Book Excerpt: Iqbal Chacha
By Sameer Khan
Wiping his face with his handkerchief, he looked to me and said, “The letter that I want to be written in Urdu is for my brother, Maqbool, in Pakistan.
Short Story: Maria Josh
By Vismay Kamate
The love of my life, who followed Islam, who fasted in the month of Ramzan, who was a Muslim and, by and large, a human being, died in the riots, and my father, who was part of these riots, demolished my faith in his paternity forever.
Short Story: Gods and Rivers
By Haris Ahmed
Today as he undertakes this arduous journey to the highlands, the survivors are all brethren, equals to each other. “Justice is finally served!” he sighed looking up towards the azure sky as he and other survivors passed through a narrow track perched across a valley.
Short Story: When Yusuf Died
By Ajay Raina
That night, he had soaked his being in the unexpected rare gift of a strangely beautiful silence. He had not slept all night, that night.
The Anticipation
By Anindita Das
Her restlessly roving eyes caught the electronic status board of the flights. The word ‘cancelled’ against Air India stared back at her. Each letter, formed in red, confirmed her worst fear. Her long anticipated holiday now stood cancelled. CANCELLED.
The Less Fortunate
By Haris Ahmed
The man was shivering; a young lad shoved him down on his knees. Another man loaded his rifle. Before the crowd could react, the man lay lifeless in a pool of blood. The crowd began cheering and roaring in frenzy.
Short Story: Missing in Action
By Tanushree Ghosh
The Lucknow search hadn’t yielded anything; it seemed the missing person complaint lodged with the local police station continued to be low on the priority list. This was the final hope and the floodgates to tears and grief would fling open if he didn’t show up in his proper yet slightly yellowed kurta and pajama, holding his treasured US traveler roll-on that Sourav had brought home few years back.
The Ripples of Life
By Lopa Banerjee
Her thoughts glided between her life, then and now. Life had threatened her with its clarion call, which she tried her best to dismiss with her arrogance, her vitality, her quest to live. Her mother’s death had pushed her, vehemently and mercilessly, to a bottomless pit from which she pulled herself out slowly.
Mehru’s Dream
By Mosarrap H. Khan
A strong gust of wind almost threw her off. She felt the first few drops of cold rain on her skin. It excited her and made her want more. Mehru stood in the middle of the courtyard with her face lifted to the sky in anticipation. The large drops of rain lashed against her face, making her feel a stinging pain.
The Gift
By Anna P. Monaghan
Pickard glowed in private memory of his kindnesses, but he desired greatly for a new language of love. This was not just kindness, he thought – this was a man’s right to feel! To feel and express his feeling! Would his snobbish relatives ever understand? How would they react if they knew François was in his will? A man has the right to pass on his legacy – it is his right! And François was safe.
Holiday
By Rabindranath Tagore
The other boys were overjoyed to see these results almost before the games had started in earnest, but Photik became very anxious. Makhan scrambled up immediately and attacked Photik, hitting him with blind rage.
Short Story: Is that you darling? Are you home?
By Achyut Dutt
The years have flown fairly quickly after that. After moving to the west, Rani and you had one more child, a son, Arnav. He is going to Stanford since last August. Tina lives with her husband Dieter in Schwedt. They have a cottage by the Elbe. And Rani. It’s now a year since the very light of your life, your Rani, passed away, consumed by the cancer which had galloped unchecked through her thyroids.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 