TellTale
  • 2 May 2012
    How to Marry Gay in a Traditional Family
    Bishal Thapa

    “I have to tell you something,” Sharmila said softly, closing the bathroom door softly behind her. I turned to look at her. Traces of the red sindoor  (a traditional red or orange-red colored cosmetic powder)  were visible in the parting of her wet hair.    

  • 1 November 2011
    The Lotus Snatcher
    Bishal Thapa

    Inspector Sharma picked up the phone even before it rang, just as the screen began to light up. A fourth body had been found, the caller announced dryly. He gulped the remaining bit of whisky and raced off to the murder site. It was a busy intersection, just after noon. The traffic lights were not working...

  • 16 July 2011
    Remember the Invisibles
    Chitij Karki

    The village was small, mere 30 huts huddled together inside a small valley.  They must have found me in the charred ruins of my plane.  I was anxious and the pain was intolerable. The little I saw of my body were all burns, bruises and wounds. Brown burn marks were splattered all over my body...

  • 5 June 2011
    Surveillance
    Bal Bahadur Thapa

    You may not believe that I am sane. But I am. You may not believe that I am free. But that's what I am. I am a free girl. I am free to do whatever I want. And there is no parental surveillance here at the hospital. The surveillance of nurses and doctors does not bother me at all...

  • 28 February 2011
    Piranhas in the Bagmati
    Bishal Thapa

    I couldn’t be sure that the fish I had caught in the Bagmati were actually Piranha until the Professor placed one under his dissecting-scope and peered into the eyepiece. He remained hunched over for a long time, before flopping back...

  • 5 February 2011
    Girl, Boy and Man (or Reciprocation)
    Aayush Niroula

    That December, he watched light recede through the window of a cheap motel in Sundhara; the room was spare, except for the bed he was in and an old, battered drawer. Between cigarettes, he started to think. Looking around, he felt he was looking at this room for really the first time, even though he had waited for her for about an hour in it.

  • 11 December 2010
    The Paper Boat
    AbhiManyu Dixit

    Complete_Stranger: Did you lose someone close to you?

    Loner: Yeah. My Granmaw.

    Complete_Stranger: I'm sorry.

    Loner: Don't worry about it. 

    She was quite old and diseased.

    Complete_Stranger: What disease?

  • 30 September 2010
    Our Ruin
    Pranaya SJB Rana

    As the record spun, I twirled a lock of Tara’s hair around my finger, mimicking the movement, keeping time with the scratches and odd clicks the player made. She lay with her head on my lap, her legs hanging off of the side of the bed. Prasit sat on the floor, cross-legged and resting back on his hands, the palms flat on the carpet.