26/11, 9/11, 7/7—dates that have changed the way we see ourselves and those around us. Dates that have changed the world, and not for the better.

Why is the world getting increasingly fragmented? Is there a way for us to understand different viewpoints better? 

In this collection, writers from India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan—Gulzar, Elmo Jayawardena, Manjula Padmanabhan, Poile Sengupta, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, Subhadra Sen Gupta and others—write about various kinds of conflict in our society and history. Some stories are dark, others full of light and hope, and some outright funny as they portray mindless bigots for what they are.

When a church burns in Bangalore, the altar cloth ends up in the hands of Mubina, whose grandmother can clean and repair it like no one else; years after the Partition tore a friendship apart, two people try to find the happiness that was once within their reach; and while chasing away courting couples from the Delhi Ridge, a young thug learns a lesson about what really makes Indian ‘culture’.

Interspersed with poems that articulate pleas for peace and understanding, this collection is sure to start a conversation on religion, race, caste, and mindsets that divide us.