Fiction & Poetry
Sins that can’t be washed away
Like some perverted Pavlovian desire,
the wafting smell of fresh soap
that fills up the air in the bath
has my pupils dilate when walking out.
By Hritvika Lakhera
June 1, 2023
Things other than maths I tried doing, and failed miserably
Waxing my body for the first time last year to have silky skin like the women on Veet’s box but ended up with rashes instead.
By Greeshma
I never liked your beanie
I only ever read your letters
to learn what patterns to avoid
in future relationships.
By Hritvika Lakhera
May 4, 2023
What is your verb
Khusro to Bullah. Ada to Parveen
यह, वह, वो
He, she, they
Lover or Beloved? Woman or Man?
By Carol D'Souza
March 1, 2023
Love belongs to me too
I see people and places,
Couples and crushes
I hear giggles and whispers.
These are the secrets untold to me.
By Gayathri
March 1, 2023
Did you see?
They’ punch him
with the pejorative
‘sissy’
and blame him for his smooth skin
and pink lips
for all ‘their’
disoriented gazes.
March 1, 2023
At Chattar Manzil
We are two boys in our early twenties
who can read touch like that, who have broken into
a 200-year-old mansion, without permission,
to see from above where people like them go
after 377 has been read down only for those
who can stay behind closed doors — in the custody
of cheap hotels, or houses that welcome nights
with the sound of latches closing.
By Aditya Vikram
February 16, 2023
Dissociation
Who is this that works my hand?
Who is this that moves my pen?
Touch is a beetle creeping on this foreign thing
That wears my body like an evening.
By Jhelum Mukherjee
February 2, 2023
Two Poems: ‘A room of one’s own’ & ‘Sunshine’
You couldn’t begin to say the self
Before someone helps you finish —
Self-centred
Self-serving
Selfish
By Carol D'Souza
September 19, 2022
Two Poems: ‘Only sometimes’ & ‘No filter’
Sometimes my love is
as expansive as the earth itself
Patient
None of the restlessness of a filly
By Carol D'Souza
May 3, 2022
Two Poems: ‘Stepwells’ & ‘In the Dimly Lit Room’
Just like on a misty morning,
we both
sit
without a shred of adornment
on these ancient stepwells
and the call of the hummingbirds
offer us sensations,
imagination,
and our innocence
May 3, 2022
Three Poems: ‘Untitled’, ‘Alchemy’ & ‘Third date’
He said ‘tender’ today/in such a way/I thought/I’d definitely like him saying/dirty things to me
By Carol D'Souza
February 1, 2022
I will meet you post quarantine
A kiss for the side of your neck One for the last of your back For a year that we…
By Aishwarya Shrivastav
December 1, 2021
There I sat down and wept
“Be yourself, Sarah. Awkward smiles, empty silences, weird laughter, and all. It’s just a part of being human. Loving someone physically is never not awkward. Even if it’s a monogamous relationship. It’s only the comfort of familiarity that makes you think otherwise.”
By Anna Lynn
April 19, 2021
Constructing Pillars
Unbiased academic Pillars Stand rock hard and Straight-shoot to the sky. Pillars My teacher tells me all…
By Bhavyakirti Singh
April 5, 2021