The gas lamps hissed like impatient insects, their glass chimneys sweating in the heat. Backstage smelled of attar and dust, rose clinging to skin, chalk to cloth, old wood to everything. Someone had spilled rice water near the doorway; it had dried into a thin white crescent on the floor, a quiet moon that nobody noticed stepping over. Outside, the city kept time with bells and gossip, tram metal ringing somewhere beyond the walls, a hawker’s call splitting into laughter, the night breathing in and out…
To read the full story and 19 other short stories in this series click on the links below:
This story is a part of the book “Lives Between the Dates“, my first printed collection of short stories, bringing together twenty well thought moments from twenty well known lives across twenty Indian cities. These stories do not revisit achievement. They enter the quieter hours around it. The hesitation before action. The doubt behind conviction.
Rooted in real places and shaped by history, this collection gathers the unrecorded moments that define a life more truthfully than any monument.
If you have found something here that stayed with you, some of my other books are now available in print and digital editions. They gather longer journeys, quieter questions, and stories that continue beyond this page.
Weekend Stories by Trishikh 
🙏👍🏼
Aum Shanti
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Thank you… 🙏🏼
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so glad your finally published pal, congrats and another great story..
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Thank you William. Yes, it was a long old dream that came true. I always wished to publish.
I will continue writing stories which would still be free for my readers, along with publishing kindle and paperback versions of books that could be bought (they would have different stories ofcourse).
Now anyone can buy some of my books (kindle and paperback versions): https://storynookonline.com/buy-my-books/
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very best of luck friend, well deserved.
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I love how you described the rice water spilled on the floor like a small crescent moon. That has made me relaxed and hungry for Arroz con Leche (Rice with milk) a desert Spanish speaking countries have lol.
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So glad that you liked my little description. As you know, sights, sounds, and smells are very important to me. I try my best to paint a visual picture with my words, trying to make the scenes as descriptive as possible.
We Bengalis also have a few rice and milk delicacies like Payesh or Payesham, also famous in other parts of India with certain variations.
I once wrote a story dedicated to sweets from Bengal. The Story is called “Poetry”, you can read the story at: https://storynookonline.com/2020/10/10/poetay/
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Hmmm will Check out later
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There is something quietly powerful in the way you begin this piece—not with achievement, not with proclamation, but with residue. The hiss of gas lamps, the scent that clings, the thin crescent of dried rice water no one notices stepping over. It feels as though history is being built not on events, but on textures.
What stayed with me most is that unnoticed moon on the floor. It carries the shape of time itself—present, but almost dismissed. Your project, “Lives Between the Dates,” seems to insist that these overlooked intervals are where a life is truly formed. Not in the inscription on the wall, but in the pauses before it.
Thank you for honoring those small, unrecorded thresholds.
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Dear Livora, your reading feels like a hand gently tracing the very residue the story begins with.
Thank you for noticing the textures. I have always believed that history announces itself loudly, but life rarely does. It settles quietly into corners, into scents that linger after the lamps are put out, into the thin crescent on the floor that someone steps over without a thought. If that unnoticed moon stayed with you, then the story has done what it hoped to do.
You have understood the spirit of Lives Between the Dates with rare clarity. The inscription on the wall may endure in stone, but a life is shaped in the pauses before the chisel touches it. Those unrecorded thresholds, those moments without witnesses, are where the pulse truly beats.
I am deeply grateful that you do not merely read the lines, but listen for what gathers between them. Readers like you remind me why these small silences are worth honouring.
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Your achievement list is growing longer. Congratulations. However, I am unable to figure the pricing of the book in India.
That brings me to the question does KDP mean reasonably priced books available only in the US ?
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Dear Geeta, Thannk you for your constant appreciation. The reply to this comment arrives late, apologies from my side, and I am happy that you have been successful in aquiring my book. Nothing gives me greater joy, as I have shared in another comment.
Well let me tell you about KDP: Since most of my fanbase is in the US and other countries, lesser in comparison to India (this is not intentional, it just happened through my blog), KDP gives me an opportunity to publish a book without spending a single paisa. They print and Publish the book, I get a certain percentage of royalty on every sale. The royalty money will only come to me when a certain amount in accumulated. The minimum accumulated moneyfor before royalty payment can me made varies from country to coutry. Like if people are buying my books in the US, KDP will make payment to me only when $100 gets accumulated as royalty payment, etc. There are a lot of nitty gritties, but not that difficult to learn. The books are priced very decenntly for the US and international markets. And everythig happens without me spending a single rupee.
Now if I want to similarly publish primarily for te Indian market, I think I have to go through a publisher like NotionPress, but they charge some money. I am not aware if any publisher does it completely free in India like KDP does for the US.
I am still learning all this.
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Since I have a little experience of publishing in India no PH does it free of cost over here and the marketing of the book is completely the author’s responsibility.
You can try Hawakal Publication which is Kolkata based but I don’t know their norms of publication. However, they seem to encourage new writers.
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That sounds encouraging and will certainly explore. Right now KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) seems to be working well for me. At least my books are reaching people all over the world.
Once I witness and experience a seamless royalty payment process, which I am sure will happen in due course of time, I will be completely convinced of KDP.
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Yes, I think KDP is a good alternative if they scrupulously take care of the royalty.
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That is true. Geeta can I ask you to send me a hi from my contact page: https://storynookonline.com/contact/ then we could also be in touch on email and WhatsApp.
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Right. Will do.
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Greetings of a serene and joyful day, Trishik
Wonderful themes and gently written with such great commitment and dedication to convey great thoughts. You show rather than merely tell for your stories are so image-centric and we get immediately transported to the realms of your protagonists who are also kind and compassionate.
I always feel that fiction is actually a flow from the real persona of the poet or an author.
Wishing you infinite health, hope, and peace.
Best wishes, 🌄
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Thank you for such a generous and thoughtful message.
Your words about showing rather than telling mean a great deal to me. I have always believed that a story must first become an image in the mind before it becomes meaning in the heart. If you feel transported into the realms of the protagonists, then the door opened as it was meant to.
You speak of fiction flowing from the real persona of the writer. I suspect you are right. However much we invent, something of our own pulse travels quietly beneath the sentences. Compassion, doubt, longing, hope. They cannot be disguised for long. They find their way into the light.
Your wishes for health, hope, and peace are received with gratitude. May those same blessings return to you in abundance, and may your own days remain serene and quietly luminous.
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Great day, Trishik,
Beautifully conveyed by you. 🎊
Peace and positive manifestations. 🌄
Kind regards,
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