• Crime - English

    Red Threads of Malappuram

    July 24, 2025 - By 

    Prakash Iyer 1 The heat of the festival hung heavy in the air, thick with sandalwood smoke, jasmine petals, and the rhythmic thud of chenda drums echoing off ancient temple walls. Women moved through the temple grounds in waves of red and gold, their sarees shimmering under strings of hanging oil lamps. In the courtyard of the Thirumandhamkunnu Temple, amidst the pulse of ritual and devotion, a body lay sprawled near the banyan tree where devotees tied threads for wishes. The crowd had not noticed her at first, assuming she was just another woman overcome by the rush of the…

  • Crime - English

    The Mist over Mussoorie

    July 6, 2025 - By 

    Kiran Malhotra Chapter 1: Return to the Hills Aryan Mehta stepped off the narrow mountain road and onto the familiar moss-stained path that led to St. Luke’s Academy, the colonial-era boarding school where he had spent four complicated, unforgettable years of his youth. The air in Mussoorie carried its perennial chill, tinged with the scent of damp pine needles and the metallic bite of rain-soaked stone, wrapping the hillside in a soft, relentless mist that seemed to muffle every footstep, every birdcall, every human breath. Even now, so many years later, the sight of the grand stone archway—its crest still…