Mira Dutta Episode 1 – The First Bell The school bell rang with a shrill clang that sliced through the sleepy morning air of St. Paul’s Academy. It was the first day of the new academic session, and the classrooms smelled faintly of chalk dust, newly polished wooden desks, and the restless anticipation of students forced back into the rhythm of routine after a long summer. Arjun sat at the corner desk, last row, his head bent low as if the grain of the desk itself demanded his complete attention. He wasn’t shy in the ordinary sense, but silence came…
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Elena Ray The First Match The campus was alive with a kind of energy that only a sports festival could bring. Banners of bright colors fluttered in the late March wind, and the entire cricket ground glowed under the warmth of the early afternoon sun. Students crowded the stands, voices rising in a chorus of cheers, laughter, and that familiar rhythm of drums that echoed across the field. For most, it was just another inter-college cricket tournament. For Meera Kapoor, however, it was a story waiting to be told. She sat at the very edge of the press box, her…
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Aisha Roy Plus-One Problems Tara Sen hated weddings. Not because she was bitter about love, not even because she couldn’t tolerate rasgullas anymore—she just couldn’t stand the interrogation squad that arrived with the haldi. Her mother’s sisters. Her father’s cousins. The “So-when-are-you-next-beta?” brigade. This time, it was her cousin Sia’s wedding in Jaipur. Three days. One palace hotel. Four aunties with sharp questions and sharper judgment. Tara had already survived two of these family extravaganzas this year, but her luck was running out. She had overheard her mother whispering to Mausi on speakerphone just last week, “This time I think…