Fiction
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The Republic of Shadows
Meher Aftab Part 1: The Flag That Doesn’t Wave The sun hung over the capital city of Ruvana like a bloated wound, casting a hazy orange over the skyline of glass ministries and concrete ghosts. Somewhere between the Parliament dome and the military cantonment, truth had gone missing. And Naveen Rahatkar, senior political correspondent for…
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Offline is the New Love
Tania Mattu Part 1: The DM That Didn’t Send Aarav Kapoor stared at the blinking cursor on his screen, his thumb hovering above the send button. The message read: “Hey, you seemed really cool at the open mic. Want to grab coffee sometime?” But he didn’t press send. Instead, he backspaced all the way to…
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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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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 Window Seat
Rimi Bhasthi Part 1: The Silence in the Hallway It was always the hallway where she first heard herself disappear. The long, echoing corridor of the Sharma household carried more than footsteps and scoldings—it carried absence. Asha, seventeen, was the kind of girl people described in passing as “quiet but clever,” the kind whose achievements…
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Beneath the Tamarind Sky
Aarushi Sen 1 The air in Lucknow smelt of jasmine and rust. Under the domes of the Chota Imambara, where chandeliers from Belgium sparkled even on cloudy days, Zohra Begum walked barefoot through the marbled corridors, anklets jingling like restrained laughter. She was not born into the kotha, not raised with kohl-rimmed dreams, but life…
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The Sky Below Us
Kiaan Ray 1 They said the Earth was dead. No roots stirred beneath the dust, no rivers flowed with memory, and no horizon ever changed. In the Loftworlds, that was the gospel. Up here, above the clouds, survival didn’t depend on soil or sun, but on filters, floating engines, and fear. Aira Sen had never…
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Life in the Emergency Ward
Soumyadeep Dutta The fluorescent lights above flickered like tired eyelids, buzzing faintly over rows of rusting stretchers and sweat-drenched bodies. It was 7:58 a.m. when I stepped into the emergency ward of Nilratna Chatterjee Memorial Government Hospital for the first time as a junior resident. My stethoscope clung around my neck like a nervous talisman,…
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The Fifth Protocol
Neel Kashyap Part 1: The Minister Who Knew Too Much The monsoon had arrived early in New Delhi, but the rain did little to cool the simmering corridors of power. The South Block offices glistened under streetlights, guarded by protocol and paranoia. At 2:03 a.m., a white government Scorpio pulled into the back entrance of…
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Strings Attached
Ishaan Talwar Part 1: The First Note The first time Aryan strummed his guitar on the old green bench outside the Fine Arts Block, the sun was melting into the Delhi skyline and the air smelled of samosas from the canteen. He wasn’t playing for anyone. He never did. But someone was always listening. That…
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Gulab Jamun, Guilt & Goodbyes
Ritwik Pal Part 1: The Last Request The ceiling fan creaked like an old man with secrets. Outside, the mango tree swayed gently in the early April breeze, its leaves whispering things no one could understand anymore. Inside, Dida lay still on the teakwood bed, her body fragile, eyes closed but not asleep. She hadn’t…
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Dilli 6.5
Ankur Kaur Part 1: The Bag That Wouldn’t Leave The morning sun rose over Old Delhi with the usual chorus of honks, hawkers, and the sizzle of parathas on the tawa. In a narrow bylane of Chawri Bazaar, where every house shared its secrets through the cracks in their walls, the Khurana family was preparing…