Ipshita Majumdar

“The librarian” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #91

I gripped the book with my sweaty hands and looked about the checkout desk. Organic cocoa butter hand cream greased my spotless palm which always used to be ink-stained, back in college. Without the late afternoon sun streaming through dirty glass panes, the library was eerily quiet and unusually dark. There were no pages rustling, no keyboard clicking away and no silent chatter wafting in from the hidden nooks and corners of shelves. Fidgeting, unsure of what to do with this strange energy crackling through me, I walked towards the first ...

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“The boy from Hindustan” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #80

On a freezing white winter morning, as I carried spring water home, I found the entire village council convened on the frontyard. Not an unusual sight, my mother, Bahisa was the village Seer, but it meant that I would have to make my way, discreetly to the back. In passing, I noticed the ceremonial hat of the council chief. “Aliseh,” I burst into the back chambers, out of sight of the seating hall at the front.  I noticed my other parent had wrapped her noisy mortar and pestle in cloth while grinding her daily stock of medicines. Sh...

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“The Missing Photograph” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #61

Story in progress***I do miss my home. The beautiful rose garden my mother has toiled over, my grandfather's sagging cane chair, which swings a bit sadly without it's occupant, the smell of pungent spices which blend together and draw out a million different memories playing out over my tongue. I just hate the people who live in it. Each time my feet hit the pebbled garden path to the door, my muscles ache from all the cramps of the 5 hr long bus journey. In hindsight, I could have waited for the next flight or postponed the visit to a ...

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“Thallium Part-2” by Ipshita Majumdar

This is in continuation with Thallium, my previous story. There might be some discontinuities or plot holes. I'll be more than happy to correct:)***Feroz Singhvi aimed her gun at the marked spot on the speckled grey granite overhead and fired. The ceiling of the tunnel rumbled and a few cracks appeared--she stood back and waited. This was her only chance of ever seeing her family again. The sun-feeders had successfully guided Ayush and Tara away from the Himachal Electricity Apparatus for Regulation and Transport--the H.E.A.R.T. so that she ...

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“Thallium” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #58

2200 A.D., Shimla, India:“Bappu, my friend lost one of his shoes, can you help me find it?” Five year old Ayush Singhvi looked up hopefully to his father, sitting inside his productivity cubicle. A red icon was slowly beeping on the flexiglass panel enclosing the father-son duo, indicating the end of their family interaction hour. His father, Parth Singhvi, sighed in resignation. “Where did your friend lose his shoe?” Bappu finally asked him, but his eyes kept glancing at the left side control panel to see how much time was left, exactl...

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“In a Flash” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #57

“Escaping again, Zohra?” Sunny Gehlot called out to me as I almost closed the door behind. It was my mother’s memorial service and I was determined not to stay. He wasn’t entirely wrong, this was my last attempt at finding some peace away from the clicks, the microphones and the media ruckus that accompanied my mother, Purvi Mistry. Instead, I swivelled about and thrust the door open, reentering the usually empty house, which teemed with staffers dressed in white. Good children do not talk back.My mother popped up in my head as usual.&n...

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“Delirium” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #52

I had spent an entire afternoon weeping over Kavan Rathore’s death, for the eleventh time in a week. It was disorienting to see him outside the grocery store, that very evening, smiling his heart-wrenching, lopsided smile. It had all started with the flu. The one I caught by getting wet in the rain and jumping into puddles like a lunatic. Why did I do all of the above mentioned things? There is no dignified answer to that, I am afraid, so I’ll come out clean. It was a desperate performance of the manic-pixie dream girl, for a boyfriend who...

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“A few drops of starlight” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #51

My name is Ashraf and I was born under the constellation of Orion and its valiant, steady lights.My village used to be one where sparkling diamond lights would light up summer evenings and draw out families to their terraces and courtyard. About a dozen or more unruly heads would run about, zigzagging around woven cots, sprinkled across the streets.The menfolk would spill out into the streets, pondering over the mysteries of a minuscule cosmos, comprising of our village and 2 or 3 neighboring ones, at the most. My mother, aunts and a few oth...

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“War of words” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #50

1200 A.D. , Near the Ural mountains:  Princess Emzadokht paced up and down, inside a pristine white tent, clenching her fist and crumpling a piece of paper. It was her first ever attempt at poetry. The opening of the tent, embroidered with dragons and djinns, fluttered slightly. She was relieved that they had finally left the treacherous desert behind and had camped near a turquoise blue lake, nestled between the grey-green undulating hills. “How is my Lady feeling today?” Rubina, her chambermaid, stooped in a low curtsey and stood at...

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“Sorry with no caveats” by Ipshita Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #47

How do you extract an apology from someone you have hated consistently for close to three decades of your existence?  Of course, you can simply choose not to. But an irritating inner voice, of an 8 year old, screaming and venting, demands closure and peace. You try to drown yourself in the noise of fax machines, traffic, heavy EDM music or even the vacuum cleaner in moments of desperation. Anything to avoid the stifling silence and the tears that rumble in your throat. Shabbir, a friend of your father had cracked a stupid banana joke ...

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