‘It’s going to be a very dull life in a village, after living in Goa,’ said Rakesh. His younger brother, Ravi, and their visiting cousin, Prashant, nodded in agreement. Rakesh and Ravi’s mother had contracted measles, so she had decided to send the three boys away to her vacant old house in a small village. Read more…

Gemma was Nisha’s dearest friend. Nisha had loved Gemma since the moment she had seen her. Gemma had sparkling blue eyes, which had a tenderness about them. She was a French girl who had come to India with her grandfather. Her parents were divorced. Unfortunately, Gemma hardly meant anything to them. The only person whom Read more…

When the bus driver took his seat, every passenger in the bus heaved a sigh. The driver switched on the pocket transistor. An old Kishore Kumar song was being broadcast. He checked the volume and turned it up. However, a special announcement soon interrupted the song. ‘The police are still on the lookout for the Read more…

The school bell rang loudly. Rahul’s car pulled up under the portico followed by a long line of cars. Waving at his friends, Rahul hopped into the backseat and dumped his bag beside him. The driver, Bansilal, was an old man. He had worked for Rahul’s father since Rahul had been a baby. He looked 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…

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…