In a tribute to her hometown, Yashnashree presents an alphabet of hope for Patna, an A-Z from the amaltas to ‘hum’ and from Nalanda to ‘yaari’.

A poem by Mitra Samal: ‘Your poem seemed like a dream / hiding under the warmth of / your breath, in the chillness of winter.’

A poem by Sayani Mukherjee: ‘Leftovers for the first time / Syrupy sweet nectarine smudged / Odours of sweet remembrance’

Short story by Michelle D’costa: ‘A man had overdosed that day. Jude remembers the tattoo on the OD guy’s bicep: A dragon spitting fire which held three symbols, Om, a cross, and a star cradled in a crescent moon.’

Short story by Asha Jyothi: ‘I don’t know what in the world I was thinking, but I look directly at him, and he holds my gaze, and looks at my naked teeth. “Pyar kiya, koi chori nahi ki.” I have loved, not committed a theft.’

A poem by Sonali Chanda: ‘The mystery still remains / in the petals of marigolds, / in the peels of oranges that I kept / the mysteries living in me.’

A poem by Sayani Mukherjee: ‘Bring back solemn thoughts / Night’s carpe diem of mahogany sighs’

Short story by Mehreen Ahmed: ‘As soon as she stepped out of the cubicle, the ‘ghost’ disappeared. Perhaps, it was an optical illusion. Like a rainbow where people saw only the colours, not the water particles behind the veil.’

In a special anthology curated by Ronald Tuhin D’Rozario, nineteen luminary Indian poets respond to the winter through verse. ‘In this odour of detachment, December somehow develops a quiet stir of emptiness inside. It gently teaches the importance of slowness, just like dropping a semicolon between sentences.’

Poetry by Debarati Sen: ‘The world is but a granule of sand / seeping fast through my fingers.’

Poetry by Kavita Parwani Talib: ‘Is this a sign that I’m not completely biodegradable? / Because I leave a hesitant carbon footprint / In my distributed plasticity?’

Photo Gallery: A year after another Kumbh Mela, Karan Madhok visits Haridwar to explore a city deeply immersed in the juxtaposition of religion and commerce.