The room held the heat as if it were a duty. Walls breathed dampness back into the air, and the floor retained the day’s warmth despite the hour’s attempt at mercy. Outside, Guwahati moved carefully along the river’s edge, its houses listening more than speaking. The Brahmaputra was close enough to be felt even when unheard, its presence pressing against the city like a held opinion. Inside, illness rearranged time. It slowed it, thickened it, made each moment insist on being counted…

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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.

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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.