Smitha Rani News Today

An excerpt from ‘Qabar’, by KR Meera, translated from the Malayalam by Nisha Susan.

Dr. Christine Choi balances the iPad in her hands and scans the callers on the screen. It is a family gathering, pandemic-style: People in the foreground have video-called others, who have video-called a few more. A collage of faces peer back at her. She asks them if they are ready. Yes, they say. Stoic. Choi taps the corner of the tablet. The camera switches from her face to that of a lifeless man in a hospital bed. Their loved one, killed by COVID-19. The quiet in the hospital room is pierced...