A Short Story by Towfeeq Wani Preeti said, “Maybe you better stop doing that. You have no idea how absurd and irritating it is” and I asked, sheepishly, “What?” “Let go, like you will understand,” she replied her favourite reply and the customary silence followed. I tried my best to … Read more →
The Absent Snow
Ashfaq Saraf Love for Sadiq Jaan didn’t allow us the comfort of a palatable surprise. We were made to bury him in the dead of night and with him physical sanctity of his sovereign face which had the potent substance of attracting Amjad out of his hole. Of what was … Read more →
It Is Getting Late
Ambreen Gul Shah Summer was a fading memory and spring was a long way off. A late winter afternoon. Dull, dreary, leafless trees manning the compound wall. The jagged mountains breaking and splintering into the horizon. That horizon beckoned, tempted one to try to cross it. What existed beyond those … Read more →
Psychosis
Shahnaz Bashir Each receding paranoid trooper diminishes, becomes tiny and fades past in the side mirror of the 407 bus, dragging behind itself a long ribbon of the thoroughfare road. The road bends at Dalgate and stretches through the downtown of Srinagar. Sakeena is one of the nearly thirty something … Read more →
Writing on the Wall
Majid Maqbool Riyaz Ahmad made his living by painting messages on walls. He was a sign painter. He survived on irregular work assignments from Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). In his late thirties, he stood out on the street for his imposing height. He had a thin frame but he was … Read more →
A Suicide Note
Basit Malik It is limelight winter evening. I stand firm on my decision, while searching the deepest point in the Jhelum. I am not one of those water environmentalists nor a typical nature lover. I disown the paradox, world and this city. It has amplified my every effort into a … Read more →
Three Lovers Of Night
Arif Ayaz Parrey At first glance, there was nothing ordinary about Roqsaan. Her skin had the sheen of February snow and her eyes were winter nights. She had the attitude of Chilla-i-Kalaan and a pout which warmed men’s hearts like the sun must in Chilla-i-Kalaan, leaving them with an afterglow … Read more →
The Eyewitness – [The Return of Rahima? ]
By Sheikh Saaliq The darkness has already crept in—stars glitter like emerald diamonds. I hear the whispers of air outside. I can smell the freshness of air, which it brings with it for the morning to come—the morning of summer. The hush outside is no longer mute. It brings a … Read more →
Loving, Dying (or being Killed)
Ather Zia The young girl in this story is looking out from the window, of what at one point must have been a large house, now divided into slim columns, probably amongst its heirs. Built with tiny scorched bricks that are held together by mud, the partitions are discernible by … Read more →
Carpentry
Ashfaq Saraf When she wakes up panting in the middle of night, he is wakened too; mostly without delay and sometimes only after she [heaves] Rasheed’s name. He lights on the torch, navigates the glow across the span of the room to locate her trembling face, moves it further to … Read more →
She
A Short Story by Shafi Ahmad She mopped up the kitchen floor, rubbed her forehead with the back of her palm and looked towards the sky which was lit up with moonlight. The light emanating from the moon entered the room through the ventilator and spread the shadow of iron … Read more →