Rishabh Sen Episode 1 – The Key in the Dust The old mansion on College Street stood between two bookstalls like an unwelcome intruder in a crowded marketplace. Its façade leaned as though tired of holding its own weight, blackened with soot and rain. Once it must have been a proud colonial house with verandahs, high arched windows, and a tall iron gate. Now, the gate sagged on its hinges, its bars eaten by rust, and the windows wore shutters nailed from the inside. Even in the middle of the afternoon, when the book market throbbed with students shouting for…
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1 The train slowed into Lucknow Junction under a sky heavy with late afternoon heat, and Ananya Sen pressed her forehead against the glass to catch the first glimpse of the city she had read about for years. A history student with a fascination for architecture and the forgotten alleys of the past, she felt her pulse quicken as the domes and spires of the old city slid into view. Beside her, her younger cousin Meera was more animated by the thought of food than heritage, scrolling through her phone for the best kebab stalls she had bookmarked. The two…
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Sohini Das The car stopped in front of the rusted gates of Windmere Lodge with a hiss, steam rising faintly from the bonnet like breath on a cold mirror. Devika Rao stepped out, pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders. Mussoorie in late October was crueler than she’d expected. The sun had vanished behind a sheet of dull grey clouds, and even the pine trees looked like shadows painted against a darkening canvas. She looked up at the lodge — a two-storied colonial building half-swallowed by ivy and memory. The windows were arched, curtained in velvet too heavy for the…