(Read Part I here) The corn was sold, and the income was not enough to pay for Molong’s debts. However, the financer of the farm, a rich man from the center of the town, offered to buy the farm, horse,…
Black Rice (Part I)
The food was alive, Nonoy was sure of it. The thin slices of meat were wriggling in the frothing red sauce, like souls flung in hell, gnashing their teeth in a lake of fire, condemned forever and ever. The boy…
The Incubation Chamber
“You have child bearing hips,” said Amitabh, as he steadied me when I tripped and nearly fell on rain washed path outside my house, just after we had returned after performing my father’s terhvi, (the thirteenth day after his death)…
The Short Sweet Life of Nameless
The childless couple did not name her, first because she was a dog and second because they didn’t own her. Nameless was just a tolerated scavenger, a pitied-upon beggar, an overstaying visitor, but never an adopted pet. All the same,…
Prince Charming
An-an leaned down and pointed the tongs at the croissants. “This one, sir?” she asked the customer on the other side of the glass shelf. “No,” the man in pink shirt said. “The bread on the left.” “This?” An-an asked,…
Going Home
Dr. Tan removed the stethoscope from his ears and let it hang around his neck. “Can I go home, Doc?” Indo asked in a wheezing voice, buttoning up his shirt. “Not yet, Nong Indo,” the young doctor said. “We have…
Only The Good Die Young
March 28, 1971, Kaptai, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) Mrs Samad ran. She ran like she had never run before. Barefoot. In a kaftan. Missing her bra. Eyes bloodshot. Hair undone. Ruffled. Flailing her arms. Crying hysterically. She ran through a…
Monsoon Melodies
“Grand ma, grand ma,” Tina came rushing up the stairs, one stormy evening. Grandma, who stood in the dining hall, setting a table for two, glanced at her and asked gravely. “What is it dear?” “Our cow has just given…
The Wait
Nine days after her husband left for another woman, Elda, after discovering she was pregnant, became worried. She knelt crouching over the chamber pot that morning, retching air, and spewing spit, her stomach contracting as though her innards were being…
Diary of a chirpy toddler
Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived a king and a queen. They lived in a beautiful castle. The king was very kind and humble. He was a healer. He liked to heal people from their…
Return to Origin
I was back. I was back in this familiar alley. I could see the book shop “Mitra book stall”. I looked up. It was evening time. The sun was setting. I stood there mesmerized, breathing in the last of the…