The water of Zam Zam, once a symbol of purification, that his former crime partner brought him from Makkah, couldn’t cleanse the guilt that clung to him like a shroud. The crime of killing his beloved in the fields always haunted him in the darkness of his cell. He was placed at the far end of the barrack in a wide cell secluded from other prisoners. His mind was always filled with the multiple endings of that tragic event like the multiple endings of epic drama. But in the current situation, he could not change those endings. If he were not the son of a Malik sahib, the ending of his life would be like the ending of his last meeting with his beloved. The family status worked in the High Court and he was released only the day before his second birthday celebration in the prison. The first one…
JUNE 2018 “Walker!” Elliot called from the porch. Oh shit, I thought; I’d forgotten about the camping trip. “Hang on!” I threw my…
“What was your other thing?” Chandler said. “Come on, I’m getting stiff here.” They were on the tennis court bench at Polliwog Park, in…
Jenny woke up late in the morning, with the sun already streaming through the bedroom curtains. She rolled over to greet her husband, but…
‘Please, don’t fire me,’ said Colm. The manager looked him in the face and kept very still. ‘The decision has been made.’ ‘But I…
After a gap of two years from our last trip to Kathmandu and Pokhara, we again went on a road trip. Apart from my…
I reached my office, sweaty, bedraggled and in dire need of rear ends to kick. I owed my saintly mood to the soul-sucking, BP-raising,…
Ken Elswick was a retired archivist known to list stone-skipping as one of his many hobbies. He owned a labrador named ‘Future’ and held…
I was about to close my clinic when my mobile rang. It was from Raeni, my fiancée. “Khenan,” she said, “are you busy? Can…