Silence. Above all, silence. We are safe in this thicket, as long as we remain absolutely silent. But Kala’s baby won’t stop crying. It is weak and hungry. As is she – she has not made milk for three days now. There is a command unspoken in the leader’s eyes. Kala understands. The baby is […]
You are browsing archives for
Category: Short Stories
The Last Pillar
At the age of twelve, she had crossed the borders from Bangladesh. She was a refugee of the India’s independence movement. She found shelter in her maternal uncle’s house in the suburb near Calcutta. She is 92 now. The distant memory of her journey across the border is crystal clear though she cannot recall a sentence […]
Revenge..
“No !” rang the journalist’s voice, laced with desperation, dripping with anguish. “I did not kill her.” His lawyer looked at him and smiled – a confident smile that said, “Don’t worry – we’ll win.” She’d been a very famous model. They’d been seeing each other regularly. Two months back, she had been found dead in her […]
Unfinished…
She sat there with a large box of KitKats. It was a multi-pack, with maybe twenty or so pieces. Her knapsack was on the floor and despite her Western attire, she had the red and white bangles of a newly married woman and a long, deep sindoor streak to go with it. We were at our boarding […]
The Twist
“Is there anything else you want?” “A smartphone,” she said. After a prolonged silence. The silence in the room continued to thicken among her in-laws, her brothers, her mother and the lawyers. “Apple,” she continued without looking up, “I would ask for extra money but you know, with this situation, my face, it would be […]
On The Spot
Author Monideepa Sahu shares with the readers of Unboxed Writers, a short story that appeared in her recent book Going Home in the Rain and Other Stories. ** I dread sitting under trees, but today I’ll do it for my wife. She says sitting hand in hand with me under that tree is romantic. I like […]
A Peek Into The Dark Side of Light
For the uninitiated, Sanil Sachar is a 23- year- old author from Delhi, whose first book Summer Promises and Other Poems was published in 2013. He started writing during his time in England, where he completed his high school and graduation. He is an avid footballer apart from being a writer who aspires to inspire and lives […]
A Feeling Called Love
‘I always think I should have a good discussion with you but can’t figure out..about what.’ Radhika looked up to see the man who spoke. He must have been close to 27, medium height, decent looking. She noticed his discomfort after having said those words and wondered how many times he might have rehearsed, to utter them […]
Connecting the dots..
Stretched on soft and supple grass, connecting the sparkling specks in the resplendent sky into an invisible heart, with him next to her, she knew she couldn’t get any richer.The faint scent of his cologne awakened her senses but she restrained the surge of passion. She knew it was dangerous to give in to inconvenient yearnings. She resisted the thought of […]
Ache
I listened to the ticking of the bedside clock in the dead silence of the night, each repetitive beat filling me with fresh guilt, ache and remorse. How I wished to travel back in time to that careless moment, erase it and then change the course of events to a much happier ending. In that […]
Faded..
His lips quivered and tears streamed down his wrinkled cheeks as he held the yellowing piece of paper close to his heart. Memories of the love of his life flashed in his mind forcing a ghost of a smile to linger on his face. He read once again the note she had given him on […]
Birthday Cupcakes
My sister and I got busy in the kitchen. She read out the ingredients from mom’s recipe book and I arranged them on the counter. Both of us aren’t too keen about cooking, but we were determined to bake cupcakes to make a birthday special and memorable. As I mixed flour, eggs, chocolate, sugar and […]