So many people have been away from their homes and villages in this distant land for their stomachs! Then, who stays in the places they have left behind?

Suryamukhi wasn’t listening either, her eyes gave it away—they reflected the sprightly fireworks of a wedding ceremony.

Many girls in this village were married off early, much before they reached the legal age for the act, and not just among the poor and low caste people, this was the norm even among the rich and the upper caste.

I looked at the nameplate once before boarding the taxi. The address was still the same- 14/A Ahiripukur Road.

Lying in bed at night, when all was quiet, aside from the incessant drone of the beetles floating in from the wilderness beyond, Tridib felt the untamed forest inching close.

The fear of the hills for me was, therefore, naturally enmeshed in the memory of the marketplace.

And then one day, I earnestly set out with the resolve to rescue my mother, and hunt and kill the monster.

I hope this story about wishing happiness and success for our progeny gets transmitted from body to body, blood to blood, mind to mind.’

And those who would play their roles the best would stay at those beautiful houses in Bittersweet City. Some would hide the object, but definitely glanced at it sometimes.