Suchismita Das Chapter 1: The Meeting The monsoon had arrived early in Kolkata that year, painting the city in shades of grey and green. Rain-soaked College Street bustled with people, umbrellas jostling for space, the sweet smell of wet paper wafting through the narrow alleys of booksellers. Riddhi stood near Dasgupta’s Bookshop, her saree damp at the hem, thumbing through a stack of dog-eared paperbacks. She loved this place. The chaos, the stories hidden in every shop, the memories of her father bringing her here as a child to buy books. Today, she was on the hunt for a worn…