Mad & Madder by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay

No one knew how the photograph turned up in Manoj's house. In fact, no one even knew who the person in the photo was. It had always been one among many other photos in the house. But no one could tell where it came from, or who the boy in the picture was.

The picture was certainly of a boy. He was between eight to ten years of age... He wore socks and shoes, a pair of white shorts and a full-sleeved sweater, under which the collar of a white shirt could be seen...

...A ray of sunlight had fallen slantwise on the veranda behind the boy. On one side of the veranda were a door and a curtain with floral patterns on it. The veranda was in the sun, but the curtain was in the shadow, as a result of which the flowers on the curtain could not be made out very clearly. And from behind the curtain, another face could be seen, peeping.


The face was very blurred, and one could just about make out a smile on the face. It was as if someone was looking at the boy being photographed and smiling.


-- Translated from Bengali by Abhijit Gupta