In 1898, towards the end of the Gilded Age, four people from different walks of life find themselves in the same train car. They depart from New York City, but the time and place they seek might be out of reach.

Inspired by the life of my grandfather’s aunt, Auspicious Beginnings tells the story of a young girl, Lakshmi, who lives in Kallaidaikurchi, Tamil Nadu. She is married at nine years old, and her husband dies soon after, making her both a child bride and a child widow. Though I never met Lakshmi Periamma myself, I conducted in-depth interviews with my grandfather to represent her story as accurately as I could. At the same time, I took creative liberties to imagine how she might have been thinking and feeling as well as how her story could echo across generations.

Beyond Memory’s Edge follows a woman who desperately wishes to escape the mundane, all while going about her typical nightly routine. Her wish is answered in a way she doesn’t expect when an intruder breaks into her apartment.

Encounters follows Julian Karalis, a man who embodies polite confusion. He awakes in a hospital bed with no recollection of how he got there, only to realize he might have lost a lot more than he can even imagine. This story won a Scholastic Short Story Honorable Mention for Massachusetts.

The Price of Living is a historical piece set against the backdrop of WWI. The narrator reflects on a moment in the trenches that altered him irrevocably: a missed connection he can’t move past. This piece was published in the 2023 Spring Issue of the Brookline Exhibition and won the Scholastic Flash Fiction Gold Award for Massachusetts (2026).