• English - Travel

    Breezes of the Lost Horizon

    July 8, 2025 - By 

    Atreyee Pradhan Part 1: The Call of the Mountains Neha sat by the window of the train, watching as the landscape shifted from the concrete chaos of the city to the serenity of the countryside. The air felt lighter, the rhythms of the world slowing as she neared the foothills of the Himalayas. It had been weeks since she made the decision to leave behind her life in the city, a world that had started to feel more like a cage than a canvas. She had always felt tethered to a life of constant motion: deadlines, meetings, and the unrelenting…

  • English - Travel

    The Hidden Villages of Sikkim

    July 5, 2025 - By 

    Vikram Patil 1 David stepped off the bus into the crisp, mountain air of Pelling, a small town nestled in the Sikkim Himalayas. The journey from Delhi had been long, but as the sun set behind the towering Kanchenjunga range, the sight before him made the weariness fade away. The town, draped in mist, seemed almost ethereal, its narrow streets lined with small shops selling colorful fabrics and local handicrafts. The houses here were built from stone and wood, their sloped roofs covered in vibrant moss. It was a world far removed from the chaos of his life back in…

  • 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…

  • 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 - Travel

    Passport, Please!

    June 29, 2025 - By 

    Dinesh Rao Chapter 1: “Congratulations, You’re Going Abroad!” It was a dusty April afternoon in Kanpur, the kind of day where ceiling fans give up and men in banyans sit outside complaining about rising electricity bills. In the midst of this sweaty monotony, the Tripathi household was suddenly turned upside down by a shrill ringtone and a louder shriek. Sunita Tripathi had won something. She’d been entering supermarket contests for years—sending SMS codes, dropping coupons in steel boxes outside sweet shops—but this was different. This time, the universe answered. “Ramesh ji! Dekho! Dekho!” she shouted, waving a crumpled paper. Her…

  • Crime - English - Travel

    Shadows on the Salt

    June 26, 2025 - By 

    Nitish Joshi One The desert shimmered like an illusion, an expanse of white and gold stretching endlessly under the early winter sun. From above, the Rann of Kutch looked like a cracked mirror, its salt flats fragmented into wild geometries — but down here on the ground, it felt alive with movement, heat, and secret rhythms. The wind dragged dry whispers across the land as the colors of the Rann Utsav unfolded like a fever dream — turbans spinning in the breeze, mirror-work lehengas glittering, the scent of fried fafda and jaggery jalebi wafting from the festival stalls. Kabir Pathak,…

  • Comedy - English - Travel

    Mishra Family’s Puri Panic!

    June 24, 2025 - By 

    Renuka Chanda Chapter 1 It was early morning in the small town of Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. The Mishra household was in complete chaos. Shrikant Mishra, the head of the family, ran around the house holding the tickets like they were some ancient treasure. “Lalita! Did you pack the pickle? We cannot eat outside food every day!” he shouted, wiping sweat from his forehead though the fan was on full speed. Lalita, his wife, stood in the kitchen stuffing the last of the theplas into steel dabbas, praying that the luggage would close. Pintu, their 12-year-old son, had already put on…

  • English - Travel

    Midnight Maps of Meghalaya

    June 24, 2025 - By 

    Aneesha Marak Part 1: The Broken Route It was past nine when the cab took the sharp bend near Cherrapunji, the headlights cutting through curtains of mist that clung to the hills like secrets. The driver muttered something in Khasi, tapped the dashboard thrice, and the engine made a coughing sound that didn’t feel reassuring. Inside the cab sat three people who hadn’t planned to meet each other—much less rely on one another. But Meghalaya, with her moody skies and rain-polished roads, has a way of bending fate like bamboo in the wind. Anaya, curled up in the backseat with…

  • English - Travel

    Monsoon Letters from Kerala

    June 22, 2025 - By 

    Ria Bhattacharya Part 1: Landing in God’s Own Country It was just past noon when our flight dipped beneath a curtain of clouds and revealed a lush, endless green below. From the window seat, Kerala didn’t look like a state—it looked like a watercolor dream. Patches of paddy fields, snaking backwaters, tall coconut palms waving lazily, and a brief glimpse of a red-tiled rooftop—a warm welcome to God’s Own Country. As we landed in Kochi, a light drizzle greeted us, the kind that smells of wet earth and sea breeze. It wasn’t hot, just humid enough to make your shirt…

  • English - Travel

    The Misadventures of the Mukherjees

    June 22, 2025 - By 

    Subhasish Ghosh Chapter 1: The Itinerary of Dreams (and Doom) If there was one thing Mr. Subhash Mukherjee believed in more than government bonds and early morning power yoga, it was planning. So when he announced the “long overdue” family road trip from Kolkata to Bhutan, his Excel sheet was already color-coded, laminated, and tucked into a blue plastic folder titled ‘Mission Mukherjee: Himalayan Harmony 2025’. His wife, Jaya, barely looked up from her WhatsApp group of Probashi Ladies with Recipes when he declared this at the breakfast table. “You want us all to travel together? In one car?” she…