He stood at the Goripalayam bus stop every day from morning to night. He had a hideous face. His left eye was placed a little lower than his right one, and his teeth stood out in wild disarray. His unkempt hair rose from his furrowed forehead and cascaded like a lion’s mane. He wore a Read more…

Kartik was very proud of his beautiful house. It was, after all, the biggest house on the street. It was built of lovely red bricks and had large rooms with huge windows. A well laid-out garden could be seen through those windows. The garden itself was brimming with lovely flowers. Kartik had two gardeners to Read more…

‘Do you see the stuffed stag head mounted on the drawing room wall? It’s Uncle Benson’s trophy from a forest expedition,’ Uncle Benson’s friend pointed to the treasured collection of game. ‘How did you find it, uncle?’ I inquired. Uncle looked up at the stag’s head and said, ‘It once roamed freely in the woods. Read more…

Tarun was on his way to school. He had been observing the traffic constable at the intersection of the two main roads near his school for a few days. The constable had a funny way of controlling the traffic. It was as if he were performing Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance. He would click his Read more…

Amin was an infamous thief. People dreaded him. Such was his notoriety that parents often used his name to frighten their children. One day, Amin committed a huge theft in a rich man’s house and made off with a lot of gold jewelry and cash. After this rich haul, he set off for his hideout Read more…

Vimala was a ragpicker. She was thirteen, but she had never been to school. She got up early in the morning and went about rummaging around in trash cans and garbage heaps for something useful. Vimala would collect paper scraps, old rags, plastic items and other apparently useless objects that had been thrown away. She Read more…

It was a dark, moonless night. There were very few vehicles on the road leading from Gwalior to Bhopal through the Chambal valley. A white Contessa was speeding as its headlights pierced through the darkness of the night. Mr. Praveen Joshi, a bank manager, and his close friend, Mr. Harish Bharadwaj, were in the backseat Read more…

When it was lunchtime, Jonas got in the line of food. The prison was high-security and his eyes kept darting to the corners of the walls, trying to pick up cameras and how the guards were positioned. Most of them held tasers in their hands, so that meant they either believed that tasers were good Read more…

Jonas was blindfolded, handcuffed, and dumped into a large SUV as all the soldiers got back inside the vehicle, leaving Jonas’ mother unconscious. Half an hour after they were gone, his mother twitched and called for her son in a weak voice, “Jonas…” When she did not hear a response, she tried to open her Read more…

*Ten years later* “Jonas… Jonas!!” A woman’s voice called out and a tall boy poked his head out of the car he had been working on. “Yes, mom?” “Lunch is ready and I’m starving, so hurry up!” Jonas dusted the dirt and soot off his hands. He was dressed in unclean overalls, his heterochromatic eyes Read more…