Where your story finds its voice
संजीव मिश्रा भाग 1: किशोरलाल की किस्त-कथा किशोरलाल गुप्ता, उम्र लगभग 43 साल, पेशे से एक मध्यम दर्जे का सेल्समैन, लेकिन दिल से बहुत बड़े सपने देखने वाला इंसान था। सपना—नई चमचमाती कार, फ्लैट में दो बाथरूम, और एक स्मार्ट टीवी जिसमें नेटफ्लिक्स चले बिना बफरिंग के। पर समस्या एक ही थी—पैसे। और तब उसके जीवन में एंट्री हुई EMI की। पहली बार उसने EMI का नाम सुना था अपने ऑफिस के कलीग भोला प्रसाद से। भोला ने गर्व से बताया था, “भाई, मैंने तो अब iPhone भी EMI पे लिया है, बीवी की सिलाई मशीन भी, और बेटे की…
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 for an exodus. Not the biblical kind. More like the modern middle-class one—from chaos to “development,” from pigeons to peacocks, from Dilli 6 to Gurgaon. Mrs. Saroj Khurana stood in the middle of the living room, hands on hips, commanding like a general. “Harpreet! Don’t…
Ravi Venkatesh Part 1: The Open Mic War Begins In the buzzing alleys of Bangalore, where biryani is a second religion and tech startups bloom faster than rain-soaked mushrooms, something curious had taken root—stand-up poetry. Not quite comedy, not quite theatre, and certainly not for the faint of vocabulary. By 2025, it had morphed into a strange new beast. Think Netflix drama meets spoken word, with a dash of ego and cappuccino foam. Two open mic venues had risen to cult status—Café Metaphor in Indiranagar, and Rhyme & Roast in Koramangala. Each claimed poetic supremacy. Their Instagram reels were savage.…
Abhinav Sinha Chapter 1: Burnt Toast & Burnt Out Samar Bajaj had never seen a toaster explode. Until now. It was 7:42 AM on a perfectly miserable Monday morning in Bangalore. The rain was coming down like an overachiever, and Samar, dressed in a bathrobe and one sock, stood frozen in horror as his third toaster of the year smoked like a bonfire for ants. He had tried to toast one slice of bread. Just one. But somehow, smoke had poured out, the fire alarm had shrieked awake, and his cat—who wasn’t his cat but kept showing up—leapt out the…