fiction

FICTION / The vanishing Ramanujan

The night after the story got published, Jamal stormed to my home at around 11 PM, drenched in the rain. That was the first and only time Jamal raised his voice against me

Reader Submission / States

"That’s why I have jars of jealousy, anger, sadness, monotony, but this – it’s important."

Love poem for the reflection in the mirror

I will not even begin with the skies

FICTION / 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.

FICTION / An interview with Shakchunni

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

FICTION / 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.

FICTION / 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. 

FICTION / 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.

The Box

She frantically whisper-screamed at him, “Stop yelling! And this is serious Fayaz, we need to find that box.

February 29, 2024
February 29, 2024

Sweet shop vendors

We will chase after stringless kites, Down the road

February 26, 2024
February 26, 2024

Dhaka 2084: Interview of a Time Traveller

The sudden appearance — and the equally sudden disappearance — of a middle-aged woman named Eli Kaizer, who claimed to be a time traveller, has caught the attention of not only our city, but the entire world.

February 17, 2024
February 17, 2024

Interim

That was the first time in my life I’d smelled charred meat. I could tell it was different from the kind you’re supposed to eat, and my mother had to hold me as I threw up violently on the side of the street.

February 17, 2024
February 17, 2024

A Born Reader

Surveying the decorated wall now vibrantly alive with Winnie the Pooh and Harry Potter characters, Sarah allowed herself a satisfied grin.

February 11, 2024
February 11, 2024

Girlfriends, girlhood and everything else Dolly Alderton knows about love

Review of "Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir" (Penguin, 2018)

February 10, 2024
February 10, 2024

Screams and Schadenfreude

TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide, death, and gore.

February 9, 2024
February 9, 2024

5 new releases to look out for at Boi Mela this week

With the advent of the most anticipated literary festival for lovers of the written art, we have curated a list of five books for you to keep your eyes open for at Amar Ekushey Boi Mela this week. 

February 8, 2024
February 8, 2024

Tucked between moving trains and elegiac dead-ends

Some among us might have wondered what it feels like to hold a lit bomb between our palms. One that will go off inevitably yet its spark, heat, force, weight, and pulsating nature are so fascinating that we are unable to put it down or look away, all the while knowing at the end of the wick we too will be destroyed—a chosen death, a voluntary annihilation.

January 27, 2024
January 27, 2024

A Solo Exhibition

Never in his wildest imaginations had Aniket thought that everything would come together so well. Nearly everyone he invited had come.

January 20, 2024
January 20, 2024

The Melancholic Man

The whole courtroom held their breath, waiting to hear Nizam's answer. As he nodded in affirmation, the enraged audience got off their seats to beat up the accused.