Saanvi A. Menon The rain started sometime after midnight, stealthy at first, tapping like fingers on the tin awning outside Mira’s fourth-floor window. She didn’t get up to look. Mumbai rain, especially in late June, had a way of arriving without ceremony but leaving a trail. The fan above her bed slowed, hiccuped, and then stopped altogether. Silence followed, thick as wet wool. The power was out. Again. She lay still, waiting for the noise to return — a whirr, a click, the hallway inverter kicking in — but the darkness held. Beyond her shuttered window, thunder cracked the sky…
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Kenji Sora 1 The monk arrived just before dusk. The hill curved like a sleeping body, and at its crown stood the monastery: walls made of ancient cypress, dark with age, unpainted, without embellishment. It was said to be built by those who had forgotten the need for bricks. But the strange thing was that there was no gate. Not even a crack. Taro walked the perimeter twice. He touched the wood. It was warm, breathing, as though the wall itself was waiting. There was no sound from within, no chanting, no footsteps. Only the wind and the monk’s breathing,…
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Lekha Chatterjee Part 1: The First Sip of Silence It was a Tuesday morning wrapped in clouds, the kind where the sun hides not out of shyness but out of habit. Aanya padded barefoot across the wooden floor of her apartment, the chill of the early hour clinging to her skin. She liked these quiet stretches before the world pressed in with its emails and errands, before her phone began to buzz like a restless bee. She reached for the cupboard that held her teas. It was a ritual more than a craving now—a way to begin, to anchor the…
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অভিজিৎ হাজৰিকা পর্ব ১ ধৰাপাত শিখা শেষ কৰোতেই নীলমণি চকু ওপৰলৈ তুলি খিৰিকিৰ বাহিৰে চাই থাকিল। কলেজৰ পৰা আহি চিৰিকিয়া ধুৱাঁ উঠে চাহৰ কাপ এটা লৈ তেওঁ ওলাইছিলে বাৰাণ্ডালৈ। সদায়ৰ দৰে আজি পূব দিশৰ হালধীয়া পোহৰে তেওঁৰ কপালত পৰিছিল, যেন কোনো এজন সৰু ল’ৰাই ৰং তুলিকাৰে তেওঁৰ মুখত আলফুলে নেৰাই দিছে। আজিও চৌদিশে চুপচাপ, কেৱল মুকলি গৰম বতাহ আৰু একেটা চিন্তাৰ শব্দ—ইমান দিন হ’ল, আকাশ সেউজীয়া কিয় নহ’ল? আকাশটো সেউজীয়া নহ’ল কিয় বুলি তেওঁ ভাবি থাকোঁতেই ফোনখন ভাইব্ৰেট কৰি উঠিল। স্ক্ৰিনত এখন নাম পোহৰ পেলাই উঠিল—”ঋষৱ কলিং…” কিবা এটা ভিতৰত টিপ খাই উঠিল। তিনিদিন ধৰি কথা নাই। কথা নহয় মানেই…