Stories in English

Typhus: Short story by Anton Chekhov – A YOUNG lieutenant called Klimov was travelling from Petersburg to Moscow in a smoking carriage of the mail train. Opposite him was sitting an elderly man with a shaven face like a sea captain’s, by all appearances a well-to-do Finn or Swede. He pulled at his pipe the whole journey and kept talking …

Terror: My Friend’s Story – Anton Chekhov: DMITRI PETROVITCH SILIN had taken his degree and entered the government service in Petersburg, but at thirty he gave up his post and went in for agriculture. His farming was fairly successful, and yet it always seemed to me that he was not in his proper place, and that he would do well …

A Trivial Incident: Story by Anton Chekhov – It was a sunny August midday as, in company with a Russian prince who had come down in the world, I drove into the immense so-called Shabelsky pine-forest where we were intending to look for woodcocks. In virtue of the part he plays in this story my poor prince deserves a detailed …

The party of sportsmen spent the night in a peasant’s hut on some newly mown hay. The moon peeped in at the window; from the street came the mournful wheezing of a concertina; from the hay came a sickly sweet, faintly troubling scent. The sportsmen talked about dogs, about women, about first love, and about snipe. After all the ladies …

Human Robot: A cunning smile played on his lips as Prem Chopra stared at the glaring neon sign – Super Robots Plaza. Now he would be able to buy an accomplice, he thought, as he crossed the busy street towards the store. Surely an adequate investment of his latest loot. And Super Robots were, by far, the best and the …

Spirit of Diwali: Chandan put his hands on his ears trying to shut off the sounds. It was Diwali night. The entire city was lit up. Fire crackers were exploding everywhere. Chandan was lying on a dirty wooden bench in one corner of a dhaba in which he worked, trying to shut off the world and sleep. Diwali – the …

The day we came to stay in our new house, Kalindi received us. She was on the steps. Two friendly, green eyes gazed at us. “What a beautiful black cat”! said my younger sister, Meeta. I almost rushed and picked up the soft, tiny creature and said, “Let us call her Kalindi. This is our cat, a present, a prize.” …

Dadima’s Stick: The first thing Govind and I noticed as Dadima (paternal grand-mother) came out through the glass doors of the Bombay airport in a wheelchair was the stick in her hand. Dadima had gone to Dubai for a short stay with Gopal Chacha (father’s younger brother). A week later, she had had a fall, and her artificial left hip …

A Chase of Cheers: Mr. Lootgia Ram’s car had been stolen. And old Mr. Ram had gone crazy about it. Uncle Samanta had taken up the case. Of late he had been trying his hand at chasing criminals. At sixty-one he was full of enthusiasm in his new interest. “This must be the work of Karchori Lal,” he observed as …

Radha felt happy and satisfied. She had decided to participate in the “Grow a Plant and Win a Prize” contest. She had no experience in growing plants but she was quite enthusiastic about joining the competition and winning a prize. She kept the whole idea a secret. Radha did not even tell her mother or her sister about her plan. …