The Rupa Book of Indian Love Stories by Ruskin Bond

20 And still a Virgin?!!?
by Ankur Dahiya

I am lying on a not so comfortable bed in a dilapidated or ramshackle room. Cigarette smoke is all around and nothing is visible. My left hand is resting on one side of the bed with a burning cigarette and smoke rings surrounding me all over. I am constantly looking at not so clearly visible stationary aged fan, which seems like moving at its maximum. A girl is lying with me under a blanket with her face hidden under my arm. She is grabbing my vest with her hand, in which she is wearing a cute thin golden bangle. My right hand is moving back and forth on her back for making her feel comfortable. I crushed the half burned cigarette on the table nearby. I then kiss her cheeks again.

I woke up suddenly. Damn! The same old dream, which I have seen two-three times before also. But what does that signify? ?Stupid dream, it can?t mean anything. It is just a dream.? I told myself.

Urban Shots
by Paritosh Uttam

Edited by bestselling author, Paritosh Uttam, this is an anthology of 29 urban tales by 13 young writers. Each of these fresh, vivid and deceptively simple stories focuses on an epiphany. The stories are set with the backdrop of our urban metros with their bright lights, sky rises, glitzy malls, tenements, crowds and the chaos that comes with it. A woman tries to come to terms with loss of a lost baby; two strangers, a young man and a young woman, both with a love for Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment board the same aircraft; a woman ponders over giving a second chance to her cheating husband; a young man is in love with his apple pie loving best friend, who is set to marry through an arranged match; a chance meeting between two old lovers after 11 years; the memories of an old woman in love; an illiterate migrant from the village looking for her own kind of liberation; the longing of a married woman for another man; a child and his silent suffering mother and their financially strapped family; a couple once in love, frustrated with each other after getting married; love and relationships in the age of Twitter and fat free gelatos; the morning after for a couple in an adulterous relationship; a man running away from his own life in the city hoping to find salvation; a couple who decide to marry for reasons other than love and many more stories...

If you love someone...
by Harimohan Paruvu

A promise made thirty years ago came haunting Meghna Mathur,the chairperson of a wealthy Trust,a week before she turns fifty.She,a twenty old year ambitious,middle class girl with immense faith in the capitalism system and Aditya,a rich rebel with strong communist leanings,meet at inter-collegiate debating competition and spend three perfect days together.Whatever happens later,they promise to meet again on her 50th birthday.

Meghna's life and career had its ups and downs-marriage,success,betrayl,children-and a growing dissatisfaction.Was the old Meghna still alive?Had she lost her 'self' somewhere along the way.

Here was an opportunity to find out.By keeping the tryst with the one who had brought out the best in her all those years.

Will the magic happen again?Will the sun rise at sunset again?