Fiction & Poetry

Badminton Court
Two white badminton feather shuttlecocks resting on some plants in a dark and moody colour grading.
Badminton Court

Do you know what it feels like to be seen? I also don’t know what it feels like to be properly heard, but that’s a question for another time.
By Sakshi Nain Bishnoi
November 19, 2024
Badminton Court
Home-coming
sunlight passing through open windows
Home-coming

The morning was heavy, laden with the weight of expectation, with the unsettling realisation that something was about to shift.

By Niv, Vanshika Gupta, Anjani Chadha
November 19, 2024
Home-coming
Matryoshka
A group of three nesting dolls or matryoshka dolls sitting on top of a wooden table
Matryoshka

a god made me in spite of its own image
a crooked, vile wooden doll
By Sara Haque
October 17, 2024
Matryoshka
Three Poems: “I dreamt…”, “The day…”, and “Wedding Album”
A blurry, stylised image of people walking down a street
Three Poems: “I dreamt…”, “The day…”, and “Wedding Album”

I always thought I’d get married in a white mekhla-sador, the paht soft and warming, so in cool weather please.

By Unmana
October 17, 2024
Three Poems: “I dreamt…”, “The day…”, and “Wedding Album”
Loving Yourself
Close-up of purple and white heart shaped stones lying on the floor.
Loving Yourself

We carve strangers’ words onto our skin
like tattoos to be flaunted while hiding away
everything that we are from within.
By Aashi Singh
October 17, 2024
Loving Yourself
तीन कविताएं – “आज़ाद कर दो मुझे”, “पीके”, और “हमें नहीं बनना महान”
three concrete sculptures resembling human figures installed at a high altitude and facing towards the right of the image.
तीन कविताएं – “आज़ाद कर दो मुझे”, “पीके”, और “हमें नहीं बनना महान”

हमें नहीं बनना महान
हमें इंसान ही रहने दो।
By अनामिका झा
October 17, 2024
तीन कविताएं – “आज़ाद कर दो मुझे”, “पीके”, और “हमें नहीं बनना महान”
Waves of the Unseen
A cube placed against a flat, vertical plain surface. A maze pattern is superimposed over everything.
Waves of the Unseen

The bathroom stall becomes a sanctuary, a stage, a confession booth.
By Radhika Modi
September 18, 2024
Waves of the Unseen
When I Grow Up I Want to be a List of Queer Possibilities
An arrangement of miniature colourful ceramic houses
When I Grow Up I Want to be a List of Queer Possibilities

To be a gentle / friendship breaker for S. To be // a candle-lit confetti apology for S.
By Aakanksha Ahuja
June 18, 2024
When I Grow Up I Want to be a List of Queer Possibilities
Anjum
Close up of sequins on a sequin dress.
Anjum

You dreamt of your pink dupatta flying over the Lal Quila last night.
By Sara Haque
June 18, 2024
Anjum
The Touch
solitary green plant on parched and heavily cracked brown soil.
The Touch

That day, in bed, Aymen and Ruben hugged each other like Siamese twins in their mother’s womb. Vulnerable, yet whole.
By Andy Stephen Silveira
April 18, 2024
The Touch
Living in Manbir Colony
rain dropping from roof
Living in Manbir Colony

Days upon days rushed by, tatoh chiya, alu thukpa, chicken cowrie, and beer kept us warm during the rejections.
By Hitaishi Gautam
April 18, 2024
Living in Manbir Colony
Lockdown Logs
black pen on the open pages of a diary.
Lockdown Logs

Why does the gap feel so wide no matter how much I explain, again and again, that I do not mean to hurt him… hurt any of them? I feel torn… but Amma and Appa need my help at home. Lockdown has been so damn hard.
By Kaveri
April 18, 2024
Lockdown Logs
Two Poems: “Hidden Costs of Promiscuity” and “Volition”
monarch butterfly perched on yellow sunflower in close up photography during daytime
Two Poems: “Hidden Costs of Promiscuity” and “Volition”

I gargle away the itch in the tonsils accompanying this persistent flu.
By Carol D'Souza
April 18, 2024
Two Poems: “Hidden Costs of Promiscuity” and “Volition”
On the day my lover would die
Sliced white and brown mushrooms on brown wooden table.
On the day my lover would die

I would once again be theirs, in memory, on the day my lover would die.
By Sara Haque
April 18, 2024
On the day my lover would die
Identity’s Dance
Artwork by Shruti Sharma. It shows two girls, one smiling and holding on to a multi-coloured heart and the other one frowning. A rainbow in the background overlaid with a running film reel.
Identity’s Dance

From silver screens to pages penned,
Our identities explored, where journeys never end.
By Shruti Sharma
March 18, 2024
Identity’s Dance
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