Life

I was in middle of an important meeting when I received a call from the same mysterious number. My phone was on silent but I saw the screen flashing. I turned the phone upside down. I had been getting calls from this number for the past one month. Whenever I attend the call, nobody says anything from the other side. I only hear some radio noise and electromagnetic disturbances, and the call gets disconnected. I have stopped attending these calls now. I have also tried calling back on this number several times but I always get the same computer generated response that the number being called is not valid. I lodged a complaint with the concerned service provider and I was told that this number is not active. I sent many short messages as well but never got a reply or even the confirmation receipt. It was late night when my phone started ringing. I attended the call while half a sleep and said hello. All I could hear was radio noise. A sheer wave of anger passed through me. Frust...

Short Story by Nadeem Alam I have been following Saima for last few days. She comes out of the office and goes straight to her home. She always strolled the way and I followed her on foot too. My curiosity about her kept increasing and so was my obsession. She worked in my office. I ran a small software house in the midst of a big metropolis. My clients were mostly from abroad. My software house developed various applications and utility software for some very renowned foreign companies. I had a staff of nine people working for me. My office comprised of one small room, one hall and one kitchenette. Small room was my office and rest of the staff occupied the hall. Out of nine, one was our peon cum chef. We called him Fazlo Baba. He was my oldest employee and I trusted him the most. The other eight were programmers, which included Saima as well. She comes daily exactly at nine and would leave at sharp six. She did not talk much to anyone in the office. She always brough...