• English - Travel

    The Desert Speaks

    July 14, 2025 - By 

    Ayaan Venkatesh Sand Without Time Haider Khan stepped down from the rickety minivan with the stiffness of a man far older than his 38 years. The heat pressed against his face like a hand that didn’t care for permission. Red sand stretched endlessly ahead, framed by towering rocks carved into bizarre, wind-scoured shapes. Wadi Rum. He’d seen it once in a documentary, years ago. “The Valley of the Moon,” the narrator had called it. But here, in real time, there was no poetry. Only stillness. Only silence. The group disembarking with him was an odd assortment — a French woman…

  • English - Suspense

    The Last Move

    July 8, 2025 - By 

    Riaan D’Souza 1 Rain fell like memory over the shanty roofs of Dharavi, each drop tapping out a rhythm older than the city itself. Inside the dimly lit, one-room Dharavi Chess Club, the walls smelled of damp wood and resignation. But within that space, a quiet miracle unfolded every evening. His name was Arjun Menon—ten years old, barefoot, and already a mystery to the men who came here to play. The board was his world. The black and white squares did not care who you were outside their borders. They did not ask how much money your father made or…

  • Bangla - সামাজিক গল্প

    সীমানার এপারে

    July 4, 2025 - By 

    রবীন মণ্ডল পর্ব ১: ভাঙনের দিন বুকের ভেতর কেমন একটা ধকধক করছিল। যেন কিছু একটা ভেঙে পড়বে যে কোনো মুহূর্তে। তবে বাড়ির বাঁশের বেড়া বা খড়ের চাল ভেঙে পড়া নয়—এই ধকধক আসলে একটা দেশ ভেঙে পড়ার শব্দ। সেই শব্দ রুখে দাঁড়াতে পারে না কোনো কিশোরী মেয়ে, যেমন পারছিল না আমিও। আমার নাম নাজমা। বয়স পনেরো। ঠিক পনেরোও নয়—চৌদ্দ পেরিয়ে আরও ছয় মাস। তবু বাবা বলে, “তুই তো আর ছোট মাইয়া না, হেই জন্যই তো কইছি হেরা আইলে পিছনের দরজা দিয়া পলাইয়া যাইবা।” “হেরা” মানে কারা সেটা আমি জানি। ওরা যখন আসে, তখন বাড়িগুলো পোড়ে। খড়ের চালের গন্ধ পুড়ে ওঠে আকাশে।…

  • English - Romance

    Equation

    June 22, 2025 - By 

    Mansi Raihan Part 1: Pitch or Personal? “So, what makes you think this will work?” Anna Sanyal’s voice was crisp, like glass about to crack. She leaned forward slightly, her blazer immaculate, fingers tapping a silver pen on the mahogany table. Ridhim Guhathakurta cleared his throat. “We’ve run a closed beta in Salt Lake with 500 users. Forty percent retention in 7 days, sixty percent reorder rate.” “That’s data,” Anna said flatly. “I’m asking belief.” “I believe,” he said, eyes steady. “Because I know what it’s like to wait forty minutes for overpriced biryani from an app that doesn’t care.…

  • English - Romance

    Silent Letters of Love

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Rhea Solace Part 1 There was nothing extraordinary about the small writing desk by the window—except perhaps, how it held hundreds of lives within it. Neatly stacked ivory paper, a brass fountain pen with fading gold initials, and a mug forever stained with tea. This was where Aanya wrote love stories… not hers, but everyone else’s. Every day, she sat with requests. A line from a shy lover, a paragraph from an apologetic husband, a mother trying to bridge years of silence with her daughter. Aanya wrote letters for them all. Anonymous, elegant, and filled with emotions she had never…

  • 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…