This is a collection of fourteen short stories by Paramita Satpathy. These stories are full of characters that conceal their true persona under a veneer of a false confidence who are then are driven to seek a state of euphoria, releasing these dormant passions in unguarded moments. We have characters like Maya, whose life seems to upend the moment spots appear on her body. On the other hand, for her best friend Veena, life seems to be most sorted. Everyone seems to pity Maya, and she longs...

‘It took nearly five minutes for her ashes to cool down. Afterwards, someone held out a handful. “Here she is, your Lara. Take her.” The agony stuck within me like an iceberg for one thousand days shattered without warning and drowned me in a flood of tears.’A man sits before his wife lying comatose in a refrigerated chamber and tells her the thoughts he had never dared express when she was conscious; ‘When the Gods Left’ follows Rajula Dip, a carrion-picker, as he ...