Arunesh Roy The last bell at school had just rung when Ananya slipped through the crowded lanes of College Street, a place she often escaped to when the chatter of her classmates felt too sharp for her quiet thoughts. The street was alive with its usual symphony—hawkers calling out offers, the clatter of trams in the distance, and the faint whiff of roasted peanuts mixing with the musty perfume of old books. Here, she felt both invisible and at home. Booksellers leaned against their stalls, surrounded by mountains of second-hand volumes stacked in haphazard towers that looked as though they…
