been clear just thirty minutes ago, laced with the buttery gold of a humid afternoon, and now it was dark, moody, and rumbling with the kind of threats only a Bengal monsoon could make. Shubhayan Ghosh was stuck under the tiny green-and-white awning of Paramount Sherbet House, his laptop bag hanging heavy from his shoulder, his formal shirt uncomfortably sticking to his back. He had just come out of a client visit at Dalhousie and, against his…

  • Comedy - English

    Bai and Malkin Inc.

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Avantika Deshpande Chapter 1: The Almond Milk Allegation “Sunitaaaa!” The shrillness of the voice pierced through three closed doors, one bathroom exhaust, and the sacred morning silence of the apartment. Sunita Bai didn’t flinch. She was elbow-deep in a stubborn sink full of greasy kadhi bowls. With the reflexes of someone who’d survived three decades of joint families and four generations of soap dramas, she calmly wiped her hands on her pallu and sauntered toward the battlefield—aka the living room. There, Mrs. Riya Mehta stood—yoga pants tighter than her tolerance, holding a carton of almond milk like it was a…

  • English - Fiction

    The Honey Path

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Sayak Banerjee Part 1 The morning sun rose slowly over the muddy banks of the river. A soft orange glow spread across the sky, while the air hung heavy with the smell of salt, mud, and silence. In a small village near the edge of the Sundarbans, a wooden boat rocked gently by the dock. Inside, there were ropes, nets, sickles, smoking pots, and earthen jars—empty now, but waiting to be filled with wild forest honey. Four men stood near the boat, ready for the journey ahead. Buro Kaka, the eldest, had skin browned by the sun and eyes full…

  • English - Fiction

    Halfway Home

    June 17, 2025 - By 

    Shreya Mukherjee The air in the Bangalore metro smelt faintly of wet concrete and deodorant. Anaya Sen adjusted her tote bag, balancing herself as the train jerked forward. Her headphones were in, but the music was off. She wasn’t in the mood for playlists. Not this morning. Outside, the city passed by in a blur of glass facades, auto-rickshaws, and trees trying their best to stay green. Inside, her inbox buzzed with reminders of the town hall meeting she had helped organize — the one everyone was quietly dreading. After the leak last week, things had been spiraling. Whispers. Slack…

  • English - Horror

    The Curve of No Return

    June 17, 2025 - By 

    Neelesh Kale The Road Trip That Shouldn’t Have Been The night air was thick with the scent of damp earth and diesel as five friends—Khushi, Rakesh, Dev, Meera, and Ajay—sped along the old Mumbai–Pune Highway. The plan had been simple: leave Lonavala after sunset, beat the weekend traffic, and reach Pune by midnight. But as the hours passed and the road grew emptier, an unease crept into the silence that the stereo couldn’t mask. “Why does this road feel… weird?” Khushi asked, gazing out the window into the dark, where dense forest pressed against the highway like a wall of…

  • English - Romance

    Midnight Chai at Marine Drive

    June 17, 2025 - By 

    Vivaan Trivedi One It was past midnight in Mumbai, the hour when the city slipped off its mask and sighed through the cracks of honking horns and neon reflections on wet roads. Marine Drive, with its gentle arc along the Arabian Sea, lay mostly hushed except for the soft sloshing of waves and the occasional murmur of lovers seated at intervals, cocooned in their whispered dramas. Under the dim glow of old streetlamps, an old tea stall flickered with yellow light, attracting late-night wanderers like moths. Ayaan Verma, clutching a leather-bound notebook filled with half-finished dreams, walked with a restless…