⁠⁠Fiction

⁠⁠Fiction

FICTION / The thief

Farid Shaheb earned a fair bit at the office today. These days, because of the Anti Corruption Commission and newspaper journalists’ incessant pestering, he can no longer directly take the money offered to him.

5d ago

FICTION / The burden of words

It was not often that I received odd parcels. True, my job at the paper did occasionally warrant a few peculiar hate-mail or rebuttals, but this was nothing of that sort

1w ago

FICTION / Home for rent

Mrs X's parents were not interested in spending money on their daughter's room because they would have to give her new furniture when she got married

2w ago

KHERO KHATA / The morgues are full

In Gaza, the names of the martyrs slip through silence, lost to a world too distracted to listen

3w ago

FICTION / Retribution

Mohsin would burst into laughter, saying, "Justice for rape? Is that even a crime worthy of justice?" Rabeya, laughing alongside him, would add, "People expect justice for rape these days? I'm speechless at their naïveté!" 

1m ago

FICTION / The heart remains a stone that does not skip through water

You tell me stories of the sea—of its waves, of how it speaks to you in a language only you can understand—whenever you write back to me.

2m ago

KHERO KHATA / Egg drop soup

The cream colored bowl held the steaming, almost translucent yellow broth with traces of white, garnished by an array of green onions slashed in an angle.

2m ago

KHERO KHATA / Fixed

The rain began at dusk, its cold fingers tracing the cracked panes of the house like an unwelcome visitor. By midnight, the storm had grown wild, wind howling through the trees, rattling the fragile bones of the dwelling. I stood before the door, my hand trembling on the tarnished brass handle.

2m ago

Something smells fishy

The large green pond of Dhanmondi Lake was probably the first source of natural water that I had witnessed. It sheltered a huge number of people who have lived,

5m ago

At the birth of death

One sits silently. Her eyes blink sometimes. Sometimes her lips tremble a little, or they don’t tremble at all.

5m ago

An interview with Shakchunni

Behind the bangles that jingle ominously in the dark, there is a voice—a voice that has long been silenced

5m ago

Leave of absence

“Residents usually get 30 days of observation period,” said the man at the reception, “but since it’s a leap year, you get an extra day.

5m ago

The hawk and the mice

Bolstered, the six little mice lead their army up–up–up the trunk of the poor, ravaged oak they were so desperate to save. 

5m ago

Ira in my town

After many years, Ira has returned to my town. She hops four towns to get here. We are supposed to meet today. I’ve been ready since morning. We will meet by the lakeside.

6m ago

The veil of shadow

He had consistently disregarded the villagers' accounts of bhoot-prets as local folklore. To him, they were just stories to scare the gullible

6m ago

Trapped in the bite

I woke up with the taste of blood in my mouth

6m ago

Bangali ghosts vie for the fishes

That night, the wind howled like the wolves as Shyam and Alameen rowed silently, their boat traversing through the misty air and the water rippling gently beneath them.

6m ago

Mother saves her corpses before lunch

Mother woke before sunrise with the weight of the house pulling at her bones and moved against the cold floor, the chill biting at her ankles. In the corner hung the gutted rabbit, its blood pooling on the floor. Her fingers trembled, as she bathed herself in it, coating her skin red.

6m ago