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Everyday Epics is a series of collections of urban short stories about ordinary people navigating love, loss, humour, restlessness and unexpected change. Each story offers a brief window into a moment that reveals something deeper about the human experience.
If you enjoy these stories, the complete ‘Everyday Epics’ collections are available on Amazon.
Get over 140 urban short stories in a single ‘The Collected Short Stories of Ranjit Kulkarni’ collection here.
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In Varanasi, Pappu Pandey gazed at his dear friend Lalu Mishra’s dead body on the pyre. He stood next to Lalu’s son Pratap waiting for proceedings to begin. He was at a makeshift crematorium ghat next to the main one at Manikarnika. It was for people who had passed away due to the lethal pandemic … Read more
It was a place where time stopped. The beauty was overwhelming. Rohan couldn’t get his eyes off the scene. He saw his father get the camera out and click a picture. “Tavleen would have loved being here,” Mr Rana said. “If only…she were here,” he sighed. “It is a spell-binding scene of nature,” Rohan agreed … Read more
The strange thing about my new neighbourhood is that the screaming happens every day. Or more precisely, every night. It starts just before midnight and goes on way past it. Sometimes it goes on for two hours or more. With every passing minute, the screams just keep getting louder. They start with a loud scream … Read more
When everyone had left, Disha secretly checked the wallet she had given to her son again. She counted the money, and reconfirmed that the amount was two hundred rupees lesser than what she had given him. She dabbled around in the drawer of the wardrobe. She found a few pencils, crayons, and some paper. There … Read more
“Doctors treat the disease in the body. Nurses administer the treatment to the body and mind. But when nothing works, it is the Ayah that keeps body, mind and soul together.” As I walked in for my first day at medical college, I read this quote as I entered the premises. The grave of a … Read more
At about 4 PM while sipping his tea, Appa More called his friend Bapu Nadkarni on his mobile, but he did not pick it up. Fifteen minutes later, Appa’s phone rang. It was Arnav, the grandson of his friend Bapu. “Hello Arnav, how are you? I was trying to reach your grandfather some time back,” … Read more
He had expected chants of “Rango, Rango,” reverberate the auditorium. Sarang Gore walked up to the dais to receive the distinguished alumnus award. But all he heard, instead, was pin-drop, eerie silence. Their reunion had less than ten people, all in their fifties, from the class of thirty. Sarang Gore was the most successful alumnus … Read more
At around 4 AM, 81-year-old Venugopal woke up in shock with cold sweat. He had seen a dream and remembered it vividly. In that dream, he saw that he and his ailing wife Nalini were on a train journey. He didn’t quite remember where that journey started from. But he remembered that they were having … Read more
It was the annual conference of the bacterial community. The debate over whether the Human exists took an ugly turn between groups of bacteria. The ‘doesn’t exist’ side was especially aggressive and up in arms. They argued that the Human is non-existent based on sound logic and rational thinking. “The invisible, nonsensical being that you … Read more